Strategies

[ksib]

So, While the server is down, what are some of the strategies you are tying/want to try?

For myself, I think it would be beneficial to research harvesters then orbital defense. Then tech up for terraforming.

[Trom]

When playing the actual game I will probably start off with those techs as well then who knows. I'd like to try the war route just because it seems like the toughest way to win. Who knows though. I will be experimenting with various strategies throughout the beta test to see what works.

[fieryspoon]

I definitely feel like you need some kind of economy underpinning a combat/fleet build if you want to win with that. Building a planetkiller without a serious trade or science base seems like it would be impossible.

[ksib]

IMO i think having Terraforming should be the backbone of any win. Getting resources fast is WINNING

[Cheerio]

After the servers go live again I'm going to compare the resource trade off between the combat and fleet routes and see how I feel about it. If fighters end up doing as well as its being implied against super capital ships carriers could be very satisfying

[Spartanius]

Well it depends on if research is needed to build mining colony ships, but if not then I am going to blitz my neighbors and take out their mining colonies. If I can keep them pinned down long enough the attrition will give me time to build a fleet to take their primary colonies/homeworld which should give me a large enough strategic advantage to win.

As it is the speed which ships move at is a huge bonus for someone looking to blitz. Going for combat ships before harvesters doesn't really slow down production because with the new claiming system we will have fewer mining colonies anyway and while I am waiting to build harvesters the resources will stockpile.

[Cheerio]

Do we have any idea how fighters do in taking over an enemy planet situation?

[Spartanius]

No. I guess you could try to calculate is based on their attack value. We have been told it would take 3 cruisers to take out a claimed planet so find out how many fighters have an equivalant attack value minus the attack value of the carrier and thats how many you will need.

For a colony with over 100m pop though your going to need equivilant to a few dreads in firepower.

[ksib]

No. I guess you could try to calculate is based on their attack value. We have been told it would take 3 cruisers to take out a claimed planet so find out how many fighters have an equivalant attack value minus the attack value of the carrier and thats how many you will need.

For a colony with over 100m pop though your going to need equivilant to a few dreads in firepower.

It looked pretty good to skip offensive initiative and get level two combat instead.

[Cheerio]

Well I'm wondering more in terms of how fighters get owned by destroyers but do well against capital ships, if there's come sort of imbalance with defences

[Spartanius]

there must be more stats than just offense and defense. Either there are turret tracking stats like in eve-online or its more of a rock paper scissors bonus system.

It would be great if we got a detailed description of how the combat system works so we can start playing with numbers.

[ksib]

Ahhh. Yeah, that's something we will have to see when combat is up. It sounded like they had hidden counters making particular units better then others, so we shall see how that works.

[VanillaZeus]

I'm trying out the combat way. I need action!

[ksib]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I think it all depends on how the combat system actually works.

[Tsagoth]

Well I'm wondering more in terms of how fighters get owned by destroyers but do well against capital ships, if there's come sort of imbalance with defences

A destroyer can take out six fighters per combat round. Fighters do quad damage against the large ships. It's a starting point.

[zarkwizard]

No. I guess you could try to calculate is based on their attack value. We have been told it would take 3 cruisers to take out a claimed planet so find out how many fighters have an equivalant attack value minus the attack value of the carrier and thats how many you will need.

In the new mechanic it actually takes 4 cruisers to one shot the mining colony. In the process you will lose 1 cruiser. 3 vs the mining colony would be dicey.. It could work, but you will probably lose 2 in the best case scenario. Most times you'll die. 4 cruiser do the Goldielocks damage amount.

Fighters do great against big ships. Since they are such a little target it's hard for the big ships guns to target them. Unless it's something that is specifically designed to kill fighters like Destroyers. We took a little of that from EvE. We use to play a frigate corp of mercs in the early days of eve, and a group of 20 of us would lock down Tier 1 & 2 battleships and kill them. Sure a few us might get killed in the process, but it was pretty rare. Even when we did get killed it didn't matter since frigates cost nothing to produce.

Some things to keep in mind.. There is a max object count you can have. Basically anything you put in space counts toward your object count. You have have up to 1000 items. Ships / Orbitals. You can either add shipyards + 10 objects, and there is now a skill in fleet that allows a multiplier to shipyards +10 per rank. So you can get up to 100 objects per shipyard. You don't need the skill though, you could just build shipyards. It's the only item that won't count towards your object count. So having 100 ship yards doesn't mean you only get 900 objects, you still get the 1000.

If you have 1000 objects and 100 shipyards, and you end up losing 10 shipyards, you won't lose any ships, but you can't build anything above 900, till you replace the shipyards you lose (assuming you had no bonuses from skills).

We'll add something to the interface to help you keep track of your object counts.

[adam__moore]

*Edit due to achieving comprehension of attacking*
So, what are the best trade strategies?

Build up a few core planets, set harvest routes, mine colonies to feed into larger colonies then slowly grow out . . .

Perhaps early detection of other homeworlds will allow a fleet of sappers - harvesters that deplete your neighbour's nearby resources limiting their expansion?

[Tsagoth]

Perhaps early detection of other homeworlds will allow a fleet of sappers - harvesters that deplete your neighbour's nearby resources limiting their expansion?

You cannot harvest a planet which is not yours, so that won't work. It's an idea though that I'll keep in mind.

[ksib]

Now with the new changes to the server and clients, are any of your strategies going to drastically change?

I think that the biggest changes that will alter my strategy will be the change to starting with the harvesting skill as well as the money. Any thoughts?

[Cheerio]

its really going to all depend how expensive it is to set up colonies and what not. id rather skip the whole mining part if they're anywhere near in value and only set up colony planets for the increased defense and production capacity. ill have to see when we get back on :)

[Tsagoth]

I think that the biggest changes that will alter my strategy will be the change to starting with the harvesting skill as well as the money. Any thoughts?

The harvesting skill is a beta freebie, so you don't have to spend the first 12 hours sitting on your thumbs waiting for it to train. In the real game, you won't get RH to start.

[ksib]

The harvesting skill is a beta freebie, so you don't have to spend the first 12 hours sitting on your thumbs waiting for it to train. In the real game, you won't get RH to start.

Oh cool! I thought that it was going to be permanent, but I think that it would be good. It will make the game start a bit quicker :P

[ravenzachary]

Perhaps early detection of other homeworlds will allow a fleet of sappers - harvesters that deplete your neighbour's nearby resources limiting their expansion?

I am worried about the sappers strategy on the casual player. This is where players who can put in two hours a day have a distinct advantage over the 20 minutes a day player. I'd like to see the two hour per day player have less power over the casual player.

[Tsagoth]

I am worried about the sappers strategy on the casual player. This is where players who can put in two hours a day have a distinct advantage over the 20 minutes a day player. I'd like to see the two hour per day player have less power over the casual player.

While there may be some things we could do, there are also limits. If someone doesn't log in until a week after the game starts, they are going to be seriously disadvantaged no matter what we do.

[Cheerio]

If you just post a single destroyer on all your planets and said Sapper didn't have some of the trade skills, would their harvs just get blown up over and over? If you started a war with them... So I suppose you'd have to notice first huh.

Edit: just revisited that post about not taking from colonies you don't own (I.e. No sapping)
So if you tried doing that you would end up trading with them then? Could you give us some numbers on how that works?

[Leedot]

You can't resource sap other players. If you send a trade vessel to another players planet that you're not at war with it'll load up on resources but not actually take any from the planet. The other player then recieves bonus resources for trading with you. The counterfeiting skill reduces the bonus the other player receives.

You can however sap people's population if you have the smuggling tech.

[ksib]

Oh also, I have been doing quite a bit of data gathering regarding resource regen on planets. I have found that each aspect of a planet has a particular affect on resources.

So far I have noticed, the type of planet affects the base amount of either CO or RO. For example, a water planet a little of both where a rock gives just CO.
The size of the planet affect the base amount of each CO or RO that planet will auto regen.

Yet I remember originally you guys had mentioned that the star type within the system does play a role in the amount of resources provided? Having only limited data I can only make particular assumptions (oh no, I posted an assumption) that they type of star play no if not little role in the amount of regen.

Should I place this in a spoiler? if so, how?

[Tsagoth]

The +/- of the star type is not all that much. Something like a max of 10% if I remember right.

[zarkwizard]

Should I place this in a spoiler? if so, how?

(spoil)text here(/spoil) but use square brackets instead of round.. [ ]

There is also
(strike)text(/strike)
(profile)forumname(/profile)

[ksib]

Okay cool, Thank you guys. I had a bunch of data that I am going through for it so I am trying to figure it out :P.

Another question, are there set planet sizes? like Small, - Medium, Medium, + Medium, Large? Or is there a large random number generated and the planets size scale to that number?

[Tsagoth]

Each planet is scaled with a minor variance permitted. So as an example, Terran worlds might have a mininum size of 40% of the maximum size a planet can be, with a bonus of perhaps up to 30%. So a Terran would range in size from 40-80% of the maximum size for a planet. Those are not the actual Terran numbers btw. The lower bound is fixed though, so in my example, no Terran would ever be smaller than the 40% size. Rotation speed is set in a similar manner, although frankly Terran planets all seem to be spinning like tops and I'm going to adjust them yet again.

[adam__moore]

Rotation speed is set in a similar manner, although frankly Terran planets all seem to be spinning like tops and I'm going to adjust them yet again.

+1 on slowing the spinning down A LOT! ;)

[ksib]

haha okay. Thanks Tsagoth. That makes a lot more sense. Knowing that the are "percentages" off of the base makes things a bit easier! Thanks!

haha and I agree with the comment the the planets rotation :). hahahaha

[zarkwizard]

+1 on slowing the spinning down A LOT! ;)

As far as I have heard we haven't had any colonist fly off in to space due to the rotation of the planet.

[Trom]

As far as I have heard we haven't had any colonist fly off in to space due to the rotation of the planet.

Although trying to land colonies on those worlds can be a hazardous proposition.

[Cheerio]

Although trying to land colonies on those worlds can be a hazardous proposition.

I swear captain, that mountain was 10km away a second ago...

[Spartanius]

Now how exactly does spinning effect a planet? I tought I read it effects resource production but that doesn't make sense.

[Cheerio]

Well clearly it determines how many assets obtain an escape velocity
I.e. Kids jumping rope. Bye bye next generation!