Bonus ship recommendations for the golemite?

[Martyn van Buren]

I feel like trying a much nastier game than I'm used to, and I'm thinking of doing 8/8 Youngster/Golemite, hoping not to use golems or spirecraft (I'm going to put them on medium so I can try using them when inevitably I wind up up against the ropes two hours in).  Anyway since I expect this to be much harder than my usual play (7.6 random moderate/7.3 easier, usually) I feel justified hand-picking a bonus ship and I'm wondering what people think might be helpful here?  I'm thinking munitions boosters might be a good pick since they'll help my turrets put down Neinzul swarms and help my bombers whittle away at the golems.

[Kahuna]

Acid Sprayers would counter most of the Neinzul ships. Then you could unlock more Bombers to counter the Golems.

Or you could choose Anti-Armors, Space Planes, Space Tanks, Zenith Chameleons or something that is good at destroying Ultra-heavy ships to counter golems and unlock more Missile Frigates to counter Neinzuls. I like Anti-Armors, Space Planes and Space Tanks since they're good vs Bombers (Polycrystal) too.

I guess Zenith Bombards could work well against Golems too. Zenith Bombards' burst damage + dps from Raid, Plasma Siege and Bomber Starships should destroy any (golemite) golem quite fast. The problem with Zombards is that they're very expensive. Maybe a bit overpriced. They're good though!

Munition Boosters wouldn't be bad choice either. But instead of Munition Boosters maybe you could unlock higher levels of Military Command Stations for the attack power bonus?

[Bognor]

Apart from fleet ships with bonuses vs. Ultra-heavy hulls, don't forget the other fleet ships that excel against big things - Impulse Reaction Emitters, Zenith Polarizers, and perhaps Neinzul Youngling Vultures.  Also, I'm not sure how Zenith Mirrors would go... I remember Keith saying mega-powerful ships tended to be glass cannons, and Golemite golems have 1/10th the health of regular golems...

Zenith Electric Bombers are immune to paralysis, which could be very useful against Black Widow Golems.

[PokerChen]

They are no longer 1/10th...

[Kahuna]

the Golemite-AI-type golems (as distinct from human golems and exo golems), except for the Golemite-Botnet, have had their health increased from 0.1 times the normal version of that golem => 0.5 times that normal value.

[keith.lamothe]

IREs get max damage vs all golems.  If you're concerned about killing golems fast enough, IREs will help.

[Martyn van Buren]

Yeah I think IREs. They're not awful against fleet ships either, right? At least to the extent that they should add a respectable amount of DPS to my turret ball in emergency defense.  By the way I'm surprised no one's mentioned mini-rams --- I haven't used them but they're good giant-killers, aren't they?

[keith.lamothe]

Minirams might be excellent, actually, yes.  But I haven't looked at the math.

[Kahuna]

Yeah I think IREs. They're not awful against fleet ships either, right? At least to the extent that they should add a respectable amount of DPS to my turret ball in emergency defense.  By the way I'm surprised no one's mentioned mini-rams --- I haven't used them but they're good giant-killers, aren't they?

Mark V Missile Frigates use 400 so IRE would do 600*1+(400/256)=602 damage. Dps would be 301. Cap dps would be 29477. Which is absolutely terrible.
I forgot the "Target Modified Energy Use" is always at least 8. So the damage would be 4800. Dps 2400 and cap dps 235200.

IREs are ok vs ships that use about 2,5k energy. Very good vs ships that use 3,5k - 4k (here the damage is about the same with Bombers with their bonus damages).

[Hearteater]

With the increase of Guardian energy, IREs are also decent against them at least.

[Martyn van Buren]

Yeah I've started now and I'm finding IREs very satisfying against the unpleasant numbers of guardians that seed at diff 8.  Haven't yet dared to take on a golem -- I'm in between an armored and a botnet, which are both pretty fearsome.  But I am very pleased to report that my first ARS has yielded bulletproof fighters, which look like a pretty nice counter for Neinzul swarms.

[Martyn van Buren]

By the way, Keith, is the Wiki right that the wave multiplier for Mk III+ Ion Cannons is gone?  < http://arcengames.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=AI_War_-_Ion_Cannons >.  I've captured a Mk V --- that's something I want to hold onto, right?

[Hearteater]

Yeah, that's gone.  Nothing capturable gives wave multipliers that I know of anymore.

[Kahuna]

Haven't yet dared to take on a golem -- I'm in between an armored and a botnet, which are both pretty fearsome.

You can easily "snipe" the Botnet golem with MarkI Raid and Bomber Starships. It's literally destroyed in ~2 seconds. Only send the starships. It can't shoot at Starships and it would just reclaim everything else. Don't know about the other golems.

[Martyn van Buren]

Thanks, that is excellent advice!