52 replies to this topic

[sargeantsandwich]

What is your favorite type of fleet to use, as in what type of ships and how do you use them?

I prefer to have upgraded tector-class star destroyers put together as close as i can get them in from hyperspace, with a surrounding of dreadnoughts or other larger anti-fighter ships, as well as some anti-capital transports to attack with. I jump in my whole fleet from hyperspace in formation, and then wait for the AI to attack, hitting its capitals with my transports. once the AI's ships are destroyed, i'll attack any stations or remaining sips by spreading my forces or bringing in other ships strategically from hyperspace. i've found this to be quite effective, but once i move any capital ships it is almost impossible to get them back into tight formation again.

[Tropical Bob]

I enjoy the heavy gunship type vessels, such as the Acclamator and Tector. For anti-fighter duties, I either go with some sort of carrier, a la Venator, or a multi-role type of ship, a la the Dreadnaught. That way, the ship handles anti-frigate, as well as either having anti-fighter weaponry, or having fighters to do that.

For my tactic, I do a slow push which I call the Imperial Creeping Barrage. Basically, you make a line the heavy ships with medium- to long-range weaponry, then you push forward. Keep the line. If there's an obstacle, split the line around it. Keep all fighters/bombers/transports on guard duty. Push slowly, make sure everything dies. Nothing survives.

The only hard time I had with the push was once at Kuat or Brentall IV, where the AI pulled a trick where it saved a ton of its ships in reserve, until it had almost lost. Then it hyperspaced in a Praetor and a couple Imperials in the middle/right behind my line, and disorganized everything. I lost a couple ships, but quickly pulled around with reinforcements to end the day.

[Stormhawk]

I think all of my attacks when I'm Empire follow a remarkably similar strategy to the one described in the post above. I build fleets with large amounts of long-range weaponry (TSD's, VSD's and Dreadnoughts are favorites) and I slowly move my entire fleet forward. Everything larger than a corvette gets hit with a massive barrage of heavy turbolasers as soon as they get in sight and any mass fighter or bomber attack is foiled by a protective ring of Dreadnoughts, sentinel-class landing craft and every fighter my fleet spawns. Bombers are kept close to the capital ships unless enemy capital ships manage to survive the long-range barrage long enough to close to turbolaser or torpedo range. Then the bombers all charge out with fighter cover to swarm the nearest capital ship and to distract fire from my main fleet, which can still pour turbolaser fire into the enemy fleet while the bombers do their part. Oh, and bombers are also used to attack golans that I don't want to expose the rest of my fleet to, as golans are ridiculously vulnerable to bombers.

For NR, my strategy is the opposite since they have fewer long range weapons. I send a wave of transports with Mon Calamari cruisers to soak the initial barrage of damage, with a large wave of fighters and bombers following, with the rest of my capital ships. Using power to shields, I can usually get to the situation where my cruisers are right in my enemy's face with nearly full shields when power to shields ends, and as soon as that weapon power decrease is gone, they just open up at point blank range with their guns. The rest of my fleet, the less defensive ships (I like Dodonnas and Republic SD's) sit behind the cruisers and fire into the enemy fleet, while my advanced NR fighters can destroy the enemy fighter screen and bombers, opening their capital ships to my B-wings and later, K-wings. Their capital ships fall easily to the bomber attacks, and it's just mop-up from there. The reason this method works it it's almost impossible to retreat SD's from a cruiser rush like this since the game's pathing is awful and any attempt to retreat the Imperial fleet away from the charging cruisers would result in a giant disorganized mess, and the Star Destroyers could be surrounded by bombers and destroyed one by one. A flank with bombers and transports , I think, would also be an effective addition to this strategy to destroy long-range bombardment ships, especially a massive group of Carrack cruisers.

Edited by Stormhawk, 06 November 2010 - 02:08 PM.

[Tropical Bob]

Ah, AAR/NR. I don't play them as often, but my tactic is relatively the same, just utilizing less effective vessels. I usually tend towards the Republic and Recusant classes.

[sargeantsandwich]

I tend to not even use the NR because I never figured out any tactics to use with their ships that are as effective as the Empire's.
When i do use the NR, i'll upgrade to the best fighter and bombers i can get and have some capitals to absorb damage with power to shields ability.
and if i want to know excactly what forces are orbiting a planet, i'll make a special forces company, get in orbit, and take over the planet with auto-resolve. usually only one squad is needed, and it destroys any stations orbiting the planet, allowing me to save forces that would have been needed to be used to take over that planet for defense or another attack.

side note: has anyone else ever thought they won a battle against pirates, destroyed all stations and ships, and then not won? I used to think it was some error but eventually i decided to wait, and about five minutes later some transports or fighters come off one edge of the map. this happens to me about 10 percent of the time when i fight pirates in version 1.1

[Tropical Bob]

side note: has anyone else ever thought they won a battle against pirates, destroyed all stations and ships, and then not won? I used to think it was some error but eventually i decided to wait, and about five minutes later some transports or fighters come off one edge of the map. this happens to me about 10 percent of the time when i fight pirates in version 1.1

There's a glitch that happens once every forever that allows some AI ships to go beyond the map boundaries. I had it happen once with an MC40 or similar ship that spiraled off the edge, but came back halfway down the map a minute later.

[Stormhawk]

Ah, AAR/NR. I don't play them as often, but my tactic is relatively the same, just utilizing less effective vessels. I usually tend towards the Republic and Recusant classes.

I prefer the Dodanna class to the Recuscant with their more concentrated main battery. Theoretically, with the way I play, no bombers should make it through my forward group anyway so the point defense battery shouldn't see much use anyway.

The key to a strategy like that is really good timing on power to shields to soak maximum damage to draw fire away from the bombers that swoop in to destroy their capital ships.

My tactics involve having a group of heavy ships, and then many smaller cruisers,
the cruisers jump in and split up the enemy fleet and occupy them, decimating their fighters, then the main force jumps in and moves from group to group decimating the resistance in the smaller groups

Doesn't this lead to significant cruiser losses when they jump in alone against the full enemy fleet without capital ship support?

Edited by Stormhawk, 08 November 2010 - 02:24 PM.

[Tropical Bob]

I prefer the Dodanna class to the Recuscant with their more concentrated main battery. Theoretically, with the way I play, no bombers should make it through my forward group anyway so the point defense battery shouldn't see much use anyway.

The key to a strategy like that is really good timing on power to shields to soak maximum damage to draw fire away from the bombers that swoop in to destroy their capital ships.

I think I've tried Dodonnas out in Skirmish, and wasn't too awed by them. The Recusant is cheap, builds fast, and has proven to me that it eats through fighter swarms, in addition to being able to slug it out with heavier ships.

I just haven't really been able to familiarize myself with the Dodonna yet to trust it.

[Phoenix Rising]

For my tactic, I do a slow push which I call the Imperial Creeping Barrage. Basically, you make a line the heavy ships with medium- to long-range weaponry, then you push forward. Keep the line. If there's an obstacle, split the line around it. Keep all fighters/bombers/transports on guard duty. Push slowly, make sure everything dies. Nothing survives.

I don't think much of the AI worked in v1.1 though, so you could probably get away with that.

The reason this method works it it's almost impossible to retreat SD's from a cruiser rush like this since the game's pathing is awful and any attempt to retreat the Imperial fleet away from the charging cruisers would result in a giant disorganized mess, and the Star Destroyers could be surrounded by bombers and destroyed one by one.

The space maps are also far too small. I only increased the boundaries - terrain was not scaled to match. They all need to be redone.

side note: has anyone else ever thought they won a battle against pirates, destroyed all stations and ships, and then not won? I used to think it was some error but eventually i decided to wait, and about five minutes later some transports or fighters come off one edge of the map. this happens to me about 10 percent of the time when i fight pirates in version 1.1

I used to see that semi-frequently in v1.0, but not so much since. Bad pathing and less maneuverability compared to vanilla is probably to blame.

Edited by Phoenix Rising, 09 November 2010 - 08:10 PM.

[Stormhawk]

I prefer the Dodanna class to the Recuscant with their more concentrated main battery. Theoretically, with the way I play, no bombers should make it through my forward group anyway so the point defense battery shouldn't see much use anyway.

The key to a strategy like that is really good timing on power to shields to soak maximum damage to draw fire away from the bombers that swoop in to destroy their capital ships.

I think I've tried Dodonnas out in Skirmish, and wasn't too awed by them. The Recusant is cheap, builds fast, and has proven to me that it eats through fighter swarms, in addition to being able to slug it out with heavier ships.

I just haven't really been able to familiarize myself with the Dodonna yet to trust it.

I suppose the Recusant works well in the same role. I could give it a try.

Question about it, by the way. That experimental advanced turbolaser. Is it useful for anything? I know it has outrageous range, but with only one gun, don't most ships regen shields faster than that one cannon can deplete them?

[Tropical Bob]

I suppose the Recusant works well in the same role. I could give it a try.

Question about it, by the way. That experimental advanced turbolaser. Is it useful for anything? I know it has outrageous range, but with only one gun, don't most ships regen shields faster than that one cannon can deplete them?

Basically, yes. But if you get four to five of them, it's a nice feature to be able to weaken the shields of a distant target a bit before you really engage it. I think some low tier Frigates that you'll tend to find on the Pirate worlds and early AI use might have a slower regen than the one turbolaser though.

[Phoenix Rising]

There's one advanced turbolaser on the original Recusant, which isn't very useful by itself. Against a 800 SBD frigate, it can basically keep the shields from recharging (except for PtS). That upgrades to experimental at III and the fixed heavies go advanced.

Why add one advanced turbolaser? I guess it would be able to channel reactor power for one powerful shot. I probably should give it the Blast ability, but it's out of ability interface. Most CIS starships get a handful of long-range guns; perhaps they could be used for coordinated piercing attacks?

[Tropical Bob]

Why add one advanced turbolaser? I guess it would be able to channel reactor power for one powerful shot. I probably should give it the Blast ability, but it's out of ability interface. Most CIS starships get a handful of long-range guns; perhaps they could be used for coordinated piercing attacks?

Well, if I remember correctly, in Legacy of the Force, the experimental turbolasers were just long-range guns (Well, longer-ranged than normal turbolasers, that is) meant to get an upper hand on the enemy by whittling down their shields that much more before the true engagement. The Anakin Solo only had three of them itself, however, and they alone apparently drew massive amounts of power from even its advanced reactors. Though, apparently they weren't too 'experimental', despite being designed as part of the Anakin Solo's special design, seeing as the Confederacy got ahold of the specs shortly thereafter and applied them to ships they already had.

If one had a few ships with a few guns each, one could definitely neutralize smaller targets or significantly damage heavier ones before anything was even in normal range though, so a coordinated piercing attack sounds viable.

[Shas'la]

Galatic Empire : I'm so sick of the Capital Ship pathfinding, that I've swapped most of my tactics out for cruiser-based ones. For the Empire it's either a generic Dreadnought-class spam, or a combination of large groups of Carrack Cruisers, upgraded fighter/bombers, and often Lancers. The Carrack/Lancer groups skirmish around the enemy fleet, trying to draw away as many of the fighter screen as possible, in preparation for a bomber assault on any capitals. The Empire's fast moving fighters are of great use as spotters for the Carrack's long range turbolasers.
That's not to say I'm not loving my Tectors, obviously. The IV model's plasma torpedoes absolutely lay waste to shields. Makes double teaming on battleships a cakewalk.

ARR : Large numbers of CR20's speed all over the place, taking out as many of the fighter screen as they can, messing with the AI's TERRIBLE target prioritisation (usually ending up in only half their fleet moving into combat), groups of bombers (usually Y-Wings, I just love the proton rocket effects) single out any large targets, plus the almighty Dodonna rush. The really good thing with Rebel/Republic fighters and bombers is that most, if not all of them are that much
more survivable survivable and versatile than their Imperial counterparts - bringing in upgraded models has huge benefits, whereas upgraded TIE Fighters or Interceptors don't gain that much, I think. Upgraded Y-Wings are even good at bringing down shields, a massive help when larger ships are slugging it out.

Has anyone noticed how quickly a TIE Defender x9 turns in a dogfight? Looks more like teleportation to me.

Edited by Shas'la, 16 November 2010 - 04:50 PM.

[Stormhawk]

Galatic Empire : I'm so sick of the Capital Ship pathfinding, that I've swapped most of my tactics out for cruiser-based ones. For the Empire it's either a generic Dreadnought-class spam, or a combination of large groups of Carrack Cruisers, upgraded fighter/bombers, and often Lancers. The Carrack/Lancer groups skirmish around the enemy fleet, trying to draw away as many of the fighter screen as possible, in preparation for a bomber assault on any capitals. The Empire's fast moving fighters are of great use as spotters for the Carrack's long range turbolasers.
That's not to say I'm not loving my Tectors, obviously. The IV model's plasma torpedoes absolutely lay waste to shields. Makes double teaming on battleships a cakewalk.

ARR : Large numbers of CR20's speed all over the place, taking out as many of the fighter screen as they can, messing with the AI's TERRIBLE target prioritisation (usually ending up in only half their fleet moving into combat), groups of bombers (usually Y-Wings, I just love the proton rocket effects) single out any large targets, plus the almighty Dodonna rush. The really good thing with Rebel/Republic fighters and bombers is that most, if not all of them are that much
more survivable survivable and versatile than their Imperial counterparts - bringing in upgraded models has huge benefits, whereas upgraded TIE Fighters or Interceptors don't gain that much, I think. Upgraded Y-Wings are even good at bringing down shields, a massive help when larger ships are slugging it out.

Has anyone noticed how quickly a TIE Defender x9 turns in a dogfight? Looks more like teleportation to me.

I hate sending in corvettes first because I tend to lost a lot of them, which means replacing losses after every battle. I like to send in the shield heavy ships first to soak damage and draw fire away from the smaller ships so losses are minimized. Yay for Mon Calamari redundant shielding!

[Shas'la]

Which is why I don't send my corvettes in, ever. I either use a bait, or wait for the AI to walk into the crossfire. In either case, letting the enemy fleet engage
the Carracks directly is suicide, as even a severely outnumbered group of Dreadnoughts can claim many a light cruiser before going down.
Upgraded Carracks have a single TIE Fighter squadron, and with large groups of ships fielded at once, you get a very decent fighter screen to distract
the AI with, although you can't rely on that alone. This tactic does go out the window when there's Battleship grade ships around, of course. That's what the Tectors are for.

Tactics againist specific ships help, too. The Recusant-class, for example, has guns all over the place, meaning that if you engage from only one angle,
you'll take less overall damage. The Imperial-class can bring ALL weapons to bear on targets directly in front, meaning you always try to engage from the flanks and rear. It's also kind of ridiculous that all three Imperial variants will try to maneuver so as to face a single heavy battery towards the enemy
when ordered specifically to attack. The AI seems to do this all the time. It's just hilarious to watch a group of CC9600 frigates pound the hell out of a Star Destroyer because it stood there firing only one battery while taking the full force of the frigates' long ranged guns.


DP20s only really suffer from tractor beams, which I avoid like the devil, and always focus on luring the ships equipped with them out for a bomber
attack. When you get the point defence ability for the little buggers, you can just fire up both abilities (Point Defence + Power to Engines), speed around the
AI while emptying your missile payload, and get away with it for little to no risk.

Of course, no smaller ship only tactic works under all circumstances. I've just grown fed up of waiting for my ponderous Star Destroyers to maneuver
around a tiny batch of asteroids, and avoid using them when I can.

[Talmane]

Which is why I don't send my corvettes in, ever. I either use a bait, or wait for the AI to walk into the crossfire. In either case, letting the enemy fleet engage
the Carracks directly is suicide, as even a severely outnumbered group of Dreadnoughts can claim many a light cruiser before going down.
Upgraded Carracks have a single TIE Fighter squadron, and with large groups of ships fielded at once, you get a very decent fighter screen to distract
the AI with, although you can't rely on that alone. This tactic does go out the window when there's Battleship grade ships around, of course. That's what the Tectors are for.

Actually, the Carracks only carry five TIE Fighters, not a full squadron.

Of course, no smaller ship only tactic works under all circumstances. I've just grown fed up of waiting for my ponderous Star Destroyers to maneuver
around a tiny batch of asteroids, and avoid using them when I can.

I still use destroyer and capital class ships, but only in small numbers. I don't even bother with dreadnaughts, as they never go where I tell them.

[Shas'la]

Five fighters? I'd swear that it had the full squadron of twelve TIE Fighter x5's last time I fielded the VI model.
I'll have to double check on that.

- EDIT -
Well, I'll be damned, it not only has less than a full squadron, it's even less than what you said. Four x5 TIEs is all the VI model gets. I can't believe I didn't notice.

Edited by Shas'la, 17 November 2010 - 10:37 PM.