Frostflare

A minor quibble, WJC -- the Kostura Cannon does NOT disable starbases. They are apparently a separate class of orbital structure and so are unaffected by the Kostura Cannon. On the subject of bombers as an anti-starbase unit... The metagame used to be focused extensively on bombers, but with the inclusion of corvettes, the meta has shifted away from bomber spam, primarily because fighters and flak are useful for softening up corvettes and therefore tend to be present on the fi

If I were in your position, I'd snag it, just to take advantage of the deal, and then disable it by uninstalling the DLC: In Steam, right-click Sins Rebellion Click Properties Click the DLC tab in the Properties window Uncheck Stellar Phenomena I haven't tried this for myself, but in theory, you should have it but not use it if you do this.

I'm honestly not sure; I'm fairly sure they tend to be good for one random player, bad for another random player. Most players I know don't like games turning around because of circumstances beyond their control.

I'm not sure about the pre-built maps, but Stellar Phenomena adds two things to the game: New gravity well types (including new star types), some of which can be annoying (I recall fighting in some sort of ice field that propagated 50% of damage dealt to units to nearby units, friend or foe -- I lost all of my corvettes from that >. Randomized solar-system-wide events that can be game-changing (these can be disabled prior to a game) By comp

[quote who="Seleuceia" reply="8" id="3471400"] [quote who="Frostflare" reply="7"] I'm not sure of the math, but I seem to recall one denizen of the forum indicating that beefy planets with maxed out Social Specialization was a viable source of income (someone please check me on that).[/quote] To keep things really simple, let's just say put social specialization on your HW, industrial specialization on volcanics, and ignore all other planets for now...<br

On the subject of flak... I don't wish to start a flame war, but from my perspective, there is an extent to which both Turchany and Hydraling are correct. There is some evidence suggesting that properly microed flak frigates hard-counter light frigates on a per-supply basis by exploiting the 360-degree-fire-on-the-move qualities of flak frigates in concert with a flaw in the light frigate AI (sometimes called the "confused sperm" phenomenon). That said: It r

I like the Rankulas in theory; to me, it feels like a complement to the Skirantra. The Skirantra can: Provide fighter support Heal the entire fleet Deal with heavy cruisers The Rankulas can: Contribute to light frigate spam Heal individual targets (which is just as important as AoE healing -- you don't want to blow an AoE heal when it's just one target taking damage) Deal with structures

Frostflare confirmed for Tier #6. [e digicons]:grin:[/e] No, I'm not exaggerating.

I am by no means a skilled player, but I have some general advice. When playing, your priorities are as follows: Scout early and frequently Expand your empire by capturing planets. This provides: More tax income More logistical slots Longer trade routes Build sufficient civilian labs to unlock the ability to colonize any nearby planets you cannot colonize right away Build a fleet; typical fl

The Kostura Cannon does two things: Damages orbital structures around the targeted planet and stuns them for a short period of time Creates a Phase stabilizer node at the targeted planet for a short period of time, allowing ships to phase jump there from any other planet with a phase stabilizer node Phase stabilizer nodes allow Vasari ships to bypass phase lanes, jumping FROM any planet with a phase stabilizer node TO any planet with a phase stabilizer

Greetings, all. The metagame appears to have settled somewhat, so I find myself wondering what to build when. Here are my assumptions (please feel free to correct them): Light frigates are your bread-and-butter: cheap, cost-efficient, and available right away Corvettes are an alternative to light frigates: they come out early, they hard-counter long-range frigates (with the exception of Illuminators), and their maneuverability allows them to focus-fire

@CliverBUG: Oxide is a game engine (like Frostbite, Unreal, or Iron); Mantle is an API. Specifically, Mantle is an alternative to OpenGL or Direct3D. From what I hear, it is incredibly efficient, being able to use the resources of your graphics card more efficiently than What this means is as follows: any game engine that is written to take advantage of the Mantle API can use Mantle to make very good use of (compatible) graphics cards. For example, Ba

[quote who="agaricus5" reply="44" id="3431781"]Actually, one thing about FB and TP is that they act instantly; this means that you need to micro them accurately or they will miss most of their targets. Additionally, the alpha strike is likely to be in full swing before enough SC are within range of the ability, which may make the ability ineffective for reasons you have already described. Jam Weapons disables weapons on all ships entering range every 2s for 20s, which is comparatively OP; you

@Agaricus: To be honest, the community seems to have reached a rough consensus that most of these changes would work. The next logical step is testing them, and a mod is an ideal way of doing that. In addition, a mod would allow us to refine these suggestions and report on their efficacy. Finally, testing the suggestions ourselves, and publishing a mod that allows the community to do so, saves the devs effort and makes some of these suggestions more likely to be implemented in the fut

@Badday2: I like the way you think; in fact, I will reward you karma for it! Here is why I like your suggestion: For one thing, armor would be more within the TEC philosophy than Adaptive Forcefield; for another, Energy Absorptive Armor would solve a lot of the Kol's energy problems. Likewise, Adaptive Forcefield would solve a lot of the Radiance's problems. My only two counter-arguments are as follows: Adaptive Forcefie

That makes sense based on my experiences thus far. Indeed, capital ships could be considered the counter to AoE. [e digicons]:grin:[/e]

Wow, I didn't even SEE that in the patch notes about the Kol! Good to know! @Agaricus: If a damage buff on EAA like the one I suggested was not sufficient incentive to use Animosity, then perhaps the suggested damage increase needs to be lowered from 5% to 1%; suddenly, Animosity becomes a way to guarantee to the damage increase, creating synergy. As for your question (which I did, in fact, consider when formulating the original post), I have two answers:

Okay, there's a LOT to address here and I'm still collating; I didn't expect the thread to explode. [e digicons]:grin:[/e] That said, here are my initial thoughts: For the moment, I stand by my suggestion for Subversion (namely: prevents enemy ships from phase jumping to the target (enemy) world for a short duration; also provides a buff to the planet that prevents Subversion from being cast on it again for a significant period of time); here is why:

A quibble: seven capital ships? Capital ships seem to have fairly low DPS-per-fleet-supply. Observe: Disciple vessel: 2 DPS per supply Level 1 Radiance (closest analog): 1.14 DPS per supply Consequently, I tend to look at capital ships primarily as ability sources rather than sources of DPS -- I get only as many as it takes to get the job done and provide me with the abilities I consider crucial to supporting my fleet. In general, I try to acco

Oddly enough, I actually wasn't trying to necro this thread; I was just being thorough and following the DNRY rule of web design ("Do Not Repeat Yourself" -- if something has been mentioned elsewhere, link to it). That said? I'll take it. [e digicons]:grin:[/e] I like Suggestion Two the best: [quote who="agaricus5" reply="17" id="3431079"]Alternatively, Frostflare, if Energy Absorptive Armor should increase max mitigation, then again, it is impossible to

[quote who="agaricus5" reply="35" id="3430382"]The maximum durability of the Radiance is about 15600 at L10 with L4 Absorptive Armor and all toughness research (5408 Shield, 4836 Hull, 22.2 Armor, Max mitigation 80%). Against 37 unupgraded Kodiaks (DPS 18, composite), said Radiance will only last about 156 seconds (223s in AR max culture and 260s in AL max culture) without a heal. I imagine this situation is quite unrealistic in most MP games for a number of reasons, so the average Radiance w

@n3rull: I'm aware that, of the abilities I listed, not all of them counter AoE effects. I was trying to cast a wide net and demonstrate that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. For example: technically, Guidance counters AoE if it allows the Progenitor Mothership to cast Shield Restore more often! I wouldn't recommend it, but as a force multiplier, it helps the Advent cope with AoE if used in this way. Ultimately, there are only four ways

[quote who="N3rull" reply="27" id="3429926"]Is SR their ONLY method of preventing multi-target damage from wrecking havoc in an Advent's frigate/cruiser fleet? Hell no. Is RC the ONLY method of preventing multi-target damage from wrecking havoc in a Vasari frigate/cruiser fleet? Pretty much. Both races have other tools that can reduce damage taken or prevent it from being dealt to you, but if you start arguing about who has more and better - Advent will win, hands down, end of story.[/quo

@N3rull: A minor quibble with your analysis of shield repair vs. hull repair, you forgot one thing: SHIELD MITIGATION. Yeah, if you lose your shields, you're already half-way boned. BUT! If you lose your shields, your shield mitigation is probably through the roof, and shield mitigation applies at all times, shields or no shields. By contrast, if you haven't taken damage already, your shield mitigation will be low. Consequently: because of shield mitigat

[quote who="N3rull" reply="17" id="3429725"] Within this context, the Skirantra can provide: A lot More bombers, which kill light carriers and structures (and caps and pretty much anything except flak and fighters, to be honest) OR fighters, which kill corvettes Buff to strike craft in general to reduce the effectiveness of enemy flak/fighters (Aura) Healing A little bit more of anything that is currently needed (replicate forces) Within this sa