How Big Does Your Navy Get?

[Taqwus]

When playing as a Ruthless Back-stabbin' Warrior Technologist, I tend to

a) strike first, and
b) use ships with range advantages due to solar cells

If you can fight enemies entirely in their space, because they can't reach yours and have any supply left, then you need very few ships -- I've won with 70 warships in a 255-system galaxy, especially in a Cluster system. This might not be as feasible now, because the ModPack AIs have improved AI ship design... but even still, I rarely put more than 20 ships in a single fleet.

(* Note -- you can get away with having fewer ships if you have a very large intelligence network. If you have enough points, you can subvert 10-12 ships instantly... quite useful for a quick defense. *)

At the other ridiculous end of the scale, in my "Mr. Nice Superpower" game (no Mega-Evil... but also, trying to avoid wars without an excuse, such as persistent attacks on an ally, or incursions into my space, and then preferably short wars that DON'T result in a surrender), I've got over 800 ships (many, if not most, *not* warships -- think colony ships, warp ships, repair, shipyard, scanner, minesweeper, plague/medical, troop transports, planet makers, etc) to go along with maybe 890 worlds. It's slow trying to convince AIs to make peace with each other, without simply demanding their surrender and instantly absorbing them.

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night

[tesco samoa]

i am a firm believer in keep all ships. mothballing and retro are the keys to the game. Also placing construction ques on hold with one turn left to build.

For the first 100 turns I like to have a ratio of 4 defence ships a system on patrol. 10 scouts ,2 mine layers per 4 systems, 2 cargo ships per 2 systems. 2 to 6 bases above homeworlds and 1 to 2 bases(ss with yard) above planets with space yards and resupply ports.

Mothballed I will have 4 scouts. 3 to 5 bases (ss with yard) above homeworlds and planets with space yards and respupply ports. 1 base above each planet with space yards. Also will have 4 more defence ships per system mothballed.

Now turn 100 to 200 All this will increase 2x to 4x and I will start to build assault fleets ( using the on hold build method )and I will mothball 2 to 3 fleets ( Strike Wings of 10 to 12 ships ) located evenly around my systems. I will also keep upgrading and motheballing ships.

IF I get in any fights I just unmothball the defence ships in those sectors and the assault fleets. Then the onhold units get built and upgraded while new ones get placed on the que. And I decide if the space yard basaes need to come in production.

I follow this system until the end of the game. Making adjustments along the way.

After turn 100 I am a firm believer in that you should have a ratio of the following
number of turns = x
number of ships = y
total number of ships = z
x*y=z
For peace y = 0.8 to 1
For forced peace and expansion y = 1 to 1.5
For threats scare tatics etc... y = 1.5 to 2
For war y = >2

To follow this system storage research must be maxed out and lots of storage facilities need to be built.

I always like to have enough reserve resources to keep all ships and build ques going for 10 turns. I hope buy then that problems are resolved.

But the only way to do that is to constantly build and mothball.

And max out units in space and stored on planets which do not build ships.

Or something along those lines... HA HA

Now if I could only get everygame to play out the same then I would be ok.

[capnq]

I've only played two games that I recall where my navy exceeded 100 ships. One of those was a solo game that I ended at turn 170, when was in second behind the Xi-Chung, who had declared war immediately after first contact at turn 35.

Playing against humans needs drastically more and bigger ships. There's nothing like seeing, for the first time, a fleet of over a dozen ships of a class two sizes larger than you've ever researched.

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Cap'n Q

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
human mind to correlate all of its contents. We live on a placid
island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was
not meant that we should go far. -- HP Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu"

[This message has been edited by capnq (edited 16 August 2001).]

[Kadste]

Of the many games that I have played, most of my empires, after a few hundred turns, have 100-200 ships. Usually just above 100.
I try not to scrap any ships, just refit them into something else, like minesweepers, carriers, or PD ships. 4 or 5 PD heavy cruiser sized ships supporting your dreadnoughts are tough to beat.

What I would really like to see though is an AI that will build fleets in excess of 50 ships. Only once have I seen this, and it was during some testing and the fleet was on the other side of the quadrant, and never came into contact with me.

I have found that if I have a balanced fleet of 10-20 ships, I can easily (read it is usually a totally one-sided slaughter) defeat an AI enemy two or three times my size.

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Never Give up, Never Surrender!

[dominion]

Turn 120 (4th place):
~60 ships -
25 Dreadnoughts (warships)
16 Cruisers (warships)
9 Heavy Carriers
5 Troop Transport
I'm fighting four species right now, with 3 treaties. Few have entered my systems, so I'll have to take the fight to them.

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"Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"

[Instar]

I can get fleets that are sooo big
Especially in the big galaxies (100+)

[Atrocities]

My fleets range in size from 300 to 500 ships. I usually have 5 fleets, each having 100 ships.

05 Escorts.
15 Destroyers
15 Light Cruisers
20 Cruisers
15 Battle Cruisers
10 Battleships
05 Dreadnoughts
05 Heavy Carriers
04 Large Troop Transports
01 BaseShip
05 Supply/Repair ships.

I also have Tatical fleets and Search and Destory Fleets. Those usually only have about 25 to 30 ships, and are all BC, BS, Carriers.

Then I have my Planetary Defense Fleets. Those consist of fighters, WP, and Sat. Sometimes 50 or 100 escorts or destoryers depending upon the threat. Usually by the time I can aford to produce 500 + ships and maintain them, I seldom need Planetary Defense ships, and either scrap em, merge em with a fleet, or trade them off to the AI. I even mothball some just for ****s and gigles.



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"We've made too many compromises already, too many retreats! They invade our space and we fall back -- they assimilate entire worlds and we fall back! Not again! The line must be drawn here -- this far, no further! And I will make them pay for what they've done!" -- Captain Picard STNG
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