If you ask many stupid questions...

[jars_u]

...they will come. Ok, whoever is listening and has answers I have many questions:

1. Fighter Bays: each bay can launch 1 fighter per turn? So when you say launch fighters in Groups of 5, total number of fighters launched = 5/fighter bays as long as you have fighters remaning?

2. Fighter movement: I noticed no matter how many engines you have in the design if you launch fighters in Groups they can only move 1 "square" in the tactical map, is this correct?

3. (There was a question here but I figured that one out )

4. In the tactical map how do you turn off the "lead ship" so then when you move that particualr ships all the others in the fleet do not try to follow it?

5. Are point defense weapons only useful aganist fighters, and shoot automatically? Also does the (multiple target tracker) allow point weapons to shoot at more then one group of fighters?

6. When you have cargo mods in a colony ship and you use the create colony command do you still have to load cargo to get the EXTRA population?

7. I noticed in the "?" menu the Small Rocket Pods have a Rate of Fire listed as 30, is this a typo? As most of the other weapons are 1-3.

8. Do certain ship components result in cumulative totals? i.e. If I but 3 level 1 combat sensors on a ship do I get a 60% when targeting enemies?

Anyway... as you can see I have been spending a lot of time playing the demo, I hope the new demo that is suppose to come out Monday has more stuff (and a longer turn limit). Also was playing one game and found a black hole that crushed a buch of my ships till I figured out how to get around it. It was great! In a way anyway.

jars_u

[Grumbling Grognard]

1-2 I have yet to use fighters, so I don't know.

4. Yes, under the "Orders" button there are four choices ranging from setting a group leader to clearing all group assignments.

5. AFAIK point defense weapons work against fighters AND seekers (missiles/torps). So they have uses against both types. As far as multiple targeting, I would expect yes, but I don't know.

6. No, they are loaded automatically when your regular colony module is loaded with its basic load of 4mil.

7. I don't know, but expect it is a typo because I have used them and they seemed about as effective as my Meson II amed troops.

8. I don't know, but I hope not. I would expect things like EM, ECCM to be non-cumulative bonuses. But I really don't know.

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The Grumbling Grognard

[Baron Munchausen]

1) Total number of fighters launched per turn = number of fighter bays until you run out of fighters, or bays if you are under attack and they get destroyed.

2) No, fighters can move much faster with more engines and/or more _advanced_ engines. In the demo, you are restricted to level one technology for fighters. In the full Version we will have access to all the techs. Small Quantum Engines give a +3 bonus just like ship Quantum Engines, so fighters can potentially move as fast as ships. Or faster, with afterburners.

4) Clinton's response is correct. Open the orders box and use the "clear formation" button. You can clear the lead ship, which clears the entire formation it leads.

5) Point defense weapons can target any of seekers (missiles), fighters, and satellites. I think they can also target mines if mines should appear in the combat map. The issue of multiple targets and PD weapons is unclear. As far as I have seen, each PDC seems to be a self-contained system that tracks and fires on its own, without any reference to your ship's targetting abilities. Perhaps this will be made clearer in the next release of the demo.

6) Clinton's response to this one is correct also. Your colony ship automatically loads as much population as it can carry when you ue the colonize button.

7) No, this is NOT a typo. Rocket pods are meant to be like rocket pods on RL warplanes. 30 turns is the duration of combat. You fire them and they are empty. You must return to your base/ship for a reload if you want to fire again. Look at the damage they do! Would it be fair for a fighter to have so much power as a multi-fire weapon? Note: The number of fighter bays is also the number of fighters you can _recover_ per turn.

8) Certain ship components do result in cumulative totals, but ECM and Combat sensors are not among them. The highest level of either is what you will get. Shields and Shield regenerators are cumulative, though.

Yes, the next Version of the demo is supposed to be out Monday or Tuesday. Many things should be improved, including the AI.

[jars_u]

Thanks for answering my questions! I am certain I will have more soon...

P.S. For anyone who wants to know I read in the Sep issue of CGM that MOO3 is going RT for combat which I think sucks. So that is one more reason you need to pre-order SE4 now

[jars_u]

Ok I found the link to this review here on shrapnel:
http://www.strategy-gaming.com/previews/space_empire_4/

It states: "Ships are built like the old tabletop game Starfire - within a given weight for a hull size, components are added in linear order, left to right. Damage in combat is applied from right to left, giving would-be ship designers some strategic choice even at the ship-design level. Do you put your guns to the right of engines, allowing semi-damaged ships to (hopefully) escape to fight another day? Or do you put the engines to the right of the guns, protecting your weapons possibly the few more moments needed to win a critical fight?"

Is this statement correct?

jars_u

Ok its after 12am - where is the new demo already?!?!?!

[Grumbling Grognard]

I don't think so. I think beyond the game mechanics (ie armor is hit first) hits are randomized. I have seen a lot of bridges get hit, and I would think they would almost always be the first module you added, and thus the Last one hit.

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The Grumbling Grognard

[Lerchey]

The ships are designed "linearly" for ease of putting in components. Damage is assessed as follows:

Shields
Armor
RANDOM allocation to specific internal systems.

Thus, the order that you put the components in does not matter.

John