Warp Point defence
 

I'm guarding a warp point right now with some fighters and satillites, and I'm thinking of building a battle station there.

Has anyone tried this? I think that If I encounted a battle station, I'd just run to the edge of the map and wait for the combat to end.

Re: Warp Point defence
 

yep - that's what a human would do, but the AI, if it has attack ships will attack - if it is non attack ships (colony, minelayers, etc) they'll run away.

Try building it on their side of the warp point - for some reason when I did this the computer was unable to warp thru it and kept attacking my base/ships - maybe it just didn't like the fact I was in it's space but that's what it would do...


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Character is best defined as that which you do when you believe nobody is watching.

Re: Warp Point defence
 

the AI will avoid attacking non-combattant ships if it can instead engage a military target. you can unleash some real cheese if you then use those non-com ships to blocade things, the AI will never go through. the WP. same goes for simultanious movement. a human crippled my colony ship at a warp point with an escort as we made first contact. the colony ship stayed there engineless, and none of their ships would go through the warp point. so he lost 4 or 5 turns before he figured it out and send a military ship with explicit 'attack' orders to clear the warp point.

Re: Warp Point defence
 

The sneaky way is to build the base on your side of the warp point. Then when combat starts you will be close together and probably destroy a lot of ships in the first round.
If you put it on their side it will definately act as a magnet for their combat ships, sort of like thumbing your nose at 'em. Put some mines there to make the experiance even more enjoyable for the AI http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Warp Point defence
 

If you defend your side, those events predictors and death shrines really come into play. (or crystaline shield booster thingies if you have em)

plus your ships will get the benefit of psychic training facilities while they are waiting there for something to come through.

Re: Warp Point defence
 

Bases on my side of a warp point is my principle defense. I try to find good choke point systems so I need as few as possible.

I usually build 3 space stations, one with a spaceyard and not much else, and the other 2 armed. Then one Battlestation. When I get the tech for the Starbase I build one too, if I am getting attacked a lot there.

It would be fairly useless against a human, as they could always just make a new warp point.

It would be difficult, but not impossible to run away during combat. You start very close and station weapons get extra range and massive power. If you were worried about that a few engine killers could take care of the problem.

Re: Warp Point defence
 

Man, I wouldn't want to run into one of those warp point defense Groups Vader http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Warp Point defence
 

Do those shield boosters work on fighters bases and sats too?

It wouldn't have a lot of effect on a base, but a fighter with +80 shields via a planetary boost would be cool.

Re: Warp Point defence
 

I was thinking of adding tractor beams, to suck the enemy ships in closer if they try to run.

But I'm sure if it's possible to grab more than one ship. I haven't figured out yet if you can target more than one ship without having destroyed the first one

Re: Warp Point defence
 

I use a planet with two moons as a choke point. The two moons have nothing but cargo facilities full of weapons platforms. I use sattelites and 'ship capture' ships (usually 5). The big planet has a space yard and resupply depot. I capture the best 5 ships in an invading fleet and wipe out the rest, usually in the first turn of combat. The longest combat I have had was only three turns long.

Re: Warp Point defence
 

What If you allow boarding parties on weapon platforms.

Combined with tractor beams & shield depleters, and you have one heck of a defence.

Re: Warp Point defence
 

I could be wrong, but I don't think that tractor beams work on Dreadnoughts or baseships.
I recall having heavy mount tractor beams that wouldn't budge those behemoths.

Re: Warp Point defence
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by suicide_junkie:
What If you allow boarding parties on weapon platforms.

Combined with tractor beams & shield depleters, and you have one heck of a defence.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

better yet, what if you had psychic subVersion weapons hitting 100% of the time with the bonus from a religious talasman.

Re: Warp Point defence
 

although I would love to use the allegianc subverter, i usually grab organics and religion. Not many points left over after that.
And, although there are pluses and negatives to both, I like boarding parties over the allegiance subverter. On the plus side, although the allegiance subverter can only be used once per combat, you can have more than one on a ship and that would allow each ship to take over more than one enemy ship each combat. On the down side, I believe it doesn't work against master computers (which I use on all my large combat craft).

Re: Warp Point defence
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Kellicus:
although I would love to use the allegianc subverter, i usually grab organics and religion. Not many points left over after that.
And, although there are pluses and negatives to both, I like boarding parties over the allegiance subverter. On the plus side, although the allegiance subverter can only be used once per combat, you can have more than one on a ship and that would allow each ship to take over more than one enemy ship each combat. On the down side, I believe it doesn't work against master computers (which I use on all my large combat craft).<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

you kidding? they work great against master computer ships... once you fry the MC with a virus...

Re: Warp Point defence
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Kellicus:
I could be wrong, but I don't think that tractor beams work on Dreadnoughts or baseships.
I recall having heavy mount tractor beams that wouldn't budge those behemoths.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I just ran some ship vs. ship tests. It appears that it takes a similarly sized ship to move another ship with either tractors or repulsors.

Re: Warp Point defence
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Oggy ben Doggy:
I'm guarding a warp point right now with some fighters and satillites, and I'm thinking of building a battle station there.

Has anyone tried this? I think that If I encounted a battle station, I'd just run to the edge of the map and wait for the combat to end. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Build the bases and put them in a fleet with a formation like Spider or Turbine. Use the biggest guns you can get, including some with nothing but CSM's.

Trust me, they won't get away unless there are more than you can bLast in one or two turns. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

I'm going to playtest a formation I call 'ring' to see how it works for static warp point or planet defenses as soon as possible.

Now, if only they can modify how fighters and satellites are grouped so you can split them into smaller units then group them into fleets and not all one clump.

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--
"What do -you- want?" "I'd like to live -just- long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike as a warning to the next ten generations that some favors come with too high a price. I would look up into your lifeless eyes and wave like this..." *waggle* "...can you and your associates arrange that for me, Mr. Morden?"

Re: Warp Point defence
 

Puke. I think what you mentioned is an oversight. It shouldn't work like that. But I also discovered that myself a few days ago. I was pleasently surprised as I love using Psychic. Shh, don't tell anyone though.

Re: Warp Point defence
 

HEHEHEHE I like to fill the warp point with Sats and mines every now and then a space station, It's great they pop in and only 3 or 4 sectors away 99% of the weapons reach http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Warp Point defence
 

The combination of Religious Talisman and Allegance Subverter is good, in that it doesn't ever miss, but it doesn't guarantee that you'll capture the target. They just don't always work.

The Cue Cappa in one of my games has Star Bases with massive Allegance Subverters. They only NEED one shot each... they have long range and do absurd amounts of "damage". I lost a bunch of ships the first time I hit a warp point defended by one... each AS captured one of my BCs, and that behemoth had a lot of them.

The Religious and Psychic trees make a nasty combination. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

John

Re: Warp Point defence
 

I just finished playing a game as a psychic race. The Cue Cappa was also in the game. They would come through the warp point with about 10 dreadnaughts, I would hit one ship with an allegiance subverter from my base. Then I had control of that ship. Since it was the first turn it could fire it's 2 allegiance subverters, and so on until I had their entire fleet.

I never had to build any of my own dreadnaughts, I captured so many I didn't know what to do with them!

Re: Warp Point defence
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Sinapus:
Now, if only they can modify how fighters and satellites are grouped so you can split them into smaller units then group them into fleets and not all one clump.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I've found a way that improves satellite distribution. If you have a satellite layer ship with, say, 20 satellites on it, don't drop them all at once. Go to the "Deploy Units" screen, drop four or five of the sat's, exit the screen, then repeat until all of your sat's have been dropped.

This doesn't let you put them in any specific formation, but I've done this to guard warp points before and had enemy ships come through and find themselves right in the middle of a ring of satellite Groups.

[This message has been edited by Lucas (edited 15 March 2001).]

Re: Warp Point defence
 

I don't think lucas's suggestion works after the 1.27 patch, but i may be wrong.

Re: Warp Point defence
 

That might work with fighters as well

Re: Warp Point defence
 

That's right, since the fix for mines ALL units deployed on the strategic map are clustered into a single group. This is NOT a good thing and I hope it changes in a future patch. Having to click 100 or more weapons off when you take manual control of a group of satellites is one royal pain. If only there was a 'global' on/off switch on the weapons panel...

That said, even as a single group satellites make an excellent warp point defense.

Re: Warp Point defence
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Baron Munchausen:
That's right, since the fix for mines ALL units deployed on the strategic map are clustered into a single group<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Aack, I just checked, and you're right. That silly patch messed up my satellite deploying strategy. Sorry for the out-dated advice, I haven't been playing much since I applied the Last patch.

So far the only thing I can come up with that produces results even a little bit similar is to have a space station with several satellite bays on it, then deploy them individually in combat. That's a serious PITA though, and I suspect that they would all clump back into one group after the combat was over.

Oh well, they still make decent defensive units as they don't cost anything to maintain. Still, I am for the idea of being able to deploy satellites into different Groups if I want to or, if we're getting greedy, the ability to select formations for satellites.

Re: Warp Point defence
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Triumvir Emphy:
I don't think lucas's suggestion works after the 1.27 patch, but i may be wrong.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I have 1.30 and no, it doesn't work, alas.