Plasma Siege Starships

[Gemzo]

I've been having trouble countering plasma siege starships in my current 9/9 game. Specifically one of the AIs is a kite flier/starship fanatic. On defense I can use needler turrets, but when I'm attacking an enemy planet full of starships my only mobile ship with a bonus against artillery is the bomber. And surprise, bombers are vulnerable to engine damage. Since I'm playing on ultra low caps the amount of ships that get their engines completely disabled per plasma shot is far too much to bear, and bombers aren't a reasonable method of fighting them as a result. Even if the bombers are able to destroy them after getting their engines blown out, the fact that bombers also are good against many starships in general means I really need to keep them alive (and mobile) when attacking such a planet.

My problem is also magnified by the fact that the enemy starships auto-kite, as my fleetships become worthless if the enemies move out of range after destroying my engines. Guess I didn't think things through when I signed up for that AI combo.

[keith.lamothe]

That's a very nasty AI combo, yes.

Bear in mind that some stuff doesn't have a bonus against artillery but can still be effective against it, notably things that don't have bonuses vs anything.  Have you tried hitting the enemy plasma starships with your bomber starships and spire starships?  Or, for that matter, your own siege starships?

[Shrugging Khan]

Bomber/Raid starships to the rescue?
Assault transports? With bombers inside?

[keith.lamothe]

Assault transports? With bombers inside?

Invite it to dinner, and serve Energy Bomb Surprise?

[Gemzo]

That's a very nasty AI combo, yes.

Bear in mind that some stuff doesn't have a bonus against artillery but can still be effective against it, notably things that don't have bonuses vs anything.  Have you tried hitting the enemy plasma starships with your bomber starships and spire starships?  Or, for that matter, your own siege starships?

I considered using more starships, but as it turns out, the enemy is also doing that. Guess I just need more K before I can take any of this AI's mk III/IV planets. It's still valid advice for countering plasma siege starships, though. Thanks.

Bomber/Raid starships to the rescue?
Assault transports? With bombers inside?

Do assault transports care about what ship type is inside them? The description doesn't really reflect that.

[keith.lamothe]

Do assault transports care about what ship type is inside them? The description doesn't really reflect that.

I don't think he meant the transport's attack, but rather using the fast transport to catch up to the kiting starship and then dumping the bombers out in its face.  The assault transport unloads them faster, though I imagine the normal one would work well enough to prove the concept.

[Gemzo]

I don't think he meant the transport's attack, but rather using the fast transport to catch up to the kiting starship and then dumping the bombers out in its face.  The assault transport unloads them faster, though I imagine the normal one would work well enough to prove the concept.

Hm... I guess you could use a transport to move the bombers after they've lost their engines, but they still have to wait half their reload time after exiting an assault transport. Not sure if that's enough time for a plasma siege starship to get out of range after the bombers get dumped on top of em.

Actually, do assault transports repair engines? If so, this might work... Seems kinda cheesy though.

[Shrugging Khan]

Actually, I DID mean using the transport's attack itself. They're pretty beefy. The bombers inside are just a bonus.

[TechSY730]

Just as a side question, do assault transports still use straight unit count for their net attack, or do they use the newer strength based formula that carriers now use?

[Kahuna]

artillery damage multiplier is one of the most important multipliers. I'd say polycrystal>artillery>medium>light.

Attractor drones and raiders are very good vs artillery even though theyre (kind of) countered by missile frigates. Attractor drone is more of a defensive ship and raider is an offensive ship. Bombers are very good too but theyre fragile and expensive so you need to protect them well.

Attractors work very well with plasma siege and riot starships. They do good dps and will outrange almost everything. Attractors can also be combined with counter missile stuff (counter missile turrets and/or mark iv scout starships).

Raiders obliterate everything they have damage multiplier for. Their base dps is pretty good too so theyre good vs everything. And theyre cheap and move fast so theyre easy to replace.

Bombers... unlock more bombers. Just order half of mark i fighter to move on top of the enemy to absorb the alpha strike and to draw aggro. Use missile frigates and flagships (for the attack damage boost) to protect the bombers (aka to kill fighters). Also dot let the bombers waste their precious shots and reload time on wrong targets. So keep them on stand down mode until theyre in range of their target. Or you can use assault transport to get your bombers in range asap. You can also get an assault transport just for some engineers so you can repair your ships. If youre next to your planet add some mobile builders so you can rebuild the engineers if they die.