Interfectus

An Amish in a starship?

Actually, I [i]am[/i] a new player and just weaving out stuff to see where it goes. Since I mostly play on HUGE maps, where you generally end up fully upgrading and filling up the tac/log slots of each new colony before your ships even reach their next destination, the drain on resources from building two or more caps is incidental, as is the tech lost. You can pretty much tech out the entire tree before even facing an enemy scouting party, so why restrain yourself? I also attempted to modif

Sword of the Stars and Sins are just about equal, IMO. In 1.0, Sins beats SotS 10/10, however - mostly due to those damn asteroid swarms. Sit there for five minutes while rocks hit a planet? No thanks! Luckily, those are a lot rarer in the current build, and the time compression feature makes it bearable.

[quote]Dunov's are fairly easy targets -- no good player is going to actually try and kill the capship the Dunov is shield boosting.[/quote]You are welcome to target my Dunovs. While my Hoshikos heal it, I'll retreat it, and let my Kol engage targets of opportunity.[quote]Finally, your Cobalt / Krosov strategy for small maps....is so hilarious I can't help but wonder if you ever play online or maybe you are just a troll?[/quote]The Cobalts and Krosovs aren't the main thing. The main thing is usi

[quote]The problem with fighter-drones is that the enemy could develop some kind of ECM to disrupt or even gain control of the fighters. The way fighters are depicted in say new Battlestar Galactica is perfectly viable - pilots in space suits with their own life-support.[/quote] But it would likely not be much harder to take control over a manned fighter, and likely as not the original owner would have some kind of dead man's switch, such as transmitting a specific code every .02 seconds - d

Well, I have, personally, nuked enemies on worlds I hadn't explored, and I assume that it was their Planet Vision with me earlier on which let me do so. But, it might also be a trade vessel, as we also had a Trade Pact at one point.

That is indeed a very valid point. I might have pointed out that this choice is for large maps only, where leveling up your capitals has a bigger impact than economy, as that soars into the sky soon enough and stays there. In smaller maps, I'd probably either go for the Akkan, or take a Sova and set up an embargo. Then, I send in loads of Cobalts, tech up to Krosovs, bomb you to the stone age, and claim your homeworld for my own. If there are more than two players, I'd try a more... sustainable

[quote]I was going to ask this question myself I thought the Advent sound like nice people.[/quote]"Heathens will be purged." Non-telepaths being outcasts. Strict meritocracy, with the weakest being looked down upon and shunned. Yep, a real utopia. The point with Sins, just like Alpha Centauri, is that the choice isn't good/neutral/evil, but [i]which kind[/i] of evil?

As for fighters, they are probably the most viable space-war tactic. But they are likely to be either computer-controlled or remote piloted, since life support and the space for a pilot and his-her interface would take up a lot of space and weight. Think of it like this: A ship with a hundred guns attached, or a hundred guns with ships attached. The fighters would be expendable, they'd be able to accelerate, decelerate and manouver far in excess of that any 'real' ship wouild be able to due to l

White Knight: Fighters are the better counter to siege frigates, not bombers. They are also a counter to scouts. A better way to deal with caps is to keep a frigate factory or three around, and pump out LRMs. You can always scuttle them afterwards for that fleet cap. The best is, of course, to bring in your fleet.

[quote]An Illum spammer will bring that fleet to tears.[/quote] A tactic without counters is no tactic at all, but an exploit. Besides, you were the one who told me how to beat that: In addition to the Gardas that I always keep around, pump out a few Arcovas.

How would strike craft do in this setting?

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.

Of course they are deviant sinners. They broke the Trade Tractates, by depriving populations of their free will and denying them the access to a free market. We were merciful. We only banished them. We did [i]not[/i] mass drive asteroids into their world's core. We did not lock our missiles on their frigates as they were fleeing. For this, they return, and wish to subjugate us all, turn us into automata - slaves. We do not repeat our mistakes.

AFAIK, scouting once is enough. Or even getting Planet Vision from an ally. If you try to shoot at a question mark planet, you'll get that message. Anything else... is free for the picking. Oh, and you can also use a Novalith to scout: Target a planet. If the cursor turns into a red stop sign, a faction with whom you've signed a peace treaty or cease fire owns it.

I [i]did[/i] specify that they were anti-AI. Its targeting priority settings value "shooting target" over "passive target", and thus takes down the less expensive, less valuable turrets before e.g. labs or extractors, or constructors, or planets. And, early on, those 3000 hp could take a while to deplete.

This Denotes Nothing.

Yeah, don't ignore static defense. Early on, a simple turret will draw the AI's fire. Later on, repair bays, phase jump inhibitors and planetary shield generators can significantly slow down an invading fleet, whether they attack or press on, giving you time to prepare, and/or withdraw one of your fleets to deal with them. Also, if two equal fleets meet near one side's repair platform, then that side wins, and one of those in a neighbouring system puts any retreating fleets back in fighting

Emm - cap ships, you mean?

There is one important - nay, vital - choice you have to make early on: Go for capital ship no. 2, or scrap your capital ship factory for a partial refund? I personally go for option one - buying another ship in medium-sized or larger maps, where you can afford to cut some slack early on if it means gaining an advantage 15 to 30 minutes later - a second capital ship could double your expansion rate. Whereas, in medium or small maps, scuttling it provides a small but immediate resource b

For TEC, I go with Kol, and instead buy two Protevs to tail it. One colonizes while the other recharges. And, frankly, Armistice is useless - if I'm in a position where I have to retreat, my cap sure as hell won't have enough antimatter left to use it. A Kol can clear any un-colonized gravity well alone at low level (~3) unless it's a neutral colony or a pirate base, and so doesn't need support. In fact, using only my Kol, I have never lost a quick claiming skirmish, ever. So, less mic

[quote]Um, no. Deliverance gives you a bonus to weapons and shields, and the Kostura is like the Hoth ion cannon on steroids.[/quote]Indeed? Well, that sounds like a mitigating circumstance - although the Kostura still seems underpowered as compared to the Nova, since it still warrants an attack, instead of a "mop-up-and-colonize" party. I must admit, I've never actually tried either the Kostura or the DE, having drawn my image of their effects from the in-game descriptions of their respect

The thing is, Blizzard nailed down the three basic offensive playstyles with their three races - lots of cheap units, a few expensive units, or a balance. That makes SC a good watermark for attack-based RTSes - though not for defensive or ability/spell-based ones. I'd say: TEC = Terran/Zerg hybrid - lots of OK units. Advent = Protoss/Zerg - lots of shields, but relatively weak units. Have to rely on abilities and different tricks to win, like Protoss. Vasari = Protoss/Terran

...I, personally, found this particular aspect of the game to be 100% intuitive: Research the wormhole tech - different names for the different factions - or find that artifact that allows wormhole travel, select your ship(s), and right-click the centre of the wormhole.

The Novalith. Deliverance is cool and all, but only gives you a chance of rebellion. The Kostura is crap, killing only orbital structures. Those are cheap, and easy to rebuild. Novalith? 1-hit-KO on asteroids and weak planets, 2 hits on most and 3 on true powerhouses. Force your enemy to upgrade emergency infra on [i]all[/i] his worlds, kill allies three hours after you shot at them, etc. Nothing says "DOOM!" like big balls of nuclear fire headed towards all your worlds.