Best ship choice for *defense*?

[Phyrex]

With the ever increasing AI wave difficulty you need to have a solid defense plan to prevent your planet from being overrun. Which ship type that you can pick from the beginning helps/supplements you the most in creating an impenetrable defense?

Defense scenario:
All enemy ships always go through the same gate that you know in advance.
Before each new wave you have the possibility to repair/rebuild everything.
Semi-late to late game, moderate/high AIP.

Since I recently started playing again I haven't yet seen all the new ships in the late-game heat of battle.
Obvious choices would seem:
- Armor Boost
- Shield Bearer
- Munitions
- AoE ships (When waves get bigger and bigger, although I prefer to play with a low unit cap scale)

But what about:
- Maw
- Deflector (1/4th laser damage)
- Armor Rotter
- Beam Frigate
- Paralyzer
- Spire Mini Ram/AutoBomb
- Youngling Weazel? (attracts all missiles)

Which ones have you tried for defensive purposes during long and difficult games? Please share your experiences.
What would your top 3 look like?

[x4000]

Teleport battle stations can be quite a good choice, actually.

[zoutzakje]

I find it impossible to decide beforehand what ship to chose for defending. I usually just wait and see what kind of ships the wave brings, and then send any counters I have against it to the planet being attacked. So if one of my planets gets attacked by 200 bombers, I send all my fighters there. If my planet gets attacked by parasites, I send missile frigates there etc. I always make sure I destroy every single warp gate except the one in the direction I'm expanding towards. That way it won't take ages for my ships to reach the planet being attacked. Border agression is usually dealt with by my variety of turrets, maybe a fortress or 2 if the border planet is a Mark IV one. If you got multiple golems, putting one on standby somewhere in the middle of your empire can be usefull too. If a planet is being overrun, you can send the golem quickly to the planet being attacked (note that the "quickly" part only works if you build almost only logistic command stations, otherwise the golems will move really slow).

[superking]

electric shuttles & zenith autobombs are the winners

[Phyrex]

I usually just wait and see what kind of ships the wave brings, and then send any counters I have against it to the planet being attacked.

Yes, most of the time I also react to what is needed, and quite a bit the main offensive fleet is required to fall back. The question however still remains: what is the best defense ship that you can pick from the beginning? Assuming you have to pick one for that purpose alone. If you always pick your beginning ship as an offensive ship then the question I'm asking is of course a hypothetical.

Or in other words: what ship would reduce the threat of a large wave most effectively? This of course can be interpreted in multiple kind of ways. Mainly offensive (AoE/munitions/maw) or defensive (shields/boosts/youngling weasel/..) or perhaps if the standard waves never pose a problem, you want a ship that effectively deals with a specific target (like an AI golem) that normally passes your defense.

Also cost/effectiveness plays a big part in the question I'm asking. Perhaps killing a wave very fast with AutoBombs costs a bit more than killing the wave slower but with much less casualties because of another ship type.

[BobTheJanitor]

I tend to pick my starting ship based on what looks fun and what I haven't tried out much before. And when it comes to defense, I'm more likely to rely on heavy turret spam along with moving a large chunk of whatever type of ships I have nearby to the incoming wave world. Often I don't even pay much attention to the ship type, I just select all and subdivide a group to send them off to the threatened world. I usually end up with a jumbled mix of every ship type in my battlegroups all over the galaxy. Not very coordinated, but it works. I always start out planning to really focus and use the right tools for the right job, but then the waves get too big or I'm caught flat footed by a CPA or something and I fall back on the old disorganized blob tactics. So... I have no helpful answers to offer, but that's never stopped me from posting before. 

[Red Spot]

Shredders under an FF, surrounded by tractor-turrets.
1500 Shredders/mark can do quite a bit of damage to any wave

Just keep them away from fighters (and similair ships that have a bonus vs shredders).


Weasels are fun when you encounter a lot of waves with frigates, though that doesnt tend to happen very frequent. When it does, however, even the counter-missile turret is awesome.

Best defence ever is, by far, the botnet golem. Not only does it waste 1k ships in seconds, it actually turns them to your side, so not only have you more or less killed 1k of ships, you just gained 1k ships in support as well.


Edit: Just to have it said, I never pick a defensive startingship. (I dont see or instance shieldbearers as defensive units, they suck at defending your planet, just are awesome in preventing damage .. similair, but not the same.)

[Sunshine!]

Beam frigates are good, spiders are okay (not great, but okay, pair them with riot controls), I imagine Gravity Drains would work wonders, tractor platforms might work out okay if you have low unit scale, blade spawners will probably do decently, nanoswarms may work out since they tend to cause a lot of disruption.

[hullu]

I'd say Maws are the best by far, easily. Omnomnomnom.

Not sure if their attrition gets overrun in the late game though, at least early-mid game they're impenetrable. Or at least were the last time I had them.

[Sunshine!]

I know it's been pointed out before, but I have to say it again that this thread is a testament to the game's versatility.  Decent number of posts, and you've got no overwhelming support for a single ship (or even a couple ships) as best defensive ship.   

Also, autobombs are cheap as dirt.  They are pretty much always cost effective for the damage they do, it becomes a small issue when you actually need to take and hold multiple fronts though.

[Phyrex]

I'd say Maws are the best by far, easily. Omnomnomnom.

Haha, I also often make the eating sounds when they gollop poor unsuspecting victims. Munch munch
I do think they lose a big part of their early game excellence in the end though. Bigger waves mean less % of the wave gets instagibbed and there's more risk of them getting shot down thus releasing everyone inside.

I know it's been pointed out before, but I have to say it again that this thread is a testament to the game's versatility.  Decent number of posts, and you've got no overwhelming support for a single ship (or even a couple ships) as best defensive ship.  

Yea all ships indeed have their uses. I'm surprised too see there isn't a semi-consensus though. If you do the number crunching on a particular scenario I'm sure you'll come up with some clear winners.

Right now I'm testing with Younglings. Fairly close to the portal place like 7 space docks and set only the younglings on repeat. A couple of engineers and shields between the docks and a regeneration chamber on the outer edge. (The only downside is that the regeneration chamber doesn't have a waypoint ability yet.)
The Younglings are amazingly strong for their cost and are produced faster than the enemy can kill. Right now I'm using them as my only defence (with some turrets of course) while the rest of the fleet is on the offense. Since they automatically retreat with low health and are repaired for free they soak up a lot of damage without any cost.

[Sunshine!]

Younglings are pretty amazing, but I stopped using them because they have some problems coordinating with the rest of the fleet when that's necessary, and the way regen chambers function means they end up being more micro intensive.

[Shrugging Khan]

Defence is what turrets are for. Or expendable territory that takes the AI enough time to take for the mobile forces to move in.

I'd never intentionally focus on defence. You CAN'T win by defence. Better to pick an SBS, a blade spawner, or some other offensively useful unit.

[Phyrex]

Younglings are pretty amazing, but I stopped using them because they have some problems coordinating with the rest of the fleet when that's necessary, and the way regen chambers function means they end up being more micro intensive.

I agree, they do require a lot of micro on the offense.
Having a waypoint for the regen chamber would already fix quite a bit. That waypoint also has to be able to be set on a transport ship. Right now if I want them full health for an assault I have to stalk the regen chamber. Doesn't fit in with the rest of the "low-micro mentality" of the game at all.
Perhaps making them self attrition only when hostile ships are present on the system might be another way to solve it. (Or have a counter-attrition area around the regen chamber)

Anyway, right now I'm just using them as my defense force wherever the wave is coming. (assuming you keep it fairly contained) If the previously mentioned production base has been set up I just scrap them where they aren't needed (or suicide crash into the next portal) and let them rebuild in a few seconds where they are needed.

[Orelius]

Normally, when I use younglings on the offensive, I make a cap of them, put them in low power, and fly them over to the target.  Quite a bit of micro is needed to snipe guard posts, though.

On the defensive, I set up a few space docks and engineers on the planet that is being attacked, and pump out some FRD'd younglings.  Generally, they're powerful enough in those large numbers to deal with waves.