Oh, this is fun!

[Will]

Originally posted by dbt1949:
they'll take out a fleet of 30 ships in no time.

Which is why people opt for fleets more on the 100-ship range for planets like that

[minipol]

30 ship fleets is what i call a backup system defense fleet. For catching small enemy fleets.
In the endgame I usually have some 100-200 spare DB's lying around mothballed. I have 2 100+ fleets. So when a war is coming my way, i can bump the fleet up to 200 with the mothballed onces and still have some smaller fleets in the backsystems.

Once i have installed system shields, i can bring those smaller fleets to the front also. Anway, then the real fun is going to start: in my recent game against TDM AI, i have 2 ringworlds, 2 almost finised and another 4 will be finished within 8 turns. Yummy.
I cut down my fleet size down by mothballing ships
so the AI doesn't immediately attack me. That would slow things down because of the heavy cost of constructing 6 ringworlds at the same time. If they would do it now, i'm ready. Only 1 system has an open waypoint to another system of the AI (so i can jump in and toy with their planets). I already began concentrating forces there since the AI will probably start an attack soon as i am completing the ringworlds.

On of my gripes with SEIV is that while you are at peace with a race, they send in smaller fleets (+-8 to 10 ships) into your space and once they are at war, these little fleets can cause problems so you always have to keep some smaller fleets around yourself. I use the smaller fleets and large WP for that. Not sure what's best for this kind of defense. Maybe fighters are better, i don't know. I do know that building WP on all your planets ( what i did ) is very costly.

Anyway, that's why i like war, you always can keep your systems clean from those little enemy fleets and once you have system shields, nobody can come in through the back door so you know when and where they are going to come
Makes for a "cleaner" less chaotic game

[mottlee]

Dang 100+ ships in a fleet....I see I need to re-think my games

[ June 13, 2003, 14:01: Message edited by: mottlee ]

[QBrigid]

Wow, so many hundreds of ships, this seems like so much work to control and keep track of.

Plus you have Ring Worlds, dbt1949.
I have yet to be able to do this in se4. Can somebody help me on how this is done

[ June 13, 2003, 14:35: Message edited by: QBrigid ]

[Loser]

Originally posted by minipol:
On of my gripes with SEIV is that while you are at peace with a race, they send in smaller fleets (+-8 to 10 ships) into your space and once they are at war, these little fleets can cause problems so you always have to keep some smaller fleets around yourself.

I almost like this. Makes the little buggers more troublesome.

Originally posted by minipol:
Not sure what's best for this kind of defense.

I like mining the planet sectors.

Mines are cheap and any planet can build them. Only one hundred per sector, but by late game you've had time, and it ought to be able to seriously dent a little ten-ship fleet.

Do TDM AIs always keep Sweepers with their fleets?

I was under the impression that they only sent Sweepers to known fields. Since this will be a known field behind your lines, any Sweeper attempting to get there will be hard pressed to make it.

If I recall correctly, the AI will not warp-tunnel into a system that it knows. Give them the star charts and they shouldn't even knock a hole in your wall.

[dbt1949]

To keep my costs down I usually have swarms of DDs and CLs even in the end game.Then I play tactical battles if I'm not overwhelming.
The AI seems to like to ignore the smaller ships and makes a beeline for the larger ones.
By the end game there's so many point defense weapons out there that fighter and missles don't have much of a chance. Of course I haven't used the big heavy fighters yet.....hmmm,maybe I should try those.
I made my first sphereworld yesterday.Wow.200 facilities.Something like 72 billion population. I've been transfering people to it like crazy.Have it over half filled now.
Of course now I'm having to rebuild my battle fleet after that fiasco with the heavily defended planet.Fortunately there's no warp points out of my empire so the AI can't attack.
In order to increase my other racial stats my physical strength is only 50% so ground combat is out.

[Loser]

Originally posted by QBrigid:
Wow, so many hundreds of ships, this seems like so much work to control and keep track of.

Plus you have Ring Worlds, dbt1949.
I have yet to be able to do this in se4. Can somebody help me on how this is done

from the FAQ
4.9 Ring Worlds & Sphere Worlds
4.9.1 To Build a Ring worlds (or Sphere worlds) you need to:
4.9.1.1 Research Stellar Manipulation to level 5 for Ringworlds (level 8 for Sphereworlds) and Base Construction to level 3. (Quikngruvn)
4.9.1.2. build on a star.
4.9.1.3. create a Space yard ship (a ship that contains a shipyard component)
4.9.1.4. take the space yard ship to the star you want to build your world on.
4.9.1.5 start building STARBASES containing the components you need for the Ring/Sphere world.
4.9.1.6 once you have all necessary components, build go to the component activation icon to activate the construct - all the built star bases and components will disappear and you will have a ring/sphere world there instead.
4.9.2 NOTE: to speed construction (it takes awhile) you can construct bases housing more shipyards. (Taz-in-Space)
4.9.3 Ring- and sphereworlds count as both a star, and not a star. They count as not-a-star for purposes of planet building, solar panels, and star destroyers. They count as a star for purposes of building new stars (i.e.: you can't). (Suicide Junkie)
4.9.4 Ringworlds and sphereworlds are made using your default planet type and atmosphere. they are simply extra huge planets and must be colonized before you can use them.
4.9.5 To build a Ringworld you need 5 bases full with cables and 5 bases full with plating, and one placement base, ie 11 bases.
For a Sphereworld that is 10 plating bases and 10 cable bases and 1 placement base, i e 21 bases.