Re: Best ship size?
 

I must say i use cruisers for all the combat purposes. I cant give you a reason, i simply found out they work the best for me.

Second favorite would be the frigate, this ship is awesome being cheap and can be produced in great numbers. given the defensive bonus it can be a strong force to think of.

Re: Best ship size?
 

My favorite is the Battle Cruiser (BC), fast enough to run when outgunned, but heavy enough to take out a BB and DN if fought right or in conjunction with a 2-1, 2BC vs 1BB or 1 DN, good all around fighting ship. Usually put lt Ca's as escorts.. 6-10 BC's with cloaking make excellent raiding forces.

just some ideas Mac

[ July 22, 2002, 20:52: Message edited by: mac5732 ]

Re: Best ship size?
 

I use Dreadnoughts and carriers with a smatering of outher clases filling specialty roles.

[ July 23, 2002, 02:20: Message edited by: killer ]

Re: Best ship size?
 

I pretty much follow the "bigger is better" philosophy; once I reach baseships, I use fleets made up of baseships and dreadnoughts. Since I usually take Temporal (better shipyards) and bonuses in construction, it doesn't usually take that much longer to build the bigger ships. My only problem is that dreadnoughts have no defensive penalties, but baseships have a 40% defense penalty; that seems like a big jump to me, even if baseships DO get to use massive weapon mounts...

However, for specialty ships I'll usually use the smaller classes:
Plague ship is frigate or destroyer size (enough room for ECM and stealth/scattering armor, basics and a single plague bomb)
Boarding ship is destroyer or light cruiser
Dedicated point-defense ship is light cruiser or battle cruiser, depending on how big the rest of the ships in the fleet are (and how many seekers/fighters I expect in battle)
Space yard ships are cruisers (obviously), and space yard bases are space stations (again, obviously)

I also tend to stick with medium transports for population moving; they're just the right size for skimming population off 2-3 worlds and then dropping off population on the new colonies. Large transports have to visit 5-7 worlds before they're full (if you're micromanaging population loads).

Re: Best ship size?
 

My personal favourites are dreadnoughts and battlecruisers. I play psychic most of the time and I usually keep a core of heavily armed and shielded dreadnoughts with conventional long range weapons (I call them the "rifles")supported by a whole bunch of subverter armed BCs "shotguns" that emphasis speed.

Re: Best ship size?
 

Do you remember the Wiley Coyote guy with the ACME Uber-Escort strategy. ROFL! That was too funny. That might have been before you were hanging out on the forum though. What was his name anyway? I can't remmeber now. I don't think he Posts anymore.

His name was GUTB.

My only problem is that dreadnoughts have no defensive penalties, but baseships have a 40% defense penalty; that seems like a big jump to me, even if baseships DO get to use massive weapon mounts...

Remember, a Baseship is essentially a Starbase fitted with engines. That is where the 40% comes from. It is slightly more manueverable than a sitting space hulk, but not by much. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[ July 23, 2002, 19:24: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

Re: Best ship size?
 

LCs at first.
Later, a mix of BCs and DNs.
Late in the game, all Battlemoons (in fleets of 2 or 3) to minimize the micromanagement.

Re: Best ship size?
 

Heavy transports.

fill half with cargo modules. pack in engines, solar sails, ecm, and stealth/scattering armor. fill the rest up with as much organic armor or shields as you can fit, maybe leaving enough space for a point defense gun or two.

guard it with a couple minesweepers, and space-to-space combat ships, and go conquer some worlds.

Re: Best ship size?
 

honestly though, i usually use battleships as troop transports. same size, but you can put on less cargo and more armor/shields. 1/4 of the space devoted to cargo is usually more than enough to conquer a homeworld class planet, in the unmodded game.