Help defending against Zenith Bombards

[Tridus]

Hi. Newbie question, but I'm having a real problem with it.

I've got a really nice choke point world that I'm trying to defend. It's got a millitary command station, fortress, mines, and a wide variety of turrets. Combined with some Riot ships that I keep hanging around to slow down incoming waves, it stops pretty much everything that's been thrown at it without a problem so far with the one exception of Zenith Bombards.

Those things pop out and rip everything to shreds with the exception of the command station (it's under a forcefield and they don't seem to be able to attack forcefields at all). I can deal with them if I have a fleet nearby, but I'm running into difficulty keeping enough ships in the area as I get more territory (some of it not as well defended as this world). I'd been thinking that maybe putting some tractor beams and other turrets under another forcefield near the wormhole(s) would work because they won't be able to shoot it, but don't turrets suffer a major damage reduction in that case? Is there a better way?

Currently playing on difficulty 6 with the most recent beta version and AIP up around 300, with some of the waves being 100 Bombards and a Starship. Thanks!

[zoutzakje]

howdy =)
don't worry about having trouble with defending against bombards, we all have troubles with them from time to time =)
Bombards have an extremely long reload time (30 seconds), so you need to find some way to kill them while they are recharging. Of course you don't want to get destroyed by their "alpha strike" so I'd suggest placing a lot of cheap units right near the wormhole and hope they will take the hit. Fighters are a good choice for example. If you really can't spare any of your weakest fleet units, build a lot of cheap turrets. Building lots of tractor and gravitational turrets is also a good idea. You don't want those bombards to scatter around.
Just make sure that nothing of value is near when they arrive. Let them waste their shots and then destroy them.
I'm not playing with bombards in my current game, so I'm not entirely sure, but I do believe bombards can shoot at forcefields. You could have been just very lucky, so be careful.
Also, make sure all the waves only come from a single wormhole (by destroying warp gates), one that you can defend well. Having your command station near the wormhole can have it's advantages, but I wouldn't risk it against bombards.

Hope this is at least a bit helpful. Good luck =)

[Wingflier]

They shoot anti-matter bullets, so they cannot, in fact, shoot at forcefields.

[zoutzakje]

ah I see, thanks.
In that case building forcefields can also do the trick.

[Minotaar]

I'll just point out that lightning and flak turrets retain 75% of their damage while under a forcefield, so you might want to try using those.
The key with bombard waves is not having a lot of things to kill them with, it is having nothing for them to shoot at 

[Tridus]

I'll just point out that lightning and flak turrets retain 75% of their damage while under a forcefield, so you might want to try using those.
The key with bombard waves is not having a lot of things to kill them with, it is having nothing for them to shoot at 

Oh I didn't know that. That'd make a big difference!

Thanks for the tips, both of you.

[Nodor]

My tactic for Zenith Bombards is to park everything on the wormhole they are coming through.

They smash X ships.    And then die before they smash again.

[bongotron2000]

You could try EMP mines around the wormhole. I've not actually tried these myself though with bombards, so I don't know if the EMP effect would hit them before or after they've fired.

[Diazo]

You could try EMP mines around the wormhole. I've not actually tried these myself though with bombards, so I don't know if the EMP effect would hit them before or after they've fired.

Unfortunately the Bombards are immune to Mines. 

They are not immune to tractor beams however so if you can tractor them on the wormhole then kill them from underneath a forcefield they should not do any damage.

Turrets underneath a forcefield do significantly reduced damage but if the bombards are doing no damage it does not matter how long it takes them to die.

D.

[bongotron2000]

Unfortunately the Bombards are immune to Mines. 

  OK, plan B: Riot Starships MkII with tazers (I know that Riots were mentioned in the OP, but not sure if the tazers were tried). Should give you a few seconds to take out a few. Anyone know if the Riot shields count as forcefields? I.e. are they immune to the Bombards' ammo?

[PokerChen]

Um, I think the Riot-shields will buckle and crash... Force Fields mention Anti-matter Bombs in their immunities, which specifically gives them protection from Bombards. The Riot shields don't..

Besides, I've been hunting hybrids with mine, and they're no different.

[zoutzakje]

ah yes, that must be why I thought bombards could shoot at forcefields. I remember destroying hybrids with them too.