What should I build?

[beyond.wudge]

In exact numbers, what would let me hold off the first wave in a five planet single hostile wormhole setup?

What should I unlock. What should I build?

All turrets until I run out of cap? Mk1 stuff or mk3? Pumping ships from all five docks with minimal stationary defenses until I hit ship caps?

What are the best defensive units/turrets in the game? How can I amp a single wormhole's defender advantage as much as I can?

Presume I have enough forcefields to hold the first wave down.

Failing that what do you build when you play (give scenario context so I can scale it to what I'm playing)?

[keith.lamothe]

Grav Turrets + Tractor turrets + Flak Turrets + Lightning Turrets + Riot IIs (all with tazers) under multiple forcefields such that all of it is in range of the wormhole.  Some tachyon coverage (a scout starship will do) in there too.  Further back, all the other shooting turrets I can afford (aiming for variety before maxing out each cap), in their respective ranges.  Then, fleet.

If that doesn't do the trick, I'm curious why

[beyond.wudge]

Lightning turrets: I've done a lot of lightning turrets, they don't seem to do that much damage.

Flak turrets: Are they decent AOE? I was turned off by the "bad vs armoured" thing.

Riots IIs: Don't know them. Are they the designer starships?

[keith.lamothe]

Welcome to the forums, by the way

Lightning turrets: I've done a lot of lightning turrets, they don't seem to do that much damage.

They actually do way more total damage than any other turret (with the possible exception of the heavy beam cannon, I forget), but they do very little for actually reducing enemy firepower by themselves, because basically nothing dies until it all dies at once.

Flak turrets: Are they decent AOE? I was turned off by the "bad vs armoured" thing.

They're pretty good, yes.  Though right now they can get distracted by missile frigates (which they can hit directly but are immune to the aoe part) which can cause problems if the enemy frigates are separated from the non-aoe-immune enemies.

Riots IIs: Don't know them. Are they the designer starships?

The modular ones, yep

[Wanderer]

Grav Turrets + Tractor turrets + Flak Turrets + Lightning Turrets + Riot IIs (all with tazers) under multiple forcefields such that all of it is in range of the wormhole.  Some tachyon coverage (a scout starship will do) in there too.  Further back, all the other shooting turrets I can afford (aiming for variety before maxing out each cap), in their respective ranges.  Then, fleet.

If that doesn't do the trick, I'm curious why

+1 for the recommendation.

Surviving Defender is about eventual murder.  You can't stop everything at the gate, especially not early.  It's about doing as much damage as you can over time so you can rebuild before the next one.

Additional recommendations: Get Grenade Launchers, Beam ships, and paralyzers to mix in with your tazer Riots.  Stall the enemy or do as much AoE as you can.

[Martyn van Buren]

Just thinking of trying my first defender game, and I wanted to ask --- am I right to think that the relationship of turrets to fleet ships is basically reversed in this mode? As in, I'm figuring I'm going to want to build as many turrets as I can and then add fleet ships for putting out fires, rather than my usual habit of unlocking turrets only when I absolutely have to.

[Wanderer]

Just thinking of trying my first defender game, and I wanted to ask --- am I right to think that the relationship of turrets to fleet ships is basically reversed in this mode? As in, I'm figuring I'm going to want to build as many turrets as I can and then add fleet ships for putting out fires, rather than my usual habit of unlocking turrets only when I absolutely have to.

In general, yes, but you'll want a few fleet ships that can do things your turrets can't.  Paralyzer ships are a great example, Maws are another one.  Parasites in a game like this won't hurt either.