[inigma]

Well, I wonder if an overall fleet doctrine of capturing enemy ships would work in SEIV.

I was thinking that The Plague would depend on large numbers of cheap specialized ships that would work together for the good of the boarding and subverting ships.

Has anyone ever tried boarding and subversion as an overall fleet doctrine before? Did it work well?

I ran some designs in the simulator last night, and I must say that the coordination paid off. Resource for resource, boarding/subverting was either on par or far ahead of other doctrines I tested.

Research-wise, it has its drawbacks, so a good early defense is necessary, but when boarding and subverters become available, the resource curve for boarding/subverting plateaus off versus following other doctrines around mid tech.

One thing is for sure. If I ever get The Plague perfected, they will be one annoying AI. Due to their fleet doctrine, they would practically force you to make peace with everyone else while you refit your ships valuable space with MCs and anti-boarding stations just to defend against their attack, not to mention finding a way to make best use of the remaining space for offensive operations. On top of it all, forcing you to carry lots of repair ships to fix all the engine damage when you do survive their attacks.