Learning the Rhythm

[Instar]

Your fleets are displayed in the ship list window. You have a good overview of them there. Generally, when I am taking my time, I just fend the computer off until I get to ultra tech and I rip on them with massive fleets and stuff. So I usually always have the most current ships because thats all I build.

[Will]

I normally progress in weapons and ship sizes so that one ship size = about 1-3 increases in weapon tech. Thus, my personal favorite in the beginning is build the bigger ships at the spaceyards and send my old fleets to take on the newest enemy fleet, usually a loss, but my valiant forces damage the enemy a lot, leaving more current designs to clean up. Wave after wave until I get BattleShip (800kT). Then I will usually have a few captured enemy homeworlds, so half can continue the assult while half gets refitted, and new ships are constructed.

I never really have to worry much about defense fleets. A few ships on a warp point is all I've ever needed (usually hopelessly out-of-date ships too). Probably because I attack the AI at so many points, most of their ships pull back to stop my onslaught

[capnq]

I use a mix of the other suggestions here. I try to name ships by a scheme to remind me what their intended role is: Defense ships start with "D", scouts start with "S", etc. I tend to upgrade designs just before I need to start building a new ship, and add Roman numerals at each upgrade: Apache IV, Sioux II, etc. Obsolete ships usually end up in low priority defenses and dangerous but expendable scout missions, or escorting better ships in large fleets. I'll retrofit older designs if they happen to be at a shipyard and I have resources available, but much of the time I'm barely keeping my build queues and maintenance funded.

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Cap'n Q

[Droplede]

I usually have three to four main attack fleets. Generally, each ship type of a certain size gets a name and keeps it, and I reflect retrofit Versions with a new class name. Here's the example: All my plain-vanilla attack ships for the Droyne Empire of battle cruiser size are named Rue. In one fleet, they'll be named: Rue 1, Rue 2, etc. In the second, they'll go Rue X, Rue XI .... In the third: Rue A, Rue B .... Helps me keep track of which ships are in which fleets in the massive ship listing window. Each ship keeps its specific name, and the class name will update with a small letter as it progresses. e.g.: The first-generation Rue battle cruisers are of the Rue class, the next generation are Rue-a, the next update is of class Rue-b, etc. If I can't update them easily, I don't keep too many obsolete ships around -- mostly 'cause they're deep in enemy territory, harassing until they're beyond repair. Typical fleet design is one (maybe 2) dedicated fleet tender (repair and supply only), 4-8 attack ships, a sensor ship/mine sweeper and, depending on the race or game phase, a spaceyard ship, a ship capturer and/or a planetary assault lander. Balanced fleets with specialized ships seem to work well for me. Battle cruiser is my favorite size -- lots of space, but you can still max out on engines to keep the fleet fast.

[Marty Ward]

One of the best additions to a fleet is a shipyard ship. If you keep one of these in each fleet you can retrofit your fleet while moving.
I generally have 10 - 12 ships in my battle fleets. Only 4 - 5 are combat ships the rest are support ships, flak ship, minesweepers, repair ships, etc.
My current game is on turn 250 or so and my fleets average 12 ships. My combat ship mix is 1 BB, 1 L. Carrier and 3 LC, the rest of my fleet are support ships. Have not lost a battle with this mix in well over 150 turns. You really don't need a large combat fleet is you support them well. About the only time you must start building up your combat fleet is in a high tech game or when your opponents have researched most of the available tech, turn 500 or so. Keep ahead of your opponents in combat techs and you will have a distinct advantage.
Keeping track of your ships can be difficult. I generally limit my designs to 2 beam ships and only 1 of any other type and oboslete they old design imediately after I redesign them. I prefer the direct approach to naming, my flak ships are call Flak Flak1 etc., my carriers are called Carriers. Not very original but it is easier for me this way. If you like exotic names and lots of designs you may need a scorecard to tell who the players are

[This message has been edited by Marty Ward (edited 28 April 2001).]

[Resident Alien]

When playing against computer I classify ships using Iain M Banks' Culture ship types. GCU = General Contact Unit [ES and FG scouts], ROU = Rapid Offensive Unit [FG, DS, LC , CR warships], GSV = General Systems Vehicle [BC and above ships]. I usually add a number for size/function and letter for tech level i.e. all C's would have a similar set of techs.

01 would be FG, 10 would be DS, 20 would be LC etc. 10 would be a standard config, 11, 12, 13 etc woud be varient types.

Eg. GCU-01-A, ROU-10-A, ROU-10-B, ROU-11-B.

Fleet support ships like tankers (TANK-01-A), anti missile (ABM-10-A) and SYS (SYS-01-B) ships.

When playing PBEM I use random names. There should be no link between function and name when playing humans accept when trying to mislead.

Each fleet contains at least one of each type of support ship: Tankers, point defense, repair/SYS, mine sweeper, plus a variety of warships. In high tech games add warp open and warp close ships for max mobility.

[Suicide Junkie]

quote:

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One of the best additions to a fleet is a shipyard ship. If you keep one of these in each fleet you can retrofit your fleet while moving.

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against humans, you could also make arbirtary class-name changes to your vehicles while moving, just to throw them off the trail.

After every battle where the enemy learns your designs, change the names on every vehicle so they can't look up what you have!

You don't even have to spend any time repairing. Just retro to an identical design, but with a different name, and obsolete the old one

For anybody who has problems retro-ing to an identical design, add one component, then remove it.