New player struggling

Growltigga · #1 April 15th, 2002, 09:51 AM

Defend worm holes not planets.

Andy, the decision on this will come down to your own tactical style but keep in mind, I have always been talking about playing the AI - even the Gold AI on the highest settings is hardly a Sun Tzu - IMHO, defending warp points against an AI opponent is simply unsporting, as is using fighters and mines against them

it would cost a lot for research etc to do that and it's not my style

IIRC, the research cost for ship capture isnt really that much, at least not when you take into account what you can get from it, IIRC you research military science (50,000), advanced military science (100,000) and then ship capture (5000) - about the same as level 3 missiles or decent beam weaponry

"it is not your style" is FAR more important, this is a game, it doesnt really matter if you win or lose as long as you enjoy it

I'm not going to use fighters anymore, too fiddly building carriers and fighters and keeping them alltogether.

Aah, this is just experience my boy, my orbital spaceyards will build the carriers (say 7 turns for a light carrier) whilst the colony world builds the fighters but again, it is down to personal preference, I am currently playing a hotseat game and designing a fleet where almost every ship (CL and above) has at least 1 fighter bay - my fighters are all configured for ship-killing - it is an interesting development in power projection

Growltigga · #2 April 19th, 2002, 05:06 PM

bump, I was enjoying the tactical discussions on this thread

Gryphin · #3 April 19th, 2002, 06:55 PM

quote:
I was enjoying the tactical discussions on this thread

Ok, here is one:
Armor vs Shields
Which do you develope first?
Against Humans?
Against AI?
Against Humans I will develope Armor only as a rapid way to Stealth Armor.
Against the AI I will always go for Armor because I know I can capture ships with Shields.
One Light Carrier with Shields will give me a huge amount of Tech.

DirectorTsaarx · #4 April 19th, 2002, 08:38 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Growltigga:
<snip>
I'm not going to use fighters anymore, too fiddly building carriers and fighters and keeping them alltogether.

Aah, this is just experience my boy, my orbital spaceyards will build the carriers (say 7 turns for a light carrier) whilst the colony world builds the fighters but again, it is down to personal preference, I am currently playing a hotseat game and designing a fleet where almost every ship (CL and above) has at least 1 fighter bay - my fighters are all configured for ship-killing - it is an interesting development in power projection

Tigga: The other trick is to have your deep colony worlds build the carriers (i.e., 3-4 systems away from the front lines) and build fighters at systems closer to the action. Then, when the carriers are ready, they stop off along the way to pick up fighters. If you time it right, you can even launch the fighters and have them waiting in the carrier's path (my favorite is to stack them over the resupply colony, since I like to "top off the tank" before entering contested systems).

Interesting concept with putting fighter bays on all ships; I've toyed with that from time to time. It's similar to the Hydran race style from Star Fleet Battles...

Gryphin · #5 April 19th, 2002, 08:42 PM

quote:
It's similar to the Hydran race style from Star Fleet Battles...

And what the Japeniese were trying to build at the end of WWII.

Growltigga · #6 April 19th, 2002, 09:44 PM

Gryphin, you are dead right

IMHO, fighter bays on each ship (just 1 supported by 1 or more cargo bays) is quite cool. Very Star Wars, very Babs 5

there is not enough threat to have whopping loads of PD, but enough to make a good difference, especially armed up to the tens with FRAMS

Bowmark · #7 April 20th, 2002, 12:37 AM

This thread is one of the reasons I bought this game. A lot of damn helpful people.

I have a few points and a question:

In regard to mines, they are a huge AI killer and I see both points to that play style. I like using them at warp points to slow down the really aggressive AI like the Romulans and Cardassians (if you are using those ships)

I am having a problem with sats though. I did not really use them since the patch but I put cloaking armor on them and after I cloak them, even if I decloak them, they will not attack enemy ships unless there is a ship of mine there too. Any ideas on this one or is there something I do not know about sats?

Fighters are a HUGE bonus to your fleets but you need super amounts of patience to do the whole fighter thing right. I prefer fighters at planets more than than WP because they can leave and attack a ship before it even gets there if needed.

Lots of good tactics here, can't wait to try them out in my next game.

Thanks all.