[MoO] Killing planet guarding monsters in ICEMOD

[neilkaz]

The easiest way for me to kill these creatures guarding nice to awesome systems is to MIRV nukes. This requires 3 levels of chem techs now. The usual plan is to use Frigates (FF) as they can be built cheaply and won't be much of a loss when killed. The early ships will raise your fleet level on the history graph and may be enough to prevent aggressive super races from thinking you're weak and helpless and attacking early.

So your FF needs battlepods and then in ICE it will support 31 space. A 2-shot MIRV nuke with 3 chem techs can be upgraded to everything. Save space and don't use ECCM which you don't need vs these monsters and take up 15 space so you can include 2 missiles per ship. I guess I don't need armored but leaving it out won't help me put another useful missile onboard and I will want armored vs an early AI enemy.

I don't worry about space academies for these FF as many will be destroyed anyhow and a couple may end up refitted as scouts to further explore once I colonize my new system.

So your monster FF has 2-two shot MIRV nukes that are FST and ARM. I put the basic computer on my FF's, it doesn't cost much, but may not be needed. Minimal monster FF fleets seem to be:

DRAGON: Use 11 FF and run away after shooting or this guy will kill too many FF's on it's second turn. Shoot your 2nd salvo and run away again.

HYDRA: Use 17 FF! This bad boy will kill 4 of your FF instantly and then 6 more next turn since he has energy absorber and will shoot stored energy at 2 more plus the 4 he kills with his weapon. Charge him to make sure missiles which now do 48 rather than 64damage finish him with the 2nd salvo quickly to prevent a 3rd turn.

For those playing Vanilla, you still want to use monster FF but you need fewer.

 

[Rocco.40]

EEL: USE 7 FF of the type described by Neilkaz. Charge right at the beast and shoot from point blank range to avoid the Plasma Flux that can take out your missiles. I just killed an Eel with 10 FF's playing it really safe. It is possible with 6 FF as well, however I needed to self-destruct two FF's to take out the immobilized Eel.

 

[neilkaz]

CRYSTAL: I used 12 of these FF's. Two are killed instantly and two more the next turn. This means that 18 missiles should hit the crystal. 64 x 18 is plenty to kill it. Perhaps this could be done with 11 FF's as 9 and then 7 missiles should hit it and that is over 900 damage. But I've seen the crystal mind control capture ships before. I feel safer using 12 FF's.

EDIT: 11 FF's did the job in another game. Note that I charged towards the Crystal.

 

[neilkaz]

AMOEBA: Just 5 of these FF's are adequate as each missile salvo causes 64 damage. 1 FF will be destroyed but not prior to firing it's 2nd salvo.

EDIT: Retesting (Ice 18a X) Even with only the basic drive tech, if you run away, you can sometimes have all 5 FF survive. The silly beast advances right into both salvos of missiles.

I did have a Navigator leader if that matters?

EDIT: Ice 18a X Sometimes even though all 10 missiles hit, for some unknown reason (note Meebs has no defenses) less than 640 damage is done and he survives with several HP remaining. He'll be stuck immobile with no weapon remaining so just turn around a FF and move it close and self destruct it to finish off the amoeba. Or if you want to be 100% sure, send 6 FF's.

 

[neilkaz]

Let me update for Ice-26X as there have been some changes. You can no longer MIRV Nukes, but like in Vanilla you can again MIRV Mercs once you have Zort-armor or equivalent Chem tech. So what I am doing is waiting for Z-armor and then building the following Monster Frigate (FF). I want to build the best FF I can at this point since I may need them to help vs an enemy. The Monster FF has Battle Pods to give it 31 space. Then it has one MIRV Merc with Armor and Fast. The second Merc just has Fast. This takes up 30 space, since if I use all 31 space I lose one combat speed. I also use the basic computer but am unsure if it is needed for ship initiative. I also like to have Ion Drive. Total cost is 57 pp.

Amoeba: Each salvo does 70 damage and now the Amoeba has only 500 hp so 4 of these FF are enough to finish him with the second salvo. Run away from the Amoeba as it will advance right into both salvos and die. The first salvo with Ion Drive doesn't quite reach Meebs so, since it advances, both salvos hit at the same turn which is now critical since the beast has regeneration.

Hydra: 16 of these new Monster FF's are adequate to kill the Hydra with the first salvo. The Hydra then only destroys one of your FF's so 15 do 52 to 53 damage each, noting the Hydra has an energy absorber.
I will retest at some point to see the minimum required to kill it with the 2nd salvo. This is because you often have to cripple your economy with high taxes to pay for the early CP override. Of course, being a Democracy is a big help with CP as is an early operations leader. If you've met nearby AI's you want ships in ICE-X as they will have ships and you don't want them to think you are very weak.

OK testing shows as I had thought that 10 FF's are adequate to kill the Hydra with the 2nd salvo. Ion Drive doesn't seem critical as I killed it just having the basic Nuclear Drive. Charge at the beast with your first move, but then don't charge or defensive auto-fire will mess you up. Three more FF's are killed with the beast's 2nd shots and this seems to be whether you run away or not or try to retreat. Your first salvo seems to destroy one of the 3 plasma breath weapons and usually immobilizes the Hydra.

Dragon: I killed him with 10 losing only 1 FF. Make sure to not charge but to run away. I will try 9 at some time and edit if that works.

 

[neilkaz]

Now we are up to Ice-30X so let me update as I've learned a couple of things. I don't worry about Ion Drive or combat speed since these FF can still move several spaces per turn. My new Monster FF does 72 damage per salvo. It has 2 Fast Nukes in the 1st slot and 1 MIRV Merc with Fast and Armor and ECCM in the 2nd slot. ECCM isn't needed for monsters but I want it in case I need these vs an early AI aggressor. I will update this thread for all monsters as I encounter them.

Dragon: 9 FF just manages to kill him. I run away from him.

Eel: I am unsure of the best way to get missiles past his Plasma Flux, but I am just able to kill him with only 6 FF now. At turn 1 I position them in a small arc so that all missiles hit him at the same time. He will attack with his Flux and damage but not destroy my FF's. For the 2nd salvo I also position them at equal distance and it seems I just manage to kill him. I presume there may be some luck in getting missiles thru, so maybe you will prefer 7 FF to be more sure of the kill.

Crystal: This requires 800 damage points and 9 FF can do the job losing only 2 of them. I tried with 8 and had to self destruct a few to finish him off. Best to use 9 Monster FF and charge at him for the first move.