The Plague (Subverters, Boarders, and IDs, Oh My)

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

Imperator Fyron said:
You can add as many master computers as you would like to a ship design. Bridges are hard-coded to one per ship, but that is what Auxilliary Control components are for.

Only 1 Aux Control per ship. I don't know if it's the same when you have an MC onboard, but I think it is.

[inigma]

In my testing I realized you can have multiple MCs but only one bridge and one aux.

I put multiple MCs on the Neutralizers (engine destroying) and on the Depleters (shield destroying) and they survived long enough to do their jobs. The Decoys also do well with an extra MC, but I find that it isn't needed with all the armor and shields they are carrying to draw in enemy attention.

The Boarders only need one engine less than the rest of the fleet since all they carry are a single depleter and lots of boarding troops, and they need to arrive at the battle a little late so they can rush and capture helpless hulks.

I also designed simple escort-sized Subverters whose main job is to be fast flying cannon fodder when the enemy wisens up and starts using MCs.

Now if only I can figure out what AI to start from to use as its template...

[inigma]

I was noticing that in high tech games, that Cure ships would have security stations and MCs, and a few APBXIIs. In the simulator it is only these ships that manage to start countering Plague tactics.

I wonder if I should also create Flailers as escorts, they move in, temporarily disable weapons, Subvertors move in and attempt to subvert, Depleters move in and disable shields, Boarders move in and attempt to board, and Neutralizers move in and disable engines and repel the hulk out of harms way before Cure APBs come back online.

Rinse, repeat. I'll try it tonight.

After all, now that I think about it, isn't that was diseases usually do - they disable a cell's defenses and then once disabled it moves in for the takeover?

Can flailers work against ships with destroyed MCs? If so it would be nice to be able to design a standard Plauge battleship with multiple MCs, computer viruses, flailers, lots of boarding parties, and a repeller in case the first attempt fails.

[Zereth]

inigma said:
Has anyone ever tried boarding and subversion as an overall fleet doctrine before? Did it work well?

Thanks to the ease of getting self-destruct devices: No. I haven't played with psychic much, but it seems the only way the Plauge would work long-term is to hope that it shoots out the self-destruct devices before the boarders arrive. There's also the fact that all boarding parties on a ship are expended in an attempt to board, regardless of how many are actually needed.

[inigma]

There's also the fact that all boarding parties on a ship are expended in an attempt to board, regardless of how many are actually needed.

Are you sure? I was running the simulator multiple times and I believe my boarders were able to board several times, even after failed attempts.

Forcing self destructs on enemy ships sounds like a nice idea for The Plague. It fits right into their theme.

[Zereth]

That's how it's always worked for me. Form what I understand, the simulator isn't a 100% reliable indicator of what will happen in actual combat for some reason.

[Fyron]

It is a confirmed feature that all boarding parties are lost in any boarding attempt, successful or not.

[inigma]

drat. well, how does one get them back?

[douglas]

Repair, just like any other destroyed component.

[inigma]

Oh, so The Plague would need their repair ships. Well, ok, that was already planned for. After all, with their primary strategy to board engine destroyed, mentally flailed sitting ducks, the other half of the fleet should consist of repair ships (albeit carrying additional subvertors or boarders).