Re: Ship roles (division of labor)
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Instar:
I make a small ship with the best sensors and stuff and put a really good cloak on it. It usually has a QR.
Missile I design a ship that has max engines plus a solar sail and give it a good source of supplies )<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I thought cloaking devices were only in the full Version of the game? Even with all the tech levels turned on I have not seen them in the demo, nor have I seen "solar sails" what are those? Am I overlooking something or are you playing a beta game?

Jim

Re: Ship roles (division of labor)
 

Yea... Instar is a lucky beta tester.

Re: Ship roles (division of labor)
 

I beleive the solar sails are the "solar Collectors", you get those in the demo by researching Solar Harnesting...

It's great fun to scout around with my Solar-powered, LongRange scanning, EngineBoosted little Escort. I really love the utility of long range scanners, to get info prior to attack or to study ennemy ships... ;-)

Re: Ship roles (division of labor)
 

Actually, I think solar sails are different from solar collectors. I'm pretty sure I read a post from a beta tester about how solar sails give a bonus to strategic movement, but not movement on the tactical map. Maybe Instar or somebody could confirm this.

I noticed a component pictured in the screenshots included with the preview over at Gibworld that I haven't seen before. Is this the fabled solar sail? If not, what is it?

Re: Ship roles (division of labor)
 

Yes I thought the solar collectors were just for re-stocking your ships supplies. But, it that vein does anyone think that the ? "supply-reactor" device doohkie thing is a bit too strong at least in the demo. You would research cargo storage ? to the 4th level to get it and that gives you unlimited supplies but even the best solar collectors in a system with a bunch of stars can not re-stock a ship quickly. That and the fact that the collectors take up so much more room in ship design. Just some idle thoughts.

Re: Ship roles (division of labor)
 

Quantum reactors? ISTR that it actually takes a fair bit of research in Resupply (7? 8?) to get there, and each QR has a fairly considerable cost. The solar collectors might still be useful for a cheap low-tech long-range probe...

Given that maintenance seems to be something like 20% ship cost/turn (vague recollection), those radioactives from the QR (and master computers, if you use 'em. Those are EXPENSIVE.) can add up.

But it seems reasonable to me for the QR to obsolete older tech in the same branch. I wouldn't use Crysarmor I if Crysarmor III were available, and usually there's not that much call for standard ion engines if you've got jacketed...

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night

Re: Ship roles (division of labor)
 

Well, I guess I let the cat out of the bag already.
Solar sails are little components that give you bonus movement (man the ships can really fly if you have the best stuff, I can get around 13 moves!)
Solar collectors are okay. They generate supplies, like 100/turn per star. When I have solar collectors, I usually run out of supplies anyway, because battles and moving around eats a lot of supplies rapidly. Plus nebulae and blackholes are real trouble to cross.
(Captain's log, 2405.5)
"We're crossing the blackhole in system BlahBlah and oh no! We're running out of supplies! We're being sucked in! aaaaaaaah! Mommy!"


(You train your captains and all they do is yell for mom when anything wrong happens ahhahahahaah)

Re: Ship roles (division of labor)
 

Aha! I knew it! Thanks for the confirmation, Instar.

Re: Ship roles (division of labor)
 

NP, I am just a font of info when I want to be.
Also I forgot!
Another type of ship I use is the fighter interdiction ship, loaded with PDCs. I use them for fighter heavy players, or playes that use lots of missiles.
Also I make a large transport with each of the unit type launching facilities (mine satel fighter mine)
I use it for special ops. Its pretty flexible. (Add cloaking and other goodies, well, hehe all kinds of fun)

Re: Ship roles (division of labor)
 

Well, the only real "specialized" ship I use is an Explorer.

If I am starting a low tech game I resaerch to light cruiser, missle and repair bay as quick as possible.

Make LC with a repair bay and one missle pod. Max out the engines and finish out with supply pods and a couple armor pods. Later in the game I can use it as a resuppy/repair ship.

In a High Tech game I use the Cruiser and Quantum Reactor with the repair bay with a heavy wave motion gun.


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Wingte