Defense to N

[binTravkin]

Hive has produced and continues to produce many military units, therefore I've mastered a little nasty plan to defend against them.
This poll was made to decide how much units can we redirect to N.

See my plan of defense vs Hive there:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=3450350&t=9087#post3450350

[livid imp]

Is there a back up plan in case Yang catches us off guard and manages to kill off all our NL? This wouldn't be hard for him to do with a half-dozen rovers. Our heal rate will be slow in enemy territory as well.

[Chaos Theory]

Because of the forest, Yang can't surprise us and kill our mind worms suddenly. Collateral damage would keep a single large force from breaking through and a sustained force we would simply need to retreat from. Probe teams combined with attacks closer to home should buy us plenty of time to drop the land bridge, at which point we can finish off whatever's left.

[binTravkin]

Is there a back up plan in case Yang catches us off guard and manages to kill off all our NL? This wouldn't be hard for him to do with a half-dozen rovers. Our heal rate will be slow in enemy territory as well.

Livid Imp, please read the entire plan in "Plan for action 2149" thread and see the picture - it will make you clear that if we execute this plan and bring in Sea Former ASAP we're secure not even from half-dozen, but 2 dozens of rovers.

I see CT adds another part of the plan.

I think the overall strategy should be:
1.Keep the forests at landbridge as long as we can (but avoid losing any unit)
2.When all MWs severely wounded (therefore in danger of fast kill), retreat to nearest fungus, heal there while rovers close in, meanwhile using SL and probe to make a little mess
3.Intercept rovers on their way to road (they're most likely to run for that road, especially because we'll have base there wery soon - MW guerilla surprise out of Fungus!

[livid imp]

I did read (and just now re-read) both posts. I understand the strategy, it is a sound one. Just worry about the shear number of units Yang has stockpiled. If he were to attack, it isn't completely unreasonable to assume more than two units would attack at a time. Plus we will only heal at 10% per year since we are not in friendly territory.

What is the ETA on getting a sea former to the landbridge, and what is the ETA to sink it? I fogot to check last night, do we have the cash necessary to do any rush build/sinkings we have planned?

One other thing, I think we should destroy the farm the North MW is sitting on. If we get lucky the forest will spread south further slowing rovers down and giving the MW's an easier retreat.

[Chaos Theory]

If 3 mind worms attack a stack of N rovers, 3 will die and N-3 will have 90% damage. Even if the horde of damaged rovers break through, they won't do so in any condition to conquer anything.

Once we get Doc: Flex, we need to:
Build a 4-row sea former at our south coast.
Move that former to the landbridge at the rate of 4 tiles/turn, avoiding fungus.
Sink the land bridge over 12 turns.

I like the idea of destroying the farm.

[binTravkin]

One other thing, I think we should destroy the farm the North MW is sitting on. If we get lucky the forest will spread south further slowing rovers down and giving the MW's an easier retreat.

Very good idea indeed!

If 3 mind worms attack a stack of N rovers, 3 will die and N-3 will have 90% damage. Even if the horde of damaged rovers break through, they won't do so in any condition to conquer anything.

That's the mantra of this defensive plan!

[MrWhereItsAt]

Originally posted by Chaos Theory
If 3 mind worms attack a stack of N rovers, 3 will die and N-3 will have 90% damage. Even if the horde of damaged rovers break through, they won't do so in any condition to conquer anything.

Really? This much damage?

[binTravkin]

Really? This much damage?

Yeah, and if you softened the stack by bombarding it with SL, before ever attacking it, you've got a ~50% chance that at least 1 of the rovers will die from collateral damage!

[Illuminatus]

Hmmm, I agree with plan. We need time.

[Chaos Theory]

Collateral damage is 30% of the unit's maximum HP. I'll hold off on moving the native life until we get a result more decisive than 2-1, or time becomes short.

[livid imp]

My only questions is if we move in troops (NL), might that trigger the AI to focus in our direction, or if we back off a little, might the AI focus on another faction? In other words, might it be safer and seen as less aggressive to fall back to our forward base (north most colony pod) and set up a soild defense there (forest/fungus all around the inner tile ring to prevent rover attacks). The AI will always attempt to take the nearest city they are at war with anyway, plus we would get the advantages of being in a base (+25% defense, 20% healing per year, sensor bonus, etc).

If that is not a reasonable alternative, then add my vote to moving natives to the landbridge.

[Chaos Theory]

Defending at our forward base is quite a viable option, but there's no reason we can't do both. We can't directly defend against impact troops; we must attack them before they can attack us. We can do that first at the landbridge, and if that's overwhelmed, we can defend at our forward base with laser or impact infantry/rovers, backed up with a few probe teams and mind worms. All those combined should buy us enough time to either sink the landbridge or get planes.

[binTravkin]

Defending at our forward base is quite a viable option, but there's no reason we can't do both. We can't directly defend against impact troops; we must attack them before they can attack us. We can do that first at the landbridge, and if that's overwhelmed, we can defend at our forward base with laser or impact infantry/rovers, backed up with a few probe teams and mind worms. All those combined should buy us enough time to either sink the landbridge or get planes.

Yep.
If we retreat to base, we have 1 last stand, now we can retreat after killing some enemy units and meet him at our last stand already weakened.
Also - we contain enemy in a little space and rough terrain, which COMPLETELY annihilates ANY rover abilites (they become just like infantry, but at the cost of a rover.. ).

If that is not a reasonable alternative, then add my vote to moving natives to the landbridge.

Read above and you'll understand that retreating immediately to base is rather running into corner, leaving yourself wihtout alternatives, not making another alternative.