Special forces can be a bit... overwhelming

[Vinco]

In my current game (all expansions enabled, 7.3/7.3, ~8.5h in), I'm running into a HUGE problem with the AI special forces pool.  I've cleared out a corner of the map, and am preparing to advance outwards.  However, the AI has other plans for me.  As soon as I poke my head out to clear the path to the next shard, the AI sends literally thousands of ships my way.  Hundreds of spire blade spawners.  Hundreds of Neinzul sabateurs.  Hundreds of...  you get the picture.

Even with the botnet golem, I can't come close to eating the special forces.  I've spent my entire fleet several times, but just can't make any headway.  Any ideas people could throw out would be greatly appreciated.

I've attached a few of my latest saves for reference.

[Wingflier]

I love the new Special Forces Guard Posts!  Please don't change them!

[Faulty Logic]

I would be happy to help you, but please post your saves in .sav, or at least .zip. No free file converter has worked for me for .rar files.

[Wingflier]

I would be happy to help you, but please post your saves in .sav, or at least .zip. No free file converter has worked for me for .rar files.

http://www.7-zip.org/download.html

[Mánagarmr]

How anyone can use anything but 7zip amazes me It's simply the best archiver like...ever.

Anyhow, dealing with Special Forces is a special case. Taking them head on is usually suicide, unless you have a Spire Capital Fleet. Most of the time you want to plan your attack so that it can be done quickly, before the SF arrives at the scene. They will only bother to defend planets with something worthwhile on it (Datacenter, Coprocessor, Factory, Fabricator and stuff like that).

Another thing to do is to locate their staging point and hit it with a few EMPs, to keep them locked in place while you do your thing. Or if you're feeling nuts, nuke it.

[Faulty Logic]

Thanks Wingflier; it worked.

Vinco: given your position, I would go with with a couple of Spirecraft martyrs combined with cloaker starships. Or, if you attack a target far from their rally point, they will stream in one speed group at a time, and the botnet will eat them for breakfast. Or, you can use warheads, though this early in the FS campaign, I would try to avoid it.

To alleviate future SBS problems, I would say unlock Riot Control Starships III, and put gravity modules on them. You could even do it before you recover the next shard, at the cost of few hacks.

[Kahuna]

Special Forces are too hard for beginners and there should be an option to make them easier. Special Forces need difficulty levels similar to Minor Factions. Default  would be 4/10. 5/10 would be default and same as it is now. Changing it to <5/10 would make the Special Forces ships spawn slower and the Special Forces ship cap would be smaller. >5/10 would do the opposite.
In short: Changing the x in x/10 would affect the Special Forces respawn rate and maximum ship cap.
I think Special Forces are ok atm but I'm am an experienced player. I'd not be surprised if a beginner finds the Intergalactic Sentry Eye aka Special Forces overwhelming.

Before this has been made possible / if it wont be possible ever I suggest you unlock MarkII Riot Control Starships. For modules use 2 shields and rest turret modules for maximum survivability and engine damage. That will allow you to kite the Special Forces and you will be able to destroy all of them few at a time.

[Volatar]

4/10 is the default for minor factions. It would be best to use that for consistency.

I would not object to Special Forces being put under the minor factions tab, but with no option to be turned off.

[Kahuna]

4/10 is the default for minor factions. It would be best to use that for consistency.

I would not object to Special Forces being put under the minor factions tab, but with no option to be turned off.

Yeah. I just edited my post^^

I would not object to Special Forces being put under the minor factions tab, but with no option to be turned off.

Exactly what I thought.

[TechSY730]

I do feel that the spawn rate of the special forces is a bit...much, for all difficulty levels right now. I don't feel that the cap is too off though.

But this is just my opinion.

[Hearteater]

I'd prefer if SF just got balanced on difficulty, rather than moving it to a faction.  If difficulty 7 SF is too tough, just tone that down.  We already have an effective "minor faction" value for SF in the form of the main AI difficulty.  The only reason to make a separate faction would be so someone could have an independently hard or easy SF.  Minor Factions are also part of the overwhelming game setup, so I don't think we want to make things possibly more confusing to new players.

[keith.lamothe]

SF is scaled by difficulty, but apparently not enough.  In my 7.3 game they're actually way underpowered, but that's probably because I move relatively fast.

[Mánagarmr]

To be honest, you just need to explain SFs, Threatfleet and Strategic reserve to the player, and they will expect it. There's no need to change anything.

Also, why do you guys have to CHANGE EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME!!! I have to make new tutorials now, damnit

[Cyborg]

Sounds like an education issue. It's okay to lose.

[keith.lamothe]

Also, why do you guys have to CHANGE EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME!!!

Largely because you keep asking us to