Info about br's and drones

[Ulzgoroth]

In the first line of ur last post "well in a sense everyone does,.................. have counterparts to..." elaborate on that if you can, are u saying that the races have different specs for the same modules, or is it across the board.

There are a bunch of ship sections that are available to everyone. But they generally don't have the same turrets, armor, and stats for everyone.

and back to carriers, does every race only have 6 drones per CR? i am a carrier guy and in games that have them, i build em like crazy.

Yes, everyone carries the same number of drones on their dedicated carriers. Not all drones are alike, though. Morrigi drones have more weapons, and Loa and Zuul drones have heavier weapons, and different drones move at different speeds and so forth.

You can't really lock in one strategy like that in this game, unless you only play against really weak opponents. If you focus heavily on carriers, your enemy (human or AI) will adapt by fielding ships designed to take out your swarms. Every approach has counters. A critical part of play is shifting your strategy as needed to keep that balance in your favor. When the enemy rolls out their drone and battlerider swatting navy, you meet that with heavy combat dreadnoughts instead of carriers, and so forth.

Thanks for the info.......uh whats an impactor? and whats a leviathan? jk........seriously dont know what an impactor is

Impactors are large kinetic weapons that can only be used in fixed mounts on specialized cruisers and dreadnoughts. They're very powerful and rather long-ranged. Leviathans can mount them in dual turrets, leviathans are kind of crazy like that.

 

[grandadmiralbob]

There are a bunch of ship sections that are available to everyone. But they generally don't have the same turrets, armor, and stats for everyone.

Yes, everyone carries the same number of drones on their dedicated carriers. Not all drones are alike, though. Morrigi drones have more weapons, and Loa and Zuul drones have heavier weapons, and different drones move at different speeds and so forth.

You can't really lock in one strategy like that in this game, unless you only play against really weak opponents. If you focus heavily on carriers, your enemy (human or AI) will adapt by fielding ships designed to take out your swarms. Every approach has counters. A critical part of play is shifting your strategy as needed to keep that balance in your favor. When the enemy rolls out their drone and battlerider swatting navy, you meet that with heavy combat dreadnoughts instead of carriers, and so forth.

Impactors are large kinetic weapons that can only be used in fixed mounts on specialized cruisers and dreadnoughts. They're very powerful and rather long-ranged. Leviathans can mount them in dual turrets, leviathans are kind of crazy like that.

I like variety, and i dont build JUST carriers. now im playing vs an easy ai as this is my first full game that i know what im doing. i only use 1 or 2 carriers/fleet so far. Honestly, is the ai smart enough to think, hey, this guys building nothing but carriers, im gonna build some dreads with point defenses and slaughter him? im not good enough at the game to say if the ai is good or not.


another thing, ive seen energy weapons get blazer, torpedos get "torpedo" (very creative), missles get the "barrage" module, is impactor just a weapon or is it a whole section? and if its not a section, do they have a specialized kinetic weapon section b/c in head to head battles, my heavy drivers to most of the "talkin'"


thanks for your advice btw

 

[Ulzgoroth]

I like variety, and i dont build JUST carriers. now im playing vs an easy ai as this is my first full game that i know what im doing. i only use 1 or 2 carriers/fleet so far. Honestly, is the ai smart enough to think, hey, this guys building nothing but carriers, im gonna build some dreads with point defenses and slaughter him? im not good enough at the game to say if the ai is good or not.

I haven't observed it adapting, but I'm told it's capable, yes. Certainly the SotS I AI was. It's probably not going to do a sharp swerve and totally switch its fleet composition so much as start building more and more PD-carrying ships until your drones stop being effective.

another thing, ive seen energy weapons get blazer, torpedos get "torpedo" (very creative), missles get the "barrage" module, is impactor just a weapon or is it a whole section? and if its not a section, do they have a specialized kinetic weapon section b/c in head to head battles, my heavy drivers to most of the "talkin'"

Impactors use specialized fixed mounts, just like heavy combat lasers and torpedoes do. As such, they need their own mission section on cruisers and dreadnoughts. It might also be possible to stick on a modular mount...Dreadnoughts can use their large module slots to add torpedo tubes or fixed beams, impactors might get the same treatment. As mentioned previously, LVs can mount impactors in certain very large turrets.

An impactor section is not any better at mounting heavy drivers than any other section, nor is a blazer better at mounting energy weapon turrets. War, Armor, and Point Defense are the top sections for mounting turreted weapons regardless of which tree those weapons come from. If anything, there's an incentive to mount kinetic weapons on a blazer section and energy weapons on an impactor section to get a more balanced demand for supplies and energy, though often that's not really as much a concern as picking the most effective weapons.

Also, with regard to special weapon sections...Blazer and torpedo are of course fixed beams and torpedoes respectively. Barrage is a race-dependent mix of beams, torpedoes, and heavy missiles. There's also a heavy missile section which brings more of those but no beams or torpedoes.

 

[Tavior]

As to if the AI do adapt yes they will. The problem I have seen is that if the player change tactic a bit faster, than the AI can research counter or whatever, or even just have two set of fleet using different tactic then the AI can struggle a bit.

As for how to obtain impactor. You need antimatter power tech. Then tech named "Acceleration Amplification" will show up linked from Heavy Driver in ballistic tree. You don't need dreadnaught construction because you can use it for cruiser as well. All race can attempt to get it with various degree of success.

 

[Ulzgoroth]

As for how to obtain impactor. You need antimatter power tech. Then tech named "Acceleration Amplification" will show up linked from Heavy Driver in ballistic tree. You don't need dreadnaught construction because you can use it for cruiser as well. All race can attempt to get it with various degree of success.

Unless you're playing Liir. Impactors are one of the sections that the Liir reserve for battlecruisers and battleships, so you can't field impactors without dreadnoughts to carry the battlecruisers.

 

[Tavior]

To be fair Liir has the worst chance to get impactor. So you don't often run into this scenario when you need accelerated amplification AND dreadnaught construction.

 

[Ulzgoroth]

To be fair Liir has the worst chance to get impactor. So you don't often run into this scenario when you need accelerated amplification AND dreadnaught construction.

It's true that they have the worst chance, tied with the Suul'ka horde Zuul, but it's still a 70% link from Heavy Drivers. Liir aren't generally great with kinetics but they're pretty solid on impactors.

 

[grandadmiralbob]

Speaking of antimatter, i just starting researching it. It said i would have it done in 30ish turns. Then the humans destroyed 4ish colonies of mine, now its saying 60. After i got it back down to 40 turns it was halfway done, then a little after that i "made an early breakthrough" and got it!!! how often do you get to finish a tech thats 55% done? after i finished it BOOM, the tech tree just got bigger.

also, i was building a br carrying cruiser, and i had built 4 br's. can you only have 1 type of br per carrier? because i see two columns, the first with two rows, the second with one, and i can only fill up the first row. im kinda confused, any advise would be great on clearing this up. sorry if that sounds confusing

 

[unmerged(201662)]

Tech can be finished between 50% and 150% (breakthrough vs. over budget). Can happen randomly every time you do research, though typically the more you spend to speed it up, the better the chances of going over budget (scientists can go off tangent more often if given the funding. heh). A slow steady funding policy can often spark breakthroughs as well since Scientists can be more focused (but there is no guarantee). A management trick is to overfund (slide that slider way over to funds for research) and then when it reaches 50%, cut funding back and hope for the breakthrough or hitting 100% completion happen more likely since it's a chance "Roll" every turn.

 

[unmerged(201662)]

Huh, couldn't start a new paragraph... Okay, regarding BR's, yes only one type of BR per carrier.

 

[grandadmiralbob]

Huh, couldn't start a new paragraph... Okay, regarding BR's, yes only one type of BR per carrier.

but when i drag the little box from the right to the center part, does that mean that i made a "squad" of br's or is that just one. i dont wanna over produce as in my game now, money is pretty important........ friggin humans sent 5 assault shuttle fleets to 5 planets and they really $&%^%$%^%^&*##!!!!

oh, and when u use assault shuttles, do they replenish like drones/heavy drones, or do they have to be rebuild after destruction like br's bc's???
thanks in advance

 

[unmerged(201662)]

As far as I know, shuttles, and drones are replaced at the end of each combat. BR's are replaced if spares are in fleet of that type, otherwise you need to build more (spares are limited based on ship, note supply ships can carry BR's as spares. )

 

[Ulzgoroth]

There is what I'd call a visual design issue with the battlerider screen. Those 'two columns' you see aren't separate, it's just one pool of 3 slots placed in a way that makes it look like something else.

IIRC, there's a second icon placed over the right 'column'. That icon is actually a button which allows you to switch to viewing the ship's slots for inactive reserve battleriders.

 

[Ulzgoroth]

As far as I know, shuttles, and drones are replaced at the end of each combat. BR's are replaced if spares are in fleet of that type, otherwise you need to build more (spares are limited based on ship, note supply ships can carry BR's as spares. )

Don't you have to repair the carrier to replenish lost drones/shuttles/biomissiles?

You can't separately rebuild them. Drones and assault shuttles can't be put into build invoices.

 

[grandadmiralbob]

thanks for the info sfc and ulz...... i just found a humie system with 4 planets so i think this is a good time to try them out.


now, yet another series of question
1. true or false, assualt thingies only attack planets
2. whats the strategic difference between them and bio missiles?
3. when i attack a planet, is there another way to do so that when i take it over, the infrastructure,biosphere,climate hazard etc. arent hurt, so i can just focus on repopulating it and jumping to the next system.
4. i see a tech called cure for plague, or something like that, if they research it, are the biomissiles completely useless
5. true or false, when a planet gets attacked, the colonly is "eliminated" when all the population is gone, and the high the pop, the more "hp" a planet has, other than standard growth, is there a way to increase planet "hp" cuz those humans made mence meat out of my planets pretty easily


THANKS in advance, and happy "end of the world" day

 

[Tavior]

1)True only planets Unless you got the advance assault shuttle then you got a small turret that can act like a PD or sniper or whatever you want it to. Otherwise the primary target is usually planets.

2)Bio missile are one time shot deal. The only way to replenish them is to have a repair starship in fleet during stragetic turn. Assault shuttle will attack planet again and again as long they are intact during tactical battle.

3)Right now there are only two way I know of. The first way is to "demand surrender" technology in the politic tree. Another way is to use a weapon with "High population" damage but next to zero infrastructure/biosphere damage. Assault Shuttle fall under this "High population" damage category.

4)If you don't have the link or successful get the next level of bio missile then yes pretty much useless. I believe there is only one bio-missile that don't have a "cure". Also keep in mind Loa and Zuul are naturally immune to all form of bio-missiles with exception as explained below.

The one bio-missile that doesn't have cure is Nanovirus since it does damage to infrastructure which can hurt production and is the only bio-missile that can hurt Loa/Zuul.

5)There is a technology to reduce bombard damage but very little else you can do to increase chance of surviving a bombard. This technology is hardened structures in industrious tree. You need to have either Atmospheric processor or quark resonator researched to unlock Arcology Construction, this tech increase number of population on planet, which finally unlock hardened structure.

 

[grandadmiralbob]

1)True only planets Unless you got the advance assault shuttle then you got a small turret that can act like a PD or sniper or whatever you want it to. Otherwise the primary target is usually planets.

2)Bio missile are one time shot deal. The only way to replenish them is to have a repair starship in fleet during stragetic turn. Assault shuttle will attack planet again and again as long they are intact during tactical battle.

3)Right now there are only two way I know of. The first way is to "demand surrender" technology in the politic tree. Another way is to use a weapon with "High population" damage but next to zero infrastructure/biosphere damage. Assault Shuttle fall under this "High population" damage category.

4)If you don't have the link or successful get the next level of bio missile then yes pretty much useless. I believe there is only one bio-missile that don't have a "cure". Also keep in mind Loa and Zuul are naturally immune to all form of bio-missiles with exception as explained below.

The one bio-missile that doesn't have cure is Nanovirus since it does damage to infrastructure which can hurt production and is the only bio-missile that can hurt Loa/Zuul.

5)There is a technology to reduce bombard damage but very little else you can do to increase chance of surviving a bombard. This technology is hardened structures in industrious tree. You need to have either Atmospheric processor or quark resonator researched to unlock Arcology Construction, this tech increase number of population on planet, which finally unlock hardened structure.

1. makes sense
2. ditto
3. what i mean is, can i just take over a planets native population and use them to build ships, tax income, etc. so i can built ships quick enough to launch assaults in the next planet down the line.
4. so they are useless unless u get the best biomissile? unless ur fighting loa/zuul, and does the nanovirus have a cure?
5. so u get arcologies first, which just increases the pop, and thats prerequisite to hardened structures, which both basically do the same thing?


thanks for the info

 

[Tavior]

3) Surrender will do that carry over the population, at least citizen intact, and infrastructure. I don't know how much damage assault shuttle will do to the infrastructure but their use target population more over infrastructure. Just defend the system until a colonization fleet can drop off the population and infrastructure will be largely intact.

As for Climate Hazard if the target's population has 200 CH preference different than your species then you will have to do bit of terraform in both Surrender and assault shuttle cases.

4)Nanovirus do not have a cure that I know of other than shooting it down before it reach the planet. Sadly it will not keep the infrastructure intact.

5) Hardened Structure is core tech only to two races, Loa and Hiver. There is a chance that you might not get it. So having Arcology Construction is better than nothing. More population on your planet also give you more tactical planetary missiles just a tiny bit so it won't hurt to have that.

Sorry I kind of forget to mention in my last post. Hardened Structure is an optional technology which means you need to go to each individual planets you want to use it on and check the box in the top right corner (I think). Keep in mind enabling this tech will also reduce how much construction you can do as a trade-off.


You might want to look into putting more defense assets in solar system where you are having problem with holding ground. Building a naval space station and upgrading help give you by giving you more defense assets. You can put minelayer, System Defense Boat, and various defense platforms in battle manager by right click the solar system. You can also patrol solar systems without naval space station so take advantage of that until the naval/colony is ready to defend it self.

 

[Ulzgoroth]

1. makes sense
2. ditto

I'd add that shuttle damage happens right away. Biomissiles infect the planet and do damage over multiple strategic turns. Not so useful if you're wiping the planet right then, I think.

3. what i mean is, can i just take over a planets native population and use them to build ships, tax income, etc. so i can built ships quick enough to launch assaults in the next planet down the line.

Broadly? No. If you can get them to surrender or if you can overwhelm the planet with Assimilation Plague (the second most sophisticated bioweapon) you can come somewhere close.

4. so they are useless unless u get the best biomissile? unless ur fighting loa/zuul, and does the nanovirus have a cure?

Er, the specific diseases the enemy has the cure for become ineffective against them. They're certainly not guaranteed to be useless. Except against the Zuul, the Zuul are generally immune to disease.

There are actually two biomissile loads with no cure possible. The nanovirus isn't actually a bioweapon, and doesn't kill population. (Except AI rebel and possibly Loa population.) It eats infrastructure.

The other is the ultimate bioweapon. It doesn't have a cure and isn't stopped by the universal antigen or zuul immunity either, at least according to the documentation. It's pretty low probability to get it, no matter what race you're playing as.

5. so u get arcologies first, which just increases the pop, and thats prerequisite to hardened structures, which both basically do the same thing?

Increasing population is enormously valuable! Population is a very large part of your economy. Forcing your enemies to kill a few more citizens before they've fully cleared out a colony is a tiny side benefit.

Hardened Structures reduces damage from attacks. It has no economic benefits (actually, activating it reduces productivity) but it means that you lose less people and infrastructure when your planet gets hit.

Reducing damage does mean that the colony will take longer to exterminate, but colony damage isn't a binary thing.

 

[grandadmiralbob]

I'd add that shuttle damage happens right away. Biomissiles infect the planet and do damage over multiple strategic turns. Not so useful if you're wiping the planet right then, I think.

Broadly? No. If you can get them to surrender or if you can overwhelm the planet with Assimilation Plague (the second most sophisticated bioweapon) you can come somewhere close.

Er, the specific diseases the enemy has the cure for become ineffective against them. They're certainly not guaranteed to be useless. Except against the Zuul, the Zuul are generally immune to disease.

There are actually two biomissile loads with no cure possible. The nanovirus isn't actually a bioweapon, and doesn't kill population. (Except AI rebel and possibly Loa population.) It eats infrastructure.

The other is the ultimate bioweapon. It doesn't have a cure and isn't stopped by the universal antigen or zuul immunity either, at least according to the documentation. It's pretty low probability to get it, no matter what race you're playing as.

Increasing population is enormously valuable! Population is a very large part of your economy. Forcing your enemies to kill a few more citizens before they've fully cleared out a colony is a tiny side benefit.

Hardened Structures reduces damage from attacks. It has no economic benefits (actually, activating it reduces productivity) but it means that you lose less people and infrastructure when your planet gets hit.

Reducing damage does mean that the colony will take longer to exterminate, but colony damage isn't a binary thing.

first of all thanks for all the info u and others have given me.


second, it took me two reads but that explanation makes sense and i will employ it if i can ever get past defenses/fleets.............

third, as said above, im fighting an enemy colonly which had 4 planets. there are only 2 now but everytime i invade them, i maaaaaaaay lose one cruiser, and they lose a space station, a defense sat., and a few cruisers at most. point being, im making no headway even though i have 3 times the number of planets they do, more tech, larger fleets, dreads etc. and the battle isnt progressing. if u have any advice on what i can do, remember im a huuuuuge noob, it will be greatly appreciated as i want to finish off humans and go after whatever the blue race is next. the problem is their fleets seem to be able to soak up massive amounts of damage lately and i cant even reach their planets in time to do hardly any damage, thanks in advance.


ps. the only real knowledge i have, other than stuff learned from the skirmish, my first one, online i know nothing about this game other than stuff that ive learned from this forum, mainly from Ulzgoroth, thanks btw