Fleet management

Share your gameplay tips, secret tactics and fabulous strategies and ship designs with fellow gamers here.

Moderators: elliotg, Icemania

Post Reply
hein
Posts: 21
Joined: Fri Feb 04, 2011 1:22 pm

Fleet management

Post by hein »

In the end game or even in the mid game we have to make a lot of fleet.

Personally i make as soon as possible,
- 1 defense fleet per system with 4-5 frigates
- 3-4 Strike force with 16 of my biggest ship and ressuply
- 3-4 invasion fleet with biggest ship and transport troops

How do you organize your fleet ?
Bingeling
Posts: 5186
Joined: Thu Aug 12, 2010 11:42 am

RE: Fleet management

Post by Bingeling »

I usually never get to end game...

A typical setup when at decent size and and with the world explored could be

- 10-15 raider fleets of 4-6 destroyers or something. Base and pirate busting/defense.
- 7-10 battle fleets. For defense and attacks. A few may be larger to crush the best protected targets.
- 1 (sometimes more) invasion fleets. With a fleet leader and transports.

As the empire grows and economy improves, more battle fleets are added. Transports are split into multiple fleets if more than one area is targeted, or the empire is massive.

At the end of my latest AAR the map looked like this (my purple area is marked).
Image

I had 41 destroyers. 10 raider fleets of 4 each, and an invasion fleet leader.
50 transports in the invasion fleet (or refilling outside the fleet).
110 cruisers and 55 carriers making up 8 battle fleets, of which two had extra strength.
6 resupply ships not in fleets, in part working as monitoring stations...

Typical setup in peace would be raider fleets at the edges of the empire in pirate defense mode.
Battle fleets spread around prepared for anything.
Invasion fleet waiting in a central spot.

At war, a few raiders starts searching for enemy mining bases. Battle fleets move to defend likely invasion points, the invasion fleet heads for the area of action, and a couple of battle fleets go on the offensive. I usually keep one battle fleet in each region not involved in the war as well (always prepared).
User avatar
Unforeseen
Posts: 608
Joined: Tue Mar 26, 2013 4:08 am
Location: United States of Disease

RE: Fleet management

Post by Unforeseen »

I handle things a little different (probably) than most people. What the above poster referred to as battle fleets, i use as well except that my fleets are separated into Divisions and sometimes if appropriate Squadrons. I base the composition of these fleets on how many ships i have budgeted.

So as an example, you have 1st Fleet. Instead of having 50 ships, we break 1st Fleet into...
1st Fleet Heavy Cruiser Div1, 1st Fleet Heavy Cruiser Div2, 1st Fleet Light Cruiser Div1...and so on based on the ship you use. Those Divions are completely separate acting fleets and can perform missions away from the main fleet but remain in the same general vicinity or sector ready to quickly gather and attack or defend. The main purpose behind doing this is that it gives you more ability to manage individual groups of ships that are built for a specific purpose in battle. Like my Heavy Cruisers, their sole battle strategy is to tank the middle of the battle lines, and i need to have control of just those heavy cruisers to make sure that is all they do. Meanwhile i can separately order my Frigate Squadrons to break formation and attempt to flank the enemy fleet.
Bingeling
Posts: 5186
Joined: Thu Aug 12, 2010 11:42 am

RE: Fleet management

Post by Bingeling »

I could do something like that, if the game supported fleet structures of some kind. It does not.

My philosophy is: If you need more power, add more ships, nothing fancy. If I find myself in a situation where I lack a suitable smaller force (kill a mine, pirate base...), I may order a few ships of the main fleet to do that. They will go back to the leader once done.
User avatar
Unforeseen
Posts: 608
Joined: Tue Mar 26, 2013 4:08 am
Location: United States of Disease

RE: Fleet management

Post by Unforeseen »

Without fleet structures its pretty hard to manage them, i fight battles in .25 or .5. I generally only need to manage them in large conflicts. Usually my divisions/squadrons fight separately from one another.

Tactically they stay in the same sector, when my long range sensors detect a large incoming fleet they will gather. If i am attacking, initially they will be gathered but spread out after i have a "beach head" established. Generally i have two of these fleets. With smaller sector defense fleets in each sector with a colony, 10-20 Strike groups with 4-5 Frigates, an Anti-Piracy Attack Force consisting mostly of destroyers, and hundreds of patrols/escorts. The later 2 i named Concord from Eve Online.

Other than that i maintain multiple fleets of transports, called Dropships. With about 100-200(Depends on if i have robotic troops)DS per fleet. Each DS has one troop component, zero armor, zero shields. Alot of Engines and 2 Fuel Cells. Each of these fleets has a single Transport designed to carry a General safely to the planet while under intense enemy fire.
To support these attacks i maintain 2-3 Assault Fleets that consist of Assault Cruisers equipped with Bombard Weapons, More troops and Medical Facilities and if size allows at least one Star fighter bay.
Bingeling
Posts: 5186
Joined: Thu Aug 12, 2010 11:42 am

RE: Fleet management

Post by Bingeling »

Roleplay a lot, you do :)
User avatar
Unforeseen
Posts: 608
Joined: Tue Mar 26, 2013 4:08 am
Location: United States of Disease

RE: Fleet management

Post by Unforeseen »

Haha yes, :P I intentionally try to not win the game, and i find the sand box mode very useful. If i do technically end a game its usually because inevitability either resulted in their being no possibility for conflict remaining or all possible enemies have been destroyed.

In Moo3 my games always ended with: Galaxy crushing Stellar Converter War, where all planets within 3-4 Jumps(or more) between all participating empires were destroyed and communication was irreversibly lost between them. Some of them i kept playing for awhile, others it was pointless especially if my home world fell victim :) Wish i had that particular save still.

Edit: Those games were 1000 Turns plus, longest was 2456 turns. Played for 4 years. Total annihilation of all empires on the map including myself. Everyone was basically reduced to one or two systems and no military power to speak of.

^
Of course back then i was a teenager and had no job but 24/7 to play games.
Bingeling
Posts: 5186
Joined: Thu Aug 12, 2010 11:42 am

RE: Fleet management

Post by Bingeling »

I am not roleplaying that much, but I may take offense at AI empire actions (not just my own AI...). Like them stepping over an imaginary boundary.

I don't like the storylines, and rarely play them. The shakturi tend not to appear anyways (slow research), and the guardians are just annoying. The vanilla story bring the stupid graveyards that I hate...

The game stops once I feel it is just a question of finishing. Even if playing for "complete control" could give new challenges like empire splits.
User avatar
Unforeseen
Posts: 608
Joined: Tue Mar 26, 2013 4:08 am
Location: United States of Disease

RE: Fleet management

Post by Unforeseen »

Yeah, the Shakturi story line is pretty dumb. We have an Insect race, which apparently feels the need to invade an entirely different galaxy(Does this mean they somehow conquered their own entire galaxy? Why would they need more space?), then when they lose they for some reason have to wait apparently over 10 thousand years for the inhabitants of the galaxy to activate a bunch of beacons to get them back into the galaxy and extract vengeance for a war that took place 10 thousand years ago. That's some heavy dedication there bug guys.

The name "Freedom Alliance" is also quite stupid. I could see a bunch of space faring civilizations uniting together defeat a common foe, but naming themselves something as corney as the "freedom alliance"? Nope, more likely the United Civilizations or the Coalition of Worlds. Something on those lines.

Dont get me wrong, having the Shakturi invade the galaxy causing massive chaos and leaving a wake of destruction wherever they go is fun to deal with and see the aftermath...but for any serious RPer like myself...it just drags down the game because of how idiotic the backround is. I get the whole infinite possibility thing, but this one is just "too far-fetched" to be considered feasible. It isn't even handled in an intelligent manner. If all of the races used a biological weapon which wiped out their own races fine, but those remaining independent colonies should automatically be nearby the players starting home world. Not scattered randomly throughout the galaxy.
User avatar
Plant
Posts: 418
Joined: Tue Apr 23, 2013 11:57 am

RE: Fleet management

Post by Plant »

Wow, why so complicated? Having to call thing divisions and squadrons, within main fleets and sectors. It all sounds so unbeleivably inflexible. It must be excrutiating to respond. I guess that is the price of roleplaying.

I just organise my fleets organically, split an oppropriate amount to defend or attack, interchangeable and adjustable. Now that I think about it, it probably is becuase you let the ai automate most of the game functions that you have to be so inflexible in the first place.

I can understand battlefleets and raider fleets though, since that is the system the ai uses, so it's easy to use the same style to "outfleet" them.
Bingeling
Posts: 5186
Joined: Thu Aug 12, 2010 11:42 am

RE: Fleet management

Post by Bingeling »

I organize the way I do, because there are two kind of opponents.

Pirate bases (of the normal kind), pirate ships, enemy strike fleet, various bases not being defensive or spaceport. You need a fleet to handle these. Only the AI uses a 17 ship fleet to kill a mining base. Or me trying to draw forces away, or having slacked in deployment. A 4 destroyer fleet should be able to defeat all of the above, if they don't add something more power. Raider is a name, the AI call them strike.

Then there are "the rest". Medium and larger spaceports, the larger AI fleets. You need to be able to beat them. I call mine battle fleets to be able to sort and find them. They should kill a Large Spaceport, or an enemy main fleet. But not both at the same time. When LSP + 4 bases start showing up, I either use 2 battle fleets or make a couple of extra large ones.

Unforeseen plays a different game than me. He roleplays more and has fun doing that. I make things simple and with force. And have this thing about not automating ships, so my smaller fleet have to do all the pirate defense there is.

One thing to realize about this game is that there are many playing styles. Some are addicted to ship design, and making sure to have the perfect ship for every job. Others enjoy fast paced game of war. Other loves the slow grinding games. Everyone is different, and any style is fine. Which makes it a tad hard to make recommendations on what to do...
marion61
Posts: 1706
Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2011 10:57 am

RE: Fleet management

Post by marion61 »

ORIGINAL: Bingeling

Roleplay a lot, you do :)
Without fleet structures its pretty hard to manage them, i fight battles in .25 or .5.

What do you mean by fighting battles in .25 or .5? I'm hoping that this is about that option in the game under "Empire" in the options settings that says "Attack Overmatch". I cannot find anything about this in the game manual and do not really understand what it is referring to.
Bingeling
Posts: 5186
Joined: Thu Aug 12, 2010 11:42 am

RE: Fleet management

Post by Bingeling »

He probably refers to game speed. Have time flow slowly, actively manage your forces.
User avatar
Ichirou989
Posts: 54
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2005 4:36 pm

RE: Fleet management

Post by Ichirou989 »

I tend to purpose build fleets as some others have mentioned, having different ship classes all together in one fleet with specific missions in mind. Typically I only control the main battle fleet and Transport fleet, and give my harassment and deep strike fleets automated with areas of operations via Fleet Posture; a very nice addition to the game for the way I play.

As an aside on RP and the original storyline, it seems like it would be possible to take a copy of the GameText.txt file, re-write the story bits in there more to your liking, and then throw it in the Customization folder as a mod/theme. Or is that file not possible to mess with?
A real leader faces the music, even when he doesn't like the tune.

Image
Post Reply

Return to “The War Room”