Okay, if I'm going to update, I'm going to update.
Galaxy Map as it stands at the 7 hour mark.
Map Legend:
Green Circles are my worlds, top center being my homeworld.
Red circles are AI homeworlds (Bottom left is suspected location.)
Blue Lines are my main highways I've carved so far.
Game summary so far:
Zenith Medic Frigate? New ship, and it does not require supply, nice! Starship time!
Now, saving 5k for Warp Jammers I start hammering down highways into AI space so I can get scouts outs.
I am playing with a champion and the first nebula is on a world adjacent to my homeworld. I get the Neinzul one with the prisons phasing into real space, I get the Neinzul Frigate and Neizul Modular Fortress out of it. I can't use either one yet, the Neinzul Frigate does not mesh well with my strategy this game and the Neinzul Fortresses is too much energy to build before I capture a second system.
As I'm playing Starships, pretty much all my K goes into them, except for gravity turrets and the warp jammer command station.
The next while is spend clearing out AI systems to scout. I run into a Planetary Cloaker and a couple fortresses but nothing major.
Having not yet scouted as far as I have on the image above, I am guessing that the AI homeworlds are in the bottom corners, one on each side but I'm too far away and running into Deep Strike retaliation so I need to take some systems to enable scouting.
Having killed Data Centers as I've stumbled across them I have enough reduction to keep AIP at the floor for my first two system captures.
Looking around for staging systems to capture I would like them to be CSG systems so I can start on those, it also has to be a system controlled by the Special Forces captain, I'm not yet ready to blow a Scorched Earth command station.
However, the world I capture on the right side is just too good to pass up. 7 resource nodes and a Spire Archive, that's good enough for me even without a CSG being on that world.
One problem, that world is 5 hops out, I'll be generating Deep Strike while I take care of it but I don't expect it to be too bad, even though there is a Command Shield Guard Post.
Except the Command Shield is under an FF, with a Gravity Guardian right next to it? Ugh.
Send raid starships, they die as the gravity slows them down without touching the Command Shield.
Send Spire Starships that are immune to gravity, they die before scratching the FF.
Fine, send my entire Starship fleet in to pound the FF down. This works but 2000 threat generated on the Deep Strike wipes my homeworld. #(*&#(P*&Y$)T*P(&E.
Save scum and try again having built up the defences on my homeworld and teleporting my Shadow Frigate home once the command station is popped. The shield the frigate lays down becomes critical for keeping my turrets alive.
This works and I survive the 2000 ship onslaught.
Getting a colony ship that far out is actually straight forward, I've pounded down a highway so cloaker starships keep the colony ships from ever being attacked.
Warp jammer goes up and fortifying of the system begins. Scout a bit farther out and confirm the location of the first AI homeworld.
I still need to get a forward base up on the left side of the map however so once I'm happy with the defences (about 130 turrets) I leave the system to take care of itself and head back to my homeworld. (The spire archive is finished and has self-destructed by this time.)
The second Energy Collector also allows me to get the Neinzul Fortress built, which I unlock Missile Turrets Mk II and Forcefields Mk II for the better modules. I don't see the icon for the HBC's on the Neinzul Fortress, they can't build them?
I then turn my attention to setting up my forward base down the left side of the map. Taking my Starship fleet out I start hammering down AI worlds and reach 4 hops out. Sending scouts out I pick my system. It only has 4 resource nodes and no special structures, but it does have a CSG so I will get the E-Network down. It is also a special forces system and going to be within 2 or 3 hops of the other AI homeworld.
This world is also 5 hops out, however there are no command shield stations or gravity guardians and I generate less then 500 ships on the deep strike threat.
And that's the state of my game, just got the warp jammer build in the second system, have not started on the defences for it yet.
However, with the 3 systems I now control, there is only 1 (or maybe 2) systems in the galaxy that are not within 4 hops of one of my worlds so I won't have to worry about deep strike again.
Once I have that system secure, going to turn my attention to scouting the entire map, I still have 20 to 25 worlds not scouted, including the second AI homeworld.
AIP is at 17 due to the floor, it would be at 10 still without the changes to the floor at higher difficulties a few patches ago but I still have not seen anything threatening.
My homeworld at this point is a Neinzul Fortress backed by 300 to 400 turrets with almost 200 million HP worth of force fields covering my home command station.
The biggest threat has been a wave of 1000 infiltrators because they ignore FFs. But the fortress plus a cap of Mk I & II missile turrets supported by gravity turrets meant my fleet ships never had to get involved.
Now, some notes on specific units:
Medic Frigates: I'm thinking these are OP when combined with starships. I have my starship fleet ball and the medic frigates sit slightly behind along with cloaker starships. Because their repair range is longer then there attack range they can repair my starships without losing their cloak. Repairing another ship does
not cause them to decloak like firing does so I have to screw my micro up to lose a starship. (Except on tough warp point transits.)
Shadow Frigate Shield: This makes warp point assaults easy. Send it through first, spam 3 shields, bring the rest of your fleet through and start kiting. Maybe put a delay on the shield being placed? I can pause and put 5 shields down if my shadow energy is at max.
Spire Starships: These need help, they never get into attack range really because they are countered by missile frigates. A Mk I missile frigate does 2% damage to a Mk I Spire Starship with a single shot. With a missile frigates range there are not worth bringing along as they are the most fragile ship due to this effect. I'm not sure what to do here short of making the radar dampening shorter then the spire starships attack range. The Zenith Starship is the same hull type but has 50% more HP and a weapon better suited to taking out fleet ships and so can kill the missile frigates in return.
Bomber Starships: I'm struggling to figure out how to use this ship. Its high speed combined with its high DPS and the limitation that it can not attack smaller ships indicated that this should be a raider that operates by itself to kill a single target such as a guard post.
However, it is significantly slower then a raid starship and is not immune to FFs like a raid starship so you send raid starships to kill a single target, not bomber starships. In a fleet action, they are also useless if there is a plasma siege around as the plasma siege prioritizes large targets and kills them from 2 to 3 times the bomber starships range. Not sure if I have any tweak suggestions here.
Plasma Siege Starship: Still the best.
Even though they are relatively fragile due to their artillery hull type, their range, AOE and striking power make these my primary unit.
Starship (Fleet) Ball: This is actually working out quite well. The two units that matter are the Riot starships for their engine damage and the plasma sieges for their range. All the other starships are along to keep those two units alive during warp point assaults.
Once in system start circling the outside, you won't kill many on your first pass but you will string them out as the engine damage renders the individual fleet ships dead in the water so that you can come back and mop up at your leisure. If the starship ball does not free all AI units, start knocking down guard posts with the plasma siege's range until you free all ships in the system and then start kiting from that point.
I have yet to find a system that seriously challenges me. Even a Mk IV with several hundred AI ships is not a big deal. I will probably lost a starship, maybe 2, but my attack does not really have a chance of failing.
I have yet to run into a Orbital Mass Driver however....
I probably won't update the AAR for a few days, I estimate it is going to take me 3 to 4 hours of gametime to finish scouting the entire galaxy and that is going to be a few real-time days for me to get that in.
I've found 3 ARS so far, all on Scorched Earth worlds so at some point I will have to destroy a scorched earth command station which is going to be a ride.
D.
