Mine Follies

Seawolf · #1 January 9th, 2001, 09:45 PM

Mine sweep question.

I have a mine sweeper and a know location of mines. DO I have to send the ship then then use the mine sweep command? I tried using the sweep command and then picking the system I want sweept but it won't move there.
Any ideas?

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Seawolf on the prowl

Taqwus · #2 January 9th, 2001, 09:57 PM

Seawolf --

You should be able to just move the sweeper there, into the field. The explicit sweep command seems to be there in case you're already at the field (which shouldn't happen unless you encountered a minelayer, which then laid the mines right around your ships -- e.g. if you attack one, it panics, and drops a trail of mines while fleeing that you don't manage to entirely wipe out during the 30 turns).

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night

The Puke Empire · #3 January 10th, 2001, 04:23 AM

MoonDragon, if u don't use boarding, I'm sure you will lose some of the battles or even colonies. I dont use it cuz it makes things too easy, the AI never had security stations.

geoschmo · #4 January 10th, 2001, 04:38 AM

I only research mine tech to get sweepers. I am not a fan of fixed defenses (mines or bases) or the micro-managing it takes to maintain a mine field. I prefer ships/troops and am usually expanding so fast it doesn't make sense to throw up a mine field. I think I would probably use them as a planetary defense to protect against a sneak attack in a multi player game, but I have yet to see the AI use that particualar tactic.

HAL! We are on the edge of our seats. Please tell us what happened in your game. Were you able to fight back the invading hordes or did you finally fall to there onslaught?

Sinapus · #5 January 10th, 2001, 05:44 AM

Maintaining a minefield doesn't take much micromanaging. Build a minelayer, pick one planet to manufacture the mines and use the repeat command to have the minelayer pick up and launch mines at the warp point you want to mine. As the minefield gets swept/used up by blown up ships build some more mines on the planet.

I was wondering one thing: is it possible to sweep mines while you are at peace with someone? (Might be grounds for declaring war, but still...)

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--
"What do -you- want?" "I'd like to live -just- long enough
to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a
pike as a warning to the next ten generations that some favors
come with too high a price. I would look up into your lifeless
eyes and wave like this..." *waggle* "...can you and your
associates arrange that for me, Mr. Morden?"

Tomgs · #6 January 10th, 2001, 08:07 AM

If you have a non agression or higher treaty with someone their mines are not affected by you nor you by them. They will be as open space to you because they are invisible and they will not detonate when you pass through. If there is another race around that has no treaty with them you may notice the dissapearing ships around the wormholes though.

[This message has been edited by Tomgs (edited 10 January 2001).]

MoonDragn · #7 January 10th, 2001, 04:58 PM

If I don't use boarding its still not too hard. The computer just doesn't know how to build ships.. In the early game a good ship with Phased weapons will destroy their ships easy. In the late game some imaginative ship design will always beat them in tactical
In any game I always expand too fast so by mid game I got half the galaxy conquered
Its easy to conquer in a way that there are only a few points of entry into your empire...
The only vulnerable spot I see is still intelligence, when you got all the AIs sending intelligence attacks at you, its not very defendable at all, you just can't make enough projects to defend against all of them.