How best to 'neuter' a system? Fortify, or leave it alone?

[Egahn]

Hi folks!

Picked up this game off of Steam a few weeks ago, and my friends and I have been loving it.

I have a question that I haven't seen an answer for anywhere yet... what's the best procedure for 'neutering' a planet?  I understand the mechanics of the warp gates, and reinforcement in general, and I know that having destroyed all the guard/special forces posts, the "cap" on the planet will be relatively low for AI reinforcements.

I've tried neutering planets and leaving them in the wake of my advance, when they aren't worth colonizing, but inevitably I have to leave enough turrets behind in the system to defeat the small amounts of reinforcements that arrive, which becomes more onerous as the AIP increases.

If I just kill everything except the command center, including the warp gate, and then leave the system entirely, will the AI eventually venture out of the system?  If so, is there a generally accepted answer to how to permanently neuter a system in your wake such that it won't eventually fill up and start causing trouble behind the lines?  I'd obviously rather spend as few resources on turrets to surround a system that I don't care at all about taking as possible.

Alternatively, maybe it's worth it to just take the +10 AIP hit for killing the command center.  I mean, eventually it will add up, but maybe it's worth it to avoid the headache?

Thanks for making a great game!

[Aegis]

If all you leave is the command station, I think you should be safe from attacks until a cross-planet attack. I don't know if command station units go on free attack or not.

[eRe4s3r]

Kill them, don't let anything standing...

Why?
Command stations left standing = rob you of a combat tactic, cutting the ai off from supply
Warpgates = allow FRD Spawns should be avoided at all costs, also allow raids.. even worse

The question is, why do you want to neuter a system, If you plan on breaking through many planets the best tactic is to simply ignore the planets, capture 1 with many hubs, and research raid all around it, then scuttle it and build your first production outpost at the rebel outpost. Then continue research raids and find homeworlds.. kill them, done

Before supply i was for neutering but i think any planet bordering to your homeworld sectors should be a neutral buffer gives you move time to respond to (if at all) any incursions.

Doing this will focus raids on 1 or 2 worlds, easier to defend...

[raptor331]

My answer: Harvest it.

This is more ideal for MK III-V planets with low resources however, and perferably away from your Home Command Station.

What you do is eliminate everything except the Command Station, then send in a few Leech Starships(or if you have Parasites just build a space dock and start spamming the planet with them) in FRD Mode. They capture "Free" ships for you to use on the frontlines(you may want to get a Repair Station to get the reclaimed ships to safety).

[RCIX]

My answer: Harvest it.

This is more ideal for MK III-V planets with low resources however, and perferably away from your Home Command Station.

What you do is eliminate everything except the Command Station, then send in a few Leech Starships(or if you have Parasites just build a space dock and start spamming the planet with them) in FRD Mode. They capture "Free" ships for you to use on the frontlines(you may want to get a Repair Station to get the reclaimed ships to safety).

Parasites are fine, but leech starships are designed to fly with a fleet and use the fleet's power to capture large volumes of ships.

[Lancefighter]

I went with viral shredders one time.

I just let the stations reinforce.. and nom'd on the yummy sentinel frigates...


Of course, I left a detachment of my own sentinels there to help clean out defenses.. they seem useful, if only when munitions boosted >.>

[Egahn]

I like the 'harvesting' idea!  Next time I get parasites, I will try it out...

[vonduus]

My answer: Harvest it.

This is more ideal for MK III-V planets with low resources however, and perferably away from your Home Command Station.

What you do is eliminate everything except the Command Station, then send in a few Leech Starships(or if you have Parasites just build a space dock and start spamming the planet with them) in FRD Mode. They capture "Free" ships for you to use on the frontlines(you may want to get a Repair Station to get the reclaimed ships to safety).

Great suggestion, I shall definitely try this out in my next game.

[raptor331]

My answer: Harvest it.

This is more ideal for MK III-V planets with low resources however, and perferably away from your Home Command Station.

What you do is eliminate everything except the Command Station, then send in a few Leech Starships(or if you have Parasites just build a space dock and start spamming the planet with them) in FRD Mode. They capture "Free" ships for you to use on the frontlines(you may want to get a Repair Station to get the reclaimed ships to safety).

Great suggestion, I shall definitely try this out in my next game.

Just keep in mind that this isn't a fix all solution. Like any other plan, it has it's downside. My Harvest idea's downside is that you can't do this with a whole lot of planets effectively. You can do it with a lot of planets, but in stead of stationing ships there permanently, you conduct "Harvest Sweeps" picking up Harvested units as you mow through Harvested Planets. But it requires more attention, than just harvesting 1-4 planets at a time.

[Excession]

Well when you come across a system that you want to traverse I guess you have several options.

Avoid it.

Raid through it or otherwise quickly traverse it with your fleet and leave it intact behind you. The more it's part of you main supply line going forward , the more irritating this is going to be though. If I am traversing it with any sort of significant fleet other than on a one-off raid, I will almost always pause to take out the guard posts etc to at least slow it down a bit.

Clear it out totally (incl. warp gates and command - so you may as well colonise it).

Clear it of ships/guard posts but leave up gate and/or command and use static or mobile defence to keep the ship numbers close to zero. This is what i tend to do with low level planets that I don't want that aren't in a critical position.

Clear it of ships/guard posts and use either parasites/leeches or viral shredders (possibly in combination with two engineers, a clean up droid and a rebuilder , and few tractor beams/turrets) to turn spawns behind your lines into 'free' ships for you. However I tend to use these as defence on more valuable/often attacked worlds - like my homeworld or key systems on frontline whilst main fleet is away - it's a handy tactic if you have some spare though as it will scale up your defenses to keep ahead of AI progress...