The ultimate Base

[Suicide Junkie]

You will be able to do it.

I have seen AI LCs at the center of a black hole, so they clearly only take damage at the BEGINNING of their own turn. Since the repairs happen at the end of your turn, you'll have the 5000 hitpoints for when your turn begins again.

Oh, yeah.

You can also go for a 150% repair rate, if you feel like using this strategy.

Your base(s) would be supporting repairs on a equally armored baseship, which could attack with engine disabling weapons.
An alternative strategy would be to just let them shoot at your baseship and use up all their supplies, and then falling into the hole

As for fighters, they won't take damage unless they're sitting out unprotected at the beginning of your turn. You could still use them to attack (with engine disabling weapons ) The only difficulty would be in storing them in the limited space you are left with after armor & repair bays.


Having +120% to maintenance reduction would help make this a viable strategy.
I'm gonna try this in my Pirates game where I have zero maintenance A most exellent secret base would be in a black hole.

[This message has been edited by suicide_junkie (edited 06 March 2001).]

[geoschmo]

I think you missed Windbourne's point. Even if you could launch your fighters during combat, you would never get into combat because enemy ships would be destroyed once they entered the center sector. Unless you are talking about moving out of the center to attack them? In the center though you could not launch your fighters in non-combat because they would be instantly destroyed.

[Suicide Junkie]

I think black hole damage happens at the beginning of your turn.

If that is the case, you'd be able to launch, attack, then return to the base and land without getting crushed, as long as the fighters aren't within 2 squares of center when you end turn (and are not in storage).

Has anybody actually flown a ship into a black hole to see if it does damage during your turn?

[DirectorTsaarx]

Launching fighters would only work during combat - they have 0 movement on the turn of launch (ignoring the recent bug).

Since I've never fought a battle in the center square of a black hole, how WOULD that work? Is the center of the battle map taken up by black hole squares that do damage to your ship? And where would the base be located at the beginning - in the center, or offset like around planets?

Edit - Hey! I made First Lieutenant! It only took 250 postings... man, I need a life...

[This message has been edited by DirectorTsaarx (edited 06 March 2001).]

[Suicide Junkie]

Well I just flew an LC through the center of the hole.

Nothing.

Damage only happens after your turn, when you get pulled around.

The poor ship is gonna get crushed next turn, though, since he got into a battle with a BC, and shields don't work in the hole system. took a few too many hit to the engines, and 3 movement isn't enough to fly in and out.

That point about the fighters having zero movement would prevent their use. I think that fighters should be available as emergency responce forces, launch and move to intercept, same turn.

I guess you'll just have to use baseships that can survive a turn at the center to be repaired by the base.

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As for center combat, I suspect you won't see anything special, and the base would be in the center. If there was something to click on at the senter square, then maybe, but in this case, no.

As for attacking somebody in the center, one of the sides would have to have a base there, or move a ship in that they know they'll lose. The second race would have to attack that ship which is going to die anyways.

The only point to this would be if the first ship had emergency propulsion & was captured. It could then accellerate out of the area.

[dmm]

Can you build a sphereworld around a black hole? If so, would that remove the black hole effects?

[geoschmo]

Haven't tried it but I don't believe it would be possible. Black holes are not just a different kind of star. If you look at the systemtypes.txt file stars are objects, black hole systems have no objects. (except the glich where the game puts a planet in the system, but that not the same thing as the game is operating outside of the normal text file parameters when it inserts homeworlds.)

It may be possible to make a new system type which has in effect a black hole and a star in the center. You would just only see the black hole because you would use a blank bitmap for the star. I am not sure the game would allow that, but it's a facisnating idea.