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TheRinger
TheRinger
Join Date 07/2009
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Advent strategy

July 23, 2009 4:41:52 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

I've been browsing the board for a little while, and I've got several questions about running an advent fleet.

First off, the only two cap ships I've really seen mentioned are the Radiance and the Mothership except for a few minor support abilities.

I also did the math to try and compare how much bang you get for your buck. The only two that stood out combat-wise were the Illuminator and the Drone Host. I also noted that the Illuminator, unlike the other LRM frigates, does Capital damage instead of Anti-Med, meaning that it actually does much better against Med+ armor than other LRMs.

The only other cruiser repeatedly mentioned is the Guardian b/c of it's shield and repulsor abilities.

So it stands to reason that a small fleet of a Mothership, 1-2 Radiance, 5-10 Drone hosts (mostly fighters as anti-strike/anti-LRM), 5-10 Illuminators and a couple of Guardians could stand against any standard variation of opposing fleets, and could come out like roses even against a fleet twice it's size, given that the Radiance had their ultimate ability, the Mothership had a higher level shield charge, and I knew how to micro-manage this fleet properly. At least, that's what it looks like in theory. Is this the case in practice?

I've also been working on a startup. I like to start up my military quickly, and after I make my cap ship and start colonizing the nearby asteroid, I usually make a pretty quick course to 3x Military research to get illuminators. Am I wasting my time by over-reaching too early on, or is this acceptable to do? (I generally play on larger maps)

Last startup question. I generally colonize a couple asteroids and a terran or desert planet, by which time I have about 6-8 Illuminators and my Cap (Usually radiance w/ Animosity to protect illuminators). This is about 10 or so minutes into the game. Is it worth it at that point to seek and destroy my enemy's planets, or should I continue to use my fleet to expand and solidify defenses first? I don't know if a regular human player would be able to repel an attack like that or not by that time.

I'm still learning the game, so any help would be appreciated.

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TheRinger
Deceiver_0
Join Date 12/2008
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Reply #1 July 23, 2009 5:32:22 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

Well first of all-

The illuminators doing capital damage was a mistake corrected in one of the patches. While you may not 'want' to patch your game to fix this, the patches also address a host of other problems with balance issues and bugs, so it will be in your best interest to do so. Also, you won't be able to play online until you patch your game, so if you ever intend to (which I recommend because eventaully the Ai gets a little boring) you should definitely patch your game so you can get used to the changes.

Teching to illuminators quickly is fine, but just remember that if you do so, don't neglect your economy unless you're playing on a small map where you're likely to run into your opponents early on. Teching to illuminators will also allow you to expand quickly by helping your mothership subdue local militia.

Advent cap ships are unique in that they all synergize well with each other, that is, they all have abilities that, when combined, can deal some very heavy damage to any opponents fleet. For example, the Rapture has an ability called vengeance that deals damage opponents are doing to a specific ship back to the ships dealing that damage, combine this ability with the Radiances Animosity ability and the motherships malice ability, and enemy fleets will be taking a truck load of damage. Advent really benefit by having lots of capital ships, more so than any other race.

As for when to attack your enemy: there's no set time when its best, it all really depends on the map and the situation. What I would recommend is expanding your empire towards your enemy while simultaneously scouting ahead to find the contents of your enemies fleet. If you're sure you can beat it, go ahead and attack to halt its expansion and start taking its planets. If not, keep building your fleet, economy and a few defenses on the frontline (in case its wants to attack you) until you can mount a devastating assault. BTW, the best defensive structure is the repair platform, which allows smaller fleets to engage larger ones and win. I'd recommend building these over any other defensive structure.

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TheRinger
TheRinger
Join Date 07/2009
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Reply #2 July 23, 2009 5:56:48 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

That makes sense. I thought it was kind of odd that Illuminators did captial damage.

Is there any reason for a revelation cruiser? It seems to be mediocre at best.

Could I open with Drone hosts and be just as effective at clearing pirates and/or destroying enemy buildings?

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TheRinger
Deceiver_0
Join Date 12/2008
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Reply #3 July 23, 2009 6:23:26 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

The revelation is a great ship, all of its abilities are useful. It has reverie, which can take an enemy cap ship out of the fight for a little while, and can stop the dreaded missile barrage( you find this ability quite frightening on MP, but dont worry so much about SP as the ai doesnt really use it.). Guidance reduces ability cooldown on friendly ships, great for using on your mothership with shield restore. Clairvoyance is a wonderful scouting tool, allowing you to peer deep into enemy territory wihtout having to send a scout. Provoke hysteria is simultaneously the best and worst planetary bombardment ability. It deals damage in percentages of the planets health, so its wonderful at taking out planets with tons of hp, but doesnt do a whole lot to planets with low hp. Eitherway its advents only bombardment ability and is quite useful. In MP, I'll choose the revelation as my second cap ship I'd say about 70% of the time, mostly for reverie, clairvoyance and to eventually get provoke hysteria.

You could open with drone host, the only problem is they take up a lot of resources and supply, and it takes quite a few of them to be really effective. You'll get more out of illuminators early on until your economy can support the supply needs and resource needs of drones. I do know a lot of people who open with drones for the simple fact that they knwo their enemy will be spamming long range frigates early in the game, but again thats more of a Multiplayer thing. If you do open with drones, I'd recommend using bombers to start out with as they'll chew up militias heavy cruisers and will live longer against the flak frigates.

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TheRinger
Darvin3
Join Date 12/2008
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Reply #4 July 23, 2009 10:32:28 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

All the Advent capital ships are awesome.  The progenitor, halcyon, and radiance are typically considered the "holy trinity" and barring any special needs or player preference are almost always the first three capital ship choices for an Advent player.  The progenitor offers a strong colonization ability along with shield restore, and many consider it the strongest capital ship in the game.  The radiance is the optimal capital-ship disabler, and the halcyon offers you a strong passive (energy amplification) as well as anti-strike craft effects.

That's not to say Revelation and Rapture are bad at all.  Both are very excellent choices to round out your fleet.  The revelation is useful for taking an enemy capital ship out of the battle with reverie.  Guidance and clairvoyance are mostly useful late game, which is why I typically don't get revelation early on.  The Rapture is a very awesome capital ship, but you have to use it in the right situation.  Vengeance is for punishing people who are focus firing on your capital ships, and vertigo is for disabling massive swarms of combat frigates.  I find this most useful when I'm losing capital ships and need to desperately punish an enemy for focus fire or to reduce his ability to deal that damage in the first place.

 

Drone hosts can be great for clearing out worlds at the start of the game, but they're downright expensive and way too easily countered by flaks.  Used sparingly, they're a powerful and effective addition to your fleet, but it's foolish to make more than two of these early on.

 

Remember that scouts are actually useful combat units!  You have to use them against the right targets (enemy LRF), but they're quite competent at that specialized niche role.  Because LRF are the most dangerous units you will encounter early game, this gives scouts a stronger combat presence than the light frigate (ironically).

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