One shotting Bombers 200 at a time

[Kahuna]

Bombers

Mark I
Health: 1560

Mark II
Health: 3140

Mark III
Health: 4700

Mark IV
Health: 6280

Mark V
Health: 7800

Lightning Turrets
"Fire Electric bolts up to 200 nearby enemy ships"

Mark I
Attack: 12
Reload Speed: 17
Ship Cap: 24
Damage Multiplier: 3
*200
Cap DPS: 10164
Cap Burst Damage VS Single Target: 864
Knowledge cost: -
Total Knowledge cost: -

Mark II
Attack: 24
Reload Speed: 17
Ship Cap: 24
Damage Multiplier: 3
*200
Cap DPS: 20329
Cap Burst Damage VS Single Target: 1728
Knowledge cost: 750
Total Knowledge cost: 750

Mark III
Attack: 36
Reload Speed: 17
Ship Cap: 24
Damage Multiplier: 3
*200
Cap DPS: 30494
Cap Burst Damage VS Single Target: 2592
Knowledge cost: 1250
Total Knowledge cost: 2000

Mark IV
Attack: 48
Reload Speed: 17
Ship Cap: 24
Damage Multiplier: 3
*200
Cap DPS: 40658
Cap Burst Damage VS Single Target: 3456
Knowledge cost: 1500
Total Knowledge cost: 3500

So..
To one shot 200 Mark I Bombers every 17 seconds build at least 22 Mark II Lightning Turrets. That will result in a burst damage of 1584 hit points which is enough to one shot a Mark I Bomber. Of course you can just build full caps of all Turrets but that costs more energy. The point here is to minimize costs and maximize effectiveness. Note that all turrets have the same cap energy cost regardless of Mark level.

On 10/10 difficulty the game starts with AIs having Mark II Tech Level. To one shot Mark II Bombers build at least a full cap of Mark III Lightning Turrets and 8 Mark II Lightning Turrets. That will result in a burst damage of 3168 hit points.

To one shot Mark III Bombers build at least full caps of Mark III and II Lightning Turrets and 11 Mark I Lightning Turrets. That will result in a burst damage of 4716 hit points.

To one shot Mark IV Bombers build at least full caps of Mark IV and III Lightning Turrets and 4 Mark II Lightning Turrets. That will result in a burst damage of 6336 hit points.

To one shot Mark V Bombers build at least full caps of Mark IV, III and II Lightning Turrets and 1 Mark I Lightning Turrets. That will result in a burst damage of 7812 hit points.

These calculations assume the Lightning Turrets are not protected by a force field. Think imma add "Force Field protected calculations later".. I'd like to know that myself too.

It's advisable to keep the Lightning Turrets in Stand Down Mode until the Bombers are in range. When they're in range disable the Stand Down Mode and start one shotting the Bombers.





Aka Lightning Turrets are underrated.

Now that Bombers can be killed easy peasy (lemon squeezy) you can unlock Mark IV Needler Turrets and Mark I HBCs to Counter the Carriers. Add some Munitions Boosters for some extreme ownage.

EDIT: Damn it.. I should add calculations for each Mark level combination Lightning Turrets+Munitions Boosters/Military Command Stations/ForceFields. Arf so much work.

[Qatu]

 I'd recommend using lightnings with gravity. Since lightnings will trigger whenever something is in range, this will help against enemies that are cloaked/dampened. It also reduces the need to pause lightnings since they will have more time to recharge.

[Hearteater]

Missile Frigates are always my real concern in early 10/10. They are just much harder to deal with due to their AOE immunity and range. They make my Lightning Turrets sad . That's actually the main reason I almost always want a good single-target DPS bonus ship in 10/10.

[Kahuna]

Missile Frigates are always my real concern in early 10/10. They are just much harder to deal with due to their AOE immunity and range. They make my Lightning Turrets sad . That's actually the main reason I almost always want a good single-target DPS bonus ship in 10/10.

Ah I know what you mean. Sometimes it seems to me that Missile Frigates are even more dangerous than Bombers.

I recommend you try Munitions Boosters. They have an attack multiplier vs Artillery, damage boost each other too and do surprisingly good dps. Munitions Boosters have Refractive hull so they are countered by Missile Frigates but still they often seem to survive surprisingly long. Also the attack damage boost quite long range so you can manually order them to stay back and just boost Bombers/Needler Turrets/whatever. If there are no Missile Frigates around they're quite tanky because Refractive attack multiplier isn't that common. In addition to Munitions Boosters just get additional Needler Turrets and Missile Frigates aren't a problem. Try it.

[Nodor]

My favorite counter to missile frigates is Zenith Viral Shredder.

This is good math stuff. I don't tend to use Lightning Frigates vs. bombers, but the stand down mode idea makes dropping them on an incoming gate near some tractor beam turrets more plausible.

[Kahuna]

Lightning Frigates vs. bombers

Lightning Turret*

[Qatu]

 Heavy beams+gravity+snipers turrets with a handful of missiles/needlers take care of everything on defense even on 10/10 at 10-15aip, no need for fancy stuff. I found lightnings useful when aip climbs and there arent enough heavy beams for every planet.

[Kahuna]

Here's a trick that can help you place Turrets properly.
Move ships next to your Command Station and pause the game. Then order them to go trough hostile Wormholes. Now start placing Turrets while holding Alt. You will see the paths the AI Waves will take when they attack because they always travel in straight lines. So now you can place the Turrets so their range covers those paths.

[Qatu]

This is an amazing tip everyone should know about, thanks!

Also, if playing a no pause game, building redirection posts and pointing one to each wormhole will give the same effect!

[Hearteater]

When using that tip, don't forget to let go of ALT unless you meant to place 10 things. Sometimes I forget when place gravity turrets .

[NickAragua]

I remember despising lightning turrets and the mobile lightning ships for this precise reason back in the day (version 3.0 or so). Any time I got sloppy and forgot to pre-clean an AI world of lightning stuff using raid starships, I'd take my fleet ball in there and then see a couple of lightning zaps, after which my fleet ball would become more of a fleet crescent.

I guess I'm saying I'm happy the AI doesn't get turrets any more, and I'm pretty happy I haven't seen the AI controlled mobile lightning ships for a while.