I stumbled across an interesting strategy earlier tonight/this morning. I took a planet with a spire blade spawner experimental fabricator and was initially only vaguely curious about them (I was taking it for resources and security, not the nifty extras - which were awesome as it turns out). After building the shipcap (4 of them) I launched a raid, and the fun began:
Step 1: Send your fleet into an enemy system
Step 2: Sit on the wormhole
Step 3: Watch the Spire Blade Spawner minions wipe out entire reinforcement waves in one shot
Step 4: As the various system defenses are triggered, pull out when you start taking casualties and repair
Step 5: Repeat until system is completely empty of AI resistance, then wipe out guard posts with bombers
I was completely surprised by this. I initially thought they would require something similar to viral shredders, since they have build points. As it turns out they spit out ships on a very short timer that are ridiculously powerful against non-immune (i.e., anything they can hit - most ships, that is). Though the ships are short lived, they tend to be very powerful, and the key factor in the success of this strategy is this: they move at 150 speed and randomly target anything they can hit in the current system.
As a result, the entire system comes at you piecemeal as the spire blades activate ships around guard posts, and when you get overwhelmed, you fall back, repair, and return well before they make good their losses. I've been hitting tier III worlds, and though it's still early game and I'm playing snake style (against turtle and teleport turtle - both randomly chosen, which I got a kick out of), I don't see why it wouldn't work for other map types and AI types. Just make sure to maintain enough defensive firepower to ward off casual counterattacks while you rebuild and repair. Thoughts?
