Ship weapon loadout

[oogs]

I'm rather new to the game... still playing the demo. One thing that is still eluding me after several 100-turn runs is the optimal weapon load for a ship.

I have tried several things:
-All DF weapons (maxing out the demo's tech level), but these failed miserably vs the AI's missile ships.
-All missiles, which has enabled me to play ~50 turns w/o loosing a ship and winning every battle... that is, untill I tried shooting down satelites.
-A mix of the two, but that is a bit more complicated.


In my current game I am using the all missile ships, and I have integrated light carriers (I'm researching carries now). My missile ships - while great at dealing with enemy ships - cannot touch satellites or fighters. They are great because I can pretty much ignore defense and equip them with as many engines and missiles as possible, so they get in firing range, fire 7-8 missles each, then run away for a couple turns.
The reason I stopped using all DF ships was beacuse they needed to be fast, have lots of weapons AND lots of defense (so they can withstand any pounding that occurs before/while they are in range). This is also what is making me hesitate using a mix of DF and missiles.
Is there any sort of general rule when it comes to outfitting ships, or do you have any suggestions for how I should try to outfit my ships (keep in mind that the demo doesn't let you get above cruisers).

[Phoenix-D]

Keep all single-type weapon ships EXCEPT you want Point Defense Cannons. These will fire on incoming missiles, fighters, etc. They also get a 70% to-hit bonus and abosultely butcher what they can hit.

DF weapons are actually better than missiles once you get them high enough. Missiles simply don't fire enough. Remember on your Cruisers and Light Cruisers to click the Weap Mount button and use Large Mounts for your direct fire weapons. that increases they're effectiveness quite a bit.

[Fyron]

PDC are the bane of missile strategies. Far too powerful in unmodded game.

I notice that you signed on to the #se4 IRC channel but then left after less than a minute...

[Phoenix-D]

Also keep in mind that pure PDC ships won't close on the enemy since they think they have nothing to shoo t at. You must include at least one other weapon.

[Baron Munchausen]

Like others have said here, keep your ship types 'pure'. All seekers or all DF, and a few PDC in each ship. Give the seeker ships "maximum weapons range" strategy and give the DF ships something like "Optimum Weapons Range" or maybe "Short Weapons Range" or "Point Blank" if they are shorter-ranged powerful weapons like Ripper Beams or the Graviton Hellbore. Carriers should have 'Don't Get Hurt' as their strategy and no weapons except some PDC. Make the carrier a big launcher with as many cargo and fighter bays as possible and let the fighters engage the enemy. It's good to combine many different types, just keep them fleeted into distinct Groups with the proper strategies.

[oogs]

Well, I'm quickly adding "defensive" ships (with tons of shields/armor and some DF weapons) to bear the brunt of the punishment, as well as pure DF. Of course, since I can't get any contruction upgrades, it takes forever to build new ships :\ I would add PDC ships, but I'm gearing my fleets towards a specific enemy (the demo will run out before I have a chance to properly engage anyone else) that doesn't use missiles.


As for my stopping by on IRC... the channel seemed rather empty, and I don't usually hang out on gamesnet.

Also, out of curiosity: is there any way to "link" construction yard together. i.e. if I have 3 or 4 bases with construction yards, can I group them in some way so that they combine their resources? (if that doesn't make sense, just picture it as each construction yard building a piece of the ship and then combining the whole thing)