SEIV Gold and Satellites

[DocShane]

What is the word on satellite deployment in SEIV Gold? Has this issue been fixed? Will it ever be fixed?

[Shyrka]

Sorry me, but what issue are you talking about?

[Captain Kwok]

He wants to be able to deploy satellites in formations (say, around a planet or in an X shape) rather than just big stacks of them. I agree, I think this should be included in the Gold Edition.

[Shyrka]

Thanks for the explanation. I agree too. Sats lose efficency stacked, instead of scattering defensively around a planet/wormhole. That addition will improve the defense strategies.

[MegaTrain]

This has already been mentioned in another thread, but they have made a change that partially accomplishes what you want: Sats and Weapons platforms now get the range bonuses for larger weapons mounts just like bases.

This means that a satellite group even on the FAR side of the planet still can mount a considerable defense with some larger weapons mounts. Of course that means that you'll have to research larger satellites to get those mounts, but its better than nothing, and was probably considerably easy to program than the change you would like to have.

[Q]

There is still a problem with point defense: If missiles come from the opposite side of the planet, satellites with point defense cannons may not be able to stop attacking missiles and fighters that target the planet. Weapon mounts do not affect point defense cannons. The only possibility I see is to make a special PDC, that can be used only with sats and has an increased range.

[Sinapus]

The increased weapon range for satellite mounts is fine, but what may be more useful is spreading the satellites in a ring formation around the planet or warp point or basically the center of the tactical map. Keep the large group that shows up on the game map.

Something like a six or eight point ring that divides the satellites as evenly as possible amongst the points. Or, maybe incorporate the coding used for fleets to allow a formation to be assigned to a satellite group. Except it might require a separate entry for default formation since things like the Dark Wing and Compact formation don't really work that well for planetary and warp point defense.

Hm. Maybe something similar for fighters could be used as well. Except each point on the formation should place as many units as the default group size until they run out of units.

[Baron Munchausen]

quote:

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Originally posted by Q:
There is still a problem with point defense: If missiles come from the opposite side of the planet, satellites with point defense cannons may not be able to stop attacking missiles and fighters that target the planet. Weapon mounts do not affect point defense cannons. The only possibility I see is to make a special PDC, that can be used only with sats and has an increased range.

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Even better, make a PDC mount (Yes, you can make a mount specifically for PDC) just for sats, WPs, and bases. Give it extra damage and range then reduce the default PDC somewhat. Ships will have a harder time defending against missiles while fixed defenders will be stronger. Doesn't this make good sense? Wouldn't a non-mobile sat, WP, or base have just as much reason to have more accurate and more powerful PDC as main weapons?

[ 09 December 2001: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]

[Baron Munchausen]

Regarding sat Groups: Yes, there should be a way to spread them around a little bit. There is a setting called "Combat Satellite Group Amount" in SETTINGS.TXT that doesn't seem to do anything. Would be nice if a stack of 50 or 60 sats was broken up into Groups of 20 (the default setting) or less and scattered around when combat actually began, wouldn't it? All I can say is, keep pestering MM so he'll make thet setting actually do something.

[Q]

Thank you Baron for this excellent idea! I wasn't aware of the possibility to make a special mount for PDC alone.