The Talisman

[Grandpa Kim]

Posted by Thermodyne:

One thing to avoid at all costs is a battle where the religious fleet is going to get the first shot.

Absolutely true!! But it must be a true first shot advantage; two fleets entering from opposite sides of the combat map won't do it.

I learned how true playing talisman vs. talisman. The player with the first shot has a HUGE advantage. In one battle, my 500 ships were obliterated by 300 enemy ships with first shot advantage. I killed less than half of his 300. Later, in a smaller battle, I suffered minimal losses while eliminating his fleet with my first shot advantage.

Find ways to get that first shot advantage; if he gets it, you are toast. One sneaky way is to get him chasing your "slower" fleet. When he finally catches you, you will not be on opposite sides of the combat map, you will be packed together on the side you both entered. Virtually all your ships will have convenient targets.

Of course eliminating his planets is the surest way: capture, destroy retail or destroy wholesale (star destroyer). Without support, his ships will wink out of existence.

[Elowan]

Seems to me that the best bet is to remove the Talisman from the game.

[Cipher7071]

In most of the games I've been in, religious tech was disallowed.

Pardon me if I overlooked a post about this, but has your alliance tried targeting planets instead of his fleets? If you can hurt an empire economically, even ships carrying the talisman will fall into disrepair.

[TurinTurambar]

We're not at war yet. Still playing cold-war semi-friendly politics. Lot's of role-playing. He's more or less made his intentions clear however.

Trust me, if we can get enough ships up to the line before he attacks we'll go after planets. Problem of course is that his empire is about 6 systems deep.

We'll see.