Best Planetary Defense: Discuss.

[Stone Mill]

I credit Dragonlord for this spinoff idea while reading about the PPB thread...

Let's say you are under attack from an opponent who is systematically conqering your planets... your defending fleets have been waxed and you are trying to throw up something to slow them down while you "form up" another fleet.

I have had nill success with this one by the way... Against an attack fleet of 20 or so, I could get nothing to even put a dent in 'em!

I like the sound of Nitram Draw's WMG weapon platforms, they sound like they might do some damage...

Any suggestions?

[Rich04]

In my experience. If an attacker has a balanced fleet there is nothing your planet can do to save itself fast. Otherwise the only defenses I can think of are.
Spending a lot of time/effort to fortify the planet. This is not very pratical on a large scale and you are better off building ships generally.
If you have the tech. Build a star destroyer in each of your systems. Blamm his fleet and your planets at the same time. You were going to lose them anyway.
Give the planet to someone that is allied to both of you. If you die at least you have helped someone else and some of your population may live till the end. If things change you might get the planets back from the person you gave it to. Think of it as the planet asking for sanctuary from a neighboring neutral empire. They pledge to stay out of the conflict and support their protectors.

[tesco samoa]

Use moons as defence systems.

Ie. Put only cargo containers on them. And then fill them up with different types of units.

Point defence WP's and then the rest Direct Fire Platforms.

Make sure you have the range on the Platforms.

Throw some fighters into the mix and you can take on a fleet.

Always remember you want to make each planet hard to conquer. Force time on the enemy. That way they cannot split their fleet and take out many planets at once.

Another thing I recommned is that if your losing your systems then as soon as your about to lose the Last few planets in that system. Gas the sun. Take everything out with one shot.

And always try to fight your battles at warp points.

But Battle Moons rock. If you have 2 of them maxxed out with units and then units on the planet. The player will be in for a big surprise.

If you cannot take them out all at once then make sure it is a costly victory for them.

But to do this you have to plan your defences early in the game and stick to your plan.

Use fighters and small ships to alter your plans. If they are low on missle defence build fighters to take this on with missle destroyers. Or to exploit what ever weakness you find. Same with mines.

Base ships with the battle moons work out realy well.



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L? GdX $ Fr C++ SdT T+ Sf* Tcp+ A M++ MpTM ROTS Pw+ Fq+ Nd Rp++ G+

[Nitram Draw]

One thing about defending planets is you can't hold out forever against large odds. If the enemy has 50 ships and you cannot reinforce it soon, kiss the planet goodbye. Once fleets get large, over 20 ships, you will need a fleet to run them out.

Some other tactics I've used are:

Launch mines over the planet, usually minesweepers aren't brought in to combat. This only works on a Human 1-2 times but will work against the AI.

Fighters are ok if the enemy doesn't have much PD, otherwise they get chewed up fast but can occasionally swing the battle your way.

Sats, lots of them, with missiles or beams can help. Bases are better especially Starbases and larger. They can hold out for quite a long time if there are WP on the planet.

If you are in danger of losing a well colonized system try to use engine destroying weapons to thin out, or slow down, the fleet until you can launch a counter attack.

[Urendi Maleldil]

Take out all your opponent's ships.

[Baron Munchausen]

As a practical matter you cannot make a 4X game that does not make ships supreme. If it were possible to fortify a planet so that it could not be taken by a fleet of ships you would have a game that would frequently get into stalemates. So, the starship is the ultimate weapon in SE just as in any other 4X game.

That said, the best way to defend a planet is, like most things in SE, with a combined strategy. WPs on the planet with direct-fire weapons using mounts (assuming you have a mod that uses these for WPs) and satellites with missiles and PDC. This is important. The satellites with PDC defend your planet against missile attack and can launch long-range counter-attacks with their own missiles. Since sats cannot be targetted by missiles your enemy would have to approach the planet to attack them directly and then the heavy weapons on the planet can fire on them. This is a fairly deadly combination. But, as with anything you can be overwhelmed by sheer numbers or a large technological advantage.

A fleet of ships is also effective, of course. But since ships cost maintenance it's usually not possible to have a fleet over every planet or even in every system.

There are also mines of course. Without a doubt mines are the cheapest and most effective defense. That's why I hate them. They are too simplistic. They ALWAYS hit, and there's no defense but a generic "mine sweeper" that also ALWAYS works. It's just disappointing that a game as sophisticated as SE would still be so crude aboutmines.

[This message has been edited by Baron Munchausen (edited 04 September 2001).]

[DirectorTsaarx]

I agree that mines are the best first line of defence at a planet. Since there's a minor bug with the "units per sector" setting (i.e., if the setting is 100, and you have 99 mines in that sector, you can launch as many mines as a single ship/base/planet can launch, even if that will violate the 100 max mines per sector setting), you could have a minefield of 99 + maximum mine storage on the planet (well, a planet can only launch 999 mines per turn, but if you can store more mines than that you should have LOADS of weapon platforms for defense). Anyway, put as many mines up as possible, so that even if the enemy sweeps a few you can take out and/or damage the rest of the fleet. After that, you should probably have a mix of missile and beam weapon platforms. Most fleets will shrug off small waves of missiles; but if even one or two get through, it's a bit of damage done, and if you can do internals and wipe out point-defence you're in better shape. And don't forget point-defence for the planet! I might also suggest putting a couple weapon platforms with all shields and/or all armor on the planet to soak up damage. If you add fighters to the mix, the enemy's PDC will get overloaded trying to handle both fighters and missiles; although many other weapons will also target fighters, so be prepared to lose your fighters.

Satellites, IMHO, are not as useful as the other options, as you run the risk of having them on the wrong side of the planet during combat, and they'll never get a chance to fire. Bases are a little better, since they get range bonuses on their weapon mounts, but if you have time to build bases you have time to build ships.

Obviously, you should also focus on using the longest-range weapons possible on weapons platforms. The AI can be good at staying just out of range if it's weapons are better than yours.

BTW - the other good tactic is laying satellites at warp points. You get a shot at point-blank range to start; if you use high-damage weapons (especially shield or armor skipping weapons) you have a chance of taking out a few ships. This is a case where missiles might work; 30, 50, maybe even 100 or more missiles in a single volley at short range would overwhelm the defences of most small to medium fleets (say, under 20 ships).

Obviously, mining the warp points is a good idea too. But minesweepers will ruin your day.

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L++ GdY $ Fr>Fr++ C++ SdS T-- Sf Tcp? A%% M- Mp! RTH!P Pw Fq-->Fq+ Nd>Nd+++++ Rp++ G+

[Taqwus]

I find that a surprise salvo of Crew Insurrection ops can also be quite useful as a spot-defense. Of course, it doesn't scale -- no matter how many intel points you have, you'll only CI twelve ships a turn, at best. But if you're up against fleets large enough that twelve ships per turn doesn't even matter, by that time defense is probably not a viable option.

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night

[LazarusLong42]

Perhaps I'm the only one who feels this way... but if you have an opponent seriously glassing your planets, I consider it too late.

In other words, your defense should not be near your planets, but at warp points leading into your space. If the enemy fleets get past _that_, then you're screwed, but you would have been just as screwed if that large choke defense had been split up defending planets.

There are several exceptions to this rule:

1. Early game (<~20 turns). A few WPs can take out any rush fleet. Or should be able to.

2. Very late endgame. If your opponent is opening warp points into your system, you have othe rproblems on your hands. The best defense here is not to let your enemy survive that long

LL

[DocShane]

I agree with most of the Posts here. There are a lot of good suggestions. They emphasize the most important element of any plan against humans: be versatile.

I have really frustrated some enemies by radically altering my strategies mid-game. You will wipe out an attacking fleet only to be confronted by another fleet 10 turns later, fine-tuned to your strategy. What a surprise when he finds out his PDF are completely useless against your missiles that have magically morphed into "super-duper mounted" WMGs! Anticipate what your enemy will do and give him the opposite. Even if it fails, it will damage his pride and confidence.

Don't forget that there is no "secret" weapon that unbalances the entire game. Only players who don't know how to counteract those weapons.

Remember that space stations can be altered almost instantaneously. Have Versions that contain all PDF, or all direct fire weapons, or the occasional long-range WMG. Retrofits on PBW games take only 1 turn.

Cargo facilities can turn moons into battlestations. Large weapon platforms can be designed into a variety of useful configurations. Don't stick to one pattern.

Warp points are the choke points of civilization. Guard these with mines and satellites or fighters to clean up the fodder.

Scatter single mines around that empty space between the planets. Send those unescorted crippled ships leaving your system to get repaired a final "bon-voyage!"

The power of the cloak is also powerful in the midgame. Great the invading fleet with equal numbers of ships that mysteriously appear from nowhere.

When the enemy opens a new warp across half the galaxy into your system, don't blow up your star. Let him enjoy the pleasure of killing off your planets one by one. While all this is transpiring, warp to his system and destroy his commerce with your cloaked star destroyer.

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The Good Doc

"Henceforth I spread confident wings to space
I fear no barrier of crystal or glass;
I cleave the heavens and soar to the infinite.
And while I rise from my own globe to others
And penetrate even further through the eternal field,
That which others saw from afar, I leave far behind me."

-Giordano Bruno
"On the Infinite Universe and Worlds," 1584