What are some effective strategies for removing Sats

[Zanthor]

Playing with Version 1.41 on a low tech game.

I am attempting to attack a planet with 10 Satellites. It wiped out my 20+ ship fleet. I thought ok I don't have any point defense cannons. My mistake so I built 10 ships with 8 point defense cannons each. Went in with a 30 ship fleet and attacked. The other ships were destroyed and defense cannon ships ran for the corners.

Ok maybe I made a mistake again. I decide to investigate the strategies. It was on Optimal firing range. So I decided to set up my own since they seem to be avoiding the sats.

I created one called 'Sats' and set it up to attack Sattelites first and clicked on the use type before targetting priorites. They just sit with the rest of the fleet and do nothing.

They also sit there if I put them in a fleet by themselves.

Am I missing something? Do I have to set something up special to have ships go after Satellites. They destroy everything else in the sector except the planet which I have turned off in the attacks. I want to land on the planet with my troop transports but not before those satellites are gone.

Any ideas?

I don't remember having problems with this in with earlier Versions. I upgraded from 1.19 to 1.41. Hmmmmmm

[Suicide Junkie]

Try giving the satbusters a meson bLaster (which can target sats)... The AI probably considers the PD only ships as "weaponless" and so has them run away. They should then get close enough to use the bLaster, and the PDCs with activate.

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[Puke]

could be a conflict of interest between ship orders and fleet orders? you can give a stratagy to a ship design, and you can give one to a fleet. not sure which takes precedence. also, it might be a good idea to check the 'let ships break formation' box, otherwise your ships will just sit there if the formation leader does not feel like attacking.

[Commander G]

Suicide Junkie is right, if you have a pure PDC ship, it will not approach planets or satellites. Put on the cheapest, lightest weapon you have that can target satellites (Depleted Uranium Cannon I).

I had a similar thing happen to me a while back when I converted on obsolete escort hull into a point defense ship. It was worthless until I put a direct fire weapon on it. No matter what you do with the combat orders, a pure Point Defense ship will not engage. It also will not stay in formation.

[Commander G]

As far as effectiveness, consider using your best non seeking weapon against the Satellites because point defenses only work against seekers, satellites, and fighters. I would suggest a mix of point defenses and a weapon that will be effective against both satellites and the planets. If you take out the Satelites and the planet has adequate point defenses on its weapon platforms, you need something that can hit the planet close up. DUC, Messons, Phased Energy, whatever.

The most common mistake I see people make is they try to attack a planet with a pure Missle attack fleet. Missles cannot hit Satellites. Pay attention to what weapons can target when adding them to ship designs.