Author Topic: Bombers  (Read 2888 times)

Offline RCIX

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Bombers
« on: December 29, 2009, 08:57:09 pm »
I have a savegame with 140 mkii bombers 1:21 out from hitting my home planet. I've tried everything -- building tons of fighters, some tractor beams, letting the flagship i was building complete, everything... I lose my command station every time. Admittedly MkI fighters are slighly old against MkII tech, but they perform absolutely dismally. ~150-200 mines in their path only took out around 10 or 20 of them. Any suggestions on what i can do or should i start over?

This really feels like a case of bombers being too strong as my fighters have to be in almost-melee range to hit them (and don't do much damage when they do).
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Offline x4000

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Re: Bombers
« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2009, 09:05:28 pm »
Without looking at the save, my general suggestions would be lots of fighters paired with at least enough tractor beams to catch all the bombers.  The fighters have a low chance of hitting the bombers with each shot, but they practically insta-kill the bombers when they do hit them.  So the important thing is to keep the bombers in range of the fighters as long as possible, and let the fighters do their thing.

To make sure the fighters are getting in ideal range, best to put them in attack-move or FRD modes assigned to by that wormhole.  You could also add a bunch of spider turrets if you like, if you have enough engineers to see them completed, since those are great at blasting out the engines of those bombers.  Paired with the tractor beams, those could stop them dead.

If the bombers are too likely to escape past your first wave of tractor beams, you can give them something else to shoot at -- say, a bunch of other mki basic and mlrs turrets, which might take out some of the bombers but which will also draw the fire some and keep them pinned for longer.  You could also build some tractor beams just out of range of your force field over your home command station to trap those bombers that do get through, and give the fighters a chance to catch up again.

I'm not 100% sure the balance of the bombers is final and perfect by any stretch, but when you are outclassed by an entire mark level, and that many bombers are coming, that's intended to be a fairly... dangerous situation.  Those would be the things I would do in order to take out the bombers, anyway, perhaps paired with some mines along the way to wear them down.
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Offline RCIX

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Re: Bombers
« Reply #2 on: December 29, 2009, 09:23:02 pm »
Maxing out my fighter cap only managed to "kerchunk" away the bombers, and 10 tractor beam turrets  were plowed through pretty quick. I'll take one more shot at it though...
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Offline Pandemic

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Re: Bombers
« Reply #3 on: December 29, 2009, 09:24:00 pm »
I'm not doing much right now.

Gimme a sec, and lemme take a crack at it :P.


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Offline RCIX

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Re: Bombers
« Reply #4 on: December 29, 2009, 09:37:35 pm »
I'm not doing much right now.

Gimme a sec, and lemme take a crack at it :P.


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Much appreciated :)
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Offline Pandemic

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Re: Bombers
« Reply #5 on: December 29, 2009, 09:44:21 pm »
Ok, I tried a lot of combinations of things, and the (my, anyway) answer lies in lightening warheads. I tried finishing the flagship and it didn't help, I tried setting up a proxy base of tractor beams and it didn't help, I got to the max of fighters and a lot of paralyzers to go with them, but that also failed. But I was able to be rid of them using a lightning warhead :P.

You want me to give you the after-the-fact savegame, give you directions on how to do it, or figure it out for yourself? :P


-Pandemic


EDIT:
Note: Although I see no other way to do this, this way leaves you completely out of metal :P

EDIT:
Nevermind, I apparently didn't cancel the flagship the time it worked... If you do that, you have ~40k of both resources :)
« Last Edit: December 29, 2009, 09:47:57 pm by Pandemic »
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Offline RCIX

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Re: Bombers
« Reply #6 on: December 29, 2009, 10:29:09 pm »
i'll go the easy way :)
after the fact save?

I had previously dismissed lightning missiles as taking too long, but that works! :D
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Offline Pandemic

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Re: Bombers
« Reply #7 on: December 29, 2009, 10:41:41 pm »
You'll have to give me a sec...

I did it, then continued playing for a bit, only to be overrun by an unannounced wave of Frigates... very mean :(.

I'm in the middle of a L4D2 match right now, but I'll be able to replicate it in about half an hour...

If you want the recipe, you need to make 3 or 4 Mark II engineers, put all your engies on the Missile Silo, and start cranking out fighters (with no engies on them, ofc). You might need to take some stuff offline to have enough power, but the missile should finish about 10 seconds after they make it to your system. Just huddle everything near your Home Command Station, make the Warhead count, and you should be good :P.


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Offline RCIX

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Re: Bombers
« Reply #8 on: December 29, 2009, 11:15:36 pm »
Ok cool, i'll try :)
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Offline x4000

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Re: Bombers
« Reply #9 on: December 29, 2009, 11:16:39 pm »
Also, this early prerelease nerfs the bombers a bit:  http://www.arcengames.com/share/AIWar2001ZH.zip

-Bombers now have 1000 less shields at all levels.

-Fixed a bug with mines not being properly cloaked.
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Offline Pandemic

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Re: Bombers
« Reply #10 on: December 29, 2009, 11:21:11 pm »
Fail :(.

I love bombers... always start out with Tech II of them, although I tend to switch everything else I buy at the start up :P. Oh well...

And good luck my friend; sorry I can't give you the save, but I'm in desperate need of an FPS right now :P.


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"Freedom is the ability to say 2 plus 2 makes 4. If that is granted, all else follows."  -George Orwell, 1984

Offline RCIX

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Re: Bombers
« Reply #11 on: December 29, 2009, 11:21:37 pm »
Thanks! Pandmic's suggestion worked though; i continue :)
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Offline Pandemic

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Re: Bombers
« Reply #12 on: December 29, 2009, 11:24:00 pm »
Yay!

Now, BEWARE THE MASSES OF FRIGATES THAT WILL COME TO EAT YOUR SOOOOOOOOUL!!

Seriously, I got swarmed by about ~300 of them about 2 minutes after defeating the bomber wave <_<


-Pandemic
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Offline RCIX

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Re: Bombers
« Reply #13 on: December 29, 2009, 11:36:39 pm »
Not to worry; i got a lightning missile that will pwnzor teh haxxors... :D

"Say hello to my lit-tle friend!" buwahahahahaha....
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