Breaking Mk3 FFs -or- Assault transports a little too good at shooting stuff?

[FluidDynamite]

Obligatory Introductory Part

   Greetings friends. Just picked up this game about a week ago and have been having tons of fun with it. Haven't actually won the game yet, but after a couple rounds of messing around in 7/7 difficulty I decided to switch to 9/9 difficulty for extra Fun.

The Actual Post

   My current game settings: Difficulty 9/9, both AIs on random easier, all expansions but no extra stuff (no spirecraft/golems/AI plots etc.)

   Is it possible to break Ion Cannons or Laser/Missile turrets covered by MkIII forcefields in the early game, without grinding them down with assault transports? The method I use is:
   1. Build about 3~4 assault transports, and stick all caps of MkI ships into them. I usually get Bomber MkII at the start and put them inside the transports as well.
   2. Jump to enemy system, destroy the Tachyon sentinel by shooting with the transports, retreat and heal at own system.
   3. Stand down the transports, jump to enemy system, uncloak and shoot the guardpost/FF. Retreat and heal at own system as needed. A post takes 1~2 runs, MkIII FFs take about 3~4. Repeat until all enemy guardposts and FFs are dead.

   Thing is I think this method is a little too... Effective? Or there's something seriously wrong with the method I unload bombers to blow stuff up. I've captured/cleared about 12 systems in my current 9/9 game doing this, lots of them MkIII, without unloading a single ship at the enemy system the whole time. I guess it just feels a bit weird never actually seeing your fleetships on the map. The couple of times I tried unloading the bombers to take down forcefields they get obliterated in seconds, especially if there's a ion cannon or missile/laser turret (polycrystal damage bonus) guardpost under it. And since you actually lose the bomber ships, soon the AI turns around and throws a reprisal wave at you, which is also avoided by just shooting with the assault transport without unloading.

   Then again I have no idea what else I can do to break MkIII FFs without doing this, it is basically risk free and pretty effective, just time consuming and quite grindy. Even new ship design unlocks/hacks don't excite me as much anymore since I just stuff the ships into transports anyway. I love this game and would love any suggestions, as I fear I'm actually burning out myself from the game by doing this.

   Oh, and the techs I usually unlock with priority: Assault Transports, Mil Post 3, Grav Turrets 3, Area/EMP Mines, Spider Turrets and upranking the basic turrets as needed. I rarely get any fleetship upgrades except Bomber MkII and MkIII, and no starship upgrades at all. Which might be part of the issue, but I just can't figure out anything more effective than what's described above.

[keith.lamothe]

Welcome to the game and to the forums

On the Assault Transport, basically what you've done is spent a lot on a really good hammer and are now using it as a screwdriver.  It works, eventually, but it's not very much fun

For that 4000 knowledge you could have unlocked a number of starships (at a first guess I'd say Spire I, Zenith I, Enclave II, Siege II, Flagship II) that, combined with the unlocked-from-the-start starships can form the core of a fleet ball more than adequate to the task of general combat with a guard post or two under an FF.  If you can get the knowledge for the Enclave III and the Mobile Space Dock it can cross into the territory of the absurd, in terms of your ability to destroy those kinds of positions quickly with low losses or (alternatively) _very_ quickly with moderate losses.

Anyway, yes, if you don't put any knowledge into fleet ships or starships, you're likely to have a hard time against a MkIII or MkIV guard post under an ff, especially if that guard post has a bonus against bombers.  The Assault Transport is a workable solution to that problem but, as you've found, that's not really the unit's best use.

One thing to bear in mind is that the AI's level 1 reprisals, while worth noting, are something to be prepared for rather than avoided.  They will happen (eventually) as long as you take offensive losses of any sort.  What you can and should avoid is total fleet wipes that can drive that up to a level 3 or 4 (possibly more, but you'd have to work at it) reprisal that can be a serious danger.

A more general lesson is that, since the core game's design leaves the initiative in the player's hands most of the time, there are many ways where you can do something safely just by doing it slowly.  But in the long run doing that too much is not safe because the Cross Planet Attacks will come anyway, and get larger based on time if AIP is still low.

Gotta run, but I hope that helps   I imagine other players will have better advice, as well.

[Bognor]

Other options include using Raid Starships, Plasma Siege Starships, or force field-immune bonus ships (Eyebots, Infiltrators, Zevastators, any of the melee ships) to destroy anything under the force field, then letting your Bombers destroy it at leisure (or just ignore it, as it will self-destruct if there's nothing under it and you capture the planet).  Raid Starships are particularly strong against ion cannons, and with a bit of care their speed and radar dampening can get them back home intact.

You can discourage yourself from slow, grindy playstyles by increasing the AIP auto-progress in the lobby, or enabling Hybrids or Spire Civilian Leaders.

(The cost of Assault Transports is actually 3000 knowledge.)

[Kahuna]

"Bombers get obliterated in seconds" well you shouldn't counter yourself. Don't send polycrystal against polycrystal countering enemy.

Also I think Assault Transports' firepower and durability are justified by their Knowledge, Metal and Energy costs.. and by the fact that you need to put ships inside the Assault Transport in order to make the Assault Transport do any damage in the first place. Which means you wont be able to use the ships for anything else. Also I'm pretty sure a fully loaded Assault Transport does less DPS than the ships inside it would do together.

[Kahuna]

Though Assault Transport is one of the best ships in the game that's true.