Defending Planets

[Undertakr]

My problem with defending planets is that it's a lot of time/resources/units to sit around and wait to do something. I have some bases in my sector, tons of satellites, mines, etc and in 150 turns not one of them have been used ever. All of the fighting has been me taking it to someone else. All of my temples with their great bonuses to fighting in my sectors have been worthless and have taken up space that I could have used for monoliths or something else of use. I think the best defense is a warp closer really. It's mobile, it can be retrofitted to an opener in a heartbeat, etc. Or, the ever popular 'doorway' ship with an opener and a closer with a repair bay on it.

- takr

[Rollo]

Originally posted by Undertakr:
...The game makes a check FIRST (there's the bug) to make sure there aren't 100 mines, which there isn't, there's 99, so it launches all that are in your cargo. Now you have 169 mines above your planet...

That has been fixed in 1.78.

Rollo

[Undertakr]

Well, with that fixed, mines are even less useful now because I know that if my sweeper can sweep 100, no minefield can hurt me. Glad to know it's fixed though. Thanks for the info. I haven't had a chance to upgrade yet.

- takr

[Taz-in-Space]

I use satellites in the later parts of a game. As stated, mines become ineffective due to increased sweeping. Satellites however are harder to bypass especially if properly used.
And satellites are reusable.
Especially effective are satellites placed at a recieving warppoint. (one that ships jump to.)
And satellites can be built on ANY planet. As long as I can afford the minerals, I use any tiny/small or domed planet to churn out satellites and fighters. Put them in orbit for the future - once built they cost NOTHING. Any fleet that hits one of my back systems will encounter many satellites and massive fighter swarms!

[geoschmo]

A few sattelites and a couple weapons platforms are also useful early game defensive preparations. They won't stop a bonified assault fleet, but they will keep the enemy from getting any easy victories. And they can be thrown up in a couple of turns and then fogotten because they don't cost any maint.

Geoschmo

[cshank2]

Fighters and escorts are real good...
Why ecorts?
There cheap. Dont get hit much when against Base's and Dread's. about 15 of them armed with Class 3 or so CS Missiles are real good

The only real defense for your planets is your own fleet.

Mines can be a useful defense in the early game, and specialist warp-point defenses can help (satelites, bases, ship-capture and ram-ships). But in the end mobility (both strategic and tactical) is key.

All you can do, is keep the other guy honest. Make sure that you have enough mines and weapons platforms (or whatever) so that taking or glassing each planet requires a serious effort. What you'll never want to see is a handful of ships raiding "behind the lines" and blowing up loads of planets before you catch them.

Mark