Zenith Reserves

[BobTheJanitor]

I have a bad habit of popping any Zenith Reserve I come across. This is coming back to bite me in terms of AIP, but that's not the point. Although I get some fun ships out of it, I'm starting to wonder if these are really ever worth the AIP cost, or possibly if they're even bugged. I've noticed that some of the higher level ones tell me I need 400k to 1 million energy free to support the ships, but then I crack them open and my energy barely seems to drop at all. Are they supposed to contain a lot more ships, maybe? Or is something making them not use my energy? I'm not sure. I like getting some extra ships to play around with, and some of these are very fun designs, but is the Mark V reserve, for example, really worth 50 AIP under any situation conceivable? That's going to have to be a lot of ships that could single-handedly flatten several worlds for me to really think that's ever a good choice. It seems like too much risk, not enough reward basically.

[Red Spot]

I once fairly early game opened a lvl3 reserve ... the ships served me for a long time ..
Got a fairly minor set of mk3 ships when I was getting near an allround mk2 setup. Getting mk3 viral schredders and a bunch more really helped a lot. Just dont trow them away at a meaningless target, ultra-blob your blob and they are usefull even if it are 10 extra higher mark ships.

I say they come at a steep cost but are a huge asset if really needed or it just happens to supply you with some higher mark ships.
Use them with care, they surelly are not a thing like the cash-reserves, that I do pop open as soon as the bankaccount allows.

So far the energy consumption seems to have been around 60k-120k. Perhaps the mk4-5 versions go up quickly in energy requirements.

[BobTheJanitor]

Yeah I'm still learning to play strategically and not just 'select all ships, click on bad guy' so this may be a tool that is better wielded by a more experienced player.

And I'm the same way on the distribution nodes. If I have any space for them I tend to crack them as soon as possible. Of course I always save first, so I can reload and try again if it's a trojan node. Which I feel kind of bad about... but not as bad as I feel about tanking my economy with a bad node.

[Reality]

I wonder if that AIP cost could be tweaked - I mean, repairing up a golem is only 15-30 AIP, and my 2 golems in my current game have each been instrumental in clearing like 5 systems. Can a couple of mark 5 zenith ships really compare to that for 50 AIP?

[BobTheJanitor]

Well, never hurts to ask. http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/view.php?id=2403

I'm afraid with the number of bug reports and suggestions I keep submitting, a shadowy figure is going to sneak into my house one night and break my keyboard and/or fingers. 

[Sunshine!]

I've never popped a Zenith Reserve, have never found it necessary.  If I were going to though, I'd pop one of each Mk3, Mk4, Mk5, and totally abuse the Viral Shredders.

[BobTheJanitor]

I've never popped a Zenith Reserve, have never found it necessary.  If I were going to though, I'd pop one of each Mk3, Mk4, Mk5, and totally abuse the Viral Shredders.

And that's why it's so hard to resist the urge to pop them. Shredders are way too much fun. I don't know if strategically they're all that useful, but I love using them.

[Wingsofdomain]

I've never popped a Zenith Reserve, have never found it necessary.  If I were going to though, I'd pop one of each Mk3, Mk4, Mk5, and totally abuse the Viral Shredders.

And that's why it's so hard to resist the urge to pop them. Shredders are way too much fun. I don't know if strategically they're all that useful, but I love using them.

It's not worth it to pop 'em if you just use the shreddars xD.

Personally I feel like ships are supposed to die and will aswel as Zenith ships. But the AIP you can never turn down (the data centers doesn't give much at all imao) so I have never dared to pop one open.

[PineappleSam]

I've never popped a Zenith Reserve, have never found it necessary.  If I were going to though, I'd pop one of each Mk3, Mk4, Mk5, and totally abuse the Viral Shredders.

And that's why it's so hard to resist the urge to pop them. Shredders are way too much fun. I don't know if strategically they're all that useful, but I love using them.

It's not worth it to pop 'em if you just use the shreddars xD.

Personally I feel like ships are supposed to die and will aswel as Zenith ships. But the AIP you can never turn down (the data centers doesn't give much at all imao) so I have never dared to pop one open.

My fleet of 1000 shredders, all grown from the handful unlocked by the Z reserve, begs to differ

Pop 'em for the shredders, and then you get some nice support ships at the same time!

[Wingsofdomain]

I've never popped a Zenith Reserve, have never found it necessary.  If I were going to though, I'd pop one of each Mk3, Mk4, Mk5, and totally abuse the Viral Shredders.

And that's why it's so hard to resist the urge to pop them. Shredders are way too much fun. I don't know if strategically they're all that useful, but I love using them.

It's not worth it to pop 'em if you just use the shreddars xD.

Personally I feel like ships are supposed to die and will aswel as Zenith ships. But the AIP you can never turn down (the data centers doesn't give much at all imao) so I have never dared to pop one open.

My fleet of 1000 shredders, all grown from the handful unlocked by the Z reserve, begs to differ

Pop 'em for the shredders, and then you get some nice support ships at the same time!

haha true... But the shreddars seems to be a bit op....at least in defence. My brother uses them  in our campain righjt now... And he has ....well more than 4x  shreddars mark 2 than the cap is on. So he has the problem that they cuddly hug  too fast and his energy is going down xD.

[Echo35]

I tend to leave the Reserves there until a clutch moment that I need them, such as a suddenly huge incoming wave or to defend the Spire Shards or something like that.

[Wingsofdomain]

hmm....that sounds great. Maybe I shuold start doing that xD.

[zebramatt]

I tend to leave the Reserves there until a clutch moment that I need them, such as a suddenly huge incoming wave or to defend the Spire Shards or something like that.

Yup.

And also it's important to remember that AIP has little immediate impact on the galaxy. If your forces are already poised for the final push against the last AI and you happen to have a few Reserves scattered about unopened, it's almost always a good idea to crack 'em and use the additional forces for a bit of extra clout.

[Red Spot]

I tend to leave the Reserves there until a clutch moment that I need them, such as a suddenly huge incoming wave or to defend the Spire Shards or something like that.

In my current game I have mk3 reserve right next to the only gate leading towards my homeplanet (there are more gates but originating from dead-end planets that I own). I wont break it, almost did with a counterattack on that planet but managed to hold it.
There is no better place to have one, right next to the CC under the FF capping the gate
(2 Z-generators, 3th on its way, means energy has no meaning to me.)

[Echo35]

I tend to leave the Reserves there until a clutch moment that I need them, such as a suddenly huge incoming wave or to defend the Spire Shards or something like that.

In my current game I have mk3 reserve right next to the only gate leading towards my homeplanet (there are more gates but originating from dead-end planets that I own). I wont break it, almost did with a counterattack on that planet but managed to hold it.
There is no better place to have one, right next to the CC under the FF capping the gate
(2 Z-generators, 3th on its way, means energy has no meaning to me.)

Zenith Reserves are like opening a Christmas Present that you get beaten up for later.