Re: Looking for a killer strategy with Deeply Religious trait
 

There is really no such thing as the optimum ship for fighting with (or against) the talisman. Ship and fleet strategies also become very important.
General rules (I use) when playing religious:
- Keep all strategies to Max distance.
- Choose weapons that keep their punch at distance. WMG and some of the racial weapons is best, but APB not so bad either.
- Bigger is better. Those Talismans is expensive and heavy, so don't waste them on small ships.

Hope this helps as a start. There are a lot of great players out there who I am sure has more (and better) advise to give. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

primitive

Re: Looking for a killer strategy with Deeply Religious trait
 

Obviusly, you can ignore battle scanners when you have talisman.

Re: Looking for a killer strategy with Deeply Religious trait
 

APBs do a lot more damage than WMGs. The only benefit of the WMG is that it gets a 30% (IIRC) bonus to hit, which does not matter with Talismans. The extended range does not really make up for the lack of punch, as that range can easily be covered by ships with solar sails and decent engine tech. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Looking for a killer strategy with Deeply Religious trait
 

When using the talisman and maximum range strategies I would recommend to toggle on "don't fire on" for Seekers on us, Seekers on others, fighters´and drones. If you don't, your PDC-equipped ships will begin to "hunt" missiles, fighters and drones, i.e. moving close (max PDC range is 5) to the enemy to find targets.
Toggling on these buttons does not mean that your PDCs don't fire at these vehicles at all, they still will fire automatically when a possible target moves into range. It only prevents the "hunting" I described.
Credits still go to PvK who came up with that approach several months ago.

[ February 22, 2003, 23:19: Message edited by: Rexxx ]

Looking for a killer strategy with Deeply Religious trait
 

Howdy!

What kind of strategy works best for a Deeply Religious race? What kind of killer ships should I build if I have the Talisman (spesific schematics would be appreciated)? On what things should I NOT waste time on when I have the Talisman researched?

Re: Looking for a killer strategy with Deeply Religious trait
 

I would advise using more than just APB's. Yes, their superior range combined with the Talisman is deadly, but that advantage can be limited when the enemy can get closer when they fire. In fleets, you might want to design some ships with engine destroyers. Your ships will still attempt to move out of an enemy's range, but the engine destroyers will limit the enemy's ability to close with your ships, allowing you to pick them apart from a distance that they may not be able to hit you or hit you effectively.

In addition, if your opponent is using Organic tech, killing their engines may also eliminate the ability of their armor to regenerate.

Re: Looking for a killer strategy with Deeply Religious trait
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Regeneration does not require supplies. How would a lack of engines (and therefore a probable lack of supplies) accomplish this?

I think he just meant to use APBs as the primary weapon. There is always room for secondary weapons like Ionic Dispersers, Shield Depeltors, etc.

Re: Looking for a killer strategy with Deeply Religious trait
 

Thanks for the replies.

If I understand correctly, I should research APBs and use them as my main weapons. What about ship hulls? Light cruiser seems to rock due to their low requirements (only 1 bridge / crew quarters / life-support). Should I build dozens of smaller ships (i.e. light cruisers) or should I move onto bigger hulls such as battleships and complement them with a few smaller ships? What about null-space weapons... are they any good?

If anyone has a link to "how-to-rule-the galaxy-with-Deeply-Religious-trait" guide I would really much appreciate it. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif Also, I would be interested if someone could post a couple of their killer ship designs (with a talisman on it).

Re: Looking for a killer strategy with Deeply Religious trait
 

As I said, there are a lot of great players out there who has more (and better) advise to give than me. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

However;
The beauty of SEIV is that there are no such thing as the Ultimate shipdesign. There is a counter strategy for every type of design, the whole point is to guess what your opponent is using.

Both the Talisman and APB (12 levels) are very expensive to research. By the time you have both you should at least have Battleship. Then you can use the Heavy Mount and get a real punch. What else you put on that ship should be dictated by your opposition and what other ships you use in your fleet.

For Your particular game, maybe you should go for PPB first (If you haven't already). Personally I would never use The talisman for anything smaller than a Cruiser. My standard Cruiser with PPB would be: MasterComputer (if there are psychic players around), 6 engines, Talisman, Multiplex tracking, ECM, 2 PD, 4 PPB (Large mount) + 130 KT of the best Armor/Shields available.

I expect the next post to be from Fyron who will tell how much this design sucks. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: Looking for a killer strategy with Deeply Religious trait
 

matt was asking for design plans on his ships. So definitely having a ship will all APB (particularly when you reach the highest levels) is an effective ship when mixed with the Talisman. Having engine destroyers and shield depleters are good additions, but if this ship is set on maximum range to take advantage of its best asset, these other weapons won't see any use.

My advice is that he make designs including such weapons as part of the overall fleet.

I wasn't too sure about the organic armor, but it does contain a number in the "supplies used" section. I guess that may apply for movement, like stealth armor or cloaking. I have run simulations that indicated (and yes, I know the simulator isn't the best source for this) that the regeneration was halted when the engines were destroyed. Since they were the only source for supplies, it seemed to make some sense. That's why I said "may eliminate".

Re: Looking for a killer strategy with Deeply Religious trait
 

The goal with Religous is to dance... SO make sure your ships are maxed out on engines and with the solar sail. Also make sure you have 1 supply cargo. the 2 sensors ( Multi tracking and the defensive bonus one ), Depending on how your enemy is add the one each of the two defensive armors ( For that extra 30% on defence ) A couple of shields ( depending on what the enemey comes at you with but always put one on) and then in the following order 2xshield depleter, 1xengine weapon , Weapon of choice , 2 PDC's

Now set it to max range and enjoy....

Re: Looking for a killer strategy with Deeply Religious trait
 

When you set up your .emp max out you defense - use all your offense points for something else (and sweat it out till you get the talisman) and take bezerker. Always set your ship strategy to max range.

[ February 23, 2003, 22:14: Message edited by: rextorres ]

Re: Looking for a killer strategy with Deeply Religious trait
 

Yeah, worked pretty well for whoever was originally playing as the Kif in DimensionX2 on PBW (sorry I can't remember his name!) ... that is until everyone else except the Galactic Concordium (who were meanwhile building up massive fleets since I had foolishly agreed not to colonize in their space - see, I was in the middle, they were to my right, and everyone else was to the left, so they got to control half the galaxy unopposed!) ganged up and wiped them out!

That's why I'm surprised anyone is even giving tips here... usually it's like "OMG he's got Religious and he's going to take over the galaxy! Let's stop him!!!" http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: Looking for a killer strategy with Deeply Religious trait
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The very fact that people have that reaction tells you that something is awry with Talismans. I certainly hope they don't make it into SE5. Or, at least not as 100% to hit.

Re: Looking for a killer strategy with Deeply Religious trait
 

scary thought
battlestation / starbase
armed with
1x tractor
endless amount of rippers

and outfitted with talisman.

Gosh, if it'd be starbase with the maximum mount i DONT WANT TO MEET IT

Re: Looking for a killer strategy with Deeply Religious trait
 

And do not forget LWP's with the tailsman... can cause alot of damage to the ships...

P.S. I am in disagreement with you Fryon... It costs 1500 points.. Sure it hurts... But it is fun to beat.

Re: Looking for a killer strategy with Deeply Religious trait
 

The Talisman is very effective in a low ship limit game ( less than 500), because you can build high powered ships that cannot be easily swarmed.

In a 300 ship limit game, I build Dreadnaught ships with Null Space III and Repulser III (12 hex flinging with Heavy mounts). 1-4 repluser beams are nice to have while the Null Space are reloading to fling your enemeies away. Repulsers do not work as well with a Max Range strategy or a run while reloading strategy (Max Range/Don't Get Hurt)

Just Null Space works nice on Battleships as you can use Max Range/Don't Get hurt to run away while reloading your Null Space. You can do a similar thing with Torpedos. APBs do more damage per round than Torpedoes and Null Space, but they keep you within striking distance, whereas ROF 2+ can make your ship move well away while reloading.

As mentioned, the Talisman begs you to go high on defense and to reduce your offensive modifier, but low offense can cripple you to use ramming, boarding, and seekers until you get the Talisman. I would not recommend that you go below 100% on offense as a 120% Defense/Beserker would be very hard to hit.

Do not use Base Ships as they are too easy for non Talisman races to hit. Only when fighting another Relgious player consider using Base ships. About 3 Massive Mount Null Space Weapons will gut most any ship they hit!

[ February 24, 2003, 18:59: Message edited by: LGM ]

Re: Looking for a killer strategy with Deeply Religious trait
 

"P.S. I am in disagreement with you Fryon... It costs 1500 points.. Sure it hurts... But it is fun to beat."

Yes, and any other race can only get a 25% (racial) bonus to hit for 1500 racial points. Sounds balanced to me.

It is the 100% guarantee that is the biggest problem. Nothing should be 100%.

I never said it was unbeatable, just that it is overpowered and unbalanced.

Re: Looking for a killer strategy with Deeply Religious trait
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Be glad it does not have engine killers and repulser beams. With massive mounts they would sent your immobile ships into far corners of battle map http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif