Stellar Manipulation Qs

jim · #1 January 28th, 2004, 05:38 AM

In a couple earlier Q Posts, I mentioned that I was shaping towards a NON-Gold game showdown with a psychic AI let alone too long. Well, I'm almost there. The AI's heavy ships almost all have Sweep Vs, virus, and subverters. Combined with every AI system having training facilities, I cannot win a fleet fight no matter what I do. I have connived and stalled until I had Star Destroyers well into the construction queues, along with warp openers and closers.

Ideally, I'd "nuke" the border systems where I see main fleets of 100 or more warships, then shoulder into the heart of his empire with a big fleet with plague ships for stubborn worlds and a few more star destroyers for big inner systems.

Now, that looks unlikely, as his sensors are too good. So, I may have to be sneaky, but I almost never do stellar manipulation, so I do not know certain things. Thus:

1) Can I make a wormhole directly over a planet? The idea would be to convert a breathable into a fleet trap with cargo facilities allowing me to get a huge # of WPs there.

2) Can I make a wormhole on a star and then make a blackhole of it, preserving the wormhole? The idea would be to make a fleet trap. (I do not see a way to do it with a pre-existing blackhole)

3) Can I do Stellar manip while cloaked, either w/stealth armor of cloaking device?

4) If I have never been to a system and am not Ancient, can I make a wormhole and go through it on one turn? (I think I recall the trick of doing it after I have been to the target system) The idea would be to appear with a fleet deep in his space, possibly in a nebula system where he has not managed to kill the nebula, make planets, and build anti-Stellar manip facilities.

(At the moment, my second "track" is intel. I have left two other AIs in the game, amde treaties with them, and all three of us are eroding the psychic AIs CI. If we break through, I can try to destroy him via stealing ships and planets. I have ~600K to his 5 x 130K, but the other AIs have 5 x 10K and 5 x 80K. Fun game!)

Phoenix-D · #2 January 28th, 2004, 05:50 AM

1. Yes.

2. Yes. However the black hole only damages at the end of each turn, so ships can escape.

3. Probably not.

4. I don't think so, not in simultanious. In sequential of course this is simple.

Paul1980au · #3 January 28th, 2004, 06:11 AM

Fun game the plague idea sounds great what about dropping in with mines laying them and then closing a warp point ? let him wonder into a trap - the AI does this often. you will need an open and close warp point ship at once. But attacking the core empire sounds a good starting point. You might also want to seal off someone of his connected systems. This would make it easier to pick off 1 system at a time :>?

narf poit chez BOOM · #4 January 28th, 2004, 07:11 AM

Quote:

2) Can I make a wormhole on a star and then make a blackhole of it, preserving the wormhole? The idea would be to make a fleet trap. (I do not see a way to do it with a pre-existing blackhole)

ooh, sneaky.

except i can't see it working against a human more than once.

4., someone has mentioned that if you set it up so the wormhole is made before your fleet arrives, you can do that in simultaneus.

Alneyan · #5 January 28th, 2004, 03:11 PM

I can tell you it is not possible to use Stellar Manipulation cloaked, at least it does not work with Warp Closers as I found out in my KOTH game. (And I deserve to be laughted at for the remainder of my life for losing three turns to destroy that worm hole while the EEEvil OnEEEs were breaking through somewhere else, but I digress)

I think you can open a Worm Hole (which is the very first order in a simulatenous game) and send your ships through this one, if you order them to go to the targetted system. They should use the fastest road available and will travel through this Worm Hole, if it is indeed the fastest course. Not that I haven't checked this one yet, so it is only the theory (and what I read once or twice on these forums, and perhaps in the Newbie FAQ). Hope it helps!

Slynky · #6 January 28th, 2004, 07:32 PM

If you have never been to a system, you can't "move" to it. So, when you create the wormhole, the only way to go through it is to use the "warp" command. AND, since the warp hole is not there to click on when doing a silmultaneous turn, you can't warp to it on the same turn you create it.