Posts: 3,045
Threads: 49
Joined: Mar 2004
antisocialmunky Wrote:I just did that, as humans your ships turn as slow as mud with those beam sections so while your alpha strike should instantly blow something up, its hard for them to line up for shot #2. Heavy beam ships tend to do better by stopping when in range so they can focus thrusters entirely on turning rather than on both turning and forward movement. Also, if you find assault sections aren't giving you enough turning potential, battlebridge does tend to turn a little faster.
Posts: 4,443
Threads: 45
Joined: Nov 2009
Yeah, I'm actually shying away from mass forward beam ships. The Crows seem to be able to pull it off way better than me.
Beam ships have a couple disadvantages:
-They have to get in quite close to do their damage, in fact beams barely have any range bonus over any other weapons medium and up.
-They do DPS instead of per shot.
-Ships don't go backwards very well in this game.
-Each mount is about 4x as expensive as other techs.
So one of the problems I keep getting is that the enemy ships which are using missiles and energy cannons/drivers will close. I'll take a sizeable chunk of the force out but since reinforcements drop at their CnC, they'll be on top of the beam ships. My ships just cannot turn fast enough to catch them and get bounced around by kinetic impactors so even if they focus, they can just get knocked off their target and lose more than half their DPS... Then the brawling ships get overwhelmed and its basically a even trade except I lost more $$$.
Right now I'm using a 2 ship setup:
1)Battlecruiser - FAST, maneuverable with lots of close range weapons, and cheap
Strafe/Armor setup
-1 AP Heavy Driver
-6 Forward Facing Medium AP Drives
-4 Lateral Stormer
-2 Fusion Cannons on the drive
Basic idea is to close as fast as possible and disrupt the enemy formation with all the kinetic weaponry and do a ton of damage. The Stormers on the sides are useful because they'll knock enemy beam ships off target ^_^.
As I don't have any PD section or dedicated PD (Got PD Phasers with Anti-Matter though so FINALLY), its a total pain to deal with missiles so, I just get something that can pound missile ships to dust from range while the above setup charges in an distracts.
2)Sniper - Fire Control/Impactor setup
-Mass AP Drivers on Impactor section + the 2 Rail Cannons
-PD on the FC section
- 2 Inertial Cannons on the drive so I can super run-away while slowing down pursuing ships if I need to.
I think that the 2 rail cannons out range pretty much everything that's not a missile and both hitting on the center section will split a Cruiser in two quite easily.
I'm still debating on going AI or not. I don't like the idea of the AI rebellion thing. The game is already rouge-like enough with von neumanns and locust
In Soviet Russia, Civilization Micros You!
"Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must."
“I have never understood why it is "greed" to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else's money.”
Posts: 3,045
Threads: 49
Joined: Mar 2004
Sounds pretty good. Impactors are fun. :D
Beam ships can be really good in the right circumstances but as you've noted they do have drawbacks. They depend heavily on that initial burst damage for shock value. It's imperative that you kill the enemy CnC with them ASAP or you'll get that problem with reinforcements you observed; beam ships are really not that great at damage over time in a brawl.
Posts: 875
Threads: 3
Joined: Mar 2011
When assaulting planets I always bring 1 PD ship. It catches nearly every incoming missile if everyone is in formation. Then again, outfitting super ships with small PDs of their own can also take care of most of the problem.
Also, I was infatuated for a touch with bringing missile swarm ships to fights. Stay far away and spam ze missiles, especially against emitter heavy groups. Worked well until people close the gap.
Posts: 4,443
Threads: 45
Joined: Nov 2009
So the hivers pissed off the Von Neumann machines enough that now there is atleast one construct flying around destroying planets... How can you even kill that sucker?
In Soviet Russia, Civilization Micros You!
"Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must."
“I have never understood why it is "greed" to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else's money.”
Posts: 939
Threads: 8
Joined: Dec 2010
spellman Wrote:Also, I was infatuated for a touch with bringing missile swarm ships to fights. Stay far away and spam ze missiles, especially against emitter heavy groups. Worked well until people close the gap.
build realy fast ships and run away forever 
Posts: 4,443
Threads: 45
Joined: Nov 2009
That's what the Aliens in Sins did. Didn't really work out that great 
In Soviet Russia, Civilization Micros You!
"Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must."
“I have never understood why it is "greed" to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else's money.”
Posts: 3,045
Threads: 49
Joined: Mar 2004
There are a couple ways iirc... but you do have to have a plan. Just throwing damage at it is unlikely to work well. Even with a plan, it will probably involve casualties.
Some possible approaches:
1. Deflector shielded DN CnC, phaser PD, and lots and lots of wild weasels.
2. Disruptor torps, if you can get close enough.
3. Lots and lots of mines.
Posts: 4,443
Threads: 45
Joined: Nov 2009
How good are mines really? I didn't touch them. I do have impactor dreadnaughts so maybe those can scratch it. Just need to watch out for the assimilation beam.
In Soviet Russia, Civilization Micros You!
"Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must."
“I have never understood why it is "greed" to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else's money.”
Posts: 3,045
Threads: 49
Joined: Mar 2004
Mines can be really really powerful, to the point where some players consider them broken. Mainly because the tactical AI does not make any attempt to avoid them, just to shoot them out of the way. Lay a thick enough carpet and if your target doesn't have really really strong PD, it's dead.
Of course this also depends partly on how fast your opponent's ships are relative to yours, and how fast they are relative to the mines' limited seeking ability. Moreover some mines are faster (leap mines) while others are more powerful and/or have other special effects. Still, the overall point stands.
|
