Some people have felt some of the recent changes have swung the balance too far in the player's favor, and I agree to an extent. One area I feel the AI is much weaker than it should be is one its home worlds. In particular, I find the Core Guard Posts very weak. They pop like bubbles (a single cap of Mark I Bombers will kill most of them in a single volley) and except for the Core Heavy Beam Guard Post have basically no DPS.
If it weren't for Force Fields, Fortresses, AI Eyes, Raid Engines and CPA Posts, the home worlds would hardly be more than a brief speed bump. So I've run some numbers and have thrown together revised stats for all the Core Guard Posts except the Raid Engine and CPA. I've modeled a full ship cap of Mark I-III Bombers (or whichever triangle ship is best) attacking each guard post as accurately as I can and included the results. My target "time to kill" is around 36 seconds, which I feel is just long enough to feel like a substantial obstacle without feeling like the burden of clearing a Fortress.
All the below values are at High ship caps on Epic speed. Unless otherwise noted, each guard post retains any unmentioned stats, abilities, and immunities. I've pulled a few stats such as hull-type multipliers and range in even when I made no changes just to present as clear a picture as possible.
As one final note, the following stat revisions assume AI Eyes no longer appear on home worlds.
Common Abilities: Radar Dampening Range 5,500, Regen Time 180:00, Tachyon Beam Emission (2,000 Range)
Common Immunities: Mass Driver Ammo, Artillery Ammo, Sniper Shots, Fusion Cutters, Tractor Beams, Reclamation, Paralysis Attacks, Transport, Swallow, Nuclear Explosions, Being Insta-Killed, EMPs, Repair
Core Missile Guard Post
Health: 45 million
Hull: Artillery
Armor: 800
Damage: 500,000 x4 (5 second reload)
Range: 36,000
Armor Piercing: 3,000
Abilities: Insta Kills <= Mark 5, Engine Damage 12,000
Multipliers: 6 Medium, 8 Ultra-Light
With a whopping 2400% DPS increase, this post won't let you ignore it for long. It still deals less damage than the Heavy Beam Guard Post, but at least now its missiles will be felt. You can imagine how bad its original damage was that +2400% was required to give it a voice. In addition the engine damage cripples most starships heavily (they are typically 100k engine health), making its missiles feel like they are dealing truly catastrophic damage.
Somewhat optional, the Core Missile Guard Post acts as a mini-Ion Cannon V with less range and a lower rate of fire. This helps make it feel like fleet ships have no business getting in the way of these devastating missiles. Note that for this ability to work properly, the missiles must be able to target units immune to instant kills since they still deals substantial damage. Otherwise the instant kill ability should just be skipped.
To Destroy: 36 seconds with 32 Mark III Bombers destroyed
Core Heavy Beam Guard Post
Health: 45 million
Hull: Heavy
Armor: 1,600
Damage: 500,000 x9 (6 second reload)
Range: 13,000
Armor Piercing: 40,000
Abilities: Heavy Beam Cannon AOE (overkill damage strikes a new target)
Multipliers: 2.5 Medium, 1.75 Heavy, 4 Swarmer, 3.25 Ultra-Light, 3.5 Refractive
Originally the Heavy Beam Guard Post was by far the most damaging Core Guard Post. As part of the health increase on Core Guard Posts proposed here, I've toned down its damage about 44% so it doesn't eat Bombers by the ship cap and laugh. It still deals a ton of damage, has x7.5 the health, and twice the armor. As you can see from the casualty figures below, it is plenty deadly. For consistency with the human Heavy Beam weapons, I adjusted its AOE style to pass-through damage.
To Destroy: 36 seconds with 116 Mark III Bombers destroyed
Core Electric Guard Post
Health: 45 million
Hull: Composite
Armor: 1,600
Damage: 15,000 x1 (8 second reload)
Range: 13,000
Armor Piercing: 999,999
Abilities: Strikes All Targets in Range (400 hits max, up to 10 hits on one target), Paralysis x2
Multipliers: 4 Artillery, 2 Neutron
A hefty damage boost with double the target cap of Lightning Turrets/Electric Shuttles, combined with the health increase gives this Guard Post enough damage your fleet will actually feel it. The paralysis effect is a nice damage reduction, but also makes ignoring the Guard Post and cruising past it more painful, if not suicide. Don't forget however that Missile Frigates are basically immune to this Guard Post and get x6 damage. It would be amusing to have this post sometimes spawn with Counter Missile Turrets nearby. At least then it would take a little more effort to remove this guard post with Missile Frigates.
To Destroy (with Missile Frigates): 10 seconds with a single Mark I Missile Frigate losing 77.9% health
Core Leech Guard Post
Health: 45 million
Hull: Heavy
Armor: 2,400
Damage: 30,000 x40 (2 second reload)
Range: 5,000
Abilities: Reclaims Enemy Ships, 45x Tractor Beams (4800 range)
Multipliers: 3 Medium
Finally able to deal enough damage that ships actually get reclaimed while attempting to chew through its much improved health. The tractor beams make sure it gets a piece of any fleet attempting to bypass it. This is the shortest ranged Core Guard Post and it has a radar dampening range greater than its attack range (by only 500 units) so it is always possible to Destroy this post without it even returning fire if you aren't being too heavily harassed by the rest of the system. But if you have to smash and grab or even just fly by, it will borrow a nice chunk of your fleet.
To Destroy: 36 seconds with 80 Mark III Bombers reclaimed (ignoring reclaimed unit dps)
Core Neinzul Melee Guard Post
Health: 90 million
Hull: Close-Combat
Armor: 3,200
Damage: 250,000 x5 (1 second reload)
Range: 0
Armor Piercing: 5,000
Abilities: Can't Use Wormholes, Attacks Are Self-Damaging, Target Seek Range 5000, Max Ship Speed 14 Within 8000 Range, Regen Time 15:00
Multipliers: 2 Scout, 3 Light, 3 Neutron
With more health and enough damage to be a credible threat, the Neinzul Melee Post becomes much more dangerous. But the additional Gravity Drain effect makes them disruptive as well. The lower regeneration time is primarily to offset their self-damage. Multiple attacks on melee units probably aren't ideal, but it should still allow it to kill multiple fleet ships since they tend to stack up some especially with the gravity drain effect. Giving it a single small radius AOE melee attack could work as well, but it would need to take self-damage from all targets hit. Ultimately it is still self-damaging so something as simple as Mark I-III Fighters is still a win. In fact is kills itself in just 72 seconds even when nothing is firing back!
To Destroy (with Fighters): 35 seconds with 175 Mark II Fighters destroyed (this is middle-ground performance. It kills more total Marks attacking the IIIs but dies faster, and lives the longest but is least effective against the Mark Is)
Core Zenith Bombard Guard Post
Health: 45 million
Hull: Artillery
Armor: 800
Damage: 10,000,000 x1 (15 second reload)
Range: 53,000
Armor Piercing: 10,000
Abilities: Grenade Launcher AOE (8 additional targets, 1000 unit radius)
Multipliers: 2.5 Medium, 1.75 Heavy, 4 Swarmer, 3.25 Ultra-Light, 3.5 Refractive
Since everyone loves Bombards so much, this post hits like 22 Mark V Bombards from further away, twice as fast, with about 10% more total health. While certainly a post to keep large, fragile (and not so fragile) units away from, actually destroying this post should be fairly simple. The challenge appears when you can't get to it, but it can reach you.
To Destroy: 36 seconds with 27 Mark III Bombers destroyed (assuming optimal AOE damage)
Core Spire Shield Guard Post
Health: 392,000,000
Hull: Heavy
Armor: 0
Damage: 2,500 x6 (2 second reload)
Range: 5,600
Abilities: Armor Damage 100, Spawns Reinforcements When Damaged
Multipliers: None
Very minimal stat changes, the primary one being armor rotting which will allow it to support the ships it is protecting. The damage buff is effectively negligible considering it has no armor piercing, but at least it will look like it is trying. The main change is whenever the post loses 10% of its health, it spawns additional Mark V ships equal to the AI difficulty. At 50% and 10% health remaining, it surges, spawning five times as many ships.
To Destroy: 5.4 minutes with 30 Mark I Bombers destroyed (not counting reinforcement ships)
Core Sentinel Guard Post
Health: 45 million
Hull: Heavy
Armor: 10,000
Damage: 30,000 x12 (2 second reload)
Range: 9,000
Armor Piercing: 5,000
Ammo: Laser
Abilities: Can't Use Wormholes
Multipliers: 16 Light, 4 Neutron, 8 Swarmer
Certainly more damaging and much tougher than before, this post has enough armor that it actually takes a bit longer to kill. Its firepower isn't all that impressive, but its mobility and durability make it an unpredictable threat. And don't overlook its x16 Light hull damage multiplier, or you will find all your Light units vanishing. Its ammo changes to Lasers to give an interesting interaction with Deflectors which are a Swarmer ship and normally wrecked by the dozen. Definitely a guard post you'll notice, but armor rotting it down to just 8,000 armor gives it a lifespan of only 36 seconds against Mark I-III Bombers.
To Destroy: 60 seconds with 55 Mark III Bombers destroyed
Core Zenith Fortress Guard Post
Health: 60 million
Hull: Polycrystal
Armor: 10,000
Damage: 32,000 x100 (3 second reload)
Range: 8,000
Ammo: Flame Wave
Abilities: Counters Dark Matter, Repair Rate 2.5
Modifiers: 1.25 Ultra-Light, 1.25 Swarmer, 1.25 Light, 1.25 Refractive, 1.25 Close Combat, 1.25 Composite, 1.25 Artillery
This is basically a cross between a Fortress and a guard post. It has less health and range, but it makes up with that in shear firepower and much improved multipliers. It is in fact itself Polycrystal, making Fighters the choice unit to remove it. It does put out 80% of a Mark III Fortress's DPS so expect losses whatever you bring to take it down. Its multipliers make it better against mainly lighter units, but even against heavy units its damage is quite respectable. Ultimately though, you can go all-on with your fleet against this guard post, unlike versus a Fortress. The ammo-type change keeps Bulletproof Fighters from being immune to it, since they are already immune to Core Leech Guard Posts (and Spire Shield).
To Destroy (with Fighters): 36 seconds with 100 Mark III Fighters destroyed
Core Neinzul Spawner Guard Post
Health: 45 million
Hull: Neutron
Armor: 5,000
Damage: 250,000 x1 (2 second reload)
Range: 83,000
Abilities: Tachyon Beam Emission (4,000 range), Spawns Cockroaches, Spawns Cockroaches On Kills
Modifiers: None
This guard post is already fairly solid with its insane range and the danger of setting off its cockroach spawn. To add a small element of consistant additional fleet harassment though, whenever it kills a ship it spawns several Neinzul Cockroaches at the destroyed ship's location. One/mark of the target would be simple. But possibly more interesting might be to track hits and have any death of the target spawn two or three Cockroaches. The image of it firing Cockroach larva into your ships is very amusing.
To Destroy: 36 seconds with 18 Mark III Bombers destroyed (ignoring Cockroaches)
