Questions, questions ...

[Baron Munchausen]

Originally posted by Ed Kolis:

quote:

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Originally posted by Suicide Junkie:
Tractor Beams only work on something smaller than you.

Note that a weapon platform counts as being part of the planet, and thus wins in any tug of war contests

Also, if your ship is big enough, you can push defense bases away from the planet they're protecting

So why doesn't it say that anywhere - the weapon description, the manual, etc...

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I'm sure it does, somewhere. It's been so long I've forgotten exactly where.

[Suicide Junkie]

Well, the same thing can be said of early shields, too.

When deciding what to use, consider the Hitpoints per KT of space used.

For shields, this starts at 1.88 hp/kt, and rises to 9.38
Armor goes from 3 up to 5hp/kt
Organic armor has anywhere from 5hp/kt to 35 hp/kt depending on how the damage is applied during combat.

Also consider whether your opponent has phased weapons, in which case, anything below tech level 8 in shields will be weaker than armor.

Armor is cheaper to research at first, but the shield techs do go higher in the end.

You will also need to consider the bonuses given by Stealth Armor and Scattering armor. Although they are weaker than even normal armor, they both provide a stackable 15% defense bonus.
+30% to defense can make a huge difference in combat.

[Phoenix-D]

"Given the amounts of damage that even the most basic weapons do (i.e. a DUC I does 30 pts in one shot) it seems like you'd have to pack on an insane amount of armour for it to really make a difference. Better to spend that tonnage on other systems, no?"

One Armor III protects about as much as one Capital Ship Missile, and takes 1/5 as much space. It's useful. Certainly better than early shields, *especially* if phased weapons are in play!

Let's say you and your opponent have two idential ships. Bridge, LS, CQ, 3 engines. He has three DUC Is, you have 2 DUCIs and three armor Is (30 hp each).

-You both fire. His shots do 90 points of damage, destroying all of your armor. Your shots hit, do 60 points of damage, and take out two of his DUC's (larger components tend to get hit first- not a hard and fast rule, but tend).

-Next salvo. He fires, doing 30 damage and taking out one of your DUCs. You fire, taking out his Last DUC.

I think you can see where this goes from here. The alternatives are bride/LS/CQ/engine hits; but in a close-range slugging match, these don't really matter until afterwards.

Phoenix-D

[Gryphin]

Quote Suicide Junkie, "+30% to defense can make a huge difference in combat. "
Big time.
Turn 114 I sent:
4 Battle Crusiers through Warp Point
101 Sats with Meson BLaster III Waiting, (oops, bad move)

2 Square Range
101 Shots flare out
No Damage

Battle Crusiers:
ECM III, 1 Stealth Armor III, 1 Scattering Armor III
No Racial bonus on either side.
No Shields, no Point Defence Cannons

Meson BLaster III do 20 pts Damage if they hit.
I did save the file for anyone who would like to see it.

[ July 05, 2002, 20:38: Message edited by: The High Gryphin ]

[TerranC]

Originally posted by Suicide Junkie:
+30% to defense can make a huge difference in combat.

Defense doesn't matter squat if you have religious talisman with wave motion guns.

[ July 05, 2002, 20:52: Message edited by: TerranC ]

[Baron Munchausen]

Originally posted by TerranC:

quote:

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Originally posted by Suicide Junkie:
+30% to defense can make a huge difference in combat.

Defense doesn't matter squat if you have religious talisman with wave motion guns.

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Or plain old seekers.