Two Hundred Mines = Dead Fleet. How to Overcome?

rdouglass · #1 January 31st, 2001, 03:44 PM

I too like the SM approach. I usually set up 1 fleet as a "raider" fleet. It has the usual complement: mine sweepers, repair ship, missle ships PD ships, and of course 1 SM ship. It keeps the AI reeling (and I suspect it would a human opponent also) 'cause they keep trying to react to where the fleet is this "month". Just open a W Point inside the enemy territory, go thru, close the WP and wreak havoc for a coupla' months. Reopen WP to your territory, go thru, and close WP.

If you want to really mess 'em up, just send a "star buster" thru and waste the whole system. That'll definitely get rid of the mines (and everything else of course).

Of course with a human opponent, it probably would work both ways....

This game is soooo cool....brings out the evil in all of us....

raynor · #2 January 31st, 2001, 04:59 PM

Imagine the fun we can have in human vs. human games.

You see a wormhole open up in one of your more isolated systems. Then, the wormhole closes. Hmmm.. that was weird, you think--assuming you even saw it happen.

Next you send your fleet through one of the 'default' wormholes in your system. KABOOM! They all die.

Of course, I would hope you have to un-cloak to lay mines...

Mark Dey · #3 January 31st, 2001, 05:08 PM

The problem with the stellar manipulation solution is that the original post was concerning a mined *planet*. Not a warp point.

-Mark

Seawolf · #4 January 31st, 2001, 05:18 PM

Well if you building carriers I cna assume you got light cruiser class ships as well. Just take one of those babies and put in the bare min compenets needed and the rest minesweepers! forget shield and weapons just sweepers. A few of these will be able to sweep a large number of mines asap.

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Seawolf on the prowl

Taqwus · #5 January 31st, 2001, 05:38 PM

Alternatives to simply using lots of sweepers, or a star destroyer...

Steal his ships using Crew Insurrection, if he's got any left nearby, and run them into the minefield.

Possibly, sweep with cheap (basically empty) fighters -- either they set off the mines (perhaps one each?... which would be quite wasteful) or they ignore them (even niftier).

Or ignore the planet military-wise, using instead facility sabotage, PPP, anarchy Groups, or condition/value-wrecking ops -- it shouldn't be too hard to drive it to Deadly conditions. And then surround it with storms or your own minefields if you're feeling evil.

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night

Baron Munchausen · #6 January 31st, 2001, 06:16 PM

quote:
Originally posted by raynor:
Imagine the fun we can have in human vs. human games.

You see a wormhole open up in one of your more isolated systems. Then, the wormhole closes. Hmmm.. that was weird, you think--assuming you even saw it happen.

Next you send your fleet through one of the 'default' wormholes in your system. KABOOM! They all die.

Of course, I would hope you have to un-cloak to lay mines...

Nope, you do NOT have to uncloak to lay mines. This seems realistic to me. All you have to do is push them out a hatch, after all.

And why open a new warp point? Just sail into the existing oneand drop your mines. Unfortunately, most of the rest of mine operations are NOT realistic. We've got several threads on this board which discuss how they always hit and how that spoils their usefulness and believability. Also, mine sweeping is 'instantaneous' when in fact it should take some time. You ought to lose a movement point when your mine sweepers are activated. This is one of the primary purposes of mines in RL warfare, to DELAY and harass your enemy. Hopefully MM will make some changes when the worst of the bug fixing is accomplished.

Commander G · #7 February 1st, 2001, 08:35 PM

It is interesting to note that all of the counters mentioned for 200 mines requires much more advanced technology than it takes to lay the 200 mines.

I'm in a PBEM game where we soon all have minefield technology. At that point, it will become almost impossible for a long time to invade each others space. I tried to persuade the host to turn off minefield technology, but I could not convince him.

I like the model used by Stars for minefields better. You can try to run them and take your chances or you can slowly, methodically clear them without taking damage. This fits the real-life model better.

What I find incredible in SEIV is that you cannot use beam weapons to destroy them, you must invest research into mines to be able to get the technology to clear them. That does not make sense in my opinion.