Weapon Platforms

[Baron Munchausen]

I like Cyrien's exposition. That's about how I do it. I lean toward "normal" beam weapons rather than High-Energy Discharge. The problem with missiles is that they have a long lag time between shots. So do HED weapons. So, a normal 1 shot per turn beam weapon in the heaviest mount available is preferable for me. But otherwise that's about it. Missile platforms and beam platforms, both with some PDC for defense. At least one of each type per planet if possible. I tend to do the same with ships, too. Make it either a beam ship or a missile ship. The one goes in close and slugs it out, the other stands off and lobs missiles.
Some cross-over doesn't hurt. A beam ship with a missile or two has an alternative if the target has emissive armor that you can't break with your beams. A missile ship with a beam is not totally defenseless for two turns at a time.

[General Hawkwing]

Thanks for the info fellow galatic leaders.

NEWS BREAK NEWS BREAK

The AI will use weapon platforms, you may have to spoon feed them the tech, but they will use them! The Eee have been seen arming planets with beam-weapon armed platforms starting around turn 60 in a low tech game.

[Psitticine]

I've never seen the AI use WPs in the demo so that's interesting!

I know WP usage and other improvements in AI planetary defense are cited as having been upgraded after 0.56 so I guess we can look forward to much tougher opponents in that area in the near future.

[Seawolf]

Haven't gotten to WP.s as of yet.

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Seawolf on the prowl

[Taqwus]

In high-tech games, the 0.56 demo AI sometimes does come up with nasty WP designs, although it may still rely on beams a bit much (my suspicion is that a good WP setup should be missile-heavy, to prevent beamers just hopping in and out of range on their turn, and to take advantage of sheer numbers. At least against a small number of ships, the ships might not have enough PD to shoot down 20+ incoming Seeker Parasites every 2 turns, say).

I've also seen (very occasionally) WP usage on more normal low-tech games, but the designs are a bit stranger -- e.g. just DU cannons. ISTR that CSM I is a 'free' tech, while DU cannons have pretty much no range, so that's a bit of an odd choice, unless the sole purpose is to deter unescorted transports. I should probably check the text files to see if the race definitions give any preferred designs for WPs or other units in addition to ship templates.

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night