Questions from an old player

[Vinraith]

A couple of times now in my current game I've been hit by ~2000 ship fleets of mark 1 ships (mostly fighters and acid sprayers) when there was virtually no threat on the board, no CPA, no waves, and indeed nothing at all to explain their presence. These fleets seem to just be patrolling around the map, and occasionally spill into my territory en masse. They've been manageable thus far, but I don't understand what's causing them or where they're coming from. Any thoughts?

Possibly special forces. They tend to try to stay as a group much more now. It may be that some of your planets are just unfortunately placed so they path through your planets to get to their special forces rally points (special forces guard posts, mostly).

I think Keith has them set up so they will try to avoid doing this (they will try to path around hostile planets), but you may have either given them no choice, or the way around your planet is too long for them. IDK.

We're sort of at a junction in the middle of the map, so that would make sense. I'd thought they might be special forces but there were so many, and back when I used to play the didn't clump up so much. Yikes, definitely going to have to prune some spec forces posts! Thanks for the explanation.

[Vinraith]

Simple strategy question: What's the current general wisdom on command station upgrades and resource collector upgrades?

Back in 4.0/5.0 economic stations were a no-brainer and resource collector upgrades were usually a poor investment, has that balance changed at all?

[Cyborg]

A couple of times now in my current game I've been hit by ~2000 ship fleets of mark 1 ships (mostly fighters and acid sprayers) when there was virtually no threat on the board, no CPA, no waves, and indeed nothing at all to explain their presence. These fleets seem to just be patrolling around the map, and occasionally spill into my territory en masse. They've been manageable thus far, but I don't understand what's causing them or where they're coming from. Any thoughts?

You should look on the wiki for "special forces." Using scouts, you should try to identify these special forces on different planets. Eventually, you'll get the hang of it by sight.

[Vinraith]

A couple of times now in my current game I've been hit by ~2000 ship fleets of mark 1 ships (mostly fighters and acid sprayers) when there was virtually no threat on the board, no CPA, no waves, and indeed nothing at all to explain their presence. These fleets seem to just be patrolling around the map, and occasionally spill into my territory en masse. They've been manageable thus far, but I don't understand what's causing them or where they're coming from. Any thoughts?

You should look on the wiki for "special forces." Using scouts, you should try to identify these special forces on different planets. Eventually, you'll get the hang of it by sight.

Special forces aren't new, but the clustering is.

[Kahuna]

Simple strategy question: What's the current general wisdom on command station upgrades and resource collector upgrades?

Back in 4.0/5.0 economic stations were a no-brainer and resource collector upgrades were usually a poor investment, has that balance changed at all?

At the moment there's no reason to unlock Economical or Logistical Command Stations. Resource Harvesters and Military Command Stations are the way to go. Obviously if you want the resources go for the harvesters but Military CS is very good for defense.

In my current game I'm using Mark II Resource Harvesters and Mark II Military Command Stations and I have plenty of resources. But that depends on lot of stuff.

[Aklyon]

Mil stations aren't particularly good if you ended up with very minimal resources nearby, though.

[Vinraith]

Simple strategy question: What's the current general wisdom on command station upgrades and resource collector upgrades?

Back in 4.0/5.0 economic stations were a no-brainer and resource collector upgrades were usually a poor investment, has that balance changed at all?

At the moment there's no reason to unlock Economical or Logistical Command Stations. Resource Harvesters and Military Command Stations are the way to go. Obviously if you want the resources go for the harvesters but Military CS is very good for defense.

In my current game I'm using Mark II Resource Harvesters and Mark II Military Command Stations and I have plenty of resources. But that depends on lot of stuff.

Really? Wow, that's a big change then, I guess higher level resource harvesters got a substantial buff at some point, huh?

[Draco18s]

Really? Wow, that's a big change then, I guess higher level resource harvesters got a substantial buff at some point, huh?

Just about all resource income was boosted significantly several times.

(Well, up, down, up, down, but net effect: yes!)

[Aklyon]

And crystal is going to just merge into metal at somepoint, I think was the plan?

[Draco18s]

And crystal is going to just merge into metal at somepoint, I think was the plan?

It was one of several ideas, I don't recall the final outcome thereof, but I think you are correct.

[Vinraith]

Can someone explain the strategic reserve to me? Specifically, when is the AI allowed to draw from it?

[Toranth]

Can someone explain the strategic reserve to me? Specifically, when is the AI allowed to draw from it?

The Strategic Reserve is a large pool of points that each AI has, that can be used to spawn a group of Mk V ships.  These ships will defend the system they spawn in, but will not leave.  If all human forces depart/die, the Reserve units will un-deploy (turning back into abstract points).  Points accumulate as time passes (rate and cap are based on difficulty and AIP), and destroying Reserve ships lowers the current total.  Only the AI that owns a system will deploy the Strategic Reserve to that system.
The Reserve can be deployed as long as there is an AI command station present, and only is systems where a specific condition is met.
The Reserve will deploy for:
The SuperTerminal - will deploy enough units to bring the Reserve down to 90% of max.  This means up to 10%.
Core Worlds - Down to 70% of max.
AI Homeworlds - The entire thing.

Additionally, Cross Planet Attacks will draw a portion of their strength from the Strategic Reserve, in addition to using ships already present in the galaxy.  In this case, the units spawned will be at the current AI tech level.

The "Reservist" AI type has a larger Strategic Reserve than other AI types (a x3 higher point cap), PLUS the Reservist AI will deploy the reserve more often.  It will deploy up to 10% (down to 90% remaining) for systems with Advanced Factories, Advanced Starship Constructors, and Core Shield Generators.  I don't think it will deploy the Reserve for systems with Fabricators, but someone should double-check me on that.

[Vinraith]

The Strategic Reserve is a large pool of points that each AI has, that can be used to spawn a group of Mk V ships.  These ships will defend the system they spawn in, but will not leave.  If all human forces depart/die, the Reserve units will un-deploy (turning back into abstract points).  Points accumulate as time passes (rate and cap are based on difficulty and AIP), and destroying Reserve ships lowers the current total.  Only the AI that owns a system will deploy the Strategic Reserve to that system.
The Reserve can be deployed as long as there is an AI command station present, and only is systems where a specific condition is met.
The Reserve will deploy for:
The SuperTerminal - will deploy enough units to bring the Reserve down to 90% of max.  This means up to 10%.
Core Worlds - Down to 70% of max.
AI Homeworlds - The entire thing.

Additionally, Cross Planet Attacks will draw a portion of their strength from the Strategic Reserve, in addition to using ships already present in the galaxy.  In this case, the units spawned will be at the current AI tech level.

The "Reservist" AI type has a larger Strategic Reserve than other AI types (a x3 higher point cap), PLUS the Reservist AI will deploy the reserve more often.  It will deploy up to 10% (down to 90% remaining) for systems with Advanced Factories, Advanced Starship Constructors, and Core Shield Generators.  I don't think it will deploy the Reserve for systems with Fabricators, but someone should double-check me on that.

That's crystal clear, thanks!

[Bognor]

[Crystal clear explanation]

Now that deserves immortalisation!  The Wiki currently lacks information about the strategic reserve.  Toranth, would you mind if I copy-pasted this in to create an article, crediting you in the edit summary?

[Toranth]

[Crystal clear explanation]

Now that deserves immortalisation!  The Wiki currently lacks information about the strategic reserve.  Toranth, would you mind if I copy-pasted this in to create an article, crediting you in the edit summary?

Go right ahead.  Always glad to help improve the wiki.