The Plague (Subverters, Boarders, and IDs, Oh My)

[inigma]

SJ, I really wouldn't want to create them as a modded race, as I want them usable in stock games.

I think the Plague would only need to invest heavily in the occasional Plauger (battleship repair bay+boarding) as Plaugers would be used by the Plague to repair the gutted engines of the ships it captures, and repair the fleets of their boarders.

I was also thinking of giving a name to the leader of The Plague: Primary Host. Posted here for future reference.

Does anyone know if the AI can analyze ships?

[inigma]

The Plague

Background:

The Plague was originally a genetically engineered psychic bioweapon created by the CueCappa to be used against other races to capture entire empires intact and assimilate captured empires into docile subservient societies. The original experiment got out of control, and infected the designer of the The Plague.

Known only as the Primary Host, because those with knowledge of the project have since been infected, the Plague seem to be driven to fulfil their engineered mission to fruition: the peaceful takeover of the entire galaxy by Plague infection.

Most of the CueCappa race in the nearby system were infected rather quickly, and attempts at eradication and quarrantine have been met with devastating failure as often ships sent in to contain the threat have not been heard from again. Ships that do survive encounters with Plague ships speak of the horrors of watching entire fleets succomb to the Plague in a matter of hours, often in a chain reaction that results in total capture of fleets sent in to contain the Plague.

[inigma]

now if only there was a way to take both religious and psychic traits...

[Fyron]

There certainly is. See:

http://www.spaceempires.net/home/content-1.html

[inigma]

my newbness shows.

well that's cool. religious talismans, flailers, subvertors, boarders, and IDs ... oh this is really my my.

[Alneyan]

By the way, you might wish to consider taking up the Crystalline trait, for two reasons:
- Crystalline armour is a tough nut to crack, especially for the IA. If you play your cards right, you will be immune to anything dealing 149 normal damage or less, though Shield Depleters/Disruptors will still be a problem. Even then, your ships should last a lot longer against enemy fire... and if they use up all their supplies firing at you, they won't be moving around so much (and will lose their shields).
- More importantly, the Crystal Dampener is NOT broken by Master Computers. That little device allows you to shut down all the weapons of the target for X rounds, where X is equal to the amount of damage dealt. The Psychic trait has a similar weapon, but that one *is* negated by Master Computers.

And some more fun things with this trait:
- The Shard Cannon bypasses armour, thus allowing you to fire at the components "inside" the ship, and leaving armour intact. It could allow you to destroy the SDD while leaving armour intact, increasing the odds of disabling the SDD without destroying the ship in the process.
- The Crystalline trait gives a very nice facility to reduce maintenance costs in the system: might come in handy if you have a big captured fleet.

[douglas]

Alneyan said:
- Crystalline armour is a tough nut to crack, especially for the IA. If you play your cards right, you will be immune to anything dealing 149 normal damage or less,

If you add some Emissive Armor to your 10+ Crystalline Armors, that immunity goes up to 179 damage. Not even a Heavy Mount APB XII can scratch that at range greater than 3 without getting a lucky hit on the emissive first, and APB XI needs point blank. Of course, massive mounts, armor-skipping weapons, and high damage slow firing weapons can deal with it, but it's still pretty tough and a major cost saver.

[inigma]

Hmmm... psychic+cyrstal eh? Makes for an intersting Plague fleet:

Subverter: wall, capture ship
MC - 20kt
6x engine - 60kt
tractor beam - 20kt
allegience subverter - 50kt
Total - 150kt (escort)

Decoy: spider, max range
MC - 20kt
6x engine - 60kt
stealth armor - 30kt
scattering armor - 50kt
crystal armor - 30kt
shield generator - 40kt
allegience subverter - 50kt
shield depleter - 20kt
Total - 300kt (destroyer)

Neutralizer: spider, max range
MC - 20kt
6x engine - 60kt
combat sensor - 10kt
energy dampner - 50kt
computer virus - 50kt (30kt for computer virus III)
titanium armor - 10kt (replaced with stealth armor for 30kt after computer virus III)
Total - 150kt (escort)

Depleter: wall, max range
MC - 20kt
5x engine - 50kt
4x shield depleter - 80kt
Total - 150kt (escort)

Plauger: wall, capture ship
MC - 20kt
5x engine - 50kt
tractor beam - 20kt
shield depleter - 20kt
3xboarding party - 60kt
shard canon - 30kt
Total - 200kt (frigate)

Repairer: wall, dont get hurt
MC - 20kt
5x engine - 50kt
repair bay - 150kt
4x point defense canon - 80kt
Total - 300kt (destroyer)


The whole fleet is suceptible to computer viruses though, but then again, some designs could sport multiple MCs for greater adaptability. To counter this fleet you would have to design ships with both MCs, crew, and security stations - all space wasters if you are engaged in war with another race besides the Plague. That's what makes them annoying. It's easy to take on the Plague one on one, but when you are fighting other AI and/or other players in mid game besides the Plague, well, their annoyance is greatly magnified as you have to convert valuable space on ships just to counter them, as well as research specific Plague strategy counter-techs.

What do you all think so far?