How do you beat the Talisman?

[rextorres]

Has anyone come up with a way to consistantly beat a religious race in tactical combat once they get the Talisman?

When I play a religious tech race I always max out my defense.

With ECM III and Armor VI I set my fleet/ship strategy to max and I am feel pretty much unhitable. In fact the only thing I worry about is the mine 'bug' where the other guy launches 100s mines or so. With Engine Overload Weapons (until the next patch) it's a Turkey Shoot. I've had battles where my LCs sweep away the opponent's Baseships with hardly no damage.

Obviously you might try Missiles, but in an unmodded game Missiles aren't really that effective.

Any thoughts?

[geoschmo]

Sun Tzu, The Art of War Chapter 4:
Invincibility depends on oneself, but the enemy's vulnerability on himself. It follows that those skilled in war can make themselves invincible but cannot cause an enemy to be certainly vulnerable. Therefore, it can be said that, one may know how to win, but cannot necessarily do so.

[Phoenix-D]

A few options.

1. wax the buggers BEFORE they get it. Not an option in this case.

2. ramming speed! Lots of small ships with armor (*not* warheads) preferable organic

3. Soak his point defense. Fighters, drones (especially drones!) missiles. Sure, a lot of will get knocked down..but if you have enough some will get through.

4. Same idea as before. Use the law of probability and build LOTS of direct-fire ships. Preferably with wave-motion guns; WMGs get a to-hit bonus.

Phoenix-D

[dumbluck]

Why not ram with warheads?

[Trajan]

Playing against AI opponents, and using the DevNul mod, I use Spinal Mount Wave Motion Guns, and/or any other spinal mount direct fire weapons that I happen to have researched. I shoot for maximum punch before he can pound the snot out of me with his Talisman accuracy.

Also, I use specialty ships (cruisers and the like) which carry engine destroying, null-space, and warp weapons. I use them in this order and usually end up with an AI opponent with a lot of very damaged and slow or non-moving ships which are easily taken care at a safe distance.

I always assume that I will have losses, but the AI targets my Dreads which are heavily armored and/or shielded, while the specialty cruiser go in and do their jobs.

Cheers!
Trajan

[LGM]

If your are facing a Talisman player, keep the following in mind. You can give up on defense. Put no ECMs, or Defense Armor on your ships. Use the biggest hull, Base Ships, because the +40% to hit does not matter. Massive Mounts do 500% damage for 300%. If your Talisman opponent uses Base Ships, he makes it easier for you to hit. If he uses Light Cruisers, he will get wasted. Large Mounts are poor against Massive.

Two Massive Mount Null Space hits will toast any Light Cruiser. However, WMGs do have a +30% to hit, so you need to use those if you cannot hit with a nullspace. Use Ship and Fleet training for Tohit bonuses. If you do not have the Talisman, consider taking a +20%-+25% to hit bonus as well. Add Sensor III component, and you should be able to hit.

Organic Parasite seekers are cheap and shoot every other round.

The Psychics have a weapon that will add to the enemy's reload time (for every weapon). Put one of these on a ship. More than one probably gets wasted, even with multi-tracking. Also try Virus/Allegiance Subvert combination with this ace design (use his Talisman ships against him). Psychics also have an excellent Small weapon for figters. Use small stacks if the enemy goes to larger weapon mounts to waste damage points.

Use Tractor beams to draw the enemy closer, so you can hit better (assuming your tractor beam hits). Note he may try to use repusors against your ships.

Load up a Base ship with large Missle V satellites. Say, 20 Satellite Bay IIIs and 20 Cargo III components. Should launch about 60 satellites each, with each sattelite launching 2 missles. Should mix some point defenses though, so they cannot attack the satellites with a pure unit force. Make lots of different satellite designs with different targeting plans to avoid overkill on one ship. This strategy is very costly to implement and you must reload your satellites after every battle.

Finally, try building the largest Starbases at warp points. 700% damage on the weapon mount with +80% to hit and +6 range. Keep in mind that Multi-tracking is flawed for like weapons, so mix your weapon types.