Advanced Factories

[Hyfrydle]

In my current game I have just managed to take a system with an Advanced Factory but how do I now build tech 4 ships? My next target plant has over 4000 ships defending it so I will need all the help I can get.

[Revenantus]

To build a MkIV ship you must have the MkIII version of that ship type unlocked.

[Hyfrydle]

Then do I just build at the space dock as normal?

[Haagenti]

No....only at the IV factory.

Note that it is immovable and rather fragile. Cover it with a forcefield.

[Revenantus]

Advanced Factories function like spacedocks except they can only manufacture MkIV ships. Be sure to defend the factory well, putting a forcefield over can be a good defensive measure.

[Hyfrydle]

Guess it's been destroyed then as I can't access it. Would the ai take it out or would it be my own ships by accident?

[x4000]

The AI treats it as a high priority target, so it was probably them.  Your ships won't attack it.  Whoops!

[Hyfrydle]

Well think that's it for this game then all other potential target planets have 3000+ ships and I can only muster 1200 all attempts to attack have been a failure.

Anyone have any suggestions?

[x4000]

Well think that's it for this game then all other potential target planets have 3000+ ships and I can only muster 1200 all attempts to attack have been a failure.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Well, there are usually 5 or so advanced factories in any given map, so you can look for more.  Also, I'd suggest "hopping" those difficult planets and just going to some smaller planets on the other side of them.  You can do that just by rushing your fleet through and avoiding combat, or by using transports and mobile builders to build a permanent home on the other side.  If all of the planets right near you are too hard, then try to skip them and move further out.  Unless you're playing on a very small map (less than 40 planets), there should be lots of options for you, even if they aren't right next door to your existing holdings.

[Hyfrydle]

Thanks for your help.

Going to try a charge through enemy territory with a transport. Is it possible to load mobile builders or colony pods onboard?

[x4000]

No problem!  Unfortunately, at this time the smaller military ships are the only ones that fit on transports.  You can usually get mobile builders across by just building a bunch of them (10 or 12).  A future enhancement is planned to let mobile builders, engineers, etc, ride in transports.

[Hyfrydle]

Managed to get scouts to the other side but lost the transport 100 ships and 15 mobile builders instantly as I emerged from the wormhole. Also the planets on the other side are also lvl 3 or above which leaves me back where I started.

Think I might have to put this one down to experience.

[Revenantus]

If you have a particularly entrenched AI Planet you want to conquer you could also use lightning warheads, be aware that it'll bump up the AI progress a bit though.

[x4000]

Usually you'd want to scout before hopping a planet if at all possible, too.  Otherwise heavy casualties and wrong-turns are really likely.  And if the AI is really entrenched, then just sending through ships paired with lightning missiles (and/or ships that are not in transports) is usually the way to go.  You could also use a mobile force field (mark III force field), but that's a bit more challenging and requires a lot of knowledge to unlock.  If the planets in between where you are and where you want to go are too insurmountable, you could always consider a Nuke or an EMP missile, too.  Just be very careful with those, and make sure the cost is worth the benefit.

[Hyfrydle]

Worth a try but I've never used warheads before how do they work?