For no particular reason, I'd like to share how I design my ships and conduct my military campaigns.
For the most part, I rapidly discard the standard ship designs for my own preferences. The normal designs lack a clear purpose and/or tactical benefit in my experience, so we might as well replace them. I'm curious what other people use, so do share.
Overall, bigger = better (cheaper, stronger) and static defences are largely useless, for they require constant maintenance, whereas a mobile defensive unit can be moved around to where it is needed.
Ship design:
Escorts: Kite ships
Role: These ships are normally useless, so I like to turn their small size into an advantage. I station one of these to patrol any system where I have assets. Their role is to take on any single opponent that might appear. Pirates, monsters, and such. Against overwhelming force they are useful still, tying them down until reinforcements can arrive, or picking away a single invader.
Design: Basically, forgo all but the most minimal defences, and add engines to make sure they outrun practically anything. Their sole weaponry should be long range weaponry, preferably missiles, as they don't lose potency with distance, and are the best at extreme range. Add a hyperdeny once their range is greater than a missile's, to ensure the target cannot warp away as their death will a slow one. Go for the fast initiation hyper drives if possible. Set all behaviour to stand off.
Frigates: Long range raiders
Role: These ships are normally useless also (too small), so I use them to take down targets which are undefended. they have just enough fire power to take down a mining station and similar civilian targets, where optimising battle potential would be overkill. They should be capable of operating for an extended period of time without refuelling.
Design: The standard design tends to an ok start. Blasters offer more DPS than torpedoes, so for a fast lonely ship, it's a good choice. Torpedoes would offer the ability to stay out of range, but this is generally unnecessary. Add fuel cells to extend the range, and add a shield to make it that much more stronger. If possible go for the fast recharging shields, and the high speed hyper drives (to
outmanoeuvre). Be sure there are boarding pods, as a civilian target captured can always be retired, but also traded in a peace deal.
Destroyers: General Purpose Ship
Role: These ships are intended to handle any situation. Smaller hostile ships it should be able to kill, it should have long range weaponry to standoff better armed targets. Some troop compartments, maybe a bombard or ion weapon. These ships can be sent in support of any of your other ships, adding flexibility to your fleet, but you shouldn't have too many of them. For they are weaker than any of the specialised designs at their tasks.
Design: These ships should be maxed out in size. The standard design tends to be an ok start again, expand upon it till you reach max size. Don't forget to add a fair amount of engines in addition to weaponry and defences, 2 troop compartments, boarding pods, but forego tractor beams, hyperdeny or fighters as they don't serve this ship well. Efficient hyperdrives are preferred.
Cruisers: Main Battleship
Role: These ships are optimised for direct battle and should be the main ship in your forces. They are there to handle opposing fleets, starports and so on. Their only consideration is efficient destruction.
Design: Forget about speed or cute trinkets. Max this ship out to have plenty shields, a little armour and plenty of torpedoes. Torpedoes, cause it will likely be in a situation where it faces with multiple targets and allies and cannot get close easily. The range of torpedoes allow for the efficient concentration of fire power with minimal manoeuvring required. A tractor beam might pull an
opponent into range of more friendly cruisers and is worthwhile, a remote shield recharger too, and at this size a hyperdeny can be spared.
Capital ships: Cutesy designs
Role: Experimental ships. Maybe you acquired a super laser, or want to experiment with burner ship, staking area of effect weapons to burn out entire fleets, while your own ships stay a safe distance. This design I tend to leave open to accommodate whatever comes along.
Design: maximise the effectiveness of whatever special weapon. Remember that smaller range means you need more speed, and that bigger means better, so max it out size wise.
Carriers: Fleet support platform
Role: To bring the things of which you need only one to the fleet. These ships are flagships, where you put your admiral in, so they should linger on the side of survivability. Their fast fighters combine well with the slow cruisers, allowing for an even greater concentration of force.
Design: These designs allow to increase upon the max ship size, provided enough fighter bays are tossed in. Fair enough. Go for max size with minimal fighter bays, put in 1 torpedo launcher to synchronise the behaviour with the rest of the fleet, and put the rest into survivability. Synchronise speed and turn rate with cruisers too. Set behaviour vs stronger opponents to all weapons, and be careful around space ports, cue some orders in a circle around it to avoid closing in for certain death - the cruisers will likely switch to stand off here.
Transports: Troop deployment
Role: Move troops, duh. However, I keep them in separate fleets/ groups, and send them in after the target area is cleared, to avoid them going on suicide runs. Also, in separate units, they can float above the planet for space superiority bonus, while your combat fleets move on.
Design: Strip away most defences, and keep it to a minimum. These ships are not meant to get entangled in ship-to ship combat, so that's a waste of resources. Add a ton of troop compartments though, for it is more efficient to land your troops in 1 lander than having them come in piecemeal in a more expensive multi-ship solution. If you need to split up forces, station whatever you do not wish to pick up on the troop transport.
Explorers: Radar ships
Role: Once you're done with most of the exploration, the exploration ship class becomes rather useless... unless... you make them radar ships. Send these ships out deep inside enemy territory to create a blanket radar coverage of the enemy territory. The intel virtually ensures victory. No more than a handful are needed.
Design: Remove the resource scanner, add a long range scanner. Also add plenty of fuel cells (8-10) and energy collectors (3-5), as these radars eat energy. Park them right on top of a star to maximise the energy collection.
Resupply ships: Depots
Role: I hardly ever find these ships to be that useful when campaigning against an enemy on my border, as adequate resources are usually close enough. However, if the enemy is further away, these ships can make a big difference. Being largely static platforms, they should not be fitted for combat. If there is no friendly fleet nearby to protect it, it's not close enough to the fighting. You shouldn't need more than a handful.
Design: Strip away most defences and all weaponry. Otherwise, leave it pretty much as is.
Static Bases: mining stations, resorts, etc
Role: The upkeep of arming these stations on the off chance an enemy will come raid it is usually not worth it. Give them adequate defences to survive a while, while your mobile units take care of an enemy.
Design: strip those weapons away. The benefits in savings allow you more than enough ships to protect them, but unlike stations, ships can move to where their weapons are needed.
Spaceports
Role: Rather than using the standard variety, spaceports are mainly shipyards in my book. They are there to build ships and provide some minimal defence of a colony against nuisances. They aren't there for the off chance an entire enemy fleet jumps a colony - that's once again a waste of money. They are also there to provide a adequate research facilities.
Design: strip away most weapons and the overkill of shields and armour - and don't forget to remove redundant reactors. Leave enough for them to take a punch, and shoot away the occasional stray destroyer. Leave the point defence weapons there though, they are useful in planetary invasion scenario's and are rather cheap. Match the amount of research modules with the amount you need, and add a long range
scanner on all stations.
Fortified static bases: Some are worth it
Role: a parallel design to the standard design should keep arms and maybe a little more defences. you use these for particularly important sites, such as rare resources, over the top scenery bonuses (>75%), or planets containing wonders, or a maxed out population. It is worthwhile to eliminate the off chance of losing them.
Design: the standard design will do. Be careful to update these first, then update the stripped-down version, so the latter is the most recent (and therefore preferred) design.
Defensive bases: Outposts
Role: not using the defensive base in favour of mobile units, we have a spare design slot. I like to use this slot to create a 'miniport', providing all the benefits for a colony, without the ability to construct ships. I'm not so certain it's all the worthwhile, but here goes.
Design: Start blank. In addition to the required stuff, add a few shields, armour to give it a survivability. Add a few point defence against invaders. More importantly, add cargo bays, a docking port, commerce centre, entertainment and medical facilities. This should give your fledgling colony a leg up until you decide to expand to true spaceport. Keep costs down as much as possible.
The plan
Fleet build up
Have an amount of escorts equal to the amount of systems you need to protect.
Have an amount of frigates equal to that.
And the same amount of destroyers, though if cuts need to be made, they should be made here.
Bulk up on the cruisers, the more, the better.
Capital ships as desired and/or applicable.
Look at the fleets of your neighbours and determine how many cruisers you need in a fleet to match the fire power of the strongest. Build enough carriers to equip all fleets with one.
Build an amount of troop transports equal to 1.5 times the amount of troop-producing planets you have.
Build two resupply ships per theatre of war that's further than 1.5 sectors away from your nearest refuelling point.
Build an amount of exploration (radar) ships, enough to blanket survey all theatre's of war.
Put all your cruisers and carriers into fleets. Each fleet, as mentioned, should have fire power to be equal to the strongest fleet of your neighbours. Try to have at least 2 of these fleets.
Everyday security
Not having defences on your static bases sounds like a bad huh? Well.. by not automating our ships and sending them on relatively pointless escort and patrol missions, we can make a big change there. The basic defence is provided by our kite escorts, one of which is put to patrol each system in which we have assets. Make sure they patrol the star itself with an engagement range set to system. They will tie down any nuisance strolling into your empire. This is generally enough to ensure everything survives. If currently unoccupied, send in frigates and destroyers to assist.
Peacetime deployment
When not at war with any neighbours, it's time to take out the trash. Reinforce every system with frequent hostile activity with frigates patrolling like escorts. If there are any pirate task forces about, send in a group of destroyers to track them down. Use your fleets to deal with pirate bases (alliance or not). After a year of (relative) peace your empire should clean up wonderfully.
Wartime deployment
Preparation: Rather than attacking the enemy right away in an incoherent fashion, it pays off to organise a coordinated response. This applies whether you are planning to attack him, or if he declares on you.
First order of business is to acquire intel. Send your radar ships out to cover the enemy empire from empty systems within his territory. Send resupply ships to viable locations near the part of his border facing you.
Secondly, you wish to amass your forces near the border. Before anything else, refuel your ships so they are ready for campaigning. Refuelling them at their present location will safe fuel on the border where it is bound to become more scarce. Destroyer and troop transports should load troops.
If he declared war on you, he will likely send a fleet to the colony nearest to him. This is a good spot to amass your fleets, to prepare a warm welcome. If you're going to declare war on him, it's a good spot too cause it's nearby. Amass enough frigates to strike in every system where he has assets, enough destroyers to invade every fledgling (and therefore undefended) colony, and enough fleets to counter each fleet of his. Generally you can't have too many troops, unless you're dealing with a really huge advantage. At any rate: bring the troop transports to a spot in space close by, but not at the rally point. If these numbers cannot be met, it means you amass whatever you do have, and in that case, also keep one fleet and a destroyer or two in reserve to deal with incoming threats. The rest of the fleet can be kept on peacetime activities.
Initial strike: Once enough ships have been assembled, it's time to strike. If he sent a fleet to you, wait for it to arrive before you strike, its utter annihilation will help you.
Take a moment to study the intel your radar ships provide. If any mining station is crawling with enemy ships, it's likely a refuelling station, and should come high on the priority list.
Send out fleets to attack the nearest space ports & refuelling points. Send out destroyers to attack the nearest fledgling colonies and capture the nearest resort bases, and send out frigates to capture the nearest mining stations & research bases. Send your troop transports to a point in space not far behind the space ports your fleets will hit. Start with the most distant of the targets you wish to hit, so that all arrives as one big wave. The AI will simply not be able to handle this many treats being thrown at him, at the same time.
Once your fleets have cleared the space defenders of a major colony, send in the troop transports for capture. Should any of your strikes run into more opposition than they are able to handle, simply press the retreat button, and conserve your force. Assign a new target elsewhere and keep up the pressure. Should a captured be threatened with recapture, simply retire it.
Follow up: Once you have a captured an enemy planet or two, these are likely to become the focal point of your enemies efforts, and the war effort will now be fought on his (former) home soil. Keep those frigates, destroyers, troop transports and fleets flying onwards towards the next target, don't bother to defend the things you've captured - with the exception of planets while there are troops on there you need further down the road. You will do much more damage to him than he is dishing out in return, you can recapture things easily enough as long as you incapacitate him first. Don't bother with destroying fleets either, unless they are accidentally where they are supposed to be - defending something of value or attacking something of value. The destruction of infrastructure such as spaceports and refuelling points will leave them helpless soon enough.
Send your ships to refuel as necessary, and leapfrog your resupply ships forward as necessary.
Overwhelming opposition
Yes yes, that's nice against a more or less equal opponent, but what about overwhelming opposition - or such an alliance? In this case, more or less the same basic rules apply: make available whatever isn't necessary for defence to punch the enemy. A ship not flying to a fight is fire power wasted. The AI does not even begin to approach an optimum in this regard, and a smaller force does not need to all that much smaller in practise.
If you're bogged down in a completely defensive war, even then, sending out a few frigates or destroyers to capture a few high value targets can provide you with valuable bargaining chips for a peace deal. Or retirement to wreak havoc on his economy. Even the most advanced civilisation needs fuel.
Even if a fleet far more powerful than you could possibly counter invades and captures a planet of yours, the AI's weakness in getting those airborne and conquering again will mean you can capture something of equal value on the other side of the board, and have your troops out of there before reinforcements arrive. As long as you maintain a measure of initiative, the AI will crumble.
How do you build your fleet?
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Retreat1970
- Posts: 1125
- Joined: Wed Nov 06, 2013 11:09 am
- Location: Wisconsin
RE: How do you build your fleet?
Escorts-size 300ish, on auto, I let them do whatever.
Frigate-Main system defender (fleet postured) with 1 fighter bay. Size 400ish.
Destroyer-same size as Cruiser but with beams (or rail, grav depending on the flavor of the day). Attack ship.
Cruiser-Torp or Missile ship. Attack ship.
Capital-Mish mash of things I want to throw in.
Carrier-Main battle ship. Fighters dominate.
Frigate-Main system defender (fleet postured) with 1 fighter bay. Size 400ish.
Destroyer-same size as Cruiser but with beams (or rail, grav depending on the flavor of the day). Attack ship.
Cruiser-Torp or Missile ship. Attack ship.
Capital-Mish mash of things I want to throw in.
Carrier-Main battle ship. Fighters dominate.
RE: How do you build your fleet?
Why, hello there.
First of all let me state here what does the game classification mean for my ships:
Escort : Escort Carrier
Frigate : Frigate
Destoyer : Cruiser
Cruiser : Battleship
Capital Ship : Dreadnought
Carrier : Fleet Carrier
I also run a modified version of the Extended Mod, with tweaked missiles, railguns and construction sizes, plus modifications for the resources (Chance of appearing, and prices only)
I don't really like your fleet style, for two reasons: You seem to leave your military ships out of fleets most of the time, and because it seems too flexible and multipurpose. I like to run a more rigid and standardised fleet structure, with all my ships being put into fleets.
Ship Design
All my ships use Missiles and Railguns, with the exeption of Frigates. I name my designs according to their number of weapons or armor, purpose and type, for example a missile cruiser with normal amouts of armor and weapons would be called an M-MC, for Medium Missile Cruiser.
Corvette: Mini-Carrier
Purpose: I like to use corvettes as 'Mini-Carriers' they are basically a Fleet Carrier but smaller and cheaper.
Design:
10 Armor | 2 Shields |
1 Missiles | 1 Railgun | 2 Fighter Bays |
5 Fuel Cells |
Size: About 300.
Frigate: Fast Attack Craft (Not tested yet)
Purpose: I'm going to use my frigates as point-defence ships and graviton beam ships, these are to screen my bigger ships and protect them from fighters, they also make strafing runs on enemy ships. I was also inspired by Mass Effect's fleet composition shown on the game's wiki.
Design: (Planned)
10-15 Armor | 3 Shields |
2 Railguns | 2 Graviton Beams | 4-6 Point-Defence |
5 Fuel Cells |
Size: Not sure, but should be around 260-280.
Cruiser: Workhorse Ships
Purpose: These are my main-battle ships, they perform system patrols, attack pirates and are the most numerous ship type.
Design:
25 Armor | 5 Shields |
8 Missiles | 4 Railguns | 1 Point-Defence | 1 Tractor Beam |
5 Fuel Cells |
Size: About 310-350.
Battleship: Pocket Dreadnought
Purpose: These are my pocket Dreadnoughts, mainly used as missile barrage ships, they are used exclusively on Fleets and Battle Fleets.
Design:
40 Armor | 7 Shields | Hyper-Deny |
16 Missiles | 6-8 Railguns | 1 Point-Defence | 1 Tractor Beam |
5 Fuel Cells |
Size: Around 400-450
Dreadnought: Strategic Resource
Purpose: The Dreadnought isn't so much a ship as it is a strategic resource, these are my largest ships used only on the most critical battles. Again this is an even bigger missile barrage ship and it's railguns will cut down almost anyone.
Design:
60 Armor | 10 Shields | Hyper-Deny |
25 Missiles | 10 Railguns | 2 Point-Defence | 1 Tractor Beam |
5 Fuel Cells |
Size: Unsure, but should be around 600.
Fleet Carriers: Support Capital Ship
Purpose: Basically a larger Mini Carrier.
Design:
25 Armor | 5 Shields |
4 Missiles | 2 Railguns | 3 Point-Defence |
5 Fuel Cells |
Size: Unsure, from 700 to 1000.
Troop Transports: Troop Transport
Purpose: Obvious, but with a twist, I place a lot of Bombard weapons on these since they are going to be around planets anyway.
Design:
50 Armor | 7 Shields |
1 Missile | 1 Railgun |
5 Fuel Cells | 5 Troop Compartments | Medical |
Size: 400.
Explorers: Radar
Purpose: About the same as Ikke. But I automated this process by altering the design files.
Resupply Ships: Mobile Military Mining Station
Purpose: I don't really use these a lot and just let the AI design them. In wars I place in Gas Giants in enemy territory, especially inside the system where the battle is happening.
Mining Bases, Research Stations, etc...
I don't really mess with these, and just let the private sector make its own thing.
Spaceports:
Purpose: Shipyard and Trade Center, I don't change the AI designs, since I think they're pretty adequate.
Defensive Bases:
Purpose: I don't use them too much, only the homeworld, well-developed and important planets, and special resource planets get them.
Star Base: Outpost
I use them just like Ikke.
Fleet Composition
This is the big topic for me, I spent quite some time thinking on this one.
All my ships are placed on Fleets, but I have many types of fleets.
Flotilla
The first and most basic is what I call a Flotilla. They have two types, Light and Heavy. Light Flotillas are Composed of 4 ships , because of the flexibility that they give me, these are the most numerous types. Heavy Flotillas are reinforced Light Flotillas composed of 8 ships all Fleets and Battle Fleets are composed of Flotillas. All Flotillas are made of one type of ship. Flotillas are used both for attack and defence of smaller colonies. Flotillas have many names based on what I use them for, their type and composition.
Flotilla | Light | (Type of Ship) | [Number] 4 Ships - Assaults mining stations and smaller colonies, provides support for other compositions whenever needed.
Flotilla | Heavy | [Type of Ship] | [Number 8 Ships - Assaults medium sized Colonies and fleets. Supports, along with Light, all other compositions whenever needed.
Fleet
The second and not so numerous composition, is the Fleet. Once again they have 2 types, Light and Heavy. Light Fleets are made of 12 Ships or 3 Flotillas. Heavy Fleets are made of 16 Ships of 4 Flotillas. These are used for both attack and the defence of medium and large colonies. Fleets also have many names based on what I use them for, their type and composition.
Fleet | Light | (Type of Ship) | [Number] 12 Ships - Same as Flotilla.
Fleet | Heavy | (Type of Ship) | [Number] 16 Ships - Same as Flotilla.
Battle Fleet
The third and least numerous type, is the ultimate representation of the Fleet, used for the taking of homeworlds and the like. Again they have 2 types, Light and Heavy. Light Battle Fleets are made of 20 Ships or 5 Flotillas, Heavy Fleets are composed of 24 Ships or 6 Flotillas. These are used only for attack, though if there are no wars they do defend their homebase. Battle Fleets are named differently than the others but not by much, instead of the type of ship they are composed of, they have a big badass inspirational name at the end, like, Queen's Retribuition, Emperor's Fists or Holy Bug Curb-Stomper.
Battle Fleet | Light | [Inspiring Name] 20 ships - Fights fleets and takes large colonies.
Battle Fleet | Heavy | [Inspiring Name] 24 ships - The ultimate representation of the military, these are the Armadas. For taking out large colonies and Homeworlds.
Invasion
The fourth and last type is used by Troop Transports, with only one type, they are made of a single flotilla. These are a central part of my blitzing tactics.
Construction
All my fleets and flotillas are built according to what my needs are, be it the defence of another colony or wanting another flotilla to bash on some pirates. All built ships are immeditely drafted into fleets, assigned a homebase (usually a planet) and have their postures set.
Defence
All colonies receive a permanent defence flotilla, upon colonization, conquest (I wait until the war's over) or gained due to revolt. Their postures are always set to 'Nearby Systems' with the homeworld's fleet set to 'Sector'. Defence fleets aren't used in the offence, they defend only.
War
Wars against me are quite rare when I play, even on Chaos, but when they do happen I use a sort of blitzing conquest; Fast and constant.
Preparation: Amass ships and troops at the nearest colony or if not close enough, at a gas station. Use spy-ships or freighters to gather intel.
War Declared: I send an appropriate amount of flotillas or fleets to 3 different systems, the most well developed ones. Then I send flotillas to another 3 uncolonized systems and have them destroy all enemy stations in the system. The destruction of infrastructure is very important, especially fuel infrastructure.
Planets Conquered: Once the planet is conquered I immediately send the fleets to another system, leaving a flotilla or two for protection until my troops leave the planet. Troop Transports pick-up the troops again, and I do it all over again. Flotillas sent to destroy mining stations are given new targets.
End of War: Once my strategic goals are fulfilled (I don't always fight wars until the enemy homeworld is taken, too many losses), I pull everyone out, and propose peace, if it they won't surrender I just bomb a few more planets and they do.
I don't really like to fight bugs and take their planets, because they hate humanoids and so I can't really tax them 50% all the time, so I just bomb them, if I take a planet it's probably because it has resources that I need or a large humanoid population.
First of all let me state here what does the game classification mean for my ships:
Escort : Escort Carrier
Frigate : Frigate
Destoyer : Cruiser
Cruiser : Battleship
Capital Ship : Dreadnought
Carrier : Fleet Carrier
I also run a modified version of the Extended Mod, with tweaked missiles, railguns and construction sizes, plus modifications for the resources (Chance of appearing, and prices only)
I don't really like your fleet style, for two reasons: You seem to leave your military ships out of fleets most of the time, and because it seems too flexible and multipurpose. I like to run a more rigid and standardised fleet structure, with all my ships being put into fleets.
Ship Design
All my ships use Missiles and Railguns, with the exeption of Frigates. I name my designs according to their number of weapons or armor, purpose and type, for example a missile cruiser with normal amouts of armor and weapons would be called an M-MC, for Medium Missile Cruiser.
Corvette: Mini-Carrier
Purpose: I like to use corvettes as 'Mini-Carriers' they are basically a Fleet Carrier but smaller and cheaper.
Design:
10 Armor | 2 Shields |
1 Missiles | 1 Railgun | 2 Fighter Bays |
5 Fuel Cells |
Size: About 300.
Frigate: Fast Attack Craft (Not tested yet)
Purpose: I'm going to use my frigates as point-defence ships and graviton beam ships, these are to screen my bigger ships and protect them from fighters, they also make strafing runs on enemy ships. I was also inspired by Mass Effect's fleet composition shown on the game's wiki.
Design: (Planned)
10-15 Armor | 3 Shields |
2 Railguns | 2 Graviton Beams | 4-6 Point-Defence |
5 Fuel Cells |
Size: Not sure, but should be around 260-280.
Cruiser: Workhorse Ships
Purpose: These are my main-battle ships, they perform system patrols, attack pirates and are the most numerous ship type.
Design:
25 Armor | 5 Shields |
8 Missiles | 4 Railguns | 1 Point-Defence | 1 Tractor Beam |
5 Fuel Cells |
Size: About 310-350.
Battleship: Pocket Dreadnought
Purpose: These are my pocket Dreadnoughts, mainly used as missile barrage ships, they are used exclusively on Fleets and Battle Fleets.
Design:
40 Armor | 7 Shields | Hyper-Deny |
16 Missiles | 6-8 Railguns | 1 Point-Defence | 1 Tractor Beam |
5 Fuel Cells |
Size: Around 400-450
Dreadnought: Strategic Resource
Purpose: The Dreadnought isn't so much a ship as it is a strategic resource, these are my largest ships used only on the most critical battles. Again this is an even bigger missile barrage ship and it's railguns will cut down almost anyone.
Design:
60 Armor | 10 Shields | Hyper-Deny |
25 Missiles | 10 Railguns | 2 Point-Defence | 1 Tractor Beam |
5 Fuel Cells |
Size: Unsure, but should be around 600.
Fleet Carriers: Support Capital Ship
Purpose: Basically a larger Mini Carrier.
Design:
25 Armor | 5 Shields |
4 Missiles | 2 Railguns | 3 Point-Defence |
5 Fuel Cells |
Size: Unsure, from 700 to 1000.
Troop Transports: Troop Transport
Purpose: Obvious, but with a twist, I place a lot of Bombard weapons on these since they are going to be around planets anyway.
Design:
50 Armor | 7 Shields |
1 Missile | 1 Railgun |
5 Fuel Cells | 5 Troop Compartments | Medical |
Size: 400.
Explorers: Radar
Purpose: About the same as Ikke. But I automated this process by altering the design files.
Resupply Ships: Mobile Military Mining Station
Purpose: I don't really use these a lot and just let the AI design them. In wars I place in Gas Giants in enemy territory, especially inside the system where the battle is happening.
Mining Bases, Research Stations, etc...
I don't really mess with these, and just let the private sector make its own thing.
Spaceports:
Purpose: Shipyard and Trade Center, I don't change the AI designs, since I think they're pretty adequate.
Defensive Bases:
Purpose: I don't use them too much, only the homeworld, well-developed and important planets, and special resource planets get them.
Star Base: Outpost
I use them just like Ikke.
Fleet Composition
This is the big topic for me, I spent quite some time thinking on this one.
All my ships are placed on Fleets, but I have many types of fleets.
Flotilla
The first and most basic is what I call a Flotilla. They have two types, Light and Heavy. Light Flotillas are Composed of 4 ships , because of the flexibility that they give me, these are the most numerous types. Heavy Flotillas are reinforced Light Flotillas composed of 8 ships all Fleets and Battle Fleets are composed of Flotillas. All Flotillas are made of one type of ship. Flotillas are used both for attack and defence of smaller colonies. Flotillas have many names based on what I use them for, their type and composition.
Flotilla | Light | (Type of Ship) | [Number] 4 Ships - Assaults mining stations and smaller colonies, provides support for other compositions whenever needed.
Flotilla | Heavy | [Type of Ship] | [Number 8 Ships - Assaults medium sized Colonies and fleets. Supports, along with Light, all other compositions whenever needed.
Fleet
The second and not so numerous composition, is the Fleet. Once again they have 2 types, Light and Heavy. Light Fleets are made of 12 Ships or 3 Flotillas. Heavy Fleets are made of 16 Ships of 4 Flotillas. These are used for both attack and the defence of medium and large colonies. Fleets also have many names based on what I use them for, their type and composition.
Fleet | Light | (Type of Ship) | [Number] 12 Ships - Same as Flotilla.
Fleet | Heavy | (Type of Ship) | [Number] 16 Ships - Same as Flotilla.
Battle Fleet
The third and least numerous type, is the ultimate representation of the Fleet, used for the taking of homeworlds and the like. Again they have 2 types, Light and Heavy. Light Battle Fleets are made of 20 Ships or 5 Flotillas, Heavy Fleets are composed of 24 Ships or 6 Flotillas. These are used only for attack, though if there are no wars they do defend their homebase. Battle Fleets are named differently than the others but not by much, instead of the type of ship they are composed of, they have a big badass inspirational name at the end, like, Queen's Retribuition, Emperor's Fists or Holy Bug Curb-Stomper.
Battle Fleet | Light | [Inspiring Name] 20 ships - Fights fleets and takes large colonies.
Battle Fleet | Heavy | [Inspiring Name] 24 ships - The ultimate representation of the military, these are the Armadas. For taking out large colonies and Homeworlds.
Invasion
The fourth and last type is used by Troop Transports, with only one type, they are made of a single flotilla. These are a central part of my blitzing tactics.
Construction
All my fleets and flotillas are built according to what my needs are, be it the defence of another colony or wanting another flotilla to bash on some pirates. All built ships are immeditely drafted into fleets, assigned a homebase (usually a planet) and have their postures set.
Defence
All colonies receive a permanent defence flotilla, upon colonization, conquest (I wait until the war's over) or gained due to revolt. Their postures are always set to 'Nearby Systems' with the homeworld's fleet set to 'Sector'. Defence fleets aren't used in the offence, they defend only.
War
Wars against me are quite rare when I play, even on Chaos, but when they do happen I use a sort of blitzing conquest; Fast and constant.
Preparation: Amass ships and troops at the nearest colony or if not close enough, at a gas station. Use spy-ships or freighters to gather intel.
War Declared: I send an appropriate amount of flotillas or fleets to 3 different systems, the most well developed ones. Then I send flotillas to another 3 uncolonized systems and have them destroy all enemy stations in the system. The destruction of infrastructure is very important, especially fuel infrastructure.
Planets Conquered: Once the planet is conquered I immediately send the fleets to another system, leaving a flotilla or two for protection until my troops leave the planet. Troop Transports pick-up the troops again, and I do it all over again. Flotillas sent to destroy mining stations are given new targets.
End of War: Once my strategic goals are fulfilled (I don't always fight wars until the enemy homeworld is taken, too many losses), I pull everyone out, and propose peace, if it they won't surrender I just bomb a few more planets and they do.
I don't really like to fight bugs and take their planets, because they hate humanoids and so I can't really tax them 50% all the time, so I just bomb them, if I take a planet it's probably because it has resources that I need or a large humanoid population.
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stormbringer3
- Posts: 999
- Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 2:58 pm
- Location: Staunton, Va.
RE: How do you build your fleet?
Keshne,
Will your ship ideas work in the standard game without any mods?
Thanks.
Will your ship ideas work in the standard game without any mods?
Thanks.
RE: How do you build your fleet?
It's doable, but you will need to research quite a few techs, especially in construction to be able to build Dreadnoughts or even Battleships. The weapon sizes, damage and range for railguns and missiles are lower so it won't be quite as powerful as I have it here, and quite possibly you will be exposed. At lower tech-levels it's going to be quite inefficient, especially against spaceports or defensive bases. Something you should also know is that these ships are slow. Very slow. A Cruiser at tech level 1 would be about 15 max speed. Early tech, it's kinda weak, but as you go on, as you get your dreadnoughts online, it's quite powerful.
RE: How do you build your fleet?
In my current game (-it's only the third one mind you) I use a fleet of unbeatable monstrous mining bases. [;)]
It sounds a lot sillier than it actually is. Those are designed to be able to take down medium-large attacking fleets: hyperdeny, tractors, torps, lazors, even area-effect weapons. Sometimes a few freighters of mine also go down, but it's all good - the private sector pays (for me) when replacing them. (Though I use an AoEless version on refualing stations and at the moons of colonies - the other way would be silly, even by my standards).
Note: -the corporations also pay the maintenance of these bases, so the Empire swims in credits.
Some consider this an exploit (that I can totally understand), but hell, I just jumped from normal to the highest pirate/empire aggression difficulty. This little crutch is useful. Needless to say, when other empires decide to punish me for my sins, they get to reconsider it pretty fast - sometimes even without my intervention. Most pirates also rather waste fuel on going around Sluken space instead of trespassing.
So thread was on ships, I yet to say word on those right? What setup would match the sneaky Sluken in it's corporate mining carpace? To fit the theme of the race, I did aim to assimilate hostiles instead of just wiping them. So the backbone of the fleet uses mainly ion weapons and assault pods, topped with fast-regen shields, as they only need to withstand fire until the target's weapons are still working. Captured vessel are sent back to the Homeworld for reverse engineering (granting a nasty tech bonus) or used as cannon fodder when I need to crack the shell of a juicy planet before my troops can start feasting on the population.
Micro-managing such capture fleets is a pain (not sure if the automation could handle it), but highly rewarding. Only races with EMP defenses are troublesome - I had to produce a small conventional strikeforce to deal with them too.
That setup did surprisingly well in high difficulty vanilla. Wonder how will it do with Icemania's AI improvement mod. There is so much to try in DW:U, so I probably wont revisit that tactic anytime soon - but it's on the list.
It sounds a lot sillier than it actually is. Those are designed to be able to take down medium-large attacking fleets: hyperdeny, tractors, torps, lazors, even area-effect weapons. Sometimes a few freighters of mine also go down, but it's all good - the private sector pays (for me) when replacing them. (Though I use an AoEless version on refualing stations and at the moons of colonies - the other way would be silly, even by my standards).
Note: -the corporations also pay the maintenance of these bases, so the Empire swims in credits.
Some consider this an exploit (that I can totally understand), but hell, I just jumped from normal to the highest pirate/empire aggression difficulty. This little crutch is useful. Needless to say, when other empires decide to punish me for my sins, they get to reconsider it pretty fast - sometimes even without my intervention. Most pirates also rather waste fuel on going around Sluken space instead of trespassing.
So thread was on ships, I yet to say word on those right? What setup would match the sneaky Sluken in it's corporate mining carpace? To fit the theme of the race, I did aim to assimilate hostiles instead of just wiping them. So the backbone of the fleet uses mainly ion weapons and assault pods, topped with fast-regen shields, as they only need to withstand fire until the target's weapons are still working. Captured vessel are sent back to the Homeworld for reverse engineering (granting a nasty tech bonus) or used as cannon fodder when I need to crack the shell of a juicy planet before my troops can start feasting on the population.
Micro-managing such capture fleets is a pain (not sure if the automation could handle it), but highly rewarding. Only races with EMP defenses are troublesome - I had to produce a small conventional strikeforce to deal with them too.
That setup did surprisingly well in high difficulty vanilla. Wonder how will it do with Icemania's AI improvement mod. There is so much to try in DW:U, so I probably wont revisit that tactic anytime soon - but it's on the list.
Why can't I make friends? Only my Nuclear Devastator understands me.
RE: How do you build your fleet?
Wouldn't your private sector instantly go bankrupt by these mining stations? The way you describe it, they are almost Defensive Bases with mining components, and DBs usually cost in upwards of 9k, or more.
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johanwanderer
- Posts: 209
- Joined: Sat Jun 28, 2014 12:30 am
- Contact:
RE: How do you build your fleet?
It depends on how many of them you build. If you build them everywhere, then yes, it will most likely bankrupt the private sector. If you build them only at planets with good resources, then the pivate sector should be able to absorb that cost just fine.
Also note that the bases have a max size as well, when not placed above your own colony, but you also don't need to waste space for engines. Given all that, I count each base as equivalent to about 4 ships.
Anyhow, you should still have fleets defending your systems. Being stationary, bases really can't reenforce one another, so a well equiped fleet will systematically strip your systems of all bases unless you bring fleets in to help.
Also note that the bases have a max size as well, when not placed above your own colony, but you also don't need to waste space for engines. Given all that, I count each base as equivalent to about 4 ships.
Anyhow, you should still have fleets defending your systems. Being stationary, bases really can't reenforce one another, so a well equiped fleet will systematically strip your systems of all bases unless you bring fleets in to help.
RE: How do you build your fleet?
Both of you are right, but there are other aspects. Driving the corporations bankrupt has it's merits. I'm not sure if I wanna' derail a ship thread with an economic rundown... but well, just a quick one.
Totalitarian guide for milking your private sector:
Pros:
+that pile of credits is yours to command
+strong Empire-wide static defense
+more resources than the Empire can use
Cons:
-too few traders after a while
-resource shortages on colonies
+-resource prices skyrocket
That results in a couple of things. Hard cash can be used for maintaining big (or many) fleets. But this setup needs either. If an overfed pirate or aggressive race can muster enough forces to threaten your installations, the fleet needed to counter them is also sufficient to take down a pirate base or wreak havoc in an empire's space. So while ships defend, they shouldn't rest and patrol colonies - they can go on eradicating the sources of danger.
So where the money goes if not on ships? Crash research of course. In the first 20 years, the above example empire crashed 80% of the projects. Technological advance means quick expansion: quality planets were colonized, independents invaded - often far out in the outer rim of the galaxy. And about that's the point where the private sector fails to buy the bigger and faster freighters that an expanded Empire needs. Bankrupcy they say.
And here comes the trick: you cut down the taxes, almost as much as you did at the start to get Homeworld population faster. Corps get a -huge- boost in income. Empire-wide resource prices are sky-high, mines are plenty, there are colonies in great need, and there are high-cost, high-speed private ships available on the market.
You can imagine where this leads. In the above example game, the first tax-cut around year 20 ended my 3-400k cashflow, but in a half-year the bonus income from civilian purchases reached that level. It was marvelous to watch the economy rising from it's ashes, getting stronger than it ever was. And at that point: crippling tax again!
-repeat from step 1
-Profit!!!
Umm... I got off-topic. Sorry.
Totalitarian guide for milking your private sector:
Pros:
+that pile of credits is yours to command
+strong Empire-wide static defense
+more resources than the Empire can use
Cons:
-too few traders after a while
-resource shortages on colonies
+-resource prices skyrocket
That results in a couple of things. Hard cash can be used for maintaining big (or many) fleets. But this setup needs either. If an overfed pirate or aggressive race can muster enough forces to threaten your installations, the fleet needed to counter them is also sufficient to take down a pirate base or wreak havoc in an empire's space. So while ships defend, they shouldn't rest and patrol colonies - they can go on eradicating the sources of danger.
So where the money goes if not on ships? Crash research of course. In the first 20 years, the above example empire crashed 80% of the projects. Technological advance means quick expansion: quality planets were colonized, independents invaded - often far out in the outer rim of the galaxy. And about that's the point where the private sector fails to buy the bigger and faster freighters that an expanded Empire needs. Bankrupcy they say.
And here comes the trick: you cut down the taxes, almost as much as you did at the start to get Homeworld population faster. Corps get a -huge- boost in income. Empire-wide resource prices are sky-high, mines are plenty, there are colonies in great need, and there are high-cost, high-speed private ships available on the market.
You can imagine where this leads. In the above example game, the first tax-cut around year 20 ended my 3-400k cashflow, but in a half-year the bonus income from civilian purchases reached that level. It was marvelous to watch the economy rising from it's ashes, getting stronger than it ever was. And at that point: crippling tax again!
-repeat from step 1
-Profit!!!
Umm... I got off-topic. Sorry.
Why can't I make friends? Only my Nuclear Devastator understands me.
RE: How do you build your fleet?
ORIGINAL: Retreat1970
Escorts-size 300ish, on auto, I let them do whatever.
Frigate-Main system defender (fleet postured) with 1 fighter bay. Size 400ish.
Destroyer-same size as Cruiser but with beams (or rail, grav depending on the flavor of the day). Attack ship.
Cruiser-Torp or Missile ship. Attack ship.
Capital-Mish mash of things I want to throw in.
Carrier-Main battle ship. Fighters dominate.
I use a pretty similar system. A few notes:
- Escorts, long range only weapons, don't really build with the hope they'll kill much (although hyperdeny is an interesting idea once you hit 1000+ range). Mostly to drive things away and be survivable without any micro.
- My frigates are a little smaller, mostly minus the fighter bay. I can see the merits but I like to have fast frigates with an ion cannon, 2 beams and the rest torps. For defense, they're good at slowing down transports or ships with bombard capability until heavier fleets can arrive. I do stick one carrier in defense fleets. In attack fleets they mostly chase things down and give some cheap long range firepower.
- Destroyers and cruisers are the mainstay in non-defense fleets. I use my cruisers for the "alternate weapon" role. Usually rail/grav. I keep same designs but vary the ratio of destroyers to cruisers for opponents. For instance, against high shield races I'll use more cruisers.
I used to have more designs, but I've switched over to one per class. That way you can use "refit all" in the fleet UI and not having your 2 destroyer designs get converted to 1 (for instance). If there is a way to avoid that I'm missing, it would be great to know about it.
I also tend to be ahead (or at least not behind in tech). When I am behind, I've gone very custom to try and exploit weaknesses of the particular opponent. For instance, lots of assault shuttles if they go heavy on armor.
RE: How do you build your fleet?
Go to the Ships list, use the military ships filter. If you want, sort by role or fleet (sorting by fleet is useful if you want to only retrofit ships in certain fleets at the time, while sorting by role is more useful for ordering mass retrofits). Select the ships of Class A that you want to retrofit, and click on the retrofit button in the ships list. A drop-down menu will pop up, which you can use to select the design you want your ships to be retrofitted into. Do the same thing for the ships of Class B that you want to retrofit.I used to have more designs, but I've switched over to one per class. That way you can use "refit all" in the fleet UI and not having your 2 destroyer designs get converted to 1 (for instance). If there is a way to avoid that I'm missing, it would be great to know about it.
Alternatively, don't mix multiple designs for the same role in the same fleet. Upgrade Class A, find the fleets that you use that design in, order them to retrofit. Once you've done that, upgrade Class B and order the fleets that use design B to retrofit (you may need to allow the retrofits of the fleets which use Class A to complete before you upgrade Class B). This works because 'retrofit to latest design' looks for the most recently created design in each role (most recently created by real-world time, not most recently created by in-game time), and upgrades the ships within the fleet to that design.
RE: How do you build your fleet?
Just wanted to chime in and say how useful I found this thread. Really enjoy everyone's relatively concise summaries of how the manage their fleets/designs - Keshne's post is especially easy to follow. As a result I'm wading a bit further into the deep end of a very, very deep pool - and enjoying it. Thanks![8D]