To be honest with you, I only use minelayers early in the game up to about TURN 50 or so. After that, I don't need them as I can often beat the crap out of any AI that comes through a warp point.
In my Last game, I used mines for only about 25 turns before switching to satalites. Then after about the 150th turn, I scrapped the sats, and started shutting down WP's.
My designes are simple, the basics, plus a ton of Minelayer or sat components. I lay them in mass with 5 ships at one time. I also lay them remotely so they will add them to any exisiting mines or sats already at the target area.
The bigger the ship, the more it can carry.
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"We've made too many compromises already, too many retreats! They invade our space and we fall back -- they assimilate entire worlds and we fall back! Not again! The line must be drawn here -- this far, no further! And I will make them pay for what they've done!" -- Patric Stewart as Captain Picard
UCP/TCO Ship Yards
