SE4: Point defense ships, like in WW2. Good idea?
 

Hi folks,

I'm starting to run into races with either fighters (ftrs) or Capital Ship Missiles (CSM) and I'd like to know when playing in a turn base game, are point defense ships, ie ships primarily armed with point defense cannons (PDC) are a good idea. These were used to some good effect in WW2, with the Oakland class CLs and the Atlanta class CLs.
What I need to know is, will the limited AI that you can 'program' your ships with, would the PDC ships stay close enough to the main ships in the fleet to protect them.
With in the basic game, no mods, how much can you really 'program' single ships' AI ?

Thanks in advance!

Regards,

Rob aka dethgod74

Re: SE4: Point defense ships, like in WW2. Good i
 

They won't stay close to the main ships. They will either charge in, or run away until seekers are fired, depending on if they have weapons that aren't PD on them or not.

Re: SE4: Point defense ships, like in WW2. Good i
 

I usually just put a few PDC on my main warships. They're cheap, don't take up much space, and in my experience even dreadnoughts don't need more than 3 or 4 unless you have an enemy with truly huge numbers of missiles to throw at you.

Re: SE4: Point defense ships, like in WW2. Good idea?
 

I've had success with PD ships, though I don't always use them. With their huge to-hit bonus is stock, they often don't need Combat Sensors, which saves 400 mins. Sometimes I even make micro-fleets with PD ships keeping formation with non-PD warships, but that's when I'm having too much fun micro-managing (but it does work).

Re: SE4: Point defense ships, like in WW2. Good i
 

Carrier Battles mod provides are pretty good justification for dedicated PD ships.
Rollo's AIs even build them!

Re: SE4: Point defense ships, like in WW2. Good i
 

I typically put my PD ships in the same hull size as my line ships, replacing all but one or two of the non-PD weapons with PD. Then I can give the PD ships the same strategy as the line ships, which usually keeps them fairly clumped together even after breaking formation.

Re: SE4: Point defense ships, like in WW2. Good i
 

Normally I drop 2-3 per ship on cruisers and up, the only time I've found a use for dedicated point defense ships is if I'm facing off against a lot of fighters or sats orbiting a planet.

Re: SE4: Point defense ships, like in WW2. Good idea?
 

I think a micromanager can gain a slight advantage by using dedicated PD ships.

Re: SE4: Point defense ships, like in WW2. Good i
 

Dethgod74 said:
With in the basic game, no mods, how much can you really 'program' single ships' AI ?

Mods have no capacity whatsoever to alter the strategy system. They can tweak the default strategy settings, but no more or less than you can do on your own in stock.

Re: SE4: Point defense ships, like in WW2. Good i
 

I almost always use PD Ships in a fleet. I usually arm them with a few capital ship class weapons, then stock up on PDC's. They fire and act like any other warship, but also act as a screener against missiles and fighters.

Re: SE4: Point defense ships, like in WW2. Good i
 

Point defense ships are extremely useful if you're controlling everything in tactical combat. Loading up a smaller hull like a Destroyer or a Light Cruiser with Point Defense can free up a lot of space on your heavier ships for bigger weapons.

Unfortunately they're almost completely useless if you're using strategic combat or if the AI is controlling your battles. Even if you put a single non-Point Defense weapon on your PtDef ships so they don't just run away, the AI can't understand how to use them. You're better off including PtDef on your main battle ships.

Re: SE4: Point defense ships, like in WW2. Good i
 

Point defense ships are only really useful if you're fighting someone who uses buttloads of fighters/missiles, which so far, the AI doesn't, ergo you're only likely to see a benefit from them if you're fighting a human opponent, which unfortunately means that your battles will be fought by the AI, who really doesn't use them to their fullest, so you're better off just arming your main battle ships with PDCs, considering 2-3 of them can rip through an unholy number of fighters/missiles.

And yes, I made my sentence that long on purpose. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Re: SE4: Point defense ships, like in WW2. Good i
 

The AI does use them in SE IV (see thread title).

Re: SE4: Point defense ships, like in WW2. Good i
 

I stated that the AI does not use them by the buttload. You overlooked the buttload part.
You'll run into carriers that usually aren't full, and a ships that lob a few CSMs at you, but you won't run into massive fighter fleets, or suffer gigantic missile barrages.