AI eyes.

[Ulrox]

So I'm pretty new to AI war. I know how to own AI eyes, just kill all guard towers, but I've gotten to a planet with no guard towers. I have a scout warship in it and it doesn't show any guard towers, so I'm at a loss. The only other buildings are 2 fortresses and a distribution node.

[TechSY730]

Did you check for stealth guard posts?
100% of the reports of this nature previously have been someone missing a stealth guard post. Not that it couldn't be a bug, but it would be good to check this first.

[Ulrox]

I had a scout flying around, but I couldn't find any stealth guard posts, but I must admit to not really understanding how stealth works

[Coppermantis]

There are probably stealth guard posts, which cloak themselves and everything else. Use decloakers, scout Starships or anything else with Tachyon beams and just comb the system.

(Ninja'd)


Look in the planetary summary. If you see a great number of cloaked ships then there's a good chance of  a Stealth post.

[TechSY730]

There are probably stealth guard posts, which cloak themselves and everything else. Use decloakers, scout Starships or anything else with Tachyon beams and just comb the system.

Yea, normal scouts cannot reveal where cloaked ships are (though they can reveal if there are cloaked ships on the planet, check the side bar).

Also, if you can stomach a small amount of AIP, you can detonate a tachyon warhead on that planet.

[cycloth]

Well we had a scout ship on the planet; there were cloaked ships shown in the side panel, but no posts.

[Diazo]

How big was the cloaked ships list?

On of the issues with the current UI is if there are too many types of cloaked ships on a planet, they list themselves off the bottom of the screen and there is no indication they have done so.

To handle this, get your scout starships and run them over every resource point, you will probably find the guard post.

Occasionally guard posts are off by themselves and not on a resource point, but most of the time they are.

Note that scout starships have a small Tachyon Emission range (what reveals cloaked units) so you will want to give them the move order to directly on the resource point.

If you want a bigger decloaking range, the decloaker (on the Support tab) is your only option, although as of the last patches it can now hold it's own in combat as well as having a large Tachyon Beam range.

D.

[Hearteater]

Just to repeat/clarify what others have said:

• Tachyon Drones (built like an Engineer or Rebuilder Drone using the Command Station's menu...aka, press B) and Scout Starships (built at the Starship Constructor) are the two Knowledege-free mobile units that can break stealth (aka, cloaking) by passing near a cloaked unit.
  
• Stealth Guard Posts are most often sitting next to a metal or crystal node.
• So bring in either a Tachyon Drone or Scout Starship in and queue it up to move to each metal/crystal node and that generally finds what you are looking for.
• If that doesn't work, a nice back-and-forth scan of the entire system may be necessary.
• If Stealth Guard Posts are too annoying, you can unlock the Decloaker which has a massive detection range.

[laughingman]

You can destroy the AI command station and build your own command station without destroying the AI Eye. Once your command station is built, the stealth guard post will self-destruct and take the Eye with it. I've used this strategy many times when I can't quickly find the Stealth post.

[Ulrox]

You can destroy the AI command station and build your own command station without destroying the AI Eye. Once your command station is built, the stealth guard post will self-destruct and take the Eye with it. I've used this strategy many times when I can't quickly find the Stealth post.

good to know

[Hearteater]

I believe someone mentioned if you get super desperate, they aren't immune to Nukes either.

[TechSY730]

You know, this is such a common "gotcha", I wonder if a compromise can be made. How about, when there are no other types of guard posts around, cloaked guard posts lose their cloaking (though they keep their cloak super-boosting, so their defenders can remain cloaked )? If this makes them too easy, how about when other types of guard posts are gone, *one* cloaked guard post loses its cloaking (again, keeping its cloak super-boosting), and then once that is down, another cloaked guard post loses its cloak, and so on, unit they are all dead?

[Volatar]

You know, this is such a common "gotcha", I wonder if a compromise can be made. How about, when there are no other types of guard posts around, cloaked guard posts lose their cloaking (though they keep their cloak super-boosting, so their defenders can remain cloaked )? If this makes them too easy, how about when other types of guard posts are gone, *one* cloaked guard post loses its cloaking (again, keeping its cloak super-boosting), and then once that is down, another cloaked guard post loses its cloak, and so on, unit they are all dead?

[TechSY730]

You know, this is such a common "gotcha", I wonder if a compromise can be made. How about, when there are no other types of guard posts around, cloaked guard posts lose their cloaking (though they keep their cloak super-boosting, so their defenders can remain cloaked )? If this makes them too easy, how about when other types of guard posts are gone, *one* cloaked guard post loses its cloaking (again, keeping its cloak super-boosting), and then once that is down, another cloaked guard post loses its cloak, and so on, unit they are all dead?

I love this idea
(Cat omitted)
Why is it not on mantis yet?

Here you go: 8987: Have cloaked guard post reveal itself when all other guard post types on the planet are gone. Vote up if you like.

[keith.lamothe]

In the 21st century, cat pictures became the main mode of communication.