question

[Kirov]

Originally posted by Kataphraktoi

Stay in FM\Wealth even in war-you lose a few games? Well,next time,or time after that, you do have the experiance to fight in FM.

Even if it is not always beneficial to you, and prolongs the war unnecessary? I'd rather stay flexible. That Police State/Fundie/Power are useless is IMHO a great misunderstanding

Unless im ICSing or picked up a ICS turn,in which case its not worth the effort-as you well know about me,kirov

Looking forward to continue the fight, Kata

this is getting a bit out there in cost. artillery units are a luxury, and as a builder\defender, making these in addition to everything else will only slow you down more. your going to be outnumbered if defending-in that casemdirect attack units are much better

What I meant is one should never forget about this option. Besides, don't forget that sea vessels are also artillery units, and very cheap.

a good reactor yes,but have a good weapon. see this thread for some excellent discussion on such

My mistake, sorry for misinformation.

careful though, mass upgrading,if allowed,can reverse damage to your units,when going up in reactors. i used this in BE2 to allow my fission drop hovertanks to attack as quantum lasers+quantum reactors with practicly no damage(and no drop penalty ). even heavily damaged units can become killing machines in a second

I thought mass upgrading is banned by default.

i would say probe teams are very underestimated in many of the PBEM im in. im using 3 transports+4 probes each and building more in one game im playing. and if enemy bases just happan to be far enough out,they can mind control easily. works great against a certain university player who isnt making enough defensive probes

My thoughts exactly. People too often build one infantry probe and think they're safe. Big mistake...

kirov,about a thread on unit upgrading,ill check my url listings.
edit; heres a post by tau ceti that looks about right on unit upgrading

Thanks. One thing which IMHO needs explaining. What about the High Morale ability? You don't get anything from upgrading _to_ trained unit, do you? But do you retain the morale bonus when upgrading from a trained unit to sth else?

[Kirov]

Originally posted by Commy

While bombers cause pacifism drones, interceptors won't...since weapons generally are twice as good as armor, even ground strikes with interceptors are pretty effective...

Why exactly some air units cause no, some one, and some 2 drones anytime under FM?

Sometimes doing the most random things can catch players off guard...attacking a random (and relatively weak) city with marine units, while not necessarily a powerful attack, can gain you an advantage...dropping units all over your enemies territory can draw units out of their bases...then, you can use your air force to clean them up...

The best military strategy advice I picked from Vel's guide was something along the lines of: 'Always act with a specific goal in mind". That is, when interacting with your opponents always know what you do and what you aim at. It may sound very simple, but can be sometimes very easy to forget.

I've discovered that wars certainly don't have to consist in "I want to wipe him out", what's more, it's very often not the best strategy. What works far better is "I want to destroy the base with VW", "I want to slow down his research", "I want to get Manifold Nexus" or even "I want to p!ss him off and make act irrationally". So short attacks with marine units and probe teams can often be much more efficient than a wave of best-1-12 units, esp when your opponent is on par with you, tech and industry wise.

[Kataphraktoi]

Even if it is not always beneficial to you, and prolongs the war unnecessary? I'd rather stay flexible. That Police State/Fundie/Power are useless is IMHO a great misunderstanding

however,i wouldnt choose those without understanding a third party builder is going to blow me away later in all likleyhood, and im prepared to go all out in attack mode(of course,you may need those options just to survive sometimes) i use all 3 of those SE...with great care.

I thought mass upgrading is banned by default.

this one even has stockpile energy allowed(no big surprise since hobbes [was] playing-he likes it allowed)

What I meant is one should never forget about this option. Besides, don't forget that sea vessels are also artillery units, and very cheap.

im using water arty. that same univ player built a base 1 tile back from water,with forest shield.im bringing laser cruisers to bombard the forest to oblivion and probe him anyhow.

Thanks. One thing which IMHO needs explaining. What about the High Morale ability? You don't get anything from upgrading _to_ trained unit, do you? But do you retain the morale bonus when upgrading from a trained unit to sth else?

upgrading to high morale has no effect,but your unit keeps the morale bonus when built-before advanced SE or morale boosts up the wazoo are avalable, building trained shell units is a good option for elites.

[Petek]

Originally posted by Kirov

One thing which IMHO needs explaining. What about the High Morale ability? You don't get anything from upgrading _to_ trained unit, do you? But do you retain the morale bonus when upgrading from a trained unit to sth else?

IIRC, trained units retain the morale boost when upgraded individually, but do not if upgraded en masse in the workshop.

[Kataphraktoi]

Why exactly some air units cause no, some one, and some 2 drones anytime under FM?

SAM equiped units in a base are defensive measures to defend the populace. bombers are a dangerous offensive weapon with war in mind. (air units with sam dont give drones)

The best military strategy advice I picked from Vel's guide was something along the lines of: 'Always act with a specific goal in mind". That is, when interacting with your opponents always know what you do and what you aim at. It may sound very simple, but can be sometimes very easy to forget.

I've discovered that wars certainly don't have to consist in "I want to wipe him out", what's more, it's very often not the best strategy. What works far better is "I want to destroy the base with VW", "I want to slow down his research", "I want to get Manifold Nexus" or even "I want to p!ss him off and make act irrationally". So short attacks with marine units and probe teams can often be much more efficient than a wave of best-1-12 units, esp when your opponent is on par with you, tech and industry wise.

absolutely im not going to give away details here,but all those suicide jets im sending into your turf actually do have a reason.

"I want to p!ss him off and make act irrationally"

a rouge unit somewhere does this great.forexample,for 10 turns i have prevented this morgan with PTS from placing a base near my probe(sitting in his turf-he wont delcare war,he needs my $$$ from commerce too bad) because i will then probe him. also,thats distracting and and makes him think and worry.vel's guide may suck on the numbers,but the ideas he has are excellent.

[Kataphraktoi]

IIRC, trained units retain the morale boost when upgraded individually, but do not if upgraded en masse in the workshop.

100% correct.

[d=me]

Originally posted by Flubber



Orbitals are better for absolute Planetbuster defense. A high number of orbitals make it practically impossible to be PBed and they have the additional bonus of allowing you shoot down opposing food and energy satellites

But don't you use up the orbital pods just like the ABM? Aren't they all 50 percent chance of hitting a missile?

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Kirov




I thought mass upgrading is banned by default.



My thoughts exactly. People too often build one infantry probe and think they're safe. Big mistake?

mass upgrading and then using the new unit the same turn is USUALLY banned in MP games but this is not universal and I have seen games that allow it

A defender can rarely have enough probes per base if facing an opponent with a dozen or more offensive probes on the loose. So its usually a balance between defensive probes and very active patrolling-- but the bottom line is if someone has free reign to go probing through an opponent's empire, they are in good shape

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Kataphraktoi


a rouge unit somewhere does this great.forexample,for 10 turns i have prevented this morgan with PTS from placing a base near my probe(sitting in his turf-he wont delcare war,he needs my $$$ from commerce too bad) because i will then probe him. also,thats distracting and and makes him think and worry.vel's guide may suck on the numbers,but the ideas he has are excellent.

hmmm-- can't he just put a few probes where he wants his base to be

also are you pacted since if you are not, he could eject your probe from his territory without being the one to be starting the war

[Flubber]

Originally posted by d=me
But don't you use up the orbital pods just like the ABM? Aren't they all 50 percent chance of hitting a missile?

Flechettes have a 50% chance for the base in which it was built. IIRC you can only get better than 50% defense if another base is within two tiles for an overlapping impact.

With orbitals, building one protects all your bases so you can have a few bases fling them up. Against an opponent with one PB, he will have a rough chance of success of 50%against one orbital.

With 10 orbitals the chance of a PB getting through is almost zero. Ten flechettes would protect only some of your bases and not as effectively. The orbitals have the added advatage of being able to take out opposing satellites. I have had some fun PBEM satellite wars . . . . and have had as many as 30 orbitals up since I wanted to take out all my opponents orbitals before taking out all his energy sats and then rushing my own PB -- he capitulated when the PB struck home

[d=me]

Are the orbitals disposable tools like the Flechettes? Like if they miss then they are gone? And so if the enemy used one Planet Buster and if you have a bad luck you will have to spend 5 orbitals on it? Then if you have 10 and he has 3 Nukes then you are going to get nuked?

Anyways, is the Flechette system obsclete compared to the orbital defence pod?

What if he didn't shoot it at the base but beside it where the splash will wipe out your base?

[Lazerus]

It has a 50% chance of taking it out, if it misses (and it's your only one) then it sacrifices itself and always takes out the missile IIRC hence 10 orbitals will stop 10 PB's even with bad luck.

Anyways, is the Flechette system obsclete compared to the orbital defence pod?

Yes the ODP is much better as it protects every base, althrough if your opponent has the space dominated then the flechette may be your only hope (though a very bleak one) of protecting your core bases

I believe if any of the splash can affect the base then the missile gets targeted by defense systems.

[Kataphraktoi]

hmmm-- can't he just put a few probes where he wants his base to be

also are you pacted since if you are not, he could eject your probe from his territory without being the one to be starting the war

yes it is within his power to get me out of his turf without a war. but he is spamming cities with PTS and making huge $$$ of commerce, from me and my ally, and i could shut him down if he tried anything. while we are likewise profiting off trade, its not essential to my econ like it is to his. truthfully the probe is more there because sebed didnt think ahead enough to have a transport ready. i left it to wait on hold, but it seems to have found a purpose by itself. i didnt place it there with that intention.

Anyways, is the Flechette system obsclete compared to the orbital defence pod?

im quite confused as to the use of flechete. a certain player im attacking is\has built them even in core bases where he should be able to crank out ODP.

[d=me]

Originally posted by Lazerus
It has a 50% chance of taking it out, if it misses (and it's your only one) then it sacrifices itself and always takes out the missile IIRC hence 10 orbitals will stop 10 PB's even with bad luck.

So even if it does miss it still will take out that missile? What if it didn't miss? So now you can use it again to shoot down another missile? Does the same apply for the other one?

[d=me]

Yang got out of control in that game that I have uploaded. He expanded out so much and now he is the planetary governer. He has airplanes but I don't. But he is still ages behind in tech. He has already taken out the gaians and is it possible for me to win the game?

http://apolyton.net/upload/view.php?file=43865_NewGame.SAV