Basic hybrid strategy

[Martyn van Buren]

I'm just dealing with hybrids seriously for the first time, and I'm curious to hear people's thoughts on an efficient way to take them down.  Especially because of their modular nature, I'm not sure whether I put a lot of stock in the reference guide's estimates.

So two questions, basically --- one, if you want to engage a few hybrids with a small force, what are good ships to do it?  And two, do the drones mentioned in the Wiki description of them actually exist?  I'm not sure if I've seen them.  Any other hybrid tips appreciated, of course.

[Commiesalami]

Dont let them build up, especially at choke points.  Hybrids will pick systems next to yours to wait for an opprounity to attack in (or to defend if they are defensive hybrids)  If you've managed your chokepoints well then you could end up with 50+ Hybrids in a system relatively easy as there is no galaxy-wide ship cap.  So random culling of hybrids are generally a good idea to prevent their numbers from building up.  This culling will also set-back their plans for any larger schemes if I understand the mechanics correctly.

In combat hybrids tend to charge up right next to your forces right when you enter the system making range a non-issue.  Focus fire them down with the blob and then run back for repairs if needed.  Dont worry too much about their modular nature.  I haven't noticed any difference between hybrids with lasers or with machine guns.  If they ended up taking things like small beam cannons or seige cannons instead of their shields similar to spire ships then I'd worry about their modules.

As for ships, expect hybrid attacks from any direction so I like things such as teleporting raiders and teleport battle stations to act as a quick response unit to handle hybrid attacks.  On the offense, more DPS is better so missle frigates and bombers are ships of choice.  Mini-rams are awesome if you got them, but I know a lot of players dont enjoy those as much as I do.

[keith.lamothe]

Dont let them build up, especially at choke points.  Hybrids will pick systems next to yours to wait for an opprounity to attack in (or to defend if they are defensive hybrids)  If you've managed your chokepoints well then you could end up with 50+ Hybrids in a system relatively easy as there is no galaxy-wide ship cap.

Mostly right: there is a galaxy-wide population cap of hybrids, based on the number of spawners, number of human players/homeworlds, etc. 

So random culling of hybrids are generally a good idea to prevent their numbers from building up.  This culling will also set-back their plans for any larger schemes if I understand the mechanics correctly.

Correct on both points

[Martyn van Buren]

Hey, I'm really confused --- am I an idiot?  I've got the whole galaxy scouted except for one homeworld and a world with a planetary cloaker (I mean it's scouted but I don't know what's on it), and I don't seem to see any spawners or drone makers or any of the other structures that are supposed to be associated with hybrids.  I definitely have them on and just fought half a dozen of them or so on Jiplurex.  I'm uploading a save; would someone mind taking a look at it and telling me if I've just missed them?  There are a lot of structures called "regen chambers," which is odd for an AI that doesn't seem to have any Neinzul ships --- could these be spawners using the wrong name somehow?  Could they all be hiding on those two worlds I haven't scouted?

[dotjd]

Hybrid facilities are the small circular things.  There's a Hybrid Facilities display option on the galaxy map (if you click the first of the two display option things on the bottom, it's in that giant list); turn that on to see which planets they're on.  And since there's a hive spawner on each world that's mark iv or above, you have 6 hive spawners in your galaxy.

Regen chambers are something different.  And yeah, I don't think I've ever seen the AI use them, but I assume they would if a neinzul wave got scared and fled to AI planets, or something like that.

[Martyn van Buren]

Aha!  Now I understand; I was expecting to see them represented by icons like guard posts and ion cannons, but they're in the ship list with guardians and fleet ships.

Any chance that could be changed, Keith?  I guess once you know where to look it isn't an issue, but those seem like things of strategic importance which belong in the first-glance overview.

[zoutzakje]

meh... I'm more worried about the antagonizer than about the hive spawners. I wish Keith would make it so that the antagonizer can only be build 1-2 hops away from any of your planets lol, instead of pretty much anywhere

[keith.lamothe]

I wish Keith would make it so that the antagonizer can only be build 1-2 hops away from any of your planets lol, instead of pretty much anywhere

It's limited to 4 hops away from the edge of AI space, generally.  Are you seeing it further out?

[zoutzakje]

ah no, I thought it could be placed anywhere. Last time when I completed my game I found out it was on a mk IV world, 3 hops away. So it's working properly then

[keith.lamothe]

So it's working properly then

Working properly = inflicting grievous amounts of pain

[zoutzakje]

So it's working properly then

Working properly = inflicting grievous amounts of pain

Exactly lol. which is why I had to take a break from hybrids I'll try out the advanced hybrids whenever I'm done with this 7/7 game.

[Wanderer]

Primary fleet ship for anti-hybrid is bombers.  You'll want to keep a cap of these handy and probably leave your MK Is on patrol back home.

One of the biggest problem I have fighting hybrids is that you can't shut down Cross-Border Aggression like you normally do.  So, those lone isolated island worlds are constantly getting smacked around, or you have to invest a lot in stationary defenses for them.  Because when they come in, they mini-wave and there's usually 10 or more of them.

I find that what the Hybrids really do is make sure I can't just drop cmd stations in the middle of nowhere, neuter the locals, and forget about the system.  You need to either fortify it or keep a defensive fleet nearby.  It's particuarly annoying for fabricator worlds out in the boonies.

Other than that, I just consider them extra starships (well, until they start aggravating the Dyson now).

[PokerChen]

On a related note, is it possible to one day gain a different icon for hybrid spawners compared to other facilities? These are the key infrastructure to take out if I wanted to follow this strategy. Since there's one of each type on each mark-IV planet, they're arbitrarily hard to spot from their cousins.

[chemical_art]

Not sure if it is a result of hybrids or just has always been this way, but now I get unannounced exo wave like attacks when I build spire cities. Normally they are no problem, but with four homeworlds they hurt.

[keith.lamothe]

Not sure if it is a result of hybrids or just has always been this way, but now I get unannounced exo wave like attacks when I build spire cities. Normally they are no problem, but with four homeworlds they hurt.

Yea, the attack-while-building-a-city has been there since the first time cities could be built   They're often the first major extra challenge of an FS game, since the early shard retrievals are generally short.