Need help detecting enemy fleet activity

[buddha888]

Playing as Santiago, my continent in the random map is the most southerly one.

The Hive are the only big threat, with a sprawl of bases across the Northerly continent.

We are divided by a long section of ocean, but he keeps sending little transports down along my top coastline.

I would like to set up an early warning system / sensor array across the ocean. Can this be done?

[Barinthus]

Yeah, I've heard of some players making skimship supply and mounting radar on it and there you are.

[Chaos Theory]

Sensors at sea don't work properly, even if you've enabled them. I don't know the details regarding this, though.

If you have AAA, stationing deep radar trawlers (foil crawlers) at regular intervals will give you good coverage. IIRC, deep radar detects units in the open two tiles away, and units in fungus one tile away. These units are fairly cheap (5 rows?) before fusion, and very cheap (3 rows?) after fusion. Put them on kelp farms or tidal harnesses, and they pay for themselves.

Another option is to raise lots of land, forming a fairly large buffer of land around anything you care about. As Santiago, you may have some trouble doing this.

[xalien]

Sensors only work if they are within your borders.

some more options:

You can put 2 needlejets (clean, deep radar) in each of your fringe bases on (P)atrol:
turn 1 - first needlejet goes North as far as it can (like 14/28)
turn 2 - 1st jet goes back home, while the second one is replacing it. Rinse, repeat. When they spot something, another jet or copter comes in and sends it to the bottom. This is a good way if enemy is sending combat ships that would otherwise destroy your supply foils, just make sure that this patrol network is tight enough

if there are enough islands to create a few chokepoints, plant 2-3 rows of fungus and put a few IoD's on a guard duty (L) - they'll automatically "wake-up" when something goes near them. Enemy ships will get stuck in fungus and become an easy prey for your IoD's. Just make sure that there's 2 rows of fungus between IoD and clear water, because combat foil/cruiser can still move up to 2 squares through before getting stuck.

[buddha888]

Heh, that's great - I'll try creating a new "fungus reef" along his coastline with a fleet of destroyers behind it

[xalien]

Keep in mind that IoD's (and other native life forms) have 50% bonus if the non-native target is in fungus, they can also move freely through fungus and can get fully repaired there at 20%/turn rate.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Chaos Theory
Sensors at sea don't work properly, even if you've enabled them. I don't know the details regarding this, though.

The problem is borders. Since sensors only work inside your own borders, you essentailly need a seabase near each sensor in order for it to work

Originally posted by Chaos Theory


If you have AAA, stationing deep radar trawlers (foil crawlers) at regular intervals will give you good coverage. IIRC, deep radar detects units in the open two tiles away, and units in fungus one tile away. These units are fairly cheap (5 rows?) before fusion, and very cheap (3 rows?) after fusion. Put them on kelp farms or tidal harnesses, and they pay for themselves.

If you can stand the micromanagement, these trawlerscan also be moderately widely spaced. Just each turn you wake up the trawler and do a patrol, returning at the end of the turn to a crawlable tile. If you place a cruiser or two among the trawlers, you should be able to kill everything they spot. In the airpower era, a seabase with a few planes or choppers works wonders as well

Originally posted by Chaos Theory

Another option is to raise lots of land, forming a fairly large buffer of land around anything you care about. As Santiago, you may have some trouble doing this.

I love the tactical/strategic raising of land !! You don't actually need to raise a lot of land usually. Even a tile wide peninsula will suffice if it blocks the sea transports. The idea is to structure things so they either have to go around it (so you have ample warning to kill them at sea) OR land on the peninsula where they can do you little harm.


More generally, look for chokepoints. If its one big open ocean, you are stuck having to patrol, but if there are islands or continents between you, start considering which ones may be of strategic value. NOT every base is created for resource reasons. You might find that that silly little one tile island 12 tiles north of your homeland is the PERFECT place for an outpost.

Generally as well, the AI will follow similar routing again and again. If the AI "knows" the quickest route from point a to point B, it will tend to follow it again and again

Oh fungus strips-- its an interesting concept but I would much rather place the resources in other ways. I have never found the AI annoying enough to warrant such an action

[Chaos Theory]

Careful with outlying bases. I love finding those and using them to download all of a faction's tech.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Chaos Theory
Careful with outlying bases. I love finding those and using them to download all of a faction's tech.

Of course. Thats why it is a strong military outpost with multiple probe defenders. Since its main purpose is to be an early warning system, a player has serious problems if you can sneak up on it.

[Commy]

Originally posted by Chaos Theory
Careful with outlying bases. I love finding those and using them to download all of a faction's tech.

Hunter Seeker SP should fix that...if you have air power, should also have Pre-sentient algorithms...

[Chaos Theory]

D:AP comes much sooner than PSA, at least for me.
Even if you have PSA, someone else might have snagged the HSA. You can't depend on a SP unless you already have it.
An early warning system is designed to detect the enemy before they reach your core. It may still be possible to sneak up on the outpost itself. In fact, it probably is possible to sneak up on the outpost, since guarding the approach to it would be about as hard as guarding the approach to your core without the outpost.

[#endgame]

I'd go further and say that you can't rely on a SP even if you have it. Who knows what could go wrong?

[Chaos Theory]

If you want to benefit from most SPs, you need to depend on them somewhat, but of course make sure they're well-defended, and preferably behind multiple layers of bases.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Chaos Theory
If you want to benefit from most SPs, you need to depend on them somewhat, but of course make sure they're well-defended, and preferably behind multiple layers of bases.

While it can be nice to spread out your SPs somewhat, I always like to have them in my safer core areas. . . . usually in places where, if an enemy can destroy them, you have already lost.

Thats part of the reason I like more polar starts-- It may take you a little longer to find the other factions but its a lot easier to have areas that are safer from attack

[CEO Aaron]

http://www.civgaming.net/smac/acad_orp.shtml

Offshore Radar Pods. A terribly clever idea that I wish was mine. I think that will suit your needs admirably.