What do you use transport ships for?
 

Hello,

What do you folks use transport ships for?

Are they for moving troops around or do they have other uses?
Can you use them to deploy satilites and weapons platforms?

Re: What do you use transport ships for?
 

I use them only in proportions to transport populations before I get a large starliner

Re: What do you use transport ships for?
 

So you use them to add population to your colonies?

Re: What do you use transport ships for?
 

I use them for transport http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif .

You can use them to transport and transfer anything including population. You can droops troops, but not launch units. This includes fighters, satellites, mines, and drones. You'll have to use the specific launchers for those items.

[ September 28, 2002, 23:58: Message edited by: Captain Kwok ]

Re: What do you use transport ships for?
 

I use them to transport all kinds of things, population, troops, satellites, mines, weapon platforms, fighters...you name it. Just can't, as Capt Kwok says, launch anything...do a cargo transfer...or drop cargo to a planet

[ September 29, 2002, 00:11: Message edited by: pathfinder ]

Re: What do you use transport ships for?
 

Put a launching bay on a transport, and it can launch things. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

Re: What do you use transport ships for?
 

Transports and colonizers are big ships - 300 kt of space, that you get before you research ship construction twice and get destroyers which are also 300 kt.

They have a built-in downside, they must have fewer engines and must carry certain components. The transport must be 50% storage bays. The sattelite bay counts as a storage bay, so it's great for putting sattelites on warp points or other spots you don't have a planet.

Using an escort for that purpose, with it's ability to have 6 engines, doesn't really seem to be a better choice http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: What do you use transport ships for?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Carry Bud between systems; White Tower 'rat meat' as well on occasion. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[ September 29, 2002, 02:14: Message edited by: Elowan ]

Re: What do you use transport ships for?
 

I use transports for larger colony ships. If I'm playing a Max-Tech start game (solo ofc), I tend to go the expensive but low-brainpower route, and use a Large Transport hull to mount all THREE colony module types. Saves counting up how many gas, ice, or rock colonisers you need, etc, etc.

And even a Medium Transport can haul slightly more population (just over 100M, say), with many more supply bays, for a much longer net range.

Re: What do you use transport ships for?
 

I have to agree, 99% of the people I have played against never realized, or don't use this strategy, but I believe that's a major mistake.

Use transports as colony ships from your HOMEWORLDS. You can transport a hell of a lot more population on it and that gives your new planets big bonuses immediately. I use regular colony ships from non-homeworlds until I get population built up on my new planets.

My other idea was already mentioned, I never mess with the possibility of sending the wrong colony type ship, I put them all on one ship, that way if plans change on my way to somewhere, I don't have to wait for a specific colony ship to build, mine can do any type. Just build a space yard on a base or station and have it repeat building colonizers the entire game and you'll be way ahead of everyone else.

No matter what anyone says, two things win this game, expansion and minerals. If you can do both better than the rest of the people in the game, you have a huge advantage.

- Takr

Re: What do you use transport ships for?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Moving population definitely, lauching sats and mines (with the proper component installed on the ship) often. I often use them to drop troops in combat. If I have to move fighters from one planet to another, I usually have them fly.
Weapon platforms ... umm no, the new planet can usually build it's own fairly quickly

Re: What do you use transport ships for?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I solved the dilemma by modding a universal colony component that you get once you research all colony types. Saves money and time since you don't have to build so much sh--, er crap. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif

Re: What do you use transport ships for?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Moving population definitely, lauching sats and mines (with the proper component installed on the ship) often. I often use them to drop troops in combat. If I have to move fighters from one planet to another, I usually have them fly.
Weapon platforms ... umm no, the new planet can usually build it's own fairly quickly</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Not if you want the planet to also develop quickly. Making the new colony build both its facilities and its own defenses can be a fatal mistake against a real (human) opponent. I'd put forward deployment of Weapon Platforms near the top of the list for transport uses.

Re: What do you use transport ships for?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">You're right, I'm a little soft on that, playing against the AI and all. However bear with me on some observations of mine...

Say you've colonized new planet in a new solar system. It's a medium non-breatheable world. It can hold, IIRC, 600 kt of cargo, and three facilities. With 34 million people in domed cities, again IIRC, it takes 1 turn to build a small missile platform. Two (or 3) turns to build a spaceport or resupply depot or 5 turns to build a spaceyard.

Now given that, Baron, you'd make sure you dropped 3 weapon platforms to shave 3 turns off of the year and a quarter. Would most people max it out with population to get, what, everything built in 7 turns instead of one year.

And will those 3 platforms really defend a planet againt a human player? I started my first PBW, so I guess I'll learn the hard way. But if I wanted to keep that planet, I'd leave a ship in orbit until it's shipyard could buid it's first ship. And put some fighters or mines or sats on each warp point.

[ September 29, 2002, 02:49: Message edited by: Arkcon ]

Re: What do you use transport ships for?
 

Undertakr said:
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Quite right, so why are you building those expensive and slow build colonizers? They cost you more in minerals (orgs and rads too) and take at least one turn more to build. So while you build 4 of your colonizers, I build at least 6... or 4 and two small transports. Amazing how many people you can move with two lousy transports. At any rate, within two years I have 50% more colonies than you. I'm ahead of you in expansion and mineral production.

Kim

Re: What do you use transport ships for?
 

I use them for population transports, general cargo transfers, carrying spare units here and there, tankers (gave supply storage the cargo ability), and repair/space yard ships (did the same thing to those components as well... Oh, and mine and satellite layers.

Re: What do you use transport ships for?
 

I like building colony ships that can be built in 1 turn in the later stages of the game. A colony ship with Ion Engine IIIs and a Solar Sail III moves 8 costs around 4650 (or so) minerals, which can easily be built at any planet with HI, 120% construction aptidude, SY III and a decent amount of population. Medium or Large Transports can bring in the population after the colony is established, so why bother having huge, expensive colony ships? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: What do you use transport ships for?
 

My late game colony ship has one quantum engine and a solar sail III. Moves speed 7 and is actually cheaper than Fyron's Ion model. It also frees up space for additional cargo components or whatever you like.

Kim

Re: What do you use transport ships for?
 

Kim, I never said I had the optimum model. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif I am too lazy to figure out what that is. My model works fine for me (and is faster than yours anyways). The 1 turn build time is all I care about. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: What do you use transport ships for?
 

quote:

Quite right, so why are you building those expensive and slow build colonizers? ...within two years I have 50% more colonies than you. I'm ahead of you in expansion and mineral production.

Kim

Possibly, not necessarily because the planets I get will have a building bonus due to population, so if you base your theory on just starting planets, you are correct, you may out produce me, but with all of my building bonuses, I'll probably be out producing you because it'll take less time for me to build shipyards on the new planets.

I do like the idea someone posted about 1 engine on the smaller ships, I hadn't thought of that, that's quite a good idea.

- Takr

Re: What do you use transport ships for?
 

Fyron, Undertakr, that's what I like about this game: so many ways to do the same thing and its almost impossible to figure out which is best. But here's a question for Undertakr: How much population do you need on each of your 10 planets to match production on my 15 planets each with less than 100 million population? Make it two: What population do you need to reduce planetary ship yard build time to less than 5 turns?

Back to the original question. When it comes to transports, I will use different hulls and configurations depending not only on usage, but tech level, pop growth rate, warp point position, economy etc, ad nauseum. I am only now beginning to develop some standard designs, certainly not all. About the only one I've used for a long time is a pop transport made from the small transport hull. And it can (and does) double as a transport for anything.
MaCready, I use transport hulls to transport anything. Now, 50% of the space must be used for some sort of cargo bay. That includes the cargo bay, satellite bay, mine layer, drone launcher, fighter bay and the colony components. Many mods have a small amount of cargo capacity in other components, notably the supply storage. This allows you to use transports as refuellers.

Kim

Re: What do you use transport ships for?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">HI and construction aptitude don't affect construction on planets with no SY, so any race would need 2000 pop to be able to build a SY in 4 turns on a planet (that's a build rate of 2600). I'd sure like to see the colony ship that can transport 2000 people, and the empire that could support a number of these monsters. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[ September 29, 2002, 09:22: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

Re: What do you use transport ships for?
 

Hate to go offtopic but... i've had an interesting idea come to me - anyone ever thought of designing a SYS of about DN or BB size, putting a SY on it and filling the rest with CARGO MODULES. Then once you come to a planet design a colonizer with 1 engine and colonize. Transport sme population from the ship to the planet, resupply and move to next planet...

Re: What do you use transport ships for?
 

Taera,
Actully that is on topic. An interesting idea. The only down side would be the Cost in resourses and lost produciton of all of those people.

Re: What do you use transport ships for?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yeah, but that results in a lot of lost construction when the planet goes off of EB. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif You still get more overall with more "smaller" colonies than you would with fewer "larger" colonies doing EB.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I used to do that all the time in SE3. By the time I get such large ships in SE4, there usually isn't anything left to colonize.

I have started doing something similar in Proportions games though. I send out SYS and a few Pop transports. The SYS build Colony ships, and the Pop transports drop off the pop. Then, they ferry pop from worlds that have grown to 2 mil to new, empty worlds. This is most effective, because colony ships only get to move 2 in Proportions, whereas SYS and Transports can move much more quickly. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[ September 29, 2002, 20:05: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

Re: What do you use transport ships for?
 

I use transports for automating micromanagement.

Example.

1 system 7 unit building planets. 4 planets building fighters, 2 planets building wp's 1 building troops.

I have 4 transports on repeat orders picking up the units from these planets and dropping them off at a staging area. WHich is set to a way point ( Man I would love 100 waypoints )

At this way point I have a few transports delivering WP's to front line colonies. A few more delivering fighters to fleet staging areas. And a few transports delivering troops to staging areas.

I also build pop transports. And use them.

As the game ages... I have more and more transports...

Because I like to leave repeat orders on... It ends up speeding up those epic 2 to 3 hour turns when you hit the 100 to 200 turn range. Also Helps you remember what your overall stag is.

Remeber think Lazy each turn and automate your empire where possible.

The transport helps out in this ....

Re: What do you use transport ships for?
 

Emergency build cuts a shipyard to 4 turns without needing any other bonuses.

Re: What do you use transport ships for?
 

I use them as general purpose trucks. I build them real cheap in the early game when build turns and resources are very valuable. So I could have more cheaper models and send them in different directions. I figure I can refit them later.
SAT launcher 1 only cost 100 minerals, takes up 30kt of space and stores 80kt cargo. Cargo pods cost 200, take up 20kt, and stores 150kt. A small transport needs 150kt of componant space dedicated for storage. So 5 SAT launchers are much cheaper then 8 cargo pods.

other:

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">This won't save me brain power when my empire has several different races breathing different atmospheres.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">True.
But, I do like the efficency of the one engine design. Fuel consupmtion is sectors moved multiplied by the number of engines.
A far reaching colony ship can be built with one good engine (with movement bonuses), plus solar collector, plus solar sail (movement bonus), and cargo 3.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">A ships armor or shield defences offer no more protection than an athletic supporter with a cup. So being able to hit and not getting hit in return is critical.

CAN YOU SAY OUCH!!! Read the story of THE RACE THAT COULD NOT SHOOT STRAIT.
My PBW race had Negative attack and Negative defense racial bonuses. I did not design the race, I was just the replacement player. I took it from 10th place to 1st place, but then War happened.
At one warp point the enemy jump in with a large fleet. They were at point blank range for my large and fully trained fleet. My ships open fired and missed some 80% of the shots. His ships returned fire and decimated my fleet.
You see, he was fully trained, had better ECM armor, better ECM, better combat sensors and better racial attack and defense Ratings. I would have needed a fleet at least 5 times larger to win the battle.
The enemy had quite a lead in research in this high research cost game. He could also afford large fleets because he had reduce maintenance costs.

[ September 30, 2002, 23:57: Message edited by: Wardad ]