Fleet Killer

[nato]

Somewhere, I read a comment about one doom star being able to kill 100 AI doom stars in one round. I had a late tech game, so I have been trying to figure this out for fun.

Right now, I have a doom star that can barely kill a 100 ship AI fleet (60 doom stars and 40 titans, that in this case have adamantium armor, class X shields, and energy absorbers). However, it cannot do this in one turn, it takes two. Turn 1, it kills the 60 doom stars, then it survives the fire from the 40 titans, and on turn 2 it finishes off the titans.

Even this was hard. It only happened once I thought of using both shield piercing phasors AND disrupters. The phasors for ships with shields still up, and the disrupters for ships that have had shields knocked down by nearby explosions. This made a difference and worked better than either phasors or disrupters alone.

So here is what I have, no big surprises:
Battle Pods
Achilles, Structual Analyzer, HEF, Hyper X
Damper Field, Displacement Device
90 HV, SP, AF Phasors
38 HV, AF Disruptors

Plus I have race bonuses and a really good leader.

The Damper Field and Displacement Device I have only to survive the return fire; of course I drop them (and the normal shield) when going for the 1 turn kill.

But even doing that, I still can only kill about 60 doom stars, far short of 100.

So what is the big secret? How is it done?

[vmxa1]

(01) Stellar Coverter
(**) Phasors ( f ) sp,af
(**) Phasors (360) sp,af
(**) Phasors (fx ) hv,sp,af
(01) Plasma Torp. NR,env,eccm,ovr
(01) Disruptor (360) hv,af
(01) Ion Pulse (360) af

Achilles Targetting Unit
Battle Pods
High Energy Focus
Hyper-X Capacitor
Phasing Cloak
Structural Analyzer
Subspace Teleporter
Time Warp Facilitator

[vmxa1]

This is one configuration, not the only one. If you do it right they will not get to fire on you. The torps are just for fun.

[Sikander]

Get rid of the displacement device and damper field and the hyper X capacitors, add a time warp facilitator and a phasing cloak and perhaps inertialess drives. Trade in your heavy weaponry for normal weapons. You may or may not need to add the subspace teleporter in order to jump your ship into range of the enemy (remember you have traded in you heavies for more mediums).

1) Arrive. Phasing cloak is on. When your turn comes up select "wait". The enemy will take their turn, but cannot attack your cloaked ship.

2) Take your turn, which will actually be 2 turns because of the time warp facilitator.

3) Unless the enemy has hard shields, their is no reason why you can't just use AF / SP phasors. All damage is done to hull or systems. If he does have hard shields, then you will want to retain the disruptors to knock them down.

4) You will have 4 fire phases to take the enemy out, 2 in the first turn, and assuming that you move first, another 2 in the second turn. This is without using the "unsinkable ship" exploit where you reengage your phasing cloak every second turn and use hyper X capacitors.

You should be able to get a very large number of medium AF / SP phasors on this ship, which will do more damage for the space than heavies. If the enemy lacks hard shields then you can just use a ton of phasors, and all the damage is going to hit either hull or systems.

[bakalov]

I guess that HyperX + Time Warp + Phasing cloak will give you 3x shots in the first round and this will rise your kills to ~100 ....

[nato]

Ok, I see. I hadn't been thinking of the TWF, I had been trying to do it in literally one turn. I guess that is the crucial way to double your firepower.

Thanks for the answers, this had been frustrating me.

One small note though,

3) Unless the enemy has hard shields, their is no reason why you can't just use AF / SP phasors. All damage is done to hull or systems.

I know this of course, and my first ships were all phasors. However, I noticed that I was getting no benefit at all from the ship explosions, as they only damaged shields and armor. If the shields are already down, then disruptors are the better weapon.

It occured to me that by carrying both I could match the weapon to each target's situation, and take advantage of Disruptors' better damage to space ratio. I did notice a nice increase in kills when I switched to using both.

[Sikander]

[QUOTE] Originally posted by nato
Ok, I see. I hadn't been thinking of the TWF, I had been trying to do it in literally one turn. I guess that is the crucial way to double your firepower.

It actually won't help with the problem you outline any more than the hyper X capacitors will, other than I find it more useful in other situations than the capicitors. Stick with them if you are truly just building this ship for this purpose, as IIRC they are a good deal smaller at this point in tech.

Originally posted by nato
Thanks for the answers, this had been frustrating me.

One small note though,

I know this of course, and my first ships were all phasors. However, I noticed that I was getting no benefit at all from the ship explosions, as they only damaged shields and armor. If the shields are already down, then disruptors are the better weapon.

It occured to me that by carrying both I could match the weapon to each target's situation, and take advantage of Disruptors' better damage to space ratio. I did notice a nice increase in kills when I switched to using both.

That's a good point. I mix them up because usually late in the game I often run into one alien race who has hard shields. I wonder though whether it is worth bothering too much with explosion damage in this case. Assuming that you are dealing with an AI who has not taken to using hard shields (and assuming that you use the Achilles), every point of damage your phasors do goes directly into the hull or the systems. Even shields that are down (but not out) subtract damage from each hit unless the weapons are shield piercing. Do disruptors do enough more damage for their size to make up for the SP phasors? I'm not sure, and it may vary depending on exactly where you are tech wise, but I do know that any advantage they have in a comparison of heavy weapons is less beneficial than a comparison of medium weapons due to the persistent shield damage subtraction.

Perhaps I'll open up an old save and do a little experimentation.