Neinzul Enclave Starships are very interesting now

[laughingman]

I have not played around with Neinzul Enclaves since the most recent changes, so I started a game in order to find out just what they could do. I was particularly interested in their new drones, so I unlocked all the Mk II turret tech I could and the Mk II Enclave and put them to work. A few hours in and several planets conquered, here is what I learned:

1. Two Mk I and two Mk II Enclaves, put on free-roaming defender mode and constantly producing drones, can overwhelm most Mk I or II worlds pretty easily. If you want to clear Mk III and IV worlds, you'll need to micromanage a bit more. Set the Enclaves to Attack-Move and use shift to set a course to the various guard posts.

2. Mk I and II Drones can destroy fortresses in just a few minutes. I was surprised, too.

3. When I added Mk III Enclaves and Drones, I was able to take Mk IV planets with 200+ defenders, using FRD.

4. Drones work very well for wave defense, especially since I have so many turrets to support them.

5. I can defend a lot of planets, quite heavily, when I have mk I-III turrets. It lets me focus on attacking without much fear of counterattack. Yet.

6. I'm not going to have much more knowledge to spend, and I'm considering getting Mk IV Enclaves because I'm having so much fun with them. I don't know if that will doom me on the Core and Home worlds, though.

I'm interested in other people's experiences with Enclaves. What have you used them for?

[Diazo]

Hmm, you just made me realise I have not tried out the drones since they were added.

I'm also making 10/10 attempts at the moment, so let's combine the two.

This can only end well. 

I'll let you know how it goes.

D.

[chemical_art]

Before drones came around I always got nenzul younglings so I can do the tactics you describe.

Now instead of 200 or 300 nenzuls running around I now got 300 or 400 nenzul + drones running around.

Zerg rush!

[Minotaar]

I have not played around with Neinzul Enclaves since the most recent changes, so I started a game in order to find out just what they could do. I was particularly interested in their new drones, so I unlocked all the Mk II turret tech I could and the Mk II Enclave and put them to work. A few hours in and several planets conquered, here is what I learned:

1. Two Mk I and two Mk II Enclaves, put on free-roaming defender mode and constantly producing drones, can overwhelm most Mk I or II worlds pretty easily. If you want to clear Mk III and IV worlds, you'll need to micromanage a bit more. Set the Enclaves to Attack-Move and use shift to set a course to the various guard posts.

2. Mk I and II Drones can destroy fortresses in just a few minutes. I was surprised, too.

3. When I added Mk III Enclaves and Drones, I was able to take Mk IV planets with 200+ defenders, using FRD.

4. Drones work very well for wave defense, especially since I have so many turrets to support them.

5. I can defend a lot of planets, quite heavily, when I have mk I-III turrets. It lets me focus on attacking without much fear of counterattack. Yet.

6. I'm not going to have much more knowledge to spend, and I'm considering getting Mk IV Enclaves because I'm having so much fun with them. I don't know if that will doom me on the Core and Home worlds, though.

I'm interested in other people's experiences with Enclaves. What have you used them for?

Man, why did you have to tell everyone?!  Drones are awesome! I didn't get them past mk2 in the game I played though, mostly because mk2 was already enough for pretty much everything.
I'm also trying a 10/10 with drones right now.

[keith.lamothe]

I'm actually kind of surprised drones didn't show up in the nerf poll

They aren't a magic bullet, but they are a lot of firepower when used right.

[Diazo]

Well, I just tried using them and I don't really like them.

Yes, they are great at cleaning up a system once you've broken it because you can just FRD them and go do other things.

But you've broken in so you've conquered the system, might as well just clean up with your main fleet.

And the knowledge costs for the turrets and enclaves really balance things out I think.

If you were going to use enclaves to deep strike, drones are a nice bonus that makes the K to unlock them worthwhile, but drones as a primary attack don't work.

Well, they work, it's just inefficient and takes forever compared to spending that K on fleet ships.

So ya, drones are an odd ball that don't really have a comparison with anything else in the game. If you can make them work they are worth it but making them work is tricky and takes a good amount of effort.

D.

[laughingman]

At Mk I and II, they made a great force multiplier. At Mk III they started to dictate my strategy.

Keith, I suspect that not too many players have played around with them. You have to spend a lot of knowledge on turrets to make them really effective but once you do you can constantly attack at very little noticeable cost, while building up a respectable fixed defense on several worlds. I think they are pretty well balanced for now with the knowledge requirements to fully exploit them. You have to basically plan your long-term strategy around them.

I do like them, for now. In future games, if I unlock more than one basic Mk II turret, I'll almost certainly unlock the Mk II Enclave for a trivial 2k more knowledge.

Diazo, I'm playing at 7.3/7.3 and I use them to break and conquer worlds very quickly. I've also been able to afford quite a few mercenary fighters and beam frigates because the drones are so cheap. I agree that you could get the same result from spending the knowledge on ships. I also agree that they are tricky to use effectively, but they've worked very well as a primary attack for me. Your mileage may vary.

[Diazo]

@laughingman:

A large part of why they don't work for me is my playstyle involves jumping planets so I don't have a safe zone to deploy from.

Having said that, I've only played the one game with them, I am going to try again later today.

D.

[Winge]

Before drones came around I always got nenzul younglings so I can do the tactics you describe.

Now instead of 200 or 300 nenzuls running around I now got 300 or 400 nenzul + drones running around.

Zerg rush!

Assemble the minions!

I treat drones like a force multiplier.  I find that the drones eat up a lot of firepower and attention that would be focused on my main fleet.  Especially if you get one or more Youngling unlocks.  With Nanoswarms and Vultures unlocked (to think I could have hacked Auto-bombs in that game too...), the Enclaves could be quite devastating.  I wonder how well Weasels to soak up missile firepower or Tigers for their bomber-like nature would work with them?

Warning:  Do not use against AI Eyes.