The Face of the Enemy (Destroy this Ship!)

[Mordante]

"engine destroyers/small hulls" - I can see the advantages - but i do wonder about their ability to avoid all hits in a target rich environment. Unfortunately my racial traits produce an additional -20% defence bonus so my vessels will not be very good at dodging. That said, I am beginning to see the advantages of sticking 1 engine-killing cannon on everything ... even if i lose the engagement it will stop the fleet moving on.

PS. to anyone interested in the political situation of this game have a look at the "face of the enemy" - narrative thread elsewhere ...

[Taqwus]

Of course, whether or not engine-killers are a good idea also depends on his degree of support (namely, repair ships -- and possibly resupply? I don't recall what happens to supply with a destroyed engine), and how much damage you can inflict before the fleet is repaired. If you can't take advantage of the (quite possibly temporary) immobilization / slowing down, engine-killers won't be a good idea.

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night

[rdouglass]

quote:

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Originally posted by Taqwus:
...I don't recall what happens to supply with a destroyed engine), and how much damage you can inflict before the fleet is repaired...

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IIRC, a repaired engine (after being a destroyed component) gets no supply directly unless of course you have a QR or Solar Collectors or are at a planet with a Resupply Depot. Also IIRC, a ship / fleet will be repaired as long as it is in the same sector as a SY or RepairBay and has at least 1 component left intact. The rate of repair depends on SY's and RB's levels and numbers of them (they do stack).

[Phoenix-D]

re: plague bomb ships..

Assuming he doesn't have sensors everywhere, park a cloaked SYS near one of his systems. Now crank out a few cheap, fast DISPOSBLE escorts and send them at the planets, especially planets with no ship defenders.(chances are they wouldn't survive dropping their load no matter what, so..)

Phoenix-D

[ZeroAdunn]

I once ran into a problem where I my small three system empire was attacked by a fleet of twenty ships (most of them cruiser or above)

I sent a small fleet out with this combo:

3 destroyer all shields
2 frigates, all engine killers

I only got 1 ship but that was enough. Rather than dropping the movementless ship they kept in the fleet and sat there for ages. Once their supply ran out and I had emassed a large enough fleet I sent in missile ships and boarding ships, gained a lot of tech.

[DirectorTsaarx]

quote:

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Originally posted by ZeroAdunn:
I once ran into a problem where I my small three system empire was attacked by a fleet of twenty ships (most of them cruiser or above)

I sent a small fleet out with this combo:

3 destroyer all shields
2 frigates, all engine killers

I only got 1 ship but that was enough. Rather than dropping the movementless ship they kept in the fleet and sat there for ages. Once their supply ran out and I had emassed a large enough fleet I sent in missile ships and boarding ships, gained a lot of tech.

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This works well against the AI, but a human would sacrifice the movementless ship. Or at least send a repair ship to rescue it; maybe with a ship or two defending the movementless ship.

[This message has been edited by DirectorTsaarx (edited 07 June 2001).]

[dumbluck]

quote:

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Originally posted by Mordante:
Regarding;

"crystalline armour and massive guns" - the problem is that the armour doesn't pump the shields until it is damaged (assuming it survives the damage) and since the massive phased polarons are doing 250+ the armour belt is mostly destroyed at the first volley rendering later shield augmentation mimimal. I have seen crystalline armour clad ships work well against low damage organic cannons but not against massive endgame damage.

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I beg to disagree. It has been shown mathematically that unless you can deal more damage than can be pumped back in by the CA, you can NEVER hurt the CA ship!!!

Here is the thread that demonstrates it (it's the original post in the thread that you are interested in):
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/For.../001307-3.html

Hope you find the thread informative. I did.

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May your Life prosper and your Dreams be sweet.

edit = typos

[This message has been edited by dumbluck (edited 08 June 2001).]