I have heard a number of complaints about how for the AI, fortresses amounted to just overpriced guard posts, and were never cost effective for the player. I agree to a certain extent, but deny that they have been taken out, as they are repeatedly referred to in the AI War II Design Document.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IdzU90psGas_3UFe23BLvsGQ8fclec49NmnbHfwkZ8w/edit# For example, page 87 mentions behavior with regards to fortresses. Instead of denying their existence, I propose we address their problems and find a more creative way to differentiate them, and to improve them.
For starters, in AI War, fortresses were hard countered by bombers. You can send a single cap of Mk 1 bombers to kill most marks of Fortress, so long as your bombers were safe from other threats. This was because of the damage modifier they had towards bombers of .01x damage. Such a cheap counter is counter intuitive for a structure that counterintuitive for what they were meant to be used for. However just removing the modifier has it's own problem, in that now nothing can touch them.
I propose the following. Fortresses have no real main attack anymore. Instead they house defensive fighters for the planet/solar system they are in. What kind of fighters is based on the mark, as well as their range. In all cases, the cap is less effective than their normal counterparts. However they are cheaper (in that they are automatically replenished over time) and soak up some of the incoming damage for the defending fleet.
Lets start with Mini-fortresses. In the past you could place two of these in every system, but they were more or less just a speed bump in the path of the AI. Instead I suggest they have half a cap of planet wide Tactical Superiority fighters available to them. Also, I believe rather than a flat 2 per system, it should be based on the resources available in the system. If the planet has lower than average resources only one will be able to be supported, while if it has average or above, two can be supported. They will also have room for a quarter cap of ships to be repaired each.
For fortresses, there are 3 marks in the original, and a possibility of 2 more marks if added, and Super Fortresses. I believe they should be supported and support a solar system now. Every resource generator effective should add to a pool of support for fortresses. This lets a solar system support a certain number of fortresses of different marks, up to the player how they distribute them. For example if the owned resource pool for a system is 6, a player may decide to build 1 Mk III Fortress and a Mk II, 3 Mk IIs, or 6 Mk Is. This mind you is subject to balance considerations and should just serve as an example of what I am considering.
Likewise, the fighter stock will also support the entire solar system. If a structure is under attack that is owned by the same faction as a fortress in a system, the fortress will launch it's fighters to intercept and defend that structure. If the structure in question is on a different planet in the system, the fortress will warp the fighters into the outside of the gravity well at the destination planet. Mind you the fortress has one set of fighters for all the planets in the solar system, so once they are dead, no more will come until there is enough time to construct more.
Here is a breakdown of what each fortress should have and it's relative resource cost:
Fortress Mk I
Resource Cost 1
1 full cap of tactical superiority fighters
Room for half a cap of ships docked for repairs (more on this part later)
Fortress Mk II
Resource Cost 2
1 full cap of tactical superiority fighters
1 full cap of siege style ships
Room for a full cap of ships docked for repairs
Fortress Mk III
Resource Cost 4
1 full cap of tactical superiority fighters
1 full cap of siege style ships
1 full cap of capital class ships (A small kind?)
Room for one and a half caps of ships docked for repairs
Fortress Mk IV
Resource Cost 6
1 full cap of tactical superiority fighters
1 full cap of siege style ships
1 full cap of capital class ships
1 full cap of special forces ships. Actual kind may be selected by player preference
Room for two caps of ships docked for repairs
Fortress Mk V
Resource Cost 10
2 full caps of tactical superiority fighters
2 full caps of siege style ships
2 full caps of capital class ships
1 full cap of special forces ships.
Room for three caps of ships docked for repairs
Super Fortresses need to feel more super. I feel that each side should be able to support exactly one as it currently stands. Furthermore they are immense structures able to warp ships out of their current solar systems into a neighboring system. As such they service their solar system and any connected solar systems. When warping ships however, they start in the solar system on the edge of the gravity well of the planet closest to the system the Super Fortress resides. As such they will be last of the defensive fighters to enter the battle.
Super Fortress
One per side supported
4 full caps of tactical superiority fighters
4 full caps of siege style ships
4 full caps of capital class ships
3 full cap of special forces ships.
Room for ten caps of ships docked for repairs
Now if you noticed I mention in all of these that they have room for a certain number of ships docked for repairs. With the new fleet system, I believe that we need to look at how we repair our fleets. In the past we had engineers to do that job, and fortresses when the ships were close enough. However since we are already relooking at how we organize fleets, perhaps we should take another look at how we repair ships in a system.
One of the drawbacks of the old system was that we had to build a certain number of engineers in every system in some cases to perform maintenance, not just on structures, but our fleets as well. Rather than do this, I suggest we delegate them to structures and new construction primarily, only performing fleet maintenance when no other duties are pressing. Instead I believe that fortresses should take over the job of repairing existing fleets by placing ships in dry dock.
Wait, you say, do fortresses now work for a solar system and not just a single planet? Do we wish to micromanage our ships going to and coming from the fortress? No, I say. Why not work the new repair mechanic into how fleets operate. I suggest that during time between fights, a fleet will automatically send up to X% of their ships that are damaged (default 10%) to a nearby dry dock. During this time if the fleet is attacked, their missing ships will be warped in with the support ships from the local fortress. As such they automatically rotate out their damage ships to be repaired and they will return when done. This removes the actual action of repairing ships from the player's hand, frees up the engineers to do other tasks, and gives fortresses another important job in the logistics of a system.
But wait, there's more. Repairing a ship in dry dock is far faster and cheaper than doing so in deep space. I'm not going to suggest it be free, but say it's 4x faster, I feel it should also cost .25x the resources as a deep space repair. This makes them a critical asset for controlling a system, and a juicy target for an aggressor. Without them, you either have to devote extra resources to repairs, or rotate your fleet out manually to a nearby system. This mechanism also with Super Fortress's neighboring system range, makes them even more super, as they can support a system that has recently lost it's logistical support.
Just some background on where I got some of my ideas from, some of my favorite modules for modular fortresses were always the ones that provided fighters. The fact that other weapons had range restrictions meant that if you relied on those, enemy ships could opt to simply go around, ignoring the fortress completely. Fighter/bomber bays allowed the fortress to be relevant regardless of it's placement as it's fighters would chase down the enemy, and even intercept firepower for your fleets.
I also don't think they should send waves of fighters like the modules either. While their fighters are roughly the same power as the modules in theory, they should construct and build them over time similar to Preservation Wardens, releasing them all at once when needed. They also should not release replacements that are made too few at a time, instead opting to hold back until they have a meaningful number before launching them. Finally, they are not time limited. If they survive, they return to repair and rearm. Lets leave the time limited ships to the Neinzul.
Let me know if you like my idea, or if you see problems with balance. I am open for debating how this would work, but I feel that this would help differentiate what a fortress's purpose is vs. a guard post, and make them not only worth building, but important logistical structures in all cases.
