AI Eyes on fortified, low-population planets

[Kraiz]

AI Eyes are usually not an insurmountable opponent.  However, I've encountered a situation where I cannot find an inventive way to counter one.

The Eye is a Plasma Eye.  It is on a planet with a Mk.V Scapegoat fabricator, which I very much so would like to sieze.  The planet, however, has a grand total of 10 ships on it.

In this situation, I would send in a few raiding ships, nix the command station, and place my own command station, removing the AI Eye.  However, there is a Mk.II Force Field covering a Command Station guard post, with two Gravity Guardians inside.  Staying under 20 ships to destroy it is proving extremely difficult.

I've tried Raid starships, small waves of 10-15 bombers at a time, plasma siege, bomber starships, and much more.  No combination I try has managed to make a dent in it.

Any insight on how I can resolve this?

[keith.lamothe]

There might be an easier way, but the first one that comes to mind is to get a lot of mobile tractor/capture capacity (black widow golem, riot starships, even spire maws or powerslavers), catch a bunch of AI ships (the next wave might be a good place), bring them to the planet with the AI Eye and (in the maw/powerslaver case) release those ships, then attack.

Sounds just insane enough to work, but I'm just guessing


Other than that, perhaps a lightning-warhead-to-the-face for the enemy's strongpoint.  Cloaker starships to cover if necessary.

[tadrinth]

Raid starships and Plasma Siege might be able to kill the Guardians under the FF, but it sounds like you've tried that.  Unlocking higher marks might help. You might need to bring in some engineers, keep them out of range, and pull out ships for repair as they get low.  I guess the gravity guards might make that a pain to do with short-range ships. 

Don't suppose you could get Devastators or Space Planes anywhere? 

Hack the Eye or the FF.  The hacking response will produce enough ships that you can bring in at least some of your fleet; just keep everything near the wormhole so you can move your fleet in and out as needed. Once either is gone, you should be fine.

Or, just do a download hack on the fabricator, then you don't have to take the system. 

EMP warhead will take the FF down for a little while, giving you a window to splat the guardians.  Or bring in a lightning or armored warhead under Cloaker starship cover. 

Plasma Eyes are one of the nastiest eyes, given their extremely low grace period and the slow travel time on their shots. 

[Kraiz]

A lightning Mk. I did the trick to hit the CSSGP, which popped the eye as well.  I use warheads so infrequently outside of multiplayer that I forgot they were a thing.

[keith.lamothe]

Yea, careful use of warheads is often a solution when the AI gets uncouth with its defensive setups.

Aggressive use of warheads can either be a one-way-ticket-to-doom or a keystone of extremely high level play.

[Qatu]

Use a hacker to remove the eye.

[Draco18s]

Or not giving a hoot and throwing Neinzul Enclaves at the problem.  Drones are basically immune to the Plasma Eye ("Oh gee, I have been instant killed, oh whatever shall I do?  Oh right, I had an eight second lifespan anyway.")

[tadrinth]

Hrm, Neinzul Enclaves have radar dampening but the wiki claims Plasma Eyes are immune to Radar Dampening. 

Starships, esp enclaves, do work very well vs Ion and Parasite eyes due to their total immunity.

[vigilo confido]

Too few AI ships? Piss it off with a sensor hack but dont complete the hack and pull the wave to the edge of the star system with a raider or something. Problem solved.

[Draco18s]

Hrm, Neinzul Enclaves have radar dampening but the wiki claims Plasma Eyes are immune to Radar Dampening. 

Starships, esp enclaves, do work very well vs Ion and Parasite eyes due to their total immunity.

The starship isn't immune to the Plasma Eye, no.  And neither are the drones.  But the Eye will prioritize the drones over the starship, so they act as flak.  While also murdering everything in the system that moves.

[tadrinth]

Ah, I guess the Eye prefers to shoot at things it can one-shot? 

The enclaves could still possibly be caught in the splash if the drones don't fly off fast enough.

I'd also expect that targeting priority to eventually be changed so that the Eye ignores the drones:

Fixed a bug where AI units would still sometimes prioritize only-target-of-opportunity units (like enclave drones) when, for example, all other targets were covered by decoy drones. It's better for them to shoot the decoys than the enclave drones

It sounds like the Eye shouldn't be shooting at the drones at all if it can shoot at anything else instead.