I'd recomend (against your post req) to build a second military research structure and go for shields, instead. Armor is subject to the appropriate countering units, and hull... seems to me to be good enough, especially the faster repair (if you kite and bait your units).

Is still think hull is better for your scouts, mostly because they spend most of their time in transit, and don't get attacked untill after they reach a system. Just as they enter in, they can repair whatever they lost (dunno is sheilds recharge during jumps).

Armor is still subject to whatever is countering it. There is a counters thread somewhere... dunno.

Hoped this helps,
-Jeremy
(Who does NOT know how to mod sins past modeling)

Yeah... I think this was for early game, but great info Darvin3!

You changed much of my early game strategy now!

Thanks!
-Jeremy

I have read more than one pro state the same sort of thing, and believe me, I am not questioning the advice of pros.  But I suppose I still scratch my head sometimes because what am I supposed to take neutral planets with?  Air?  Of course, the pro would say "long range frigates."  But I don't usually want to drop 2 labs down right off the bat, and then spend time and money researching lrfs, because it delays me in the taking of planets.  I mean, I could have my first 'roid, or even two, by the time my first lrf rolls out.

The other problem I encounter (I have tried taking the advice of the pros) is that it seems everybody I play nowadays fast techs to carriers.  I mean, I bump into some dude on the way to taking my 3rd 'roid, and he's already got carriers, and they're hosting fighters.  I have lrfs and he sees that, so he instantly attacks and I have nothing to counter with.

Again, I'm not questioning pro advice.  My advice to anyone reading this is "do what the pros say."  But I suppose I'm just not at the level yet where I can undertand the correct advice or make it work for me.

Thanks though - very helpful.

I do admit I was wrong when I said LF's are late-game only, but certainly they're not the kind of unit you want to spam right off the bat, because that just sets you up to be decimated by LRF spam.  Especially as TEC, you won't get those carriers out in time to stop a LRF spammer from killing you off if you just built LF's and directly tech to carriers.  Scout, and bring out your LF's only after your enemy is starting to produce those carriers, because they're a waste before that moment.  Ideally have saboutage reactor (or other faction equivalent) researched or on the way.

I'm no pro, but I can tell you that I felt a considerable improvement in the flow of my early game army when I cut out LF's altogether and just directly jumped to LRF's.  Yeah, you have to be mindful of when those carriers come out, but they're not exactly cheap.

Best strategy in general, yes. However for the fast beginning, go for the hull w/ a little armor, as to get good hull you only need 2 military platforms, and less dough. Later game when you got all the reaserch stations, then go the armor.

Yeah it's your typical combat triangle, LRMs beat light friggates, which beat carriers, which beat LRMs

I'm guessing it was designed to be: LRM's beat light friggs. which beat flack, which beat carriers, which beat LRM, and anything beats siege bombers. From there the race specifics add variety to the mix but that is its core. It doesn't work like that, but if they get all 4 of the flak banks (4 for TEC dunno about the others) to fire correctly, it should work that way. Correct me if i'm wrong but I recall that the flak friggates don't use all their banks. Or if they do, they need careful power tweaking for the balance.

I would do both shield and hull

The strait dope on Hull & Armor is found in Strategy sub forum, pinned post Combat Mechanics. Basically, I look at the research costs, especially the crystal. The crystal cost doubles for every level for why not balance both hull & armor. I need that crystal for planet improvements, structures, and research. Eventually it is needed for ships too.

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Armor
Armor decreases the damage received from attacks. Each point of armor reduces the effectiveness of weapons by a factor of 5%, however this is not a straightforward reduction. Instead it reduces the effectiveness of weapons by factor of 1/(1 + armor * .05).

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Another way of calculating the effect of armor is to consider each point of armor an increase to the base hull strength of the ship by 5%. However, armor is more effective than a straight hull strength increase because it increases the effective hull regeneration rate (again by a factor of 5% per point of armor).

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Example of Armor Mechanics

An Arcova Scout Frigate shoots (weapon damage 24) at a Kol Battleship (hull 3000, armor 5). The Scout will do 24/(1 + .05 * 5) = 19.2 damage. Ignoring all other combat mechanics, it will take the scout 3000/19.2 = 156.25 shots to destroy the Kol.

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Calculating the armor as a straight hull strength increase, using the same situation, the Kol Battleship now has an effective hull strength of 3000 * (1 + .05 * 4) = 3750. Ignoring all other combat mechanics, it will take the scout 3750/24 = 156.25 shots to destroy the Kol.

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