Fight Dirty?

[Loser]

Originally posted by Pooka:
What level of sensors will a sensor-blocking storm prevent him from scanning? Does it stack with stealth armor? (I.E. Can I make a stealthed drydock?)

They don't stack: they do not add to eachother. I believe each storm will say what level of scanner is blocks.

But a stealthed construction base (stealthed by the storm, not armor) is the plan.

I believe that Storms offer bettwe cloaking than Stealth Armor.

Originally posted by Pooka:
This plan, while very complex and requiring a lot of finesse... appeals to me on levels I cannot express. I doubt he'd even think to check in the storm.

If his options are set to animate ship movement, he may see your ships emerging from the storm.

Originally posted by Pooka:
The mines worry me. This brings me to my next question. I just captured a battlecruise I expected to be armed. It was a mine layer. How do I stop mines? Will simply building mine sweeping ships suffice? Or will I have to move to the sector, then activate the mine sweepers? Should they be in a seperate fleet? Can mine sweepers be used while under cloak? (I.E. Can I quietly defuse his minefield right under his fleet's nose?)

he's camping the minefield, which is what worries me. Is it the minefields that destroy the captured ships before I can run with them?

You should be able to check your reports and see exactly what was killing those ships.

A mine sweeper sweeps for mines when it moves into a sector. I do not know if it will uncloak as it does this.

If you ever steal a mine laying ship of his, imediately unload the mines. That would be nasty, and he would start making mine sweepers, which you could also steal.

You don't stop mines, you sweep them.

Originally posted by Xaren Hypr :
1) Smart Bomb (RD) I-III: no resupply depots means that those of his ships w/o Quantum Reactors or Solar Collectors will eventually be dead in space, and

That is exactly what I was talking about. Sorry I did not communicate that.

Originally posted by Pooka:
Yeah, I've been trying to think up a proper smear campain to launch on this guy. I run an "In-Character" newsletter with my own 'fair and balanced' journalism. So far they're biting nice and hard. I'll see if I can't make this work. Really, the minefields will be the problem point as getting a buildership past his fleet/minefield is the problem.

Once I get a single ship through... it's party time.

That sounds great.... War needs to be faught on that level as well.

Getting past the fleet takes Stealth Armor. Getting past the minefield takes a few Mine Sweeper Dreads that you shove through with or without cloaking. If you shove them through with your cloakesd ships, will the enemy see all of them, fight all of them, or just the uncloaked Mine Sweepers?

[Pooka]

Okay... so I can just shove the sweepers through eh? Hmm. And yeah, I was going to try and dump the mines on another warp point, but the ship never made it out of the sector. The reports say a battle happened, and his ships took no damage, but I got worked. I'm assuming that's because we're not using Gold so the attacker was going first. (Otherwise I would have gotten a shot off with its single MesonII.

Still, just dumping the mines sounds appealing too. I'll start doing that.

I guess I'll try to shove some cloaked minesweeping destroyers through. I'm only up cruisers, myself. Still, though. A small fleet of minesweeping destroyers followed, the next turn, by my cloaked shipyard ship, etc seems to be the way to go. Hmm. I'll need to get BCs to do cloaked buildership.

[Ruatha]

Sorry, Cloaked minesweepers don't sweep, they eliminate the mines by hitting them at full speed. Enough ships clears the mineflied but the ships are destroyed, not the ship crews intention I guess. Better decloak first!

from FAQ:
5.9.9 Cloaked ships cannot sweep mines. (DavidG). [Editor’s note: I can confirm that problem with unknown minefields. Rumor has it (and there are references that hint at it in history.txt) that a cloaked minesweeper will uncloak to sweep a KNOWN minefield. I still haven't tested this one yet. May or may not work the same way. Has anyone tested a cloaked minesweeper on a known minefield?]

[ May 06, 2003, 16:05: Message edited by: Ruatha ]

[Pooka]

Originally posted by Ruatha:
Sorry, Cloaked minesweepers don't sweep, they eliminate the mines by hitting them at full speed. Enough ships clears the mineflied but the ships are destroyed, not the ship crews intention I guess. Better decloak first!

Hmmm.....
How many mines does an escort suck up when running through? How many does a fighter suck up?

*ponders evil, evil designs*

Will mines force cloaked ships to decloak? The big problem with sending minesweepers through is that it'd require me to fight off his fleet of 40+ ships which is /also/ parked there.

[Loser]

Originally posted by Pooka:
Will mines force cloaked ships to decloak? The big problem with sending minesweepers through is that it'd require me to fight off his fleet of 40+ ships which is /also/ parked there.

Don't fight off his ships, just write off yours.

[ May 06, 2003, 16:39: Message edited by: Loser ]

[Pooka]

Originally posted by Loser:

quote:

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Originally posted by Pooka:
Will mines force cloaked ships to decloak? The big problem with sending minesweepers through is that it'd require me to fight off his fleet of 40+ ships which is /also/ parked there.

Don't fight off his ships, just write off yours.

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So minesweeping happens before the battle, then? That's interesting. Though I suppose the empire would be stupid to follow us into their own minefield.

[Suicide Junkie]

I'm assuming that's because we're not using Gold so the attacker was going first. (Otherwise I would have gotten a shot off with its single MesonII.

A single meson bLaster, eh?
Even if you did fire first, you probably didn't get through his shields, (or missed) and the damage percentage only shows hull damage (shields completely regenerate after battle anyways)