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notintheface11
notintheface11
Join Date 09/2012
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Corvettes and their Role

September 26, 2012 5:11:09 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

Hi, I'm an old Sins veteran who played the living crap out of the original, Entrenchment, and Diplomacy. I'm acquainted with the old fleet compositions and generally know how to get a good fleet together throughout the game. One unit that stumps me though, is the new Corvette. What is its intended role in the game, and what are its strategic uses? Right now the only thing I find them very useful for is an emergency siege-frigate clearing reinforcement on worlds behind your front lines. Other than that they seem fairly useless.

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notintheface11
GoaFan77
Join Date 10/2008
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Reply #1 September 26, 2012 5:23:55 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

Right now the only thing I find them very useful for is an emergency siege-frigate clearing reinforcement on worlds behind your front lines. Other than that they seem fairly useless.

They are good at that, but did you know siege frigates share an armor type with several other units? These include scouts, colony ships and most importantly long range frigates (LRF). Before Rebellion, fighters where and (sometimes) Heavy cruisers where the only things that counter LRF. Now we have a much more practical early game unit that can do that, giving the early game a viable combat "square" (Corvettes > LRF > Light Frigates (LF) > Flak > Corvettes).

Also while not intentional, corvettes are great for chasing down wounded capitalships. If an enemy capitalship gets away with say 500 health, send 10 or so corvettes after it. If there isn't a defending fleet or repair capacities on the other side, they'll easily finish it off, and it doesn't really matter if the corvettes get destroyed.

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notintheface11
notintheface11
Join Date 09/2012
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Reply #2 September 26, 2012 5:38:05 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

Awesome. I guess I never really thought about SF armor types much. This is great news because it means that now I can actually build light frigates, and flak is more than just meat shield for your LRM's to hide behind. Thanks for the response! 

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notintheface11
Bama498
Join Date 06/2012
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Reply #3 September 27, 2012 10:45:17 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

Their build speed is also a real strength as well as they can be built twice as fast (or more) as other ships.  I had a close battle being fought 2 jumps away from my frigate factories (3 total).  I spammed corvettes and flooded the enemy gravity well with them, eventually overpowering the enemy fleet.  (I was TR, the enemy was AL with a balanced fleet of carriers, Illuminators, Disciples, and corvettes - but no flak.)

Also, the combination of Disciples and corvettes seems to be particularly strong for the Advent at the beginning of the game.  This may be due to the Disciple being the best light frigate.  Disciples clear the enemy flak and the corvettes take out the LRMs.  TEC can use this strategy too, but it is not quite as effective.

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notintheface11
Seleuceia
Join Date 01/2008
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Reply #4 September 27, 2012 11:59:58 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

TEC actually have a stronger LF/Corvette combo than Advent if you are close to 50/50 ratio of LFs and Corvettes...disciples are slightly better than cobalts but TEC corvettes are better than Advent corvettes....the main thing Advent usually have for them is malice, which easily can mask the slight advantage TEC have with their frigate stats...

The faction that really got the short end of the stick is Vasari, who have pathetic light frigates and corvettes....if it weren't for the Orky and grabbing neutrals the Vasari actually would have an almost unplayable early game on cramped maps....

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notintheface11
notintheface11
Join Date 09/2012
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Reply #5 September 27, 2012 12:38:55 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

I was under the impression in the olden days (Entrenchment era) that the Ravastra was the best LF in the game, toe to toe. Has this changed?

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notintheface11
GoaFan77
Join Date 10/2008
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Reply #6 September 27, 2012 12:46:09 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

Quoting notintheface11,
reply 6
I was under the impression in the olden days (Entrenchment era) that the Ravastra was the best LF in the game, toe to toe. Has this changed?

Hahaha, no. The only good thing about the Ravastra is that it gets the ability to regenerate itself, which does give it a big edge in fairly small battles. But per fleet supply the disciple and cobalt have better stats. Disciples have been pretty much agreed on as the best LF since I can remember.

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notintheface11
Major Stress
Join Date 05/2006
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Reply #7 September 28, 2012 3:06:31 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

Vettes are also excellent emergency defense units if you get caught with your pants down by pirate raids or a sneaky fleet. Quick build times plus debuff abilities can save your ass if your fleets cant get to the lightly defended world under attack quickly enough.

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notintheface11
sareth01
Join Date 08/2008
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Reply #8 October 7, 2012 5:04:54 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

@ the OP

Corvettes are great for quickly fighting for dominance over neutrals on the maps, and I consider this their primary purpose.  If they send flak to defend, just send light frigates in as well .  Corvettes even out your early game fleet capability.

Corvettes are also a great way to support your fleet if its a close battle and every ship counts.  You spam some quick corvettes to get to the battlefield earlier then your opponents reinforcements and you have a great way to turn the tide before his reinforcements get there.  

Also, corvettes make great player distractions, using them to tie up your opponents moves/second and force them to player harder by opening up multiple fronts.

The faction that really got the short end of the stick is Vasari, who have pathetic light frigates and corvettes....if it weren't for the Orky and grabbing neutrals the Vasari actually would have an almost unplayable early game on cramped maps....

Hmm, i'd say that vasari have the best light frigates, as long as you upgrade them to get self healing.  Combined with a vasari carrier's healing ability and some early armor upgrades, you have yourself a good early fleet.

Most vasari players don't play this way because they have many more tried and true orkulus spam techniques that far outweigh the benefits of getting a strong early fleet.

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notintheface11
Seleuceia
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Reply #9 October 7, 2012 8:51:47 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

Quoting sareth01,
reply 9
Hmm, i'd say that vasari have the best light frigates,

When you have swarms of 40+ LFs, self healing doesn't do a whole lot...

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