Defense for small planets!?
 

I have a plethora of small worlds with inadequate defense. Thus far, I've tried everything from a Sat/Mine mix, fleets in orbit, and expanding their Cargo storage. Obviously, because of their small contribution to my overall empire, I cannot spare too much. Anyone have any good suggestions for a good defense that doesn't cost too much?

Re: Defense for small planets!?
 

Don't defend planets, defend warp points.

The best defense is a good offense. Take the fight to him and he won't have much left to throw at your little planets. Your meager defenses should be sufficient for that.

Combined arms unit warfare. Mines on WP and planet, combined with weapon platforms and fighters; none of which costs any maint. fees.....

Re: Defense for small planets!?
 

mines, they're perfect to defend planets, and maybe one or two ships in orbit, just in case some ships survive.
But as dumbluck said, defending warp points is much better and cheaper.

Re: Defense for small planets!?
 

Defend the Warp Points not the planets.

Re: Defense for small planets!?
 

A cargo facility and LOTS of fighters.

Re: Defense for small planets!?
 

forget cargo facilities just build fighters on all of your planets and launch them ever turn and store them at the worm hole entrance or around one of your worlds as soon as someone enters the system put 5 billion fighters at them http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

of course my standard defence for small worlds is to not have small worlds they are not worth while just have big ones http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/ima...ons/icon10.gif

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CyC
The Person not the AI
L+++ GdY $!+ Fr+ C--- S* T!- Sf++ Tcp++ A? M++ MpM RV Pw+ Fq++ Nd+++++ Rp++ G

Re: Defense for small planets!?
 

Everything all the others said are good. Most players usually fortify moons that are in conjunction with larger planets because they only have 1-2 facilities. They put cargo on them and then put WP's and a spaceyard and if room ftr bays. Small moons by themselves are tough to defend, if they have good resources build that facility and whatever room you have for wp's. You probably won't be able to hold it against determined invasion. Best bet is put strong defenses on worm holes, but against human player the worm hole open/closer will eventually nullify that, so ftrs are probably best defense in this respect. If its one you want to really defend, then ftrs and numerous sats with seekers, beam and PD defenses. If you use fleets to defend each one its a waste of resources and very expensive. If you build a spaceyard then you could also build battlestations, it depends on how much you want to keep it and what your willing to spend vs what it takes to hold onto it...

just some ideas mac

[This message has been edited by mac5732 (edited 21 September 2001).]

Re: Defense for small planets!?
 

I always felt for defending small planets or any planet for that matter you have to decide what defence stag. you want for each type of planet.

Usually with med, small or tiny planets I use them to house system wide fac's wharehouses, research or intel planets.

(p.s. ) I aways take the 125% racial trait for planets.

So for small planets if there by themselves then I will place what system wide's i want on them up to max 2. 1 slot for ship yard and the remaining 3 for cargo holds.

If a small or tiny planet is orbiting a large planet then they will just have cargo fac's and one of the orbiting planets will have a ship yard.

I fill them with weapons platforms, fighters and soldiers. Usually a 50, 30 , 20 mix. on 60 % of the cargo hold. The remaining 40 % go to inbound and outbound units


I also try to build orbital platforms to help with this defence.

But it all depends on the mod.

And another consideration to take into account is the location of the small planet

Further back from the front the more they will be producing out bound units.

The good thing about this is that you can create a non-static planet defence system based on your needs short term and long term.

The 40 % used for short term and the remaining 60% for long term.

THis makes sence right???????

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L? GdX $ Fr C++ SdT T+ Sf* Tcp+ A M++ MpTM ROTS Pw+ Fq+ Nd Rp++ G+

Re: Defense for small planets!?
 

On all of my planets, I will build fighters every turn, if I can afford them. I will also lauch them every time that I have a group of 10. I move them to a warp point that I want to defend. Soon you will have hundreds or thousands of fighters on the loose (up to the game limit). I will also max out the cargo facility on each planet with fighters (Last stand defense). Also I build freighters and load them up with fighters, for reserves. Freighters are also great for staging fighters to new systems.

Even if I come up against an opponent that has a lot of PD, the number of fighters will do a lot of damage, usually buying me enough time to move a fleet in.

I find that you need to have a way to detect the enemy fleets before they hit your systems, for defense to be most effective.

This works out well for games that allow fighters to move on the system map. Because they can move on the systems map, I think this makes them too strong, so in my mod fighters cannot move on the system map, but the move at least twice as fast as the fastest ship in combat.

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Never Give up, Never Surrender!

Re: Defense for small planets!?
 

I can only echo Cyrien. It is far more efficient to defend the warp points. Failing that, the old saw "The best defense is a good offense" holds true. Put the other guy on the defensive and he's much less likely to be able to attack your small planets.