Sweeping Mines

[Jubala]

How is it done? Is it enough to just send a ship with minesweepers into the field or does it need special orders or something? I have never ran across a minefield yet so I haven't needed the info. Now I do.

[Instar]

Pretty much automatic. Just run your minesweeper into the minefield. Done.

[Jubala]

Good. Thanks.

[Psitticine]

What is that minesweeping button for? I've clicked it and selected my target and . . . nothing. The only way to 'sweep seems to be to send the ships in with a move order and let them figure out what to do themselves.

[C4]

I tried sending the minesweeper into the minefield and it was destroyed by the mines. The sweep mines button had no effect (that I could see).

[Elmo]

C4

I've seen Messages indicating a number of mines were swept. If there are more mines than your sweeper can handle then the ship will take damage and possibly be destroyed.

Elmo

[This message has been edited by Elmo (edited 26 November 2000).]

[Baron Munchausen]

The "sweep" button is for odd circumstances, admittedly, but if it wasn't there you'd miss it sooner or later. What if you go into combat against an enemy force that included mine layers, and didn't manage to destroy all of the enemy before the turns run out? Maybe they attacked one of your planets where you have setup a major military base with resupply and shipyard and everything. The AI will automatically deploy any mines that it has when combat begins. Not smart, but that's what it does. A player might well want to drop mines on your base on purpose. So, you are sitting on a mine field. What next? I'm not sure if you can move OUT of a minefield without being hit, but presumably if you've got minesweepers they would protect you moving out as well as moving in. But what if you've got OTHER ships that you want to bring INTO the sector? Move them in, and BOOM! So, you could move your mine sweeper ship OUT of the sector and then back in... OR you could click the "sweep mines" button. I think this would work for a base, too. So, you could put a minesweper component on a base and after combat where you think the enemy may have dropped some mines click the sweep button. You never know if there might be MORE mines all around you, too. Maybe you'd hit a lot more mines if you moved! This lets you sweep without actually moving.

[Taqwus]

Anybody test what happens with multiple sweepers? If you have, say, 4 sweepers with 5 Sweeper V's (so each can handle 25 mines), and you move 'em into a 125-mine fleet, will you lose sweeper (First one sweeps 25, still 100 left, so some go boom. Second sweeps 25, still some left, etc.), or will they all sweep, and *then* remaining mines detonate on remaining ships (including accompanying non-sweepers)?

FWIW, early on, a ship with good Organic Armor makes an insanely good minesweeper, since the armor will regenerate between mine detonations.

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night

[Tomgs]

I use mutiple sweepers all the time if they are together in a fleet all the sweepers work at once to clear the mines.

[Psitticine]

quote:

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Originally posted by Baron Munchausen:
The "sweep" button is for odd circumstances, admittedly, but if it wasn't there you'd miss it sooner or later. What if you go into combat against an enemy force that included mine layers, and didn't manage to destroy all of the enemy before the turns run out?

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Ah! Thanks! I had this sort of thing happen just yesterday, actually. I sent a ship in to suppress the defenses and blockade an important mining planet until the troop transport could get there. There were mines stored on the planet and I didn't get a chance to clear them out in the tactical combat.

Speaking of which, doesn't the history file say mines aren't supposed to appear in tactical combat anymore? I saw them in that same post-patch game I just finished.