Ok, so, I finally started on this....

[madcow]

By using waypoints, do you mean spamming waypoints under the force fields to keep them under it?

[Kahuna]

yes

[madcow]

On another note. When botnet golems, its implied that the golem will be only a few jumps away from the home planet, is there a hard number on the max number of jumps it can?  I've done a fairly thorough search up to 5 jumps in all directions and not found it yet - in some places considerably more than 5 jumps. Worried about not finding it before the exo's hit.  Though I did manage to claim a widow at least.

And sorry about hijacking misery's thread for my random questions

[LaughingThesaurus]

Interesting the number of different thoughts on autokite.  I guess I'll play around with it, I definitely found it working against me while trying to lay down force fields with my shadow champion ship.

Edit: another 2 questions popped up!

1.  Do neizhul regeneration chambers actually do anything for the AI if they don't have any neizhul ships unlocked?

2.  Is it worthwhile to jump out and pop barracks if I think I can handle the resulting threat?  Kind of worried about ship build up on them and been striking out to kill them on bordering systems.

1. I don't think so.

2. I usually only kill barracks if they're anywhere near my planets. I haven't had any huge problems from barracks just sitting around innocently elsewhere. I think the AI draws from them for CPAs and stuff but that's about it.

[LordSloth]

I don't know if this is still the case, but as of 5.050 regarding botnet:
"It tries to seed on a planet 4 or 5 hops from the human homeworld(s); if it can't it tries 3, 2, and then 1. This is a far more controlled distance than normal golems (which is just 3+ from human homeworlds) because it's best that the challenge of having this faction on not vary so widely as a simple 3+ distance seeding would."

It might be the case that you've enabled regular broken golems, and not the botnet (which is its own faction). You can check this from the stats screen (second tab, I think).

If it's enabled and you still can't find it, then are you using the objectives screen or broken golems galaxy filter, in case you overlooked it?

[madcow]

I did find the botnet golem eventually. It was on the one planet I hadn't scouted yet essentially.

I had two more questions that came up to me!

Firstly, barracks, is it worth going out to kill them (especially on high mark planets?).  I lost my last game because I popped a mark 4 barrack, but I'm also really worried about what happens if they build up.

Secondly, dire guardian lairs.  After losing to barracks, this thing wiped me out when I popped it. Do the guardians they spawn scale with AIP, or get progressively tougher? It's another case of wondering how late can you wait before dealing with them.

Lastly, warp jammers, can you put one in your home system? I'm playing a game with tons of counterattack posts, and would love to prevent the waves from hitting my home base, but that's a huge knowledge investment when I'm not sure if it'll even be placable there.

[Tridus]

Firstly, barracks, is it worth going out to kill them (especially on high mark planets?).  I lost my last game because I popped a mark 4 barrack, but I'm also really worried about what happens if they build up.

Not really. AI Units just sit in a barracks unless they have a reason to come out (like you destroying the command station, or maybe a CPA). They're less dangerous than units in carriers (who can go offensive).

You can kill them if you want to neuter the planet and just generally keep the ship count on it low, but otherwise it's typically safe to ignore them if you don't want to take the planet anyway.

Secondly, dire guardian lairs.  After losing to barracks, this thing wiped me out when I popped it. Do the guardians they spawn scale with AIP, or get progressively tougher? It's another case of wondering how late can you wait before dealing with them.

If you can take it off alert, it doesn't really bother you. If it goes on alert, it'll spawn one Dire Guardian occasionally, and they're all mean (AFAIK they aren't affected by AIP). If you destroy the lair, it spawns three at once. You'll need a serious force if you plan on doing that.

Note that you can also turn Dire Guardian Lairs off in the game settings.

Lastly, warp jammers, can you put one in your home system? I'm playing a game with tons of counterattack posts, and would love to prevent the waves from hitting my home base, but that's a huge knowledge investment when I'm not sure if it'll even be placable there.

No you can't put it in your home system.  It also doesn't get a foldout like the other command station unlocks do. (If you unlock mk II or III of the other command stations, you get a free version of it in your home system that provides the same benefits. Except the warp jammer.)

[madcow]

So there's no way to prevent counter attacks at the home system,  I just need to make sure I can fend them off?

As for the dire guardian lair, its right next to several important things, so I'll just need to deal with it, have to claim systems next to it.

My worry on the barracks is that once they fill up, it says they start filling carriers which worries me. Bu that just takes so long that its not a concern I guess?

[Lord Fiddlemeister]

So there's no way to prevent counter attacks at the home system,  I just need to make sure I can fend them off?

Exactly, though this isn't necessarily a bad thing! Your homeworld can get incredibly strong due to the multiple foldouts. If you research Military station mark III for example, you get an indestructible miniature next to your orbital command station, meaning you have those displacement guns and a planet-wide tachyon emitter. Researching Logistical station mark III would even disable teleporting and slow enemy ships by 50(?)% while increasing yours with 100%. These two together make it very easy to defend your homeworld against most waves

[Tridus]

So there's no way to prevent counter attacks at the home system,  I just need to make sure I can fend them off?

Counterattack posts use some logic for how they decide what to attack. It actually is possible to get them to attack somewhere else, as the post will attack a world up to a certain number of hops away from the post (if it has a valid target in range). So once you're hitting ones farther away from your homeworld and have another system for them to target instead, they'll go there.

As for the dire guardian lair, its right next to several important things, so I'll just need to deal with it, have to claim systems next to it.

Ah. Then yeah, you'll need a lot of firepower before you destroy it. If you take an adjacent system, bring in a mobile builder and throw up some turrets and such to help you.

My worry on the barracks is that once they fill up, it says they start filling carriers which worries me. Bu that just takes so long that its not a concern I guess?

Eventually, yeah. But if AIP is low that happens really slowly. Unless the planet is on alert you can ignore the barracks safely. If it is on alert, you can usually still ignore it safely, but if you have the firepower and want to destroy it there isn't much harm. (If you don't have the firepower, you saw what happens. )

[madcow]

I had the firepower for the barracks. The issue was the announced wave right after on the far side of my system!

And good to know that there's a range on counter attack posts.  Also, the various command station upgrades include a benefit to my home station?  That's good to know, I was considering unlocking fortresses to put one up next to my station, but maybe I'll actually upgrade logistics instead.  Is that little tidbit of info on the unlock tooltips?

Thanks for the answers!

[Tridus]

I believe the tooltip does mention that you get a version of the same thing on your home system, yeah.

That said if that's all you want it for, Fortress is a better unlock. Only unlock the command stations if you intend on using them on other planets. For front line defensive purposes, Military II beats Logistics II. (Honestly I don't use Logistics II, gravity turrets get you a similar effect and it's a lot harder to replace what a Military II does for your defensive power.)

[deadone]

And when you get any fleet action going and your ships end up spread out all over an enemy system, auto-kite can be a real liability.

yeah sometimes i think the same, but if you use it combined with attackmove (hotkey X) they come back

[Vacuity]

For barracks, personally I largely ignore the ones on MkI and MkII worlds, even if they're next to my own planets (unless it's on a path I use for moving ships through regularly).  A carrier full of MkI or II ships just isn't that big a deal on the grand scale of problems you face in this game, and I really would rather have reinforcements coming in on those weaker planets than on the harder planets elsewhere.

On the other hand, barracks on MkIII and MkIV worlds are removed as soon as I have a suitable opportunity; at the point they start getting full, they're a problem to pop because of the firepower released, and they're a problem to leave alone because of carriers full of firepower getting generated over time.

Of course, I may be misunderstanding how the mechanisms work, if that's the case, someone enlighten me, please.

[madcow]

Oh if I unlocked logistics it would be to go everywhere.  It's my favorite of the command stations for quick strike/defense capabilities, etc.  that said, does its slowing stack with gravity turrets. The fact that those unlocks do actually help the home station was just an extra incentive