Your most effective designs

[SupremacyKing2]

This next game I want to create a type of carrier ship that just focuses on releasing fighters each turn. Has anybody here tried this yet; is it somewhat viable?

In my experience, fighters are very good if you have the hyper launch wonder and lots of fighter tech upgrades. The dual command wonder is also great in this scenario because you will be able to launch 2 fighters on the same turn. You will be able to get lots of fighters into the battle which will be a great force multiplier. In this instance, yes, your carrier strategy would be viable. Just make sure you have some escort ships to protect your carrier. In my games, if you don't have the hyper launch wonder and don't have tech upgrades for your fighters, then they are naturally going to be pretty weak and less effective. The enemy will usually snipe your fighters before they even get into the fight. Of course, that can still be useful as a way of distracting the enemy while your capital ships close in for the kill but it will mean you are not actually using your fighters to fight but rather as decoys.

 

[thecrazyscot]

Playing on Impossible here. For most of the game my fleet was:
2 long-range capital ships (engines, shields, armor, lasers)
3 carriers (engines, shields, fighters, no lasers or cannons)
Added 1 bruiser towards end game with maxed out cannons, stealth, and engines, was hitting for minimum 500 damage.

If you beeline Intelli-Shields and focus on Artificial Intelligence, fighters are OP, no doubt about it. I didn't even have double actions. Got late Hyperlaunch. I had fighters with over 200 HP, level 5 cannons or lasers, etc. I had several fleet actions against enemy fleets with 8 ships + megabots and my fighter swarms simply overwhelmed them. With Intelli-Shields and upgraded tech, fighters will last 2 or 3 rounds worth of hits, which the AI just can't handle.

To be fair, I played as Supremacy/Purity Sochua, which is just a ridiculous combination. My next Impossible game I'll try someone not quite as unbalanced...

 

[thecrazyscot]

This next game I want to create a type of carrier ship that just focuses on releasing fighters each turn. Has anybody here tried this yet; is it somewhat viable?

Yes, it is extremely viable. Fighters are incredibly overpowered even if you just focus on Artificial Intelligence.

I don't bother putting any lasers or cannons on my carriers as fighters can shoot the turn they launch. Putting a few torpedoes on the carriers is a good backup though.

Some other things which synergize really well:
-Intelli-Shields wonder (fighters are much less squishy, ESPECIALLY in combo with leveled shields... see my above post mentioning 200+ HP fighters)
-Hyperlaunch wonder (full movement on first turn? crazy good)
-Dual command wonder (pump out 2 fighters per ship per turn)

I found it helpful to have at least one capital ship to anchor the fleet, though.

 

[sugerdady87]

Yes, it is extremely viable. Fighters are incredibly overpowered even if you just focus on Artificial Intelligence.

I don't bother putting any lasers or cannons on my carriers as fighters can shoot the turn they launch. Putting a few torpedoes on the carriers is a good backup though.

Some other things which synergize really well:
-Intelli-Shields wonder (fighters are much less squishy, ESPECIALLY in combo with leveled shields... see my above post mentioning 200+ HP fighters)
-Hyperlaunch wonder (full movement on first turn? crazy good)
-Dual command wonder (pump out 2 fighters per ship per turn)

I found it helpful to have at least one capital ship to anchor the fleet, though.

Last game, I had Hyperlaunch, Dual command and Jump Start (move first in battle). You don't even really need a "long range capital " or a "bruiser". I just had 5 carriers, all of which had no weapons of their own on them. I maxed A.I. research and level 8 fighter module. Nothing else mattered. Didn't need shield or armor. Just start battle, launch the fighters and win. It was like a giant stepping on an ant.

EDIT: I found that in all my games of late, I just focused on acquiring energy. Once you have the energy to get the starships you want, you can take whatever wonder or high pop cities you need to win in any which way you find fit (except for science).

 

[Barathor]

I focused on longer range lasers instead of cannons this game (with good stealth) and carriers. The carriers are great! I also have the Dual Command wonder so I can let loose fighters fast.

Dual Command is pretty sweet, it also works nice with torpedoes -- check out my first-turn torpedo storm! Poor marauders... (I also have the cloaking wonder so I go into stealth automatically, haha)

Spoiler :

 

[Stalker0]

So far I focus on my main ship. Cannons, armor, and shields. Nothing on the board can hurt me on hard difficulty. I literally just barrel into everything and kill it in 1 shot (don't even need full cannons, heck 6 is overkill for almost everything I have found so far).

Once I have enough energy, I make another ship and do it again.

 

[Stalker0]

having tried Cannon/Armor/Shield ships vs Carrier type ships on impossible, this is my take.

1) Early on, Fighters are very good. They offer extra offense and meat to take hits at a time when you desperately need it. The speed is quite good as well. For the energy they are a very good investment early on.

2) In the mid to late game (barring wonders which does shake the balance up quite a bit) I find heavy battleships better than carriers.

Fighters require a lot of tech to be competitive at this point, tech I can invest in things that increase my entire fleet.

Further, while fighters can become quite meaty, they still don't have the staying power as a high armor high shield battleship. Those things won't die to anything short of a torpedo hit...and if you get hit by a torpedo you are playing wrong

Lastly, while fighters do okay damage...its nothing compared to a high cannon ship. I can one shot most things on impossible...and 2 shot everything. Fighters are highly reliant on criticals to start racking up big damage....that is not required with battleships.


While not pertinent to balance, its a side note that battleships take FAR less micro than carriers. The amount of time I spend in battle increase x5 with heavy carrier fleets.


What I've been doing more now is generally going a few fighters early, then moving into battleships. The fighters stay relevant...I will send them out if my battleship can't get in range...and they can always soak a hit or sometimes get a crit. Generally I ensure every one of my ships has 1 fighter...than focus the rest of beefing the ship.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

There also seems to be a maximum number of fighters that can be deployed at one time. I think it's somewhere around 12. If you're still packing fighters in your hanger bays consistently at the end of a mission, you should probably diversify your fleet.

 

[Callonia]

I focused onto plasma/armor/shield with movement for my ships.

But in middle of the game, my ships could do everything. Maxed out all the upgrades and I gained a fleet of deathstars.

I shrugged it off and rickrolled everyone with my doom armada doing everything.

 

[Minor Annoyance]

There also seems to be a maximum number of fighters that can be deployed at one time. I think it's somewhere around 12. If you're still packing fighters in your hanger bays consistently at the end of a mission, you should probably diversify your fleet.

It's 16 ships total. Twice the maximum of capital ships you can have so each could launch one fighter. If anything is destroyed you can launch more.

 

[Stylesrj]

Cloaking, Cannons, Fighters.
Although Engines only really get invested in if my SP goes below 7 (and my science always goes to Engines first, Plasma second, Fighters third). But cannons and fighters have seen me through for a high-risk game. I also try to get the Cloaking Wonder. Seriously, Level 8 Cloak is practically invisible. Not even being right in the enemy's face will let them see you

Lasers, Shields and Armour... if I have nothing better to invest in.

I avoid Sensors and Torpedoes like the plague though. Sensors are worthless when you can just fly a Fighter to where that Pirate Fighter with the huge radius vanished at and torpedoes? You fire it, and forget that the enemy didn't run into them.

I prefer Fighters as damage-dealers and ablative armour. If you're cloaked and you have a Fighter, the enemy will seek them out and destroy them before running Sensors. Then while they're distracted by the gnats, you use your cannons at close range and blow them up.

 

[Minor Annoyance]

If you're not getting results from torpedoes then you're using them wrong. Yes, they can easily miss, if you fire one of them. Using eight at once leaves very little room for escape. Also those eight torpedoes on eight ships costs 800 energy. The same cost as going from 7 cannons to 8. A difference you'd not often notice. Covering several ships entire movement range with torpedoes is something you notice. Still not enough? Put a second on every ship and fire them all the second turn. It's unlikely anyone needs a third volley.

 

[Stylesrj]

I've never found a good use for torpedoes. I just prefer my Fighter Flak.

 

[Barathor]

I've never found a good use for torpedoes. I just prefer my Fighter Flak.

Really? Not only are torpedoes amazing, but they're so much fun too!

They've turned difficult missions where the odds were stacked against me into very easy ones.

Also, as said above, a small investment can arm all your ships with at least one so you can barrage the enemy ships. With some planning, you can hit with them more often. Check ship types, their speed, clear paths and blocked ones, etc. to choose the right shot.

 

[Stylesrj]

Also, as said above, a small investment can arm all your ships with at least one so you can barrage the enemy ships. With some planning, you can hit with them more often. Check ship types, their speed, clear paths and blocked ones, etc. to choose the right shot.

Or you could launch fighters and sneak up with your ships while they waste their shots on the little gnats. If you invest in AI, the fighter might even survive the first hit. Heck they might have more HP than your own ships (unlikely but 100HP Fighter can survive several shots from 15HP Fighters or one from the AI's battleships).

I guess my playstyle doesn't want me to sit back and wait for torpedoes to hit something. I'm a man of action! Nothing sounds more fun than hearing "Fighter's Launched!"

 

[Hail]

afaik torpedoes ignore shields and very often crit something, if they hit that is.

 

[Callonia]

I treat the torpedoes as I treat the Nova cannons of Imperial ships in warhammer 40k. Basically I unleash the turn 1 barrage of nova cannons err torpedoes and seal off alot of paths and charge in and let everything rip into the enemy warships if torpedoes fail to kill them.

And I take no damage whatsoever from enemy's return fire.

If you get stealthed torpedoes, sometimes the entire enemy AI fleet is annihilated by torpedoes alone.

http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Nova_Cannon

 

[Stylesrj]

After playing a couple of games of Impossible 1-ship Challenge, I have newfound respect for Torpedoes. Especially if you have Reactive Armour, you get close to the planet and you let the enemy approach you. Then you launch a Torpedo, blow up a huge cluster of ships and then if you have Dual Command, do it again!

All hail the mighty Torpedo Gods.

Torpedoes still suck though if you're flying a full fleet

 

[Minor Annoyance]

Torpedoes still suck though if you're flying a full fleet [emoji14]

You're doing it wrong

 

[Stylesrj]

You're doing it wrong

If you have 1 ship, you need to kill a lot quickly. If you have a fleet of 8, you can kill those enemy ships with your own fleet easily enough. No torpedoes needed for AOE.