[Growltigga]

well, if you have all techs researched then really the choice of weapon is completely up to you - experiment is al that I can say, personally, I like CSM's, torpedoes, APBs, PPB's, a big stick with a nail knocked through it and a half brick in a sock!

I havn't got my laptop and SEIV to hand so cant give you specific designs. However, I can say that a lot of my ship design theory depends on what stage of the game I am at and sometimes how much is left in the bottle of wine.

WRT battlefleets, early on I research fighters and use light carriers as my imprimus warships - as light carriers are 800K, they get the large weapons mount and you can design close assault style carriers with APB's on large mounts to follow your fighters in - pretty devastating combination early on, or missile heavy light carriers to shell the enemy and tie up their point defense cannon.

I will also build escort destroyers which are either armed missile heavy to shell opponents to tie up their point defence cannon or armed with point defence to keep off enemy fighters

I change designs and retrofit regularily depending on who or what I am fighting

Later on, I will build combined arms fleets of missile armed and beam armed light cruisers, depending on how rapped up the opponent is with point defence ie lots then more beam armed vessels

My close assault beam ships are heavy on shields, armour, combat sensors, ecm and are designed to attack in packs (with missile ship support) to rip the cojones of an enemy fleet. I keep these close assault cruisers up to date with the latest and heaviest beam technology I have. Physics II and phased weaponry is a must for me.

I tend to built light cruisers as they get a defensive bonus. Always keep in mind that the best response to an enemy battleship may not be a battleship of your own, but a pack of light cruisers or destroyers.

The 'swarm' technique can be effective, especially if used as a surprise, but it is not a panacea.

I generally only use cruisers as CL squadron commanders (reality check for me) or as specialised construction yard ships (the cruiser is the smallest hull you can get a spaceyard module in)

I do build battlecruisers, battleships and dreadnoughts and keep a small core of these available - I find them too slow to be reactive enough strategically but 20 battleships/dreadnoughts massed in a surprise strike with fighter support is pretty unstoppable

planetary defence is all about LAYERS

build defence bases with a mix of beam and missile, build weapons platforms with your choice of poison on them, put mines in orbit, mass up satellites and dont forget fighter squadrons. keep a small defence fleet handy as well -

I make sure that all my benign colony worlds have a cargo facility built on them, with defences going triple O, you would be amazed how many ships are needed to even glass one of these planets.

On planetary defence, dont forget to build point defence cannons - I put them in satellites and with 30 of these bunnies in orbit, very little is going to get through.

The other thing you need are spy ships - cloaked/stealth armour small ships with long range scanners that can lurk on your borders - knowledge is the key to winning a battle and the lack of a few spy ships to give you advance warning can be fatal

[ 19 March 2002: Message edited by: Growltigga ]