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Jtownsend said:
Although this clearly gives me a disadvantage at turtling, my tech aims (PPB) seem to accord with that strategy. So, next turn I'll be designing (if not sending out) minelayers.
The design I noticed in the FAQ was a small transport with 2 layers and cargo space. This struck me as a lot of cargo-to-laying ratio for a defensive minelayer. If I am near to my mine-producing worlds - in system - wouldn't devoting more space to laying components and less to cargo make sense? I'm not sure if advanced storage has an impact on this particular cargo issue.
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That seems like a rather imbalanced design to me, too. My first minelaying design is typically a small transport with 5 layers, 2 cargo bays, and stealth armor. This allows laying 10 mines per turn, gives 40 mines worth of cargo space, and allows cloaked deployment. You'll be getting stealth armor soon enough that I'd recommend waiting for it.
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Jtownsend said:
EDIT: Also, I can put 1 or 2 small warheads on my 10kt mine. Would putting one in to get more (harder to sweep) or two for a harder hitting mine make more sense in the early game? Some players are smart enough to sweep, but on the other hand, simply annihilating wayward visitors also has a certain appeal.
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Fill your mines full with warheads. Enough of the cost is in the mine hull itself that it really isn't worth cutting their explosive power in half just to get a little bit more numbers. Also, I forgot to recommend getting Explosive Warheads 2 on turn one. Put it in the queue between Armor and Physics. It will double your warheads damage with only a minor increase in cost.
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Jtownsend said:
As well, although I realize this would most often depend on what one discovers in neighboring systems, how early should I start slipping other constructions into my (EB) queues on the three homeworlds? Space stations for extra construction would be done in one turn, as would most any ship I could design.
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Well, with a pretty crowded galaxy, you'll probably establish your borders before your homeworlds run out of emergency build. Once borders are established, build a base space yard or two at each homeworld and start them on mines and minelayers. If your neighbors get off to a slower start and your borders keep expanding, keep on building colonizers until the last two turns of emergency build, then switch to the base space yards, and maybe put in a minelayer too. Note: you actually get 11 turns of emergency build before you're forced to stop. Once your homeworlds are on slow build, have them work on mines.
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Jtownsend said:
There are some things I don't know when I'm meant to start with - mines, troops, weapon platforms - well, units, really. I am a peaceful 81 ER 102 Hap Berzerker race, so I don't expect my people to be naturally despondant. But I've also not experienced an in-game reverse to know how many troops I need and when.
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Well, in the really crowded galaxy you're describing, it would be a good idea to have each colony put as many mines as it can build in one turn in orbit, but hold off on building for minelayers until you have your base space yards ready. With your happiness settings, troops shouldn't be necessary for quite a while. I usually don't bother with weapon platforms at all. You need too many of them to make a real difference, especially if the enemy can afford enough minesweepers to sweep your biggest minefields.