The best weapons for a close combat ship?

[golf_prez]

quote:

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Originally posted by tesco samoa:
The armour ships close with the pd ships ( due to the one weapon one them ( that way they don't fight in the famous SEIV X Formation ( yep rip one right to the best cornor on the map ))) , the missle ship backs off and starts firing. The other ships close to a max range and start firing while the close assault ships disable shields and weapons.

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Please can you expand on this Famous SEIV X formation (problem??)

Are these ships used in Tactical Combat or in Strategic Combat ???

Any suggestions for Strategic ??

thanks!

[Baron Munchausen]

quote:

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Originally posted by golf_prez:
Please can you expand on this Famous SEIV X formation (problem??)

Are these ships used in Tactical Combat or in Strategic Combat ???

Any suggestions for Strategic ??

thanks!

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I think he's referring to the tendency of 'unarmed' ships to run for the corners of the map. Ships with only PDC are regarded as "unarmed" by the AI and get excluded from formations and sent off to the corners of the map where they cannot help protect other ships from missiles or fighters. So, he puts one weapon in them to keep them in the formation. That's the 'Strategic' formation issue. In Tactical mode a ship with only PDCs stays in the formation and you can move it along with the others.

[This message has been edited by Baron Munchausen (edited 12 August 2001).]

[tesco samoa]

Yep it is the computer controls all. I always use the Stragetic combat. Since you cannot fight in PBEM games any other way.

I have not really played around with tatical combat that much. Just for testing new ships or upgrades against current enemy designs or if I Intel some new designs. Even then I put it on auto and let it go. I arm everything.

You should try the mostly armour or mostly shield ships. They can take a pounding and they will break up the enemy formations.


My only suggestions for stragetic formation is to create specialized ships and max them out on that specialization.

Shield attacking ships, weapon attacking ships, armour or shield ships. Mix up the point blank ships with the longer range ones and pick a good formation. (I find the X and wall formations just get ships bouncing into each other ). If the enemy counters with all armour ships then mothball the shield attacking ships until thier needed again.

I believe that closing on the enemy fast is the number one prority of the fleet. 2 is disable the ships ability to fire, move and command. 3. clean up.

Since you have to close quickly max out the engines. Weapon damage is very important. But you need the ship to have a good reload time. Organic weapons fit this style.

Since ships never fight one on one a short range brawler type ship will not Last very long when they are fighting armour ships supported by missle ships and pd ships.

I would like to hear some other styles?

Or perhaps I should join some email games and learn by experience what everyone else is doing.

[Suicide Junkie]

My favorite design so far, is the BlackHole class Combat Fortress. Not exactly a close range combat ship, since it fights at range six-plus, but getting closer wouldn't help this ship in any way.

Completely invisible to the naked eye of most races (+108% defense), Six talisman powered Heavy Polaron Beams, 1350 shields, with 170 regeneration per turn, 1470 armor, 6000 internal armor, MC plus biological crew backups.
Enough Whoop-*** to survive a counter-attack from 6 undamaged max-tech Phong Dreadnaughts, solo, and crippling the enemy force before 30 rounds run out.

The purchase price is a staggering $100,000, but maintenance can be as low as 5K minerals. (free in SE4 v1.35 )

------------------
The latest info on Pirates & Nomads (forum thread).
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[Hotfoot]

So far, my "magic combination" has been dual-mounted Null-Space Projectors backed up by either Meson BLasters (for tactical advantages and low tonnage) or Phased-Polaron Beams. The Null-Space weapons get first billing, so that my ships stand a decent chance of knocking out something important right off the bat (I never assume that PPBs can bypass shields by the time I get them), preferably shield generators, weapons, or the bridge. Meanwhile, my massive PPB arrays pound away at the shields/armor of the ships, every so often letting the knockout punch of Null-Space Projectors slip through to tear everything to shreds from the inside out.

Lately, however, I'm learning the bonuses of torpedoes. Sure, they only fire once every two turns, but they have damage comparable to missiles, can't be shot down by PDC, and can be massive mounted. Of course, it still pays to be using APB or PPB arrays to continue a continuous barrage against the enemy.

The "ultimate" melee, however, would be a ship that would be as hard as possible to hit, armed with explosive warheads and a small amount of PDC to avoid incoming missiles. Get in as close as possible and then, BOOM!

Oh, and perhaps some shield depleters in order to make the job just that much easier.

-Hotfoot
"Well, you wanted close range. Ain't nothing closer than hull meeting hull, now is there?"

[Taqwus]

For a high-tech close-combat dreadnought, I've used the following combo:

(All heavy-mount... except maybe for ionic disperser. It only needs to do 120 pts per hit, don't recall what mount that is.)

1x Ionic Disperser beam
3x Null-Space Projector
1x Repulsor Beam

It's mostly used for crippling ships and flinging them away before they can counter with remaining weapons. Killing tends to be done with other ships with a shield depleter and APBs, or sometimes with retrofitted LCs/CAs/BCs.

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night

[CW]

Although this is a military secret, but you guys are so willing to share, I will break the rule once and release my latest design. This is the result after 2 hours in the wind tunnel... err I mean the simulator of cause !

Close Combat DN 5 class (Code named Cerium Ce class in my PBW game)
-----------------------

1x Master Computer
4x Quantum engines
1x Solar sail
1x Organic armour
1x Stealth armour
1x Scattering armour
7x Phrased shield generators
1x Quantum reactor
1x Combat Sensor
1x Multiplex tracker
1x ECM
1x (Heavy mount) Shield disrupter
1x (Heavy mount) Shield depleter
2x Point Defense Cannon
7x (Heavy mount) Ripper beams
1x (Heavy mount) Repulser beam

I welcome challenges and feedbacks!

PS. Wonder why I have a shield disrupter AND a shield depleter? That's because this ship is designed to engage more than one ship in a fight. A lot of the designs I have seen could deal out a pretty mighty first salvo, but then they have to sit and wait 2 or 3 turns for their guns to recharge, plenty of time to take fatal hits! A heavy mount shield depleter is a bargian at 40kt, takes out 750 shield points in one shot, and 1 turn recharge time - too tempting to leave out!

If there is a weak point in this ship it would be the vulnerability to virus and fighter/missile attacks, but then self-containability for deep enemy airspace penetration is not in this ship's mission profile. If I need lone patrol ships I have cheap cruisers armed with virus packages and allegiance subverters; if I want survivable scouts I have a specially designed DN with minesweepers, an ionic disperser and a worm hole beam (kill his engines, throw him out, then get out of the way!).


{EDIT}I can't spell...


[This message has been edited by CW (edited 14 August 2001).]

[tesco samoa]

Hey Taqwus


That is one little nasty ship design. I think I will try them out.

[golf_prez]

quote:

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Originally posted by tesco samoa:

Shield attacking ships, weapon attacking ships, armour or shield ships. Mix up the point blank ships with the longer range ones and pick a good formation. (I find the X and wall formations just get ships bouncing into each other ). If the enemy counters with all armour ships then mothball the shield attacking ships until thier needed again.

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I am gleaning some excellent info here thankyou! Tesco, you indicate some BAD formations do you some Favorites you could share?? [I know this isn't the original intent of this thread, but I have to ask ]

I am really trying to ramp up my strategic knowledge to deal with the PBW games

[Suicide Junkie]

quote:

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I welcome challenges and feedbacks

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I'm just wondering why you have a single organic armor piece. You get no organic regen unless you lose a segment and still have others remaining.

You could put in a B/LS/CQ combo instead, thus rendering your ship invulnerable to computer virus attacks. Psy races would still be able to capture your ship after destroying the MC, but others would not be able to disable your ship with a single shot.

------------------
The latest info on Pirates & Nomads (forum thread).
-<Download V2.2b>- (Now with EZ-Install, just extract to your SE4 folder)
-<Download P&N Classic>- (The final release of P&N v1.x, with EZ-Install, just extract to your SE4 folder)
-<Download compatible EMPs for P&N v1.2 through v1.7>-
-<Download SJs latest AI Patcher>-
Visit My Homepage

Other Links:
-<Play By Web>-
-<Schlock Mercenary>- (great space-based webcartoon) -<First Strip>-
-<8-bit Theater>- (fun comic with the pixellated FF1 characters)