Any way to Stop Etherjets from atttacking?

[Coppermantis]

I'm trying to use etherjets+parasites to get some higher level ships, but the etherjets always destroy almost all of the ships they're towing, so the parasites can't get to them. Is there anything I can do to make them stop doing this?

[Ranakastrasz]

Thats actually not surprising.I personally think the systems of cloaking, tractor beams, weapons, and low power need to be modified in such a way as to take into account their interactions with each other, such as allowing the disabling of weapons without disabling cloak or tractor beam(but requireing cloak to be down when tractorbeam is on, and breaking it if cloaking, or refusing the cloak, or bla or bla...)

[Commiesalami]

Using Tractor Platforms, (Or Martyrs if you like to live dangerously )  tends to be a better idea for this sort of thing.  They tend to have a much better Tractors:Firepower Ratio

[Coppermantis]

Those aren't in the base game/Zenith Remnant are they? I've never seen them before, I don't have either of the other expansions. (Although I do plan on buying them soon.)

[Commiesalami]

Both of those ships are in the Light of the Spire Expansion.  Tractor platforms are a fleet ship where each one can tractor 30xMark ships(They have a ship cap of 5 or less).  Martyrs are Spirecraft that have 100+ Tractors but when they die they go off like a lightning warhead (Sans the AI Progress)

If you only have Zenith Remnant then you could try it with a black widow golem, but I think that one as well has a little too much firepower as well to make it a viable tactic.

[Coppermantis]

Funny thing, I just got a planet that had

-A rebelling Human Colony
-Decoy Drone fabricator
-Mk. V parasite fabricator
-Black Widow Golem

With Mk. V parasites this might be interesting. Anyways, thanks for the help, When I get LoTS I'll try tractor platforms.

[Hearteater]

To capture lots of ships much easier, use a Miltary Command Station and 5-10 Spider Turrets somewhere the AI likes to harass or send waves.  Keep a blob of parasites (or Leech Starships even) by the Command Station.  Wait for the enemies ships to become immobilized all around the system and then put your parasites on FRD.  Be sure to set up a Rally Post at your Command Station and set your options to make reclaimed ships rally.  Otherwise you'll lose the first bunch to fire from nearby immobilized enemies.

[Coppermantis]

To capture lots of ships much easier, use a Miltary Command Station and 5-10 Spider Turrets somewhere the AI likes to harass or send waves.  Keep a blob of parasites (or Leech Starships even) by the Command Station.  Wait for the enemies ships to become immobilized all around the system and then put your parasites on FRD.  Be sure to set up a Rally Post at your Command Station and set your options to make reclaimed ships rally.  Otherwise you'll lose the first bunch to fire from nearby immobilized enemies.

Hmm, I'd never thought of Spider Turrets, but what is the significance of the Military Command? It seems like it would potentially destroy the ships I'm attempting to reclaim.

[chemical_art]

Hmm, I'd never thought of Spider Turrets, but what is the significance of the Military Command? It seems like it would potentially destroy the ships I'm attempting to reclaim.

Military stations do little direct damage, especially under a shield where they should be. But they warp enemies away from the station. If they have been shot by a sniper, it'll take usually at least 5 minutes for the crippled ship to be in range to fire at it again. For me, the outcome of a battle is decided in 3 minutes or less, so the sniper + warp combo takes them out of the battle, so to speak.

[Hearteater]

Yup.  The translocation effect + engine damage spreads the enemy fleet all over the system where your parasites can mob them down 1vCap basically.  Very easy to set up a system in this fashion to automate farming enemy ships.  Of course it doesn't work against huge waves, but knock out the warp gates next to a Mark III+ planet and leave a setup like this and border aggression will feed you a lot of nice ships.  Especially because the AI underestimates your defenses and thinks 100 or so ships can take you.

Use with caution if the enemy uses ships immune to engine damage.

[Coppermantis]

I also had an idea, but have yet to test it. Riot control starships designed with tractor beams and nothing else. And I didn't know that about military commands, I wondered why enemy ships would sometimes be scattered all around.

[Hearteater]

Just a note when placing spider/sniper turrets with a Miltary Command Station (especially Spider Turrets), put them very close to it, but outside the shield.  Since the one place enemies have trouble staying is next to the CS.  If you put the snipers/spiders somewhere random, eventually enough enemies get translocated next to them that they die to pot-shots.

[Commiesalami]

I also had an idea, but have yet to test it. Riot control starships designed with tractor beams and nothing else. And I didn't know that about military commands, I wondered why enemy ships would sometimes be scattered all around.

I completely forgot about Riots, Go Ahead and give the Riot Ships Guns:  Riot guns do virtually no damage except for a sold amount of engine damage, they should work pretty well (But you may need to give each of them multiple tractors)

[Philo]

As I remember Sniper/Spider turrets are immune to force fields which means they can shoot through them with 100% dmg. So you can place them beneath force fields without reducing damage.

[Ranakastrasz]

As I remember Sniper/Spider turrets are immune to force fields which means they can shoot through them with 100% dmg. So you can place them beneath force fields without reducing damage.

Wrong, That only means they are immune to enemy force fields, not your force field weapon dampening effect. however, I do not know whether or not that reduces engine damage, (It should) If it doesn't, then placing them under the shields would make them effectively invulnerable, but deal minor damage to enemy ships and their engines.(you probably need more, but you will not lose the rather expensive spider turrets as a result. Placing them outside the field would work fine as well anyway.