I hate ******* Star Swarm

[sulu244]

If you havent run into them before, you must have incredible luck.  I have had multiple games die due to early encounters with them. 

I have turned them off in my latest game, just to give my empire a chance to get established.

I haven't run into them at all and I consider THIS a bad luck.  They seem like super fun and something challenging, unlike invaders who suffered a nerf and don't increase tech so they're not that dangerous, but they always bugged out for me and refused to spawn even with sm.

I've never seen them either.  I wish I would! I keep seeing people complaining about them, and hoping to run into them but so far nada.

[nuclearslurpee]

I am in the same boat. I get my Star Swarm kick from reading old Steve AARs.

I have wondered more than once if some quirk of the Swarm generation code causes them to only spawn on some machines...

[ISN]

I don't think the problem depends on the machine, since I've had games where I couldn't spawn them in SM mode as well as games where they've spawned naturally.

[iceball3]

/message repeats

Yet another game goes down in flames due to Star Swarm. Running into them early is just game over for me every time.

I just dont see how you can viably fight the damn things early game. Anyone manage to stop them early?

Tried missiles yet?

[Arwyn (OP)]

/message repeats

Yet another game goes down in flames due to Star Swarm. Running into them early is just game over for me every time.

I just dont see how you can viably fight the damn things early game. Anyone manage to stop them early?

Tried missiles yet?

Sure have. Early on, the missile velocity is pretty low, and swarm have a lot of energy weapons. I fired the entire complement of missiles on 6 destroyers and 2 cruisers at them and achieved zero hits. All were intercepted.

To my earlier post, early game, I have not found anything that is really viable in fighting them effectively. Massed railgun fire does damage to them, but you will find that exchanging broadsides with them will have your ships melting, literally!

[Arwyn (OP)]

If you havent run into them before, you must have incredible luck.  I have had multiple games die due to early encounters with them. 

I have turned them off in my latest game, just to give my empire a chance to get established.

I haven't run into them at all and I consider THIS a bad luck.  They seem like super fun and something challenging, unlike invaders who suffered a nerf and don't increase tech so they're not that dangerous, but they always bugged out for me and refused to spawn even with sm.

I explore a lot early on, and that is the usual trigger. That game I had pushed out about 70+ systems due to a lot of starless nexus. The more you explore, the higher the chance to have them spawn.
I've never seen them either.  I wish I would! I keep seeing people complaining about them, and hoping to run into them but so far nada.

[Droll]

/message repeats

Yet another game goes down in flames due to Star Swarm. Running into them early is just game over for me every time.

I just dont see how you can viably fight the damn things early game. Anyone manage to stop them early?

Tried missiles yet?

Sure have. Early on, the missile velocity is pretty low, and swarm have a lot of energy weapons. I fired the entire complement of missiles on 6 destroyers and 2 cruisers at them and achieved zero hits. All were intercepted.

To my earlier post, early game, I have not found anything that is really viable in fighting them effectively. Massed railgun fire does damage to them, but you will find that exchanging broadsides with them will have your ships melting, literally!

Does acid affect energy shields? If that isn't the case I think shields would do much better than armor.

[iceball3]

Does acid affect energy shields? If that isn't the case I think shields would do much better than armor.

Star swarms use meson cannons, which means they ignore armor and shields entirely. More resilience would come from using things like turret armor, and empty missile magazines with internal armor.

[TheTalkingMeowth]

Does acid affect energy shields? If that isn't the case I think shields would do much better than armor.

Star swarms use meson cannons, which means they ignore armor and shields entirely. More resilience would come from using things like turret armor, and empty missile magazines with internal armor.

C# swarm don't use mesons. They use microwaves, boarding, and lasers that (if they hit hull) start applying some sort of damage over time effect (the rules of which I don't understand).

[iceball3]

Does acid affect energy shields? If that isn't the case I think shields would do much better than armor.

Star swarms use meson cannons, which means they ignore armor and shields entirely. More resilience would come from using things like turret armor, and empty missile magazines with internal armor.

C# swarm don't use mesons. They use microwaves, boarding, and lasers that (if they hit hull) start applying some sort of damage over time effect (the rules of which I don't understand).

Wow, that's new. My bad!

[Droll]

Does acid affect energy shields? If that isn't the case I think shields would do much better than armor.

Star swarms use meson cannons, which means they ignore armor and shields entirely. More resilience would come from using things like turret armor, and empty missile magazines with internal armor.

C# swarm don't use mesons. They use microwaves, boarding, and lasers that (if they hit hull) start applying some sort of damage over time effect (the rules of which I don't understand).

The "if they hit hull" is what I wanted to hear. So given how poor microwaves are at getting through shields (2 dmg per shot) you could do quite well for yourself with energy shields, thereby avoiding DoT as long as the shields are still up.

However the idea of using armored magazines as an internal bulkhead of sorts is an interesting one regardless.

[TheTalkingMeowth]

I'm not 100% on that "hit the hull" thing.

Also, they do use (small) lasers with high rate of fire. So shields can and do get stripped away.

[brondi00]

The reality is they are hard early game and in a low research game
  And IMO this is good.

If you aren't at least ion level you probably don't stand a chance unless you use some gamey tactics.

So my suggestion is to turn them off until you think your ready or embrace the suck.  Losing is fun.

[Arwyn (OP)]

So my suggestion is to turn them off until you think your ready or embrace the suck.  Losing is fun.

lol, "embrace the suck" Echo Tango Sierra! Or, spot the former infantry!

[brondi00]

I'm actually not.  LOL.  USAF.  But because of my job I was regularly stationed with army and marines.

Plus it's one of my favorite sayings because it communicates a truth.  Nothing worth doing is easy and if you want to achieve you have to embrace the hard parts that lead to the goal.