Author Topic: How a newbie is losing the war with NPR ... :)  (Read 5092 times)

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Offline Entaro (OP)

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How a newbie is losing the war with NPR ... :)
« on: November 25, 2021, 07:46:00 AM »
To be honest, I am overwhelmed. I didn’t expect to face this kind of difficulty. I was too careless. I've made mistakes. Perhaps my topic will be a warning to other newbies, maybe you can advise me something ...

A little background:
I started playing for a traditional empire. From the very beginning, I tried to achieve the maximum growth rate of industry and economy, and all my construction, research and development were aimed at exponentially developing this.
Ultimately, in the first 20-30 years, I reached 1000 factories on Earth, many powerful shipyards, 5 gravity, 5 geological reconnaissance, 5 ships for the construction of gates. Then I created a total of 30 transporters of 125 thousand cargo, 26 terraforming stations with 5 modules in each, 7 huge tanker tugs.
As a result, 45 years after the start of the game, I had 3 large (a total of 250 million) inhabited colonies in other systems, and in total I terraformed and prepared 6 worlds for colonization.
I also built a huge network of warp gates connecting a total of 45 systems, and my colonization fleet is capable of loading 10 million people.

I assumed that first - to develop the economy, and then - the military sphere - is a profitable strategy. And in general I was right, but due to a number of fatal mistakes, now I can lose everything.

In preparing for war, I expected that I would build a powerful fleet capable of destroying their fleet in one general battle - which will take place in the enemy's main system.
I assumed that it would be most efficient to completely separate the ships by roles:
Separately build huge missile cruisers, each capable of firing 50 size 9 missiles:
Missile cruiser:

Off-Topic: show
Rocket BC MK1 class War Cruiser      63 616 tons       1 757 Crew       8 526.2 BP       TCS 1 272    TH 1 575    EM 0
1237 km/s      Armour 7-141       Shields 0-0       HTK 362      Sensors 0/0/0/0      DCR 41      PPV 450
Maint Life 0.06 Years     MSP 5 083    AFR 32375%    IFR 449.7%    1YR 81 103    5YR 1 216 543    Max Repair 500 MSP
Magazine 8 950   
Captain    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Morale Check Required   

Magnetic Fusion Drive  EP525.00 (3)    Power 1575    Fuel Use 5.96%    Signature 525    Explosion 6%
Fuel Capacity 500 000 Litres    Range 23.7 billion km (221 days at full power)

Size 9.00 Missile Launcher (50)     Missile Size: 9    Rate of Fire 25
Missile Fire Control FC101-R60 (4)     Range 101.2m km    Resolution 60

Separately - missile defense destroyers:
Off-Topic: show
DD Rocket mk1 class Destroyer Escort      11 987 tons       291 Crew       1 695.4 BP       TCS 240    TH 300    EM 0
1251 km/s      Armour 6-46       Shields 0-0       HTK 98      Sensors 0/0/0/0      DCR 21      PPV 59
Maint Life 0.92 Years     MSP 2 588    AFR 1149%    IFR 16.0%    1YR 2 817    5YR 42 257    Max Repair 500 MSP
Magazine 1 759   
Captain    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Morale Check Required   

Magnetic Fusion Drive  EP300.00 (1)    Power 300    Fuel Use 15.40%    Signature 300    Explosion 7%
Fuel Capacity 250 000 Litres    Range 24.4 billion km (225 days at full power)

Size 1 Missile Launcher mk1 (59)     Missile Size: 1    Rate of Fire 10
Missile Fire Control FC11-R1 (4)     Range 11.6m km    Resolution 1
Missile Fire Control FC28-R1 (1)     Range 28.3m km    Resolution 1


Later - build ships that provide touch control, as well as shelling the enemy with dummy missiles to destroy enemy anti-missiles
Off-Topic: show
DD SCOUT AMM mk1 class Destroyer Escort      10 331 tons       216 Crew       2 140.5 BP       TCS 207    TH 300    EM 0
1452 km/s      Armour 10-42       Shields 0-0       HTK 57      Sensors 6/2/0/0      DCR 11      PPV 25
Maint Life 1.44 Years     MSP 2 629    AFR 854%    IFR 11.9%    1YR 1 406    5YR 21 087    Max Repair 588 MSP
Magazine 1 215   
Captain    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Morale Check Required   

Magnetic Fusion Drive  EP300.00 (1)    Power 300    Fuel Use 15.40%    Signature 300    Explosion 7%
Fuel Capacity 250 000 Litres    Range 28.3 billion km (225 days at full power)

Size 1 Missile Launcher mk1 (25)     Missile Size: 1    Rate of Fire 10
Missile Fire Control FC185-R90 (1)     Range 185.4m km    Resolution 90
SPAM SENSOR 190m (100)    Speed: 21 800 km/s    End: 145.6m     Range: 190.5m km    WH: 1    Size: 1    TH: 72/43/21
Anti AMM SPAM (495)    Speed: 16 800 km/s    End: 182.2m     Range: 183.6m km    WH: 1    Size: 1    TH: 56/33/16

Active Search Sensor AS166-R80 (1)     GPS 47040     Range 166.7m km    Resolution 80
Active Search Sensor AS16-R1 (1)     GPS 112     Range 16.9m km    MCR 1.5m km    Resolution 1
Thermal Sensor TH1.0-6.0 (1)     Sensitivity 6     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  19.4m km
EM Sensor EM0.5-2.5 (1)     Sensitivity 2.5     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  12.5m km


I specially built such slow ships to accommodate a maximum of weapons systems in their tonnage.
And that was my first fatal mistake.


The war began suddenly, with an enemy attack on my distant colony with automatic mines. The program for the construction of the military fleet has not yet been completed: at the moment, 6 missile cruisers and 8 missile defense destroyers have been built, but only half of the missiles have been produced for them, and there is not a single sensor control ship, the construction of military landing ships, as well as supply ships has not started yet.

As a result, my fleet is not yet capable of operating at a distance from my home planet, which the enemy actively took advantage of: they blocked the warp gates leading to my system, and thus deprived me of the supply of resources.
The worst thing that can happen now is that they will move on and simply destroy all my colonies.

I have a powerful economy, and I am sure that if I had another year or two, I could easily cope with this situation, but I have no time at all.
Even 30 years ago, I saw an enemy in the home system - 57 ships of 21 thousand tons of tonnage ... then I hoped that these were not warships. I was wrong.
The only hope for that is if these are the ships that were built 30 years ago, perhaps they are technologically quite backward. But judging by the speed of 4500 km / s, I would not count on this.

The question is, what can I do to improve my chances of surviving now, and winning in the future ...
I have poured all my research resources into advanced sensor development programs and energy weapons (plasma carronades). For now, the enemy is using small fleets of 2-3 ships against me, which I would easily cope with if I had fast ships. It is them that I am going to begin to produce in large quantities, but if the enemy sends their entire combat fleet to me immediately, it will be too late.
Off-Topic: show
DD RAIDER MK1 class Destroyer Escort      10 285 tons       253 Crew       1 383.8 BP       TCS 206    TH 1 350    EM 0
6563 km/s      Armour 9-42       Shields 0-0       HTK 69      Sensors 6/2/0/0      DCR 11      PPV 72
Maint Life 2.30 Years     MSP 2 584    AFR 846%    IFR 11.8%    1YR 664    5YR 9 960    Max Repair 202.5000 MSP
Captain    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Morale Check Required   

Magnetic Fusion Drive  EP450.00 (3)    Power 1350.0    Fuel Use 21.73%    Signature 450.00    Explosion 9%
Fuel Capacity 500 000 Litres    Range 40.3 billion km (71 days at full power)

30 cm C3 Plasma Carronade (8)    Range 60 000km     TS: 6 563 km/s     Power 24-3     RM 10 000 km    ROF 40       
Beam Fire Control R60-TS5000 (1)     Max Range: 60 000 km   TS: 5 000 km/s     83 67 50 33 17 0 0 0 0 0

Thermal Sensor TH1.0-6.0 (1)     Sensitivity 6     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  19.4m km
EM Sensor EM0.5-2.5 (1)     Sensitivity 2.5     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  12.5m km

ECM 40

The reactor is not here yet, it is being developed


How effective would small fighters be as replacements for large sensor ships?
 
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Offline dsedrez

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Re: How a newbie is losing the war with NPR ... :)
« Reply #1 on: November 25, 2021, 08:12:22 AM »
Hi Entaro! You're on the defense, so that's where you should concentrate at the moment. I can say what I'd do in your place.

1. The carronades I'd use to blockade my side of the JPs, so that I'd be able to shoot them down when they come across: I'd build them as large as I can and shoot them point-blank. I haven't tried this strategy yet, in fact I haven't used carronades yet, since they're best at point-blank range. They're too big and their damage falls off too quickly for other types of battle.

2. I'd design box launchers for my missiles: that would allow me to maximize the volley size, sacrificing reload time. The strategy would be to build masses of small ships (1000-2000 ton FACs/corvettes, or if you don't have the shipyards as I usually don't, use fighters instead) with a single MFC and a prime number of launchers (7 is fine,). They must have enough endurance to patrol your system, so once a fleet is detected in your system they'd attack then retreat either to your HW or to a carrier. Also, I'd build a lot of small scouts (again fighters are useful because you can build a number of designs without the need for retooling the shipyards). Scouts are necessary to detect the enemy fleets, you can't fight what you can't see.

3. Your larger ships, I'd use reduced-sized/slow reload launchers, again to maximize volley size, fire against the enemy and then run away like hell...

4. If you do that, maybe you'll lose the colonies in the other system but you'll at least save your HW and home system.

5. To try to breach the JPs, from what you have, I'd try "monitors", heavily armored ships with plasma carronades: send them through the JPs and expect them to be pounded mercilessly until their systems recover from the jump and they're able to fire. I'd send them a large number of them paired with a few others full of PD mounts. Probably railguns, since gauss turrets can be destroyed before armor is fully breached. If they survive the first minute, they should be able to establish a "beachhead" so your missile ships can follow, launch their own huge missile volleys and then scoot back through the JPs to reload. The monitors would each have two sensors, one small one with 80HS resolution (I use sz 0.7 sensors for that, I find them optimal for this) so they can "see" what the enemy has within firing range, and one with resolution 1, against missiles: the PD monitors would need a ~10m MCR range, I think, while the others would have a small one, just as backup.
Oh, and hope your enemy hasn't thought of deploying microwaves. If they did, you're toast anyway.

[edit] Oh, your War Cruisers have an awful maintenance life, I'd think they're nearly useless as they are. You should either refit them with more engineering stations, or turn off maintenance for this game...

[edit 2] And use your jump stabilisation ships do *destabilize* the JP on your side. Allocate a jump tender to allow your ships to jump through, but if the enemy jumps they'll be trapped. Otherwise, your JP blockade fleet might not be able to hit them: the AI can jump back through without delay.

« Last Edit: November 25, 2021, 08:51:32 AM by dsedrez »
 
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Offline Drakale

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Re: How a newbie is losing the war with NPR ... :)
« Reply #2 on: November 25, 2021, 09:44:14 AM »
Some pretty good advices already, but I would add that for a guerilla war like that where you cannot take the enemy head on it can be good to consider using a carrier force. They allow you to make remote strikes with missile equipped fighters. You already have some big shipyards to make the carriers and if you can switch your economy to mass produce fighters and mid size missiles it is very good at giving the enemy a bloody nose, even if you can't outright beat him for some time. You can even make some commercial carriers to deliver fighter fleets to key outposts for added defense against raids if you can spare the fighters. It will take some time to setup though, so I would go with some of the proposed box launcher corvettes first. The real limitation is how many fighter and missiles you can build without crashing your gallicite income.

The other thing you should do is put civilian sensor bases(make it very cheap!) or sensor buoys on every JG that might get attacked. They will let you know when the enemy force is moving towards your assets and allow you to prepare a defense or a retreat even if you are slower than him.

And if all else fails, these kind of games are still very fun to play even into a defeat, good luck!
 
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Offline Blogaugis

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Re: How a newbie is losing the war with NPR ... :)
« Reply #3 on: November 25, 2021, 12:50:20 PM »
Do you have any fighter factories, to build a quick fighter reaction force, should you detect them too close for (relative) comfort?
Still, a plasma carronade can be a bit too big for a fighter... Missiles, gauss and railguns are at least a viable choice to arm small fighters; reduced size lasers requiring research...

So, what kind of weaponry have you got, besides missles and carronades?
Also, do you have any Surface To Orbit ground force units?
Space stations (armed, potentially shielded and with armor - requiring a shipyard to build)?
 
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Offline TheTalkingMeowth

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Re: How a newbie is losing the war with NPR ... :)
« Reply #4 on: November 25, 2021, 01:44:41 PM »
[edit 2] And use your jump stabilisation ships do *destabilize* the JP on your side. Allocate a jump tender to allow your ships to jump through, but if the enemy jumps they'll be trapped. Otherwise, your JP blockade fleet might not be able to hit them: the AI can jump back through without delay.

You can't do this. Stabilized jump points cannot be destabilized. Once they are stable, that's it, period, forever.
 
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Offline Jorgen_CAB

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Re: How a newbie is losing the war with NPR ... :)
« Reply #5 on: November 25, 2021, 02:38:12 PM »
The biggest mistakes that I see from most people when they describe their fleets and especially failures is that they always build the fleets and ships they want and not what they actually need. You should pretty much never build the ships you want and only ever build what you need.

Your first priority should always be to build up a strong defensive fleet so you can beat anyone that tries to encroach on your territory, after this you can consider a space superiority navy and then one that can invade an enemy home world with all the ground forces to take it.

I always end up in the situation that I have next to no fleet or army when I meet my first alien. Mainly because I role-play and see no reason to even consider there might be an alien threat in the first place. I usually have some patrol ships to satisfy colonies, but that is it. These are usually some Railgun corvettes that can at most serve as point defence ships in any military capacity.

If and when I feel the pressure to build up a military fleet fast that would almost always be with a commercial engine carrier design, a beam/AMM escort, missile fighters and scout crafts of different sorts. This is something you can design and build relatively fast. I probably would not build a monitor fleet as my first option that early... I would concentrate on building up STO defences on my colonies and my home-world in particular.

Now.. you happen to have angered those aliens pretty fast which is a bummer, you might just have come across a particularly xenophobic alien species and then it simply can be hard luck.

Whatever you do don't build large ships or expand your military yards, it is way better to build more slipways and keep those yards small (when under pressure that is), you get more build capacity that way. Sure if you already have really large yards you can use them. 1-2000t ships are quite good as missile corvettes to swarm an enemy, should work almost as good as fighters most of the time, especially if you don't have enough fighter factories. A few yards at 2000t with a few slipways and you should be able to produce a fair amount of these ships. You don't need much defensive capacity on them as you would treat them as fighters more or less but with greater reach.

The idea is that you will operate close to your supply bases so you will need minimal maintenance, deployment and defensive capacity... so building large ships will be taxing for you as you need good defences and since you are likely to have lower tech you want to fire at them while they can't fire at you.

The general rule of any conflict will also always be intelligence, never engage unless you are certain you will win... probing attacks are just fine to ascertain enemy strength, but never engage a large portion of your fleet unless you have high confidence of victory.
« Last Edit: November 25, 2021, 02:41:39 PM by Jorgen_CAB »
 
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Offline alex_brunius

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Re: How a newbie is losing the war with NPR ... :)
« Reply #6 on: November 25, 2021, 03:03:58 PM »
Whatever you do don't build large ships or expand your military yards, it is way better to build more slipways and keep those yards small (when under pressure that is), you get more build capacity that way. Sure if you already have really large yards you can use them. 1-2000t ships are quite good as missile corvettes to swarm an enemy, should work almost as good as fighters most of the time, especially if you don't have enough fighter factories. A few yards at 2000t with a few slipways and you should be able to produce a fair amount of these ships. You don't need much defensive capacity on them as you would treat them as fighters more or less but with greater reach.

This is a very good point. I find myself often investing in alot more capacity small military yards ( A few yards around 1000-5000 ton capacity with 5-15 slipways each ) and they mainly hang around doing not much, but Oh-Boy do they come in handy when you need to pivot quickly and design something to just crank out tonnage to meet specific threat or reinforce your point defense capacity with more escorts. Smaller components & ships research faster, retool faster and build faster.

I love how Aurora mirrors real WW2 era shipbuilding strategy in this way, that what matters the most often are the expendable spammable smaller subs, corvettes and destroyers much more so than the giant few prestige ships.
 

Offline Entaro (OP)

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Re: How a newbie is losing the war with NPR ... :)
« Reply #7 on: November 25, 2021, 03:16:51 PM »
Hi Entaro! You're on the defense, so that's where you should concentrate at the moment. I can say what I'd do in your place.

Thanks a lot!

1. I just recently started researching technologies for carronades. I have (as you can see from the Rader template ship) 30cm carronades, with a reload speed of 3 (soon to be 4), which, it seems to me, is not very much.
I have 1 free shipyard with 5 slipways and the ability to build ships up to 10600t - on it I will produce them, trying to create the necessary components by the industry in advance, but it will take much longer than the enemy to fly to me if they want.

As for the largest ships ... I have a 60,000t shipyard with two slipways. I could convert her to build "carronade battleships." But I'm not sure if it's worth doing it now, given that my carronades are still poorly researched, and the shipyard is being refurbished for a very long time.

2. I don't really understand what is the advantage of such ships ... In fact, I could protect my system with my existing ships, and I can do this when my sensor ships are built, or at least sensor fighters.
I have only 5 fighter factories so far, no aircraft carriers.

3. I do not quickly convert my large ships, and I also like them the way they are. I would somehow gain time before I can use them (when the sensors appear) ... and their only major drawback besides speed is that it will be very inconvenient to storm enemy JPs with them, that's why I'm building carronades.

4. If I lose colonies in other systems, I will actually lose a decade of development, and the entire resource base. But the home system is really more important.

5. I guess I will need to do some reconnaissance to see if the enemy is actually blocking my JPs with a large enough force. If so, you really have to build such "monitors", but it will take about a year ..
 

Offline Entaro (OP)

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Re: How a newbie is losing the war with NPR ... :)
« Reply #8 on: November 25, 2021, 03:24:59 PM »
So, what kind of weaponry have you got, besides missles and carronades?
Also, do you have any Surface To Orbit ground force units?
Space stations (armed, potentially shielded and with armor - requiring a shipyard to build)?
I have very, very, very cool rockets!
And carronades that are close to the initial level (not yet built, just starting to re-equip the shipyard).

I also have 9 ground divisions of 25 thousand each, and 15 more are in preparation.
There are no space stations with weapons, but my 6 heavy missile cruisers are very similar to such stations.
In total, they are capable of making volleys of 300 powerful missiles with an explosion force of 25, or 600 missiles (with two stages) with an explosion force of 16 - and this is every 25 seconds!
I believe that even one of my missile cruisers is capable of easily destroying a typical enemy 20 thousand ton ship without getting hurt in any way, and making only a few volleys. The only problem is that I
1) I cannot see them further than 300 million km. from the earth
2) I can't catch up with them.
3) I don't think it is a good idea to storm JP with rocket ships.
 

Offline Entaro (OP)

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Re: How a newbie is losing the war with NPR ... :)
« Reply #9 on: November 25, 2021, 03:29:22 PM »
The other thing you should do is put civilian sensor bases(make it very cheap!) or sensor buoys on every JG that might get attacked. They will let you know when the enemy force is moving towards your assets and allow you to prepare a defense or a retreat even if you are slower than him.

It is the sensors that I miss in the first place. I’m thinking which is better ?:
  - fighters of 250-500 tons, equipped with powerful sensors (at what distance should I keep them so that the enemy does not notice them)?
  - touch buoys?
By the way, the question about their placement ... how do I create a "waypoint"? Anywhere on the map ... After all, directly on the JP, a sensor or a fighter will quickly be detected and destroyed. It is logical to place them a little further ...
 

Offline Entaro (OP)

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Re: How a newbie is losing the war with NPR ... :)
« Reply #10 on: November 25, 2021, 03:37:01 PM »
Your first priority should always be to build up a strong defensive fleet so you can beat anyone that tries to encroach on your territory, after this you can consider a space superiority navy and then one that can invade an enemy home world with all the ground forces to take it.

Now.. you happen to have angered those aliens pretty fast which is a bummer, you might just have come across a particularly xenophobic alien species and then it simply can be hard luck.

Whatever you do don't build large ships or expand your military yards, it is way better to build more slipways and keep those yards small (when under pressure that is), you get more build capacity that way. Sure if you already have really large yards you can use them. 1-2000t ships are quite good as missile corvettes to swarm an enemy, should work almost as good as fighters most of the time, especially if you don't have enough fighter factories. A few yards at 2000t with a few slipways and you should be able to produce a fair amount of these ships. You don't need much defensive capacity on them as you would treat them as fighters more or less but with greater reach.

I just underestimated the aggressiveness of NPR, or allowed some diplomatic failure. I thought that we would peacefully coexist, develop, and then I will cunningly and suddenly invade their home system with a fleet of such composition, which they can not oppose anything. I wouldn't have to deal with anti-raiding, protect waypoints, etc. in this case...
But the enemy attacked first.



The lack of STO in my colonies is actually a huge omission ... I did not pay attention to this at all, and now my colonies are completely defenseless. But, again, I had no idea that the enemy was attacking so effectively.

About my shipyards:
I have:
60 thousand tons - 2 slipways - equipped with the construction of missile cruisers
12 thousand tons - 4 slipways - missile defense destroyers were built, converted into sensor ships.
10 thousand tons - 5 slipways - I begin to convert to ships for plasma carronades
I can, in principle, create another shipyard and start production of corvettes, but it will take a long time ... it's easier to start producing fighters - but there are almost no factories for them yet.
 

Offline dsedrez

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Re: How a newbie is losing the war with NPR ... :)
« Reply #11 on: November 25, 2021, 04:00:20 PM »
Hi Entaro! You're on the defense, so that's where you should concentrate at the moment. I can say what I'd do in your place.

Thanks a lot!

1. I just recently started researching technologies for carronades. I have (as you can see from the Rader template ship) 30cm carronades, with a reload speed of 3 (soon to be 4), which, it seems to me, is not very much.
I have 1 free shipyard with 5 slipways and the ability to build ships up to 10600t - on it I will produce them, trying to create the necessary components by the industry in advance, but it will take much longer than the enemy to fly to me if they want.

As for the largest ships ... I have a 60,000t shipyard with two slipways. I could convert her to build "carronade battleships." But I'm not sure if it's worth doing it now, given that my carronades are still poorly researched, and the shipyard is being refurbished for a very long time.

2. I don't really understand what is the advantage of such ships ... In fact, I could protect my system with my existing ships, and I can do this when my sensor ships are built, or at least sensor fighters.
I have only 5 fighter factories so far, no aircraft carriers.

3. I do not quickly convert my large ships, and I also like them the way they are. I would somehow gain time before I can use them (when the sensors appear) ... and their only major drawback besides speed is that it will be very inconvenient to storm enemy JPs with them, that's why I'm building carronades.

4. If I lose colonies in other systems, I will actually lose a decade of development, and the entire resource base. But the home system is really more important.

5. I guess I will need to do some reconnaissance to see if the enemy is actually blocking my JPs with a large enough force. If so, you really have to build such "monitors", but it will take about a year ..

You're welcome!

It's not quite "carronade battleships" I'd have in mind, but specialist ships whose mission is to storm a blockaded JP. If there's no blockade, I wouldn't build one, they're not much use elsewhere. If I could choose what to build for that mission, I'd build slow big armored ships with lots of railguns, both small ones and very large ones. That'd make a single, more flexible design, with good maintenance stats and a number of microwave-resistant BFCs. But since what you have is carronades and gauss, that's what you must use because time is paramount. I'd build the largest design that could be made ready fast enough... but I think 60kt ships may be too big, I'm not sure if they'd be ready in time. Meanwhile my missile ships would all be parked on Earth protecting it.

Small ships are extremely flexible, as Jorgen_CAB and alex_brunius said. Since they'd be new designs they could be made fast enough to pursue the small fleets that you said are present in the system. Your present ones are no good in that role, so you need something new, fast.
Besides, box launchers are the easiest way to defeat a superior AI enemy. A massive single volley that can't be effectively defeated by the enemy's AMMs and PDs. They're cost-effective, and cheap and quick to build. Which is what you need right now.




 

Offline dsedrez

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Re: How a newbie is losing the war with NPR ... :)
« Reply #12 on: November 25, 2021, 04:08:21 PM »
The other thing you should do is put civilian sensor bases(make it very cheap!) or sensor buoys on every JG that might get attacked. They will let you know when the enemy force is moving towards your assets and allow you to prepare a defense or a retreat even if you are slower than him.

It is the sensors that I miss in the first place. I’m thinking which is better ?:
  - fighters of 250-500 tons, equipped with powerful sensors (at what distance should I keep them so that the enemy does not notice them)?
  - touch buoys?
By the way, the question about their placement ... how do I create a "waypoint"? Anywhere on the map ... After all, directly on the JP, a sensor or a fighter will quickly be detected and destroyed. It is logical to place them a little further ...

You can order it to keep a distance: there's a number 0 which you can replace with the desired distance in thousand km.

For the waypoint, I don't use them much but there's a button "create waypoint" I think.

 
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Offline Drakale

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Re: How a newbie is losing the war with NPR ... :)
« Reply #13 on: November 25, 2021, 04:11:48 PM »
I don't have the game in front of me, but for the waypoints you can easily place them from the system map, it's in one of the tabs I think named Waypoints. Just name one and click on the map to place it where you want. You have the regular waypoint you can put anywhere and there is one where you associate it with an object. The problem with fighters is that they won't last forever. A civilian station will. So will sensor buoy, if you want to go that way. A recon fighter is incredibly useful still, you should definitely make them, use them to scout JP and system before you commit your fleet.

RP wise I like putting civilian stations more than buoy, I like the idea of a brave crew on the frontier making sure the equipment is running fine and the border is secure.
 
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Offline Entaro (OP)

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Re: How a newbie is losing the war with NPR ... :)
« Reply #14 on: November 25, 2021, 04:49:14 PM »
Is it possible to use off-the-shelf components in the production of fighters?