To Suicide Junkie

[CombatSquirrel]

S_J,

I mispoke. It is the armored Versions of your engines that are giving me fits. I AI-adapted the TDM-Modpack races over and a slew of them luv those engines. 40 structure on an Armored Ion Engine I is a real challenge for a nomad player that races for propulsion and EDW early. I will just have to abandon that strategy for now, and find another angle to use to pick off those colony ships.

Several of the changes in Gold and its patches have caught me by surprise. The shields counting against damage for EDW was a shocking jar, and the fact that bases have been crippled for resupply was a major kick in the pants for my nomads. Makes P&N much more challenging... which is always a good thing.

Baron, if I had had Light Cruisers early enough the mounts would have been invaluable, but by investing my research on EDW, my boarding ships don't have the gusto to capture engine-armored enemy LCs for analyzation, and I didn't research the Ship Construction tech soon enough.

Now, I am afraid that I will have to live out the rest of my remaining life pathetically huddled in opaque space storms dreaming of what might have been...

Combat Squirrel

[CombatSquirrel]

Ahh, the answer has come:

Engine Destroying Mines from P&N have given me a new (temporary) hold on life...

Combat Squirrel

[Suicide Junkie]

So what are you up to? Dropping engine mines, then bLasting the immobile hulks with missiles until it is safe to board?
Come to think of it, you could probably do that with regular mines.

[ October 28, 2002, 03:40: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]

[CombatSquirrel]

Yeah, I really needed to capture some ship's Tech, and I didn't have comparatively powerful enough ships to do it by "duelling" or ambush.

But I could lurk hidden near a few Engine Destroying Mines in a Warp Point trade lane and scavenge the cripples after a few Organic Missiles. Regular mines would do more damage to those very components that I need to HighJack: EDMs do a greater proportion of damage to the engines, which I don't need, and of course hobble his supply to fire remaining weapons and power shields.

I know this stragedy is only going to work for a short time before the Sweepers put a stop to it, but without some way to get scavenged Tech at that point in the game, I was going to be totally ineffective later, and all I needed was a ship or three.

Combat Squirrel

(I really did mean to say thanks...)

[CombatSquirrel]

S_J,

Typo or inside joke?

Name := Hawking Reactor
Description := Direct matter-to-energy converter utilizing a black hole as a catalyst. A vast amount of supplies can be stored in a miniscule space using this device.
Pic Num := 37
Tonnage Space Taken := 35
Tonnage Structure := 35
Cost Minerals := 1000
Cost Organics := 250
Cost Radioactives := 20000
Vehicle Type := Ship\Base
Supply Amount Used := 0
Restrictions := None
General Group := Supply
Family := 25
Roman Numeral := 0
Custom Group := 0
Number of Tech Req := 2
Tech Area Req 1 := Resupply
Tech Level Req 1 := 5000
Tech Area Req 2 := Astrophysics
Tech Level Req 2 := 2
Tech Area Req 3 := Tractor\Repulser Weapons
Tech Level Req 3 := 1
Number of Abilities := 1
Ability 1 Type := Supply Storage
Ability 1 Descr := Can store 50,000 units of supply.
Ability 1 Val 1 := 50000
Ability 1 Val 2 := 0
Weapon Type := None

[CombatSquirrel]

S_J,

Also, as I am always seeking to learn, I wonder why you have reduced supply cost for all Tractor/Repulsor weapons in P&N from the 5 supply required in Gold to 0 supply required for your mod? This an interesting choice, and makes that family useful in intriquing ways....

Combat Squirrel

[Suicide Junkie]

Re: Hawking reactor
That was a partly-modded Quantum Reactor. The level 5000 tech requirement is to disable it until it is ready.

Re: Supply usage.
All the weapons' supply costs have been tweaked. Supply cost is meant to represent physical supplies, such as bullets, drive fuel, and other types of consumable matter.
The other side of the coin is energy costs. That gets represented by radioactives maintenance.

As such, Energy weapons tend to have little to no supply use. They cost dearly in radioactives, though.
Bullets and missiles, on the other hand, require only token radioactives for things such as the reloading mechanism. They bleed supplies like there is no tomorrow, though.

It should be fairly obvious that the energy weapons will be best for attack fleets in enemy territory, while physical weapons are best for defense fleets, who can sit on top of resupply depots, and save maintenance costs.