Look at the pirate base... 19 or 20 turrets, and I've never lost a ship to those defenses. Kill the fleet, pick off the turrets one by one. Static defenses don't work against a mobile opponent. At best, they work to slow down an attacker or augment a defense fleet.

But your idea to extend the range of the turrets.. now thats a thought. Make them cover the entire gravity well and they'd be a decent defense weapon. Imagine jumping into a system with 20 turrets and all of them able to hit you. Maybe a sliding damage/range ratio, further away = less damage. It would make pirate base raids a little more dangerous.

But, I think SINS would loose a lot of it's appeal ( IMO ), if it could degenerate into a space version of trench warfare.

For the choke point base I expect pirates to attack, I'll put up 1 or 2 repair bays, 4 hangars, and a couple turrets covering the whole mess, plus as much of my extractor system as I can cover. A PJI of course, and the gravity well becomes my rally point for new ship builds, and I'll have at least one of my cap ships parked there as well, ready to soak up XP.

The turrets are there to punish people attempting to hit my repair bays, that's all, and I typically can get pirates to fly into them by retreating focus fire targets into range of the repair beacon.

The thing I like about static defenses is that they're extra firepower that doesn't require a fleet logistics slot, so there's no constant drain on my income to support it. It also means you can field a larger expeditionary force to ravage enemy systems without worrying about the constant harrassment of pirate raids. (I never put bounty on other players, it's basically paying money to feed someone else XP).

I will agree that static defenses alone aren't enough, you need to reserve some of your fleet, and have good enough scouting to recall your expeditionary forces in the event of a major assault.

I tend to agree, except when dealing with Vasari's turrets. Fully research phase missiles, and 7 of these things will rip into anything.

And yes, it shouldn't degrade to trench warfare, but there should be a way to make the enemy think twice before simply bypassing your defenses and hopping along to your nice, juicy core planets, wouldn't you agree? PJI's shouldn't be required to prevent this. I never tried Sins on multiplayer, but from the description everyone give, this seems like very nasty and uncompromising way to play. Defenses should at least give you a moment to think.

As myemail21479 said above this post except I will actually put it as many as 2 to 4 Frigate Factories with 4 or so repair bays. The rest of my slots are reserved for fighters in hangers if I feel the need. I station a smaller defensive fleet of tough ship there and they keep a long replacement program running replacing ships as needed. If I have money left over I will put a few turrets in just to keep people honest and PJI are a nice touch (but a late game touch for some races).

The fighters are to kill siege frigates and scouts trying to get though mostly. Less scouting is usually a good thing. A determined opponent will force them past just the same but I expect this... that is less time they could be spending on something I didn't see coming. If I am really mean and I get an second planet behind the choke point that is more or less also a choke point I will park the Frigate Factories on that world so they are harder to just destroy... and include the repair bays and all that once again. Then if I feel like a complete jerk I stick a bunch of broadcast towers on the front world... best if it is a desert. It probably won't turn any worlds (though it has happened for me more than once...) but it will insure that your fleet operates with your culture bonuses in the near by areas and makes your enemy actually take time to react to something you did. Advent can do this early and the research is cheaper so don't hesitate to throw a few down if you can spare them. In a long static game with choke points they can't be ignored forever.

Park a battle ship there or near by if you feel the need... your looking for tough ships for the defense fleet that can hold out with repair for ages (heavy cruisers optimal...particularly Vesari since theirs has built in repair also that stacks) or cheap ships built fast that you can churn out in mass numbers (TEC LRM's). Also if your Vasari consider placing a carrier cap ship there as the additional repair cloud can cause a fleet to last a long time against 2 or 3 times their fleet value in ships. If you get that ship to level 6 and get Replicate Forces it is just gravy.

This means a smaller fleet to hold the choke point. You just churn out replacements as your lose units and the repair bays insure that is as few as possible. Also your offensive fleets will be operating some where out in front of that and it shortens their replacement travel time (provided there is not a serious blockade on the other end of the phase lane).

As advent I like the Anti Matter Regenerator late game mostly because it spends it's time refilling my repair bays and can greatly increase their operating time.





Also i think Redmaw commented above that the AI gives repair bays a low priority. In some recent attempts to survive 9v1 hard comps (unsucessfully... ) I noticed that hard comps will some times target your repair stations first in a system... usually they send their bombers... have not had a chance to confirm but I suspect that some patches to the AI changed this based on what was in the forums.

against the ai i will trypically build a few turrets to focus on siege ships, and at least two repair bays with everything overlapping. the rest will go into hangers. i have found myself microing the hanger more now. instead of a balanced line-up i will go all fighters to start. this will protect the structures from other strike craft and attack other ships. once the enemy fighters and carriers are gone or weakened i will switch to 1 fighter squad and the rest as bombers.

they just hve to hold the planet until either my reserve fleet arrives or my main fleet returns.

most important is what happens behind the choke points. i will juse 1 repair bay and 2 or 3 turrets to protect the bay. the rest are hangers with bombers. their purpose is to wipe out any stray scouts quickly.

i will usually have a shipyard or two at this level that rally at the chock point. the yards are always working. the fleet that builds and waits at the choke point is used to reinforce my main fleet.

two or three planets behind the choke point i will have a reserve fleet on the edge of a grav well. this fleet doesnt move unless the front is comprimised. if i need to draw ships from it to reinfoce the choke or the main fleet, then the reserve is the first to get replenished.

its probably wasteful, but its fun. and its great insurance to know if you loose your front you have a fleet capable of slowing the enemy long enough for your main fleet to either get home or find the enemy home and wipe it out.

Choke points only work on AI! Best thing you can do against a person is some planets that slow him down with few PJIs to keep a roaming band from damaging your labs or ports deep in your empire.

Other than that all your other static defense should be built to provide you with fall back points where you can fight him within reach of repair stations. That will turn any close fight in your favor.

And on a small or medium map sometimes few static weapon platforms can make trying to take out your labs or frigate factories too costly to consider. Because fleet size tends to be smaller on such maps, an invading force of 10 or fewer frigates would lose too many ships vs 2 gauss and 1 repair station to be an effective raid.

repair bay x2 or x3 will keep them from killing anything until your fleet arrives, and repair your fleet during the battle . you may also want to build 2 turrets near the planet to kill siege ships as you cannot repair planets

From what i've read, which is the post and all replys is that players are seeing what chokepoints really are... a bottleneck where you trap and counterpunch the enemy.

choke points are best when applied to a defensive and offensive strategy. FEINTS.
A well planned a implemented feint will almost always cripple an average player or even a competent one.
a sample strategy which i always enjoy to use is a double feint. Build an outer edge ring of turrets and hangers on the opposite side of side where the enemy will come from. Now you might be thinking static defense is pointless but hear me out.

have two fleets a medium and a large assualt one. (composition is up to you)
medium should be at choke point and assualt should be at next closest planet or gravity producing place.
Scenario, Enemy enters choke point and moves through planet engaging your medium fleet your fleet will probably be wiped out they move on the outside of you static defense they finally jump after being stalled. they enter gravity and engage your main fleet. since you should be in you own territory you should have the advantage and if they're competent they should attempt to reteat while you are whittling down their forces they finally jump back to first choke point. The arrive right where your static defense is. they are taking a cannon and strike craft pound ing while you follow up with you fleet. you defeat their fleet and now you have the choice to stay or wreak havoc among their territory and invade reatively unnopposed.

Sorrry for any mistakes and the vagueness of the post. point out any flaws and ill address them accordingly.
overall static defense can be usefull if applied properly and chokepoints should be part of your overall stategy but not your focus just another piece of the puzzle of victory.

Something not mentioned about statics really,
I've noticed this time and time again in MP and can't explain it. I've got a little asteroid choke bristling with hangers, repair bays and some turrets (vasari, always) and a small-medium force intentionally of a size to put the idea in my opponents mind "I've got this guy". *Every single time* when I withdraw deeper into the gravity well (and thus within range of ALL of the turrets) my opponents have followed me in. I don't generally win these fights, but the victories are pyrrhic. My choke survives (barely), my fleet is annihlated, other than my cap which warps out unopposed due to the PJI and the other guy normally loses a level 4-5 Cap, 1-2 Combat Cruisers and either the majority of his LRMs or the entirety of his seige frigs.

Static defense is worthless against human opponents yes, except for the fact that they have 3 choices if they've warped their fleet in to begin with. Chase your fleet down and cope with your static, stand off and go LRM vs static + my few LRMs or run for it and let me have a trio of sacrifical seige frigs or one heavy cruiser before they can jump out.

God save them if I have even ONE upgraded Subverter up and with the baby fleet yet.

But anyways, my main point was that dont overlook the fact that many people WILL chase you back into range of your turrets if you're giving a 2 to 1 ship advantage. Coupled with a pile of turrets, those beautiful hangars and lovely overlapping repair bays and all of a sudden that 2 to 1 advantage that looked so great at the edge of the grav well often gives rise to nasty cases of buyers remorse by the time they grind u down.

Oh, and I completely echo what so many others have said about the Phase gates...if its gone that far every little rock I've colonized has one. They're just too useful.

I would "Walk" all my fleets simultaneously: Left Fleet, Right Fleet, taking over planets as I go, and use any extra resources on weapons turrets on the closest to the front (I don't stop at choke-points).

Doesn't matter where the turrets are put, because when you have enough of them, the AI runs away at the sight of them...

When you occupy about half the map, make a move on all the leftover enemy homeworlds, and wiping out their resources (then just survive their attacks until they run out of ships)

I'm wondering if those putting down defense turrets just don't know how to use them properly.

Some one used the pirate base as an example, that's a crummy way to place turrets!

I stack my turrets all right on top of each other nearest the most likely enemy jump point into the gravity well, 3 repair bays right behind them, then 2-3 hangar bays on the far end of the gravity well, with my fleet stationed among the turrets and repair platforms.

A dozen+ beam defense platforms focus firing can seriously rock the attacking force, and as Advent you can easily place two dozen in a small bunch and still have plenty tactical slots for repair platforms and hangars around planets.

If playing the AI, the best way to place turrets is on the exact opposite end of the grav well from what you want to protect. The AI prioritizes targets that can hurt them. Thus, putting one next to something soft and squishy, like a trade port or a lab, actually draws your enemy towards it. Placing it as far away as it can go gives you some seconds more while your enemy charges across open space, and then back again after destroying the turret.

I suggest building as many hangers as you can and build all bomber squadrons. Any remaining slots can be used for anything else. Next, when a hostile fleet is coming to your planet get some ships over there for assistance. When the fleet arrives select all your bombers and tell them to concentrate one capital ship or siege frigate at a time. If your playing against an AI once it loses one or two caps it will turn tail and run. Against humans get as many of your ships to the planet ASAP or build a frigate or cap ship factory at the choke point planet so you can build ships there and let your fleet attack the the opponents planet.