Tactical minelaying Q and a possible exploit

[jim]

This Q applies only to non-Simultaneous games against the AI(s).

I had an unarmed minelayer just minding its own biz and beginning to mine a warp point when the enemy barged in. The enemy fleet was hurt, but several ships survived and they all had 2 or 3 movement. I looked them over and saw that they all had just anti-planet and/or ramming designs (or had their missiles/guns destroyed).

So, I had my 4 movement minelayer run for the furthest corner with the intent to mine the 3 squares around it. I calculated I would have several turns to finish it. Well, I needed ALL of them! I simply could NOT get the mines to show up on the third square I needed to complete the wall! Instead, the mines showed up seemingly in random squares nearby. Eventually, the last one got mines just as the bad guys came limping up.

Well, the ship survived, but I could obviously not recover the mines if I had wanted to (but, of course, I did not).

So, is there I way to direct the squares where I want the mines to appear during the battle?

Also, did I inadvertently stumble into a way to violate the 100 mines limit? That is, suppose I had a fleet that got into a battle (at a warp point, for example) that contained multiple minelayers with mucho mines on each. As long as I took my time wiping out the baddies, it would seem that I could lay every mine they all had. Say it was a minelaying fleet with escorts that had 10 minelayers, each with 125 mines aboard. Could I not end up with 1,250 mines on the square that way?

[Suicide Junkie]

If you were to block off all the other squares with ships, perhaps.

And quite possibly.
However, it should be noted that the game really should be played in simultaneous mode. The AI's all play as if it were, and for most multiplayer action, it is the only practical choice.

[bearclaw]

IIRC, I seem to remember a game where I got into a massive battle with a carrier fleet of mine against standard warships of my enemy's. It ended up a draw but my carriers had taken significant damage that ended up with nearly 200 fighters being left in the sector.

I though: Cool! more than 100 units in a sector!

The following turn, I looked for my fighters and found that there were only 100 left. The other 80-90 has disappeared. I haven't tested this to see if this is normal (I belive this was a pre-gold game).