Summon Dark Combat Fleet -- I feel kind of ripped off :P

Combat fleet is random, sometimes you can get lots more stuff from it. And yes, its partly that it can be summoned instantly, and partly that you can do it anywhere you have a phase stabilizer

Have you updated your game? Dark combat fleet should use about 3000 credits and some assorted metal and crystal. 5 heavy cruisers by themselves cost a bit more than that.

Dark combat fleet should always give you (roughly) 90 fleet supply worth of ships, chosen from Heavy Cruisers, Kanraks, Skirmishers, Sentinels, and Corvettes. Vasari HCs are 12 fleet supply each, so that's 60 supply there. 4 LF would bring it up to 88 which seems typical.

The main use for it is if you are fighting somewhere and need reinforcements immediately, so your titan plops down a phase stabilizer, allowing you to summon instant allies in combat. It also should be cheaper than building your ships on average, however most players prefer choosing exactly what ships they produce, even if it costs a bit more. And finally it is a key part of allowing the Vasari Loyalists to survive without planets entirely (not that anyone actually does this).

Aha, so I need to update. Thanks! 7500 seemed crazy high..to the point where there's no reason to ever use it.

In my current version, the summon capital ship costs 3000, which makes more sense.

I'll update, and then yeah, it should be very powerful in conjunction with the Titan. Thanks!!

So, did you tell steam not to update the game after release or something? I don't think its cost 7500 for a long time.

I have my system set up so that nothing updates automatically. Of course, in this instance, it was not a good thing.

Another advantage, unless they changed it recently, is that you don't have to have a ship type researched for it to appear in the list the ability uses.  So you can get a few heavy cruisers without having to research them.  Not a game breaker, but if you only need a couple to round off your fleet, its quicker and usually cheaper.  Not that you shouldn't research them anyway.  It is still random afterall.

-Twi

Yep, did this earlier . The lower cost makes it much better.

I rarely use the Dark fleet...  I keep them in my back pocket for reenforcements... Even with phase stabilizers, it still takes time to get from planet A to planet B, and under the wrong circumstances, this can cost you an important ship, even a titan.  So having the ability to create a phase stabilizer and instantly summon reenforcements might just be a titan saver.

Add in the fact that the cooldown is per-stabilizer and you can pretty much insta-build a small fleet, rarely needing to build ships manually unless you have a specific build in mind.  Get a good economy going, and this can become a devestating counter-attack if your enemy believes you are defenseless, or you think they are...

-Twi

Awesome tips, guys

I'm playing as VL right now against 5 hard AI...it was VERY difficult until I realized that the Strip To Core ability did not work through the Egg's Drain Planet -.-

I was going up to enemy planets and wondering why it was taking forever to strip a world. Sad, but true. A quick search through the forum set me straight, and now I'm totally mobile except for 1 planet. Me thinks im going to win.

Your playing the VL in what I call "Death Fleet" mode?  cool!  I like the VL being able to survive while not owning a planet, except to rebuild ships and such...

The only downside I've found is the Kostura cannon...  the last uppdate reset them so you have to own 4 planets to build one, which is a problem if you're playing a death fleet.  But then again, if your playing as a mobile empire, what use is a super weapon anyway??? 

There's minimum planets for superweapons now?  When did that happen?  I thought it was tactical slots...

-Twi

It's a change in the 1.04, now you can build a Cannon every 4 planets you own. If you are TEC Loyalist and research "Novalith Deregulation" you can build one every 2 planets.

No more novalith on every world?  I'm sad now.

-Twi

Edit:  Unless they no longer take as many or any tactical slots?

The slots were unchanged, however before patching you could only have 4 superweapons, no matter what, now if your empire is big enough you can build even more

...I coulda swore I had a Nova on every world when I bought Rebellion before...did they add this in a patch maybe?  I haven't played since before the last one came out...

-Twi

Ah, I was also using the Diplo-ported version of the DS Mod.  That may be why as well.

Huh.  Sounds slightly OP in favor of Loyalists.(Not that I'm complaining since TEC Loyal is my favorite faction...  )...but I doubt anyone will complain much until/if they fix the mobile starbase thing.  And a lot of people online don't get to superweapons, or so I'm told.  Oh well, not a super-big issue I guess.

-Twi

It is moddable in Gameplay.constants though.

cannonsPerGravityWellRatio and cannonGravityWellRatioDenominator are the key lines.  From looking at it for ten seconds it looks like the first one controls how many cannons you can build when the second one's value is reached, so you could easily mod it to grant however many superweapons you want whenever a certain amount of planets are owned by a player.  It could be 1-1, 2-1, 2-2, or even 4-4.

Kinda scares me how quick people are to jump to the mod-route these days.  "Don't like something?  Make a mod."

Not that I don't like mods.  But it just seems like everyone's giving up.

-Twi

Actually, as much as I hate to admit this, I usually make personal mods to make the game harder, not easier... 

Ohh, dont worry, they are not op.... rather to contrary.

Even with the reduced requirements getting Novalith earlier is very difficult. Even if you manage it.... you will have the entire enemy team bearing down on to you.... and since TEC Loyalists defenses are only marginally better than the other races.... you die.

TL defenses definitely need a boost, but a fleet with the militia upgrades and a couple factories boosted by Counter-Deployment can definitely have an effect.

I like Death Fleet too, though I'm going to have to put all AIs on "Vicious" next time, as VL seems very OP against the AI.

I play them on big, multi-system maps, and I can simply move my migrant fleet into the star's gravity well, sending raiding parties to any star system I please. Meanwhile, the AIs tend to battle amongst themselves and usually forget about me...all the while I'm getting stronger and stronger.

Marginally?  SBx2 seems a bit better than marginally...  and if the other 2 aren't TEC Econ, you shouldn't be THAT far behind if you try to go for it.  (I'm talking a little ways into the game, not Novas and SB out the gate...that's crazy talk.)

-Twi