Question about general strategy: missles vs. fighters vs. drones vs. direct fire, etc

[klausD]

one of the essential problems in standard SEIV is that PD cannons are VERY cheap in tech costs. Its easy to get the 5th level of them in short time, making it one of the standard tactics. Its more costly to get an advanced fighter tech or even better missiles.

(of course no prob to mod this)

Maybe MM should consider to make special target options like fighters only, sats only or drones only. This could help really to add more combat options.

tschüß
KlausD

[teal]

MB: Thanks. That was indeed an excellent post. Some of the things you mentioned will be tested very shortly.

Speaking of which:

DavidG: What *are* you talking about... I would never use something that you told me against you. The Yankee Confederacy is a highly honorable race. At least that's what the majority of the middle class believes, the elites of course do whatever it takes to try and attain galactic domination and there is also the issue of the hidden slave class which provides all the wealth for the middle and upper classes. But seriously, this brings up one other option for dealing with a bezerker race, namely diplomacy. If you can get everyone to gang up on the Bezerker race then their ships which you can't hit suddenly start looking a lot less scary.

[Fyron]

Ganging up on someone because of a cultural choice is approaching gameyness... not to mention starting to get into fuzzy ethical areas.

[Krsqk]

Yeah, slaughtering someone because they're Berserkers with maxed offense/defense is a little gamey. Slaughtering someone because they're Berserkers with maxed offense/defense andReligious/Psychic combo is just smart.

[teal]

What does "gamey" mean? I'm confused. I thought it was a game.

Some points.

I am under the impression that it is currently considered to be "just smart" to dogpile on anyone who is silly enough to choose deeply religious as a trait so as to eliminate them before they get the talisman. *If* it is determined that bezerkers/maxed defense agressiveness is equally as bad as the talisman, then doesn't that make it "just smart" to try and win agains them any way you can?

Second point. Don't you consider your relative strenghts weaknesses in every diplomatic exchange you make? If one race is stronger than all the other players in the game, then doesn't it make sense that the lesser powers form an alliance against the winning race? Whether they are stronger because they took bezerkers and no one else did, or if they are stronger because all four adjacent systems next to their homeworld contained huge breathable/colonizable planets is immaterial. The lesser powers will unite or die.

Finally. In the particular game being alluded to. The bezerker race was in a strong first place position and forming an alliance to stop them seemed to be the reasonable solution, regardless of whether they were bezerkers or not.

All this brings up another interesting question. Does Space Empires suffer from a "get the leader" problem often seen in the world of multi-player board games where being in first place is often a large disadvantage as it is extremely easy for everyone else to gang up on the leader and stop them. I think that it does in the sense that their are no, or few, mechanisms which stop people from ganging up on the leader. In practice perhaps their is an unspoken social norm among SEIV players not to do this. Perhaps provoking the remarks that using diplomacy as a balancing mechanism against a stronger empire set up is "gamey".

[dogscoff]

I thought it was a game.

It is game, but it's a roleplay game which means pretending it's not a game... you see?

No, neither do I.

[tesco samoa]

Teal... With Seekers, units timing is very important.

This is very important when the player counters with the PD Ships.

Always design your fighters to move with your fleets... Not to speed out and be destroyed before your fleet shows up. This way they will be involved in the fight at the same time your seekers hit and your Main DF Ships come into play.

Practice this tatic with a good trained fleet can work wonders. And they extend the life of the carrier well beyond the Cruiser class counter ships.

Also this will allow you to keep with the carrier / repair ships carrier / minesweeper ships carrier / pd ships carrier / supply ships. Carrier / seeker ships

As All ships should fight.

Now think about combining this with ram ships....

Also.... You should make sure that you understand the difference between fighting on Warp Points vs open space vs planets.