New player struggling - Page 12

capnq · #**111** April 11th, 2002, 10:11 PM

quote:
Tried building empty DD's and retrofitting them but it said could only increase value by 50% or something so I had to scrap the lot and start again.

You can make an intermediate design within the cost limit, then retrofit to that, repeating as needed until you can build the final design you want.

Note that the new design only has to be under 150% of the combined total minerals, organics and radioactives, not the individual totals.

quote:
I normally base my ships on planets because of supply. I used to base them at worm holes but then have to remember to keep getting them resupplied.

A ship only uses supplies when it moves or fires*; you can park it somewhere indefinitely.

*Or uses a component that uses supplies, such as [edit to correct error] a Cloaking Device.

[ 11 April 2002: Message edited by: capnq ]

Suicide Junkie · #**112** April 11th, 2002, 10:29 PM

*Or uses a component that uses supplies, such as Stealth Armor**

** Stealth armor actually uses no supplies.

An energy-field style "cloaking device I" or stellar manipulation component will use a decent amount of supplies.

wr8th · #**113** April 11th, 2002, 10:43 PM

Hi Gryphin,

I'm a newbie and was playing the Proportions mod using my "Mine Sprinkles" tactic. The original intent is to make the warp points to my home sytem less than an open door to too-nosy neighbors. I'll use a med. transport and stock up on mines and send it to multiple warp points then restock and repeat. Any ships fortunate enough to survive, I send in a destroyer or three and a heavily armored boarding ship with the repair/supply ship in tow. If the ship is still alive I'll try and stand off and finish it with missiles, then repair and bring back to a base.

I understand your approach though, but the Proportions mod is slower to develop and research doesn't increase as quickly. If I've given bonuses to the AI and research treaties are not forthcoming, this form of flypaper is helpful.

I didn't use this in the unmodded Version.

capnq · #**114** April 11th, 2002, 11:17 PM

quote:
A ship enters a mine field and looses all engines.
Since it has lost all engines it can’t use any remaining shields.

[ Edit to correct info that changed in Gold patch 1 ]Losing the engines won't take out the shields if the ship also has other supply storage. Shields are only active during combat; they don't protect the ship while it's "cruising" during movement, so they don't stop mines or damaging warp points.

The mines might take out the shield generator(s), though.

[ 11 April 2002: Message edited by: capnq ]

[ 13 April 2002: Message edited by: capnq ]

capnq · #**115** April 11th, 2002, 11:22 PM

quote:
There is a list of damage/kiloton ratios for all weapons somewhere, but I don't remember exactly where.

Suicide Junkie's damage Ratings, about 80% down the page as I type this.

Kynalvarus · #**116** April 12th, 2002, 12:29 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Quikngruvn:
Also, a note about robo-miners: only the miners from one ship are effective in a given sector. But, all the miners on that ship will be used....
Quikngruvn

Does this apply to satellites as well? I.e. if you make a large sat with a remote miner will only one work per sector?

Mephisto · #**117** April 12th, 2002, 12:39 AM

quote:
Originally posted by capnq:
No, losing the engines has no effect on shields

This has been changed. Ships and fighters with zero supplies get zero shields.

Gryphin · #**118** April 12th, 2002, 01:03 AM

capnq
Thanks for the correction. Means you need to bring something to break down shields.
Oh well, I love the variety of play styles.

Kynalvarus · #**119** April 12th, 2002, 01:17 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Andy Watkins:
Dont defend planets. Defend Space. If the enemy reaches your planets it means your fleet has been shredded and you are already history.

I tried that first couple of games I tried but had problem then that enemy ships could move quite fast and would "Shoot past me" and clobber my planets. At minimum you seem to have at least an outer layer of systems that need protecting, this may well be half a dozen or so systems with several worlds in them....

I've found that you have to at least try to hold the warp points, or else you give up several key defensive advantages. These are information, surprise, position, force concentration, initiative, and resource cost.
Presuming you have not been spysatted or probed, that first fleet into your territory has no real idea what might be on the other side of that warp point. Surprise follows from this. When the enemy warps in, they don't know what is waiting for them. If they prepare for every contingency, they need far more ships and tech, and thus time and resources to build up. Also their 'teeth to tail' ratio gets bad and so their maintenance cost per Ship of the Line gets high. Defensive units are maint-free, and bases 50%. If they rush in and hope for the best, then a well-set warp point defense will destroy far more than it cost to build.
Positionally, the enemy must come through a warp point, and so unless they're opening their own you know they have to face at least one of your border warp points. Properly equipped, they can run right by your border planets looking for softer targets. They can also pull nasty tricks like sacrificial plague/smartbomb/radiation hits which screw up the planet and only cost one ship per. If an enemy gets through my warp point in force I usually cut losses, write off the system, and fall back to the next warp point.
In the quadrants I've played there are more planets than warp points in normal planetary systems. At least one of the 3-4 has to point back to more of your space. Usually you'll have two or three to cover, and if you can plan it right, you'll only have one. In any event this lets you concentrate your forces far more effectively than trying to defend each planet. Trying to defend planets, at least in TDM, is IMHO a dicey proposition at best. Small domed colonies just can't hold the weight of gear to deal with even small fleets.
In warp point battles the defender usually gets the advantage, and you start at short range. I love medium/large sats at this point. The +4 range lets them cover the point and often outrange the enemy ships. They can't be targetted by seekers (but can by PD) so they're going to get in at least one shot. I particularly like making 'flytraps' of mines and engine-destroying sats - even when they lose the enemy has to take months to put those engines back together.
Finally, resource cost - units don't cost maintenance, and typically have better damage/cost and HP/cost ratios than ships.

Plus supply, I normally base my ships on planets because of supply. I used to base them at worm holes but then have to remember to keep getting them resupplied.

Andy

Put up a cheap spaceyard base, once you have cruisers to make spaceyard ships. Stick it in any fleet you want refueled and presto, next turn full tanks. If it's a key warp point, make it a battlestation or starbase, add repair bays to supplement the spaceyard, and give it a few minelayers/satlayers/dronelauncher/fighterbays/cargo so that it can build up the defense, and restock after successful defenses. Also give it self-destruct & security stations unless you want your enemy to someday have a forward base with which to kill you. ;-)

Oh, and if you leave out the sensors you just wasted all of your time.

Kynalvarus

Suicide Junkie · #**120** April 12th, 2002, 02:46 PM

quote:
I haven't ever bothered with fleet and ship training facilities, but I get the impression from others these are a must have feature??

Given a free +20 attack and defense modifier, yes.
Purchasing that large a modifier in your race characteristics would cost 2000 RP.

quote:
I am trying to use someone elses pictures, (B5 ships) not too bothered about fancy mods etc. Not quite sure how to do it. I have copied B5 pictures into a new race file on the main game in the pictures directory "Earth alliance" it didn't have the 6 or so .txt files so I copied the ones out of "Terran" and renamed them.

Yep, that should work.

quote:
What I want to be able to do is start a new game, add a "New" empire, set all the characteristics up how I like but just use the pictures of Narn, Minbari etc for their ships, otherwise standard game.

The game might randomly choose one of those shipsets for the AIs, but that usually isn't a concern for people.
If you want to ensure only the original races get added, only add the extra race that you will be choosing. SE4 won't choose a clone of your race for the AI, and once the game is started, you can re-add the other fancy shipsets.