Blockade strategy? - Page 3

Alneyan · #21 November 19th, 2003, 11:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by SpaceBadger:
Are you sure they are doing no damage? I have noticed that sometimes my seekers hit the planet, and there is no explosion so it looks like no damage, but they still manage to destroy the defending weapon platforms. Not sure why this is, haven't really made note of when/why it seems to happen.

SpaceBadger

I am sure no damage was done during the whole combat, quite a few times actually. Planets with two weapon-platforms and 20 million settlers were impossible to take down from afar with missiles and Maximal Range. And yes, there were no point-defense on these platforms. Don't ask. I seem to recall there was actually an explosion, but on the "outside" part of the planet. (The eight squares on the border, not the eight inward squares)

[ November 19, 2003, 21:09: Message edited by: Alneyan ]

Baron Grazic · #22 November 19th, 2003, 11:26 PM

Edit - I probibly shouldn't reply to the first page of a post.

[ November 19, 2003, 21:31: Message edited by: Baron Grazic ]

Will · #23 November 20th, 2003, 02:29 AM

Hey all, been a while since I posted...

Something else to keep in mind when you deselect planets in the types of targets to fire on, be sure that "Use Type Before Targeting Priorities" is enabled.

And for damage to planets at max range, IIRC your range is calculated from the nearest planet "square", but the missiles have to travel to the top-left "square" of the planet in order to do any damage.

SpaceBadger · #24 November 20th, 2003, 02:58 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Puke:
Yeah, you and me both. SOL on that one.

Darn. OK, thanks for letting me know.

Quote:

Some of the strategies in USM were written before the Last patch (or maybe a few patches ago) when ships that broke formation still followed the fleet strategy. I think that I prefered it that way, because ships are often most effective when they are not locked in a formation, and you probably want to determine stratagies for a FLEET rather than an entire class of ships..

I agree. Just because I want to set a few Battle Cruisers to Blockade does not mean I want every BC that I own to be set on that that strategy.

Quote:

quote:
The DefaultStrategies.txt in USM looks very good. I think I will start using it regularly.

and then you'll wish that you had your OWN parade of victory formation...

Not sure I get you... that is one of your formations from USM, right? I haven't had a chance to try them out yet.

BTW, what situation is the Stand-Off formation intended for?

SpaceBadger

Puke · #25 November 20th, 2003, 04:43 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by SpaceBadger:
BTW, what situation is the Stand-Off formation intended for?

max-range / dont get hurt, target nearest. if you have a fleet with ALOT of seekers, and you plan on relying on your superior range. it targets nearest instead of any of the other criteria you might see in other MR/DGH stratagies so as to avoid being lured into fireing range of one ship while chasing another.

regarding Puke's Parade of Victory, you'll just have to try it with a 35 ship fleet to find out.

Roanon · #26 November 20th, 2003, 07:50 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Will:
Something else to keep in mind when you deselect planets in the types of targets to fire on, be sure that "Use Type Before Targeting Priorities" is enabled.

Where is that? I only can find "Do not use Type Priorities" and ships keep glassing planets regardless of what is checked or not.

Grandpa Kim · #27 November 20th, 2003, 05:39 PM

I have never had luck with blockading so these are just ideas.

Setting both the fleet strategy and the ship strategy to "Don't get hurt" should work. The problem is your ships strat is set by ship design, not by individual ship. Most likely you have your ship designs spread through several fleets and you certainly don't want to cripple your ships in more active fleets with a "Don't get hurt" order.

One thing that might work is to set your fleet orders to "Don't get hurt", "Do not break formation" and "Don't fire on planets", as others have suggested BUT select as your fleet leader a ship that has "Don't get hurt" as its primary strat. IE. a repair ship or minesweeper. This should cause the leader to drag the fleet off to a corner and your attack ships should only fire on targets that happen to come in range.

I've not yet tried this, but it should work.

Parasite · #28 November 20th, 2003, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by SpaceBadger:
Are you sure they are doing no damage? I have noticed that sometimes my seekers hit the planet, and there is no explosion so it looks like no damage, but they still manage to destroy the defending weapon platforms. Not sure why this is, haven't really made note of when/why it seems to happen.

Missles (or at least Parasites

) will hit the planet if you enter the planet sector from the top or left. If you enter from the bottom or right there is IMHO a bug that fires your missiles at max range (say 8) when the planet hex is 8 away but the smaller "to hit" square is 9 away. The missiles then reach the planet but will not explode or hurt anything.

If you come in from the left the planet will be 8 hexes away and the "to hit" square will also be 8 hexes away so you will hit and kill things.

[ November 20, 2003, 19:46: Message edited by: Parasite ]

Will · #29 November 20th, 2003, 10:29 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Roanon:

quote:
Originally posted by Will:
Something else to keep in mind when you deselect planets in the types of targets to fire on, be sure that "Use Type Before Targeting Priorities" is enabled.

Where is that? I only can find "Do not use Type Priorities" and ships keep glassing planets regardless of what is checked or not.

It's a bit of confusing design... If you toggle "Do not use Type Priorities", the text changes to "Use Type Before Targeting Priorities". And sometimes it doesn't work, I forget what the conditions were.

Fyron · #30 November 20th, 2003, 10:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Parasite:

quote:
Originally posted by SpaceBadger:
Are you sure they are doing no damage? I have noticed that sometimes my seekers hit the planet, and there is no explosion so it looks like no damage, but they still manage to destroy the defending weapon platforms. Not sure why this is, haven't really made note of when/why it seems to happen.

Missles (or at least Parasites ) will hit the planet if you enter the planet sector from the top or left. If you enter from the bottom or right there is IMHO a bug that fires your missiles at max range (say 8) when the planet hex is 8 away but the smaller "to hit" square is 9 away. The missiles then reach the planet but will not explode or hurt anything. If you come in from the left the planet will be 8 hexes away and the "to hit" square will also be 8 hexes away so you will hit and kill things.

Wasn't that fixed in 1.84?