AI Home with Wrath Lance and Grav Reactor

[Dr Zoidzerg]

I'd like some advice about a tough homeworld on difficulty 7.6. It has a Wrath Lance guard post and a Grav Reactor post. It seems like whenever I enter the planet, I only have a few seconds before the lance zaps all of my fleet. I've tried sending some cloaked bombers, which can get close to the lance post without triggering the laser beams, but when they uncloak they only get one shot off before the gravity drones swoop in to destroy them. I also tried sending my entire fleet, but only got the lance post down to about 60% health.

Unfortunately in this game there are no super weapons -- no golems or spirecraft. I do have about 30k spare knowledge.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

(The save is attached in case anyone is interested -- the homeworld is "Dinbing", on the right edge of the galaxy.)

[Lancefighter]

Random initial things, in no particular order - .sav files seem to have somewhat gotten associated with dota2. Keith, will opening a .sav file by dragging it into the aiwar executable actually work? (and if I'm not mistaken, if that works fine i should be able to just associate .sav with aiwar easily enough. Can we maybe just move to .ais or something silly? .aiwarfleetcommandsavefile! Yes!)

Loading this game actually required me to update to .009. apparently i havent updated in like forever..

You have 30k knowledge unspent... WHy exactly? Youve only had about 50k total, if my math is right.. so you spent virtually nothing?

There are actually three more datacenters in the universe. Take the time to pop those, else taking the homeworld will put you above mk2 waves.

It looks like there is only one advanced factory in your galaxy - what happened to the other one? (iirc there are always two). It snot that big of a deal, particularly with your bomber mk5 plant, but it can be really helpful with the number of fleet ships you can field.

I would highly recommend picking up your favorite fleetships to mk3, and possibly also flagships mk3. There is virtually no reason to be sitting on 30k knowledge - In a competitive rts, floating that many resources means you could have easily killed your enemy by now (completely random terrible comparison, but bear with me.)

Once you actually get tons of bombers out (a full cap of core bombers deals over 30million ALPHA strike to the core wrath post). Sending in waves of ships (ie, lots of fighters to detonate the gravity things, followed by bombers to deal damage to the wrath post) shouldnt be too difficult - Itll likely take a bit of time, but it should be doable. Id take the time to try it myself, but its fairly late here. Remember that flagships can DOUBLE the damage of nearby allies, making them really strong in a combined arms engagement.

Similarly, your zbombards are actually really good at damaging the wrath post - you may be able to micro them in and out of the wormhole between wrath cycles. (again, not sure about this, havent tried this specifically).



ANyway, primary points - Spend your knowledge. Bombers are excellent ships. Try to use some sort of tactics against the wrath post other than blobbing. An advanced factory would be nice.

[Dr Zoidzerg]

Thanks Lancefighter for your advice -- I managed to take out the wrath lance! As you suggested, I used low mark fighters and microfighters to distract the gravity drones and bombers to attack the guard post. I put the bombers in a cloaked transport to get them in range, then sent in the decoy ships. When the lance's beam fires up, it kills the transport and the bombers all come out at once and do some damage. It took a few rounds of this to kill it.

To answer your questions: I had lots of unused knowledge because I live in fear of hitting a roadblock (like this one) and having no knowledge left to get around it. Here at least I have some flexibility of unlocking whatever I need. (Of course if I actually do have a problem I could always take another planet or knowledge-raid -- I guess I am a bit conservative.) There were two advanced factories, but the one I had captured got blown up while I wasn't looking.

Thanks again.

[zoutzakje]

Being that conservative with knowledge is usually a bad idea. Especially on high difficulties (9+). You're saving that knowledge because you're afraid you'll hit a tough obstacle. But saving that much knowledge might also be the cause of such obstacle. Let's say a big CPA or something like that attacks you and you find out that you don't have the forces to stop it. But you do have 30k knowledge to spend on mk III ships or whatever. You won't be fast enough to build those ships and that could mean the end for you.
I personally am a bit of a knowledge saver myself. I usually let it build up between 6-12k before I start unlocking stuff. But 30k? seems a bit much.
Then again, you did get to the endgame without the need of that 30k knowledge. So I guess you're doing fine
Nice job on killing the Wrath Lance. Unfortunately I have not encountered one yet ever since they got implemented. I hope I'll get to see one soon.

[keith.lamothe]

If you have that much knowledge sitting around you could try unlocking mkIII riot starships and using some of its gravity gadgets to keep the enemy gravity drones from getting into detonation range.  But sounds like you figured something out anyway

[Kahuna]

If you have that much knowledge sitting around you could try unlocking mkIII riot starships and using some of its gravity gadgets to keep the enemy gravity drones from getting into detonation range.  But sounds like you figured something out anyway

I'm trying to destroy the Wrath Guard Post atm and Gravity Drones are immune to gravity effects. Also.. that Wrath Guard Post is overpowered. 120 million health and 50 million aoe dps. In addition to that I have to deal with the Reserve ships.. which spawn rapidly from the AI Home Command Station.

EDIT: Ok I was able to destroy the Wrath Lance Guard Post has but I still think it's a bit overpowered. It has 1250 Firepower.

I used to have ~1500+ ships, but then I took a Wrath Lance to the knee.

Here's the save. I improved the defenses a little but and unlocked stuff. To see what I unlocked go to STATS ---> Technology. I also updated the global controls and Riot Control ship designs (using MarkI and II Defenders and MarkIII Assault).

[keith.lamothe]

I'm trying to destroy the Wrath Guard Post atm and Gravity Drones are immune to gravity effects.

Ah, I suspected something like that   Immune to paralysis too?

Also.. that Wrath Guard Post is overpowered.

In one sense: that's the point.  In another sense: would you rather face the wrath lance, or a core raid engine guard post?

[Kahuna]

Immune to paralysis too?

I don't know but they shouldn't be. Not according to the.. tool tip or whatever it is. They also shouldn't be immune to gravity effects.

In one sense: that's the point.  In another sense: would you rather face the wrath lance, or a core raid engine guard post?

Well that's a good point. I think it would depend on the Effective AIP.

I updated my last post btw.

EDIT: AI 1 Homeworld neutered.