newby's guide to ship and fleet strategy - Page 6

Wardad · #51 February 18th, 2002, 09:13 PM

I have had some good luck with Capture Planet.
I used the Capture Planet fleet strategy and played Strategic Combat. I used the default setting for ships breaking formation. The formation is usually a V.
The transports are unarmed, except for PD sometimes. They have excellent ECM, armor, and shields, and can lay a spy sat.
During combat (replay) the transports just hang back until the armed ships are done, and then rush in.
A small pop planet may get glassed before the attackers are done, but sometimes it can be managed by dropping the fleet size before invasion. Anyway, I glassed more planets by forgetting to load the troops back onto the transport the turn before.
The Max damage setting may help. I'm at the office now nd don't remember what that is set to. Generally it controls targetting order. With only one target, it may not help.

capnq · #52 February 18th, 2002, 09:31 PM

quote:
Which takes priority, "targeting priority" or "type priority"?

There's a toggle for setting which one comes first, on the same screen where you set the Firing priorities.

IIRC the default is targeting before type.

[ 18 February 2002: Message edited by: capnq ]

Grandpa Kim · #53 February 24th, 2002, 08:24 AM

Movement Strategies

quote:
Originally posted by PsychoTechFreak:

1. Don't get Hurt
2. Ram

Nice idea, but does it work the same way as a human would decide when he has no chance not to get hurt any more ?

This decidedly does NOT work! In one case the ship just shuttled around in the corner while happily taking taking fire; in another the ship was hemmed in by attackers, completely unable to move. In neither case would the ship ram. My best guess (acknowledging that I don't know which components were destroyed) is that the ship will stick to "Don't get hurt" for as long as it has engines. When the engines are destroyed it reverts to the the secondary strategy...

"Engine room? This is the captain. I've had enough of this sh**! Full speed ahead; we're going to ram the SOB!"
"Uh, sure skipper. I'll just push this scrap iron, that used to be our engines, out the stern. That should give us a little momentum."

... I love this game, but I gotta say it: Not a lot of thought when into this bit of code.

Grandpa Kim · #54 February 24th, 2002, 08:29 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Wardad:

STALL the enemy.
1. Mines, with five mines I made them take five turns to reach my planet. I layed one per sector.

Will this work the same way against a human opponent? I don't think so. Anyone know for sure?

PsychoTechFreak · #55 February 25th, 2002, 12:37 AM

1. Don't get Hurt
2. Ram

It is just a guess but maybe the kamikaze strategy just works if you load at least one warhead ?

Now, to something different:
Has anybody checked out the "until all weapons gone" button ? In many of my simulations, my fleets have done a better job with this button checked. First they knock out the weapons and then they sweep the battlefield from the wracks.

TerranC · #56 February 25th, 2002, 06:01 AM

quote:
Originally posted by PsychoTechFreak:
1. Don't get Hurt
2. Ram

hmm...
Wouldnt that contradict itself? Maybe cause the ship to jerk in one place and let the other ship kill it?

Phoenix-D · #57 February 25th, 2002, 06:32 AM

"Will this work the same way against a human opponent? I don't think so. Anyone know for sure?"

Won't STOP them, not if they're willing to take losses (and even a single minesweeper makes this idea worthless) but mines are nothing to sneeze at.

The only hitch I can see is if ships automaticlly stop after hitting mines. Even then, with only 5 mines you can't possibly cover every approach route.

Phoenix-D

Grandpa Kim · #58 February 25th, 2002, 07:45 AM

Regarding
1. Don't get hurt.
2. Ram.

quote:
Originally posted by TerranC:

hmm...
Wouldnt that contradict itself? Maybe cause the ship to jerk in one place and let the other ship kill it?

No contradiction to a computer. The two orders are mutually exclusive. Once the computer determines that the first won't work, it moves on to "Ram", completely forgeting about "Don't get hurt". If it survives, then on the next combat turn it starts over with "Don't get hurt" and the process repeats. At least that's the way it should work, in fact, that is pretty much the way it is described. The real problem is when does the computer determine that "Don't get hurt" isn't working?

Phoenix-D
I agree with you, but I haven't played enough PBW yet to be sure. For now I will operate on the premise that minefield will not stop a determined human opponent.

[ 25 February 2002: Message edited by: Grandpakim ]

PsychoTechFreak · #59 February 25th, 2002, 11:34 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Grandpakim:
Regarding
1. Don't get hurt.
2. Ram.

... The real problem is when does the computer determine that "Don't get hurt" isn't working?

In fact it doesn't work. My favorite Ram ship design (recently) is a ship full of organic armor 3 which is almost indestructable. It does not go over to ram strategy even when it is trapped in a corner.

But I have not found a strategy setting so far which rams colony ships or planets, both without weapons, no chance. Tried almost every possible targeting prio. My organic goat ship destroys every other ship (with weapons) though.

PvK · #60 February 26th, 2002, 12:42 AM

I meant PDC are weapons for purposes of AI maneuver. I am confident that I have seen PDC-only ships retreat while valid PDC targets were absent, and then advance as soon as valid PDC targets were launched by the enemy. You're right about them not being eligible for main weapon mounts.

PvK

quote:
Originally posted by dumbluck:
PvK:
Are you sure???? I thought it was a well established fact that PDC were not weapons. For instance, it explains why they aren't affected by the default weapons mounts. Other weapons get damage bonuses with the mounts, while PDC damage stays the same, and isn't even listed in the ship creation screen as being altered by the mount (while all the weapons get the little "L" in their picture for Large mount, etc.).

As to the shield depleters, I don't know. I've never used them.

[ 18 February 2002: Message edited by: dumbluck ]