[Kynalvarus]

quote:

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Originally posted by Andy Watkins:
Dont defend planets. Defend Space. If the enemy reaches your planets it means your fleet has been shredded and you are already history.

I tried that first couple of games I tried but had problem then that enemy ships could move quite fast and would "Shoot past me" and clobber my planets. At minimum you seem to have at least an outer layer of systems that need protecting, this may well be half a dozen or so systems with several worlds in them....

I've found that you have to at least try to hold the warp points, or else you give up several key defensive advantages. These are information, surprise, position, force concentration, initiative, and resource cost.
Presuming you have not been spysatted or probed, that first fleet into your territory has no real idea what might be on the other side of that warp point. Surprise follows from this. When the enemy warps in, they don't know what is waiting for them. If they prepare for every contingency, they need far more ships and tech, and thus time and resources to build up. Also their 'teeth to tail' ratio gets bad and so their maintenance cost per Ship of the Line gets high. Defensive units are maint-free, and bases 50%. If they rush in and hope for the best, then a well-set warp point defense will destroy far more than it cost to build.
Positionally, the enemy must come through a warp point, and so unless they're opening their own you know they have to face at least one of your border warp points. Properly equipped, they can run right by your border planets looking for softer targets. They can also pull nasty tricks like sacrificial plague/smartbomb/radiation hits which screw up the planet and only cost one ship per. If an enemy gets through my warp point in force I usually cut losses, write off the system, and fall back to the next warp point.
In the quadrants I've played there are more planets than warp points in normal planetary systems. At least one of the 3-4 has to point back to more of your space. Usually you'll have two or three to cover, and if you can plan it right, you'll only have one. In any event this lets you concentrate your forces far more effectively than trying to defend each planet. Trying to defend planets, at least in TDM, is IMHO a dicey proposition at best. Small domed colonies just can't hold the weight of gear to deal with even small fleets.
In warp point battles the defender usually gets the advantage, and you start at short range. I love medium/large sats at this point. The +4 range lets them cover the point and often outrange the enemy ships. They can't be targetted by seekers (but can by PD) so they're going to get in at least one shot. I particularly like making 'flytraps' of mines and engine-destroying sats - even when they lose the enemy has to take months to put those engines back together.
Finally, resource cost - units don't cost maintenance, and typically have better damage/cost and HP/cost ratios than ships.


Plus supply, I normally base my ships on planets because of supply. I used to base them at worm holes but then have to remember to keep getting them resupplied.

Andy

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Put up a cheap spaceyard base, once you have cruisers to make spaceyard ships. Stick it in any fleet you want refueled and presto, next turn full tanks. If it's a key warp point, make it a battlestation or starbase, add repair bays to supplement the spaceyard, and give it a few minelayers/satlayers/dronelauncher/fighterbays/cargo so that it can build up the defense, and restock after successful defenses. Also give it self-destruct & security stations unless you want your enemy to someday have a forward base with which to kill you. ;-)

Oh, and if you leave out the sensors you just wasted all of your time.

Kynalvarus