A little help with the AI Reprisal mechanic please?

[Splam!]

Hello all.  I've been playing for two years now, though only on my seventh game.  I'm really slow and typically have 40+ hours into a game.  So I started my recent game after a long hiatus and I'm really struggling with this AI Reprisal mechanic.  I'm playing 7.6 with secondary types (mod/easy all) but no AI plots.

In this current game every time I move in I almost immediately incur a level 2 reprisal.  Are we just not supposed to lose ships now?  Even when I came in with just four Starship Bombers (ranks 2 and 3) a couple of losses kicked off reprisal.

Love, so love this game.  But I'm getting frustrated which is not a feeling I've had with this game before (I like "DF" level fun, so I'm not frustrated with "hard", just not understanding my counter).

Any advice? 

[keith.lamothe]

Welcome to the forums

The reprisal "level" is basically just "how much bigger will this be than a normal wave?" with each level being twice the previous.  Reprisal 1 is about 1.5 times a normal wave, 2 is about 3 times, 3 is about 6 times, etc.

The result is that it's actually easier to provoke higher level reprisals on lower difficulties (and AIP levels) because the normal waves are so small.

So my first question is: are these reprisals actually dangerous to you?  Or can your defenses handle them easily?

[Splam!]

Thanks for the welcome!  And...I guess the waves are manageable.  I'm getting more used to this mechanic.  I guess my mindset was "how does the loss of two star bombers = 1,000 enemy ships rebuilt?"  But I think I get it now.  I was used to blobbing in and rolling planets at 7.0 but now I need to think about strategy and < 100% commitment as I stroll about the galaxy. 

[Kahuna]

1000 ship reprisal wave for 2 starships on 7.6 difficulty can't be right.

On 10/10 difficulty at ~70AIP wave sizes are about 1000 ships. And when I lose my whole fleet I think I get a 900 or 1000 ship reprisal wave.

[keith.lamothe]

1000 does sound high.  Though first we should make sure we're talking about the same unit-cap-scale and what sorts of ships are in that 1000.  2 bomber starship deaths provoking 1000 laser gatlings on high caps doesn't sound excessive at all, for example.  That'd just be the AI throwing a thousand soft-boiled eggs into the electric fan.

Splam, do you have a save where I can check the details and try to reproduce the magnitudes?  Thanks

[Splam!]

Sure thing.  Though I do so with trepidation because I've likely exaggerated the reprisal in my mind now and/or just freaked out like a newb    I'm further into the game now and the reprisal seems much more in line with my expectations.  Outside of the early big reprisal things are really smooth and controllable now.

I'm still playing this save (like I say, I'm slow) so would appreciate if nobody spills the beans about my AI types please

[keith.lamothe]

Ok, I checked that save, and "2 mkI bomber starships" gives the AI about 500 times as much salvage as "1 mkI fighter", which is appopriate since they cost about 500 times as much metal.

But thanks for posting the save, it's good to check these things

[Splam!]

Thanks for checking (and your patience) Keith!