Ap Kinetics. Best thing ever?

[Sleestak]

I am a huge fan of AP Mass Drivers, and later on Gauss Cannons. I use Mirv nukes to clear out a home land and then hunker down to get AP mass drivers. Unless there's a Psilon trading around heavy armor, I find that cruisers with AP drivers can take on any opponent. The Meklar bit of a pain at the early mass driver stage as the auto repair means their starbases can wear down my fleet. Other opponents fall immediately.

If I can steal EMG, Orion falls quickly as the Guardian attacks the cruisers and a the BBs with the new Gauss Cannons, while the EMG missile cruiser launches and retreats.

Gauss cannons with mods and a good computer can take out enemies with plasma and phasors if they don't have heavy armor.

 

[vmxa]

I only use heavy mounts, if any mods. More guns is usually better. Heavy mounts early allow you to standoff, soon they can reach you, so I drop it. I don't use EMG, will use Mirv at times. Lots of ways to skin the cat.

 

[scratchthepitch]

Ap Kinetics. Best thing ever?

Do you also use autofire with those beams?

If I can steal EMG, Orion falls quickly as the Guardian attacks the cruisers and a the BBs with the new Gauss Cannons, while the EMG missile cruiser launches and retreats.

There's a thread in this section on how to use EMG merculite missile armed destroyers to take out the guardian. You might find it interesting if you have not already heard of this tactic.

Gauss cannons with mods and a good computer can take out enemies with plasma and phasors if they don't have heavy armor.

And vice versa, plasma can take out gauss ships with heavy armor. Never cared for phasors, but rely mostly on plasma once I get it. I've done the Antaran home with 5 titans armed with nothing but enveloping heavy plasma, though they also have all the beam targeting and multiplying specials.

I only use heavy mounts, if any mods. More guns is usually better. Heavy mounts early allow you to standoff, soon they can reach you, so I drop it. I don't use EMG, will use Mirv at times. Lots of ways to skin the cat.

I'm kind of confused. You drop it?

 

[vmxa]

I'm kind of confused. You drop it?

By that I mean the next time I upgrade my design, it will will not have Hv.

 

[vmxa]

And vice versa, plasma can take out gauss ships with heavy armor. Never cared for phasors, but rely mostly on plasma once I get it. I've done the Antaran home with 5 titans armed with nothing but enveloping heavy plasma, though they also have all the beam targeting and multiplying specials.

I cannot speak to titans as I rarely have that tech nor much in the way of multipliers, you have to be creative for that stuff.

I would not even imagine how far into the future techs you have to be to get enough miniturization to do the job with 5 titans though. I take Plasma Rifle over Cannons as phasors do the job very well. The only other weapon after phasors that I would want is Disrupters.

Looked at an old game at what stage of tech I am not sure, but not important.
Plasma Cannon 6-30 damage, space 13
Phasors 5-20 damage, space 4

So if you had 130 space for your cannons, you could get 10. That space (btw no mods on any) would yield 32 phasors. Dmg 60-300 vs 160-640.

 

[scratchthepitch]

I cannot speak to titans as I rarely have that tech nor much in the way of multipliers, you have to be creative for that stuff.

Creative makes it guaranteed you have the tech, but it's not the only way to get it. By the time I'm attacking the Antaran home, I've usually researched the whole tech tree and wiped out most of the other empires. That means I have most of the techs whether using creative or not. One trick I use to get more techs is to bolster and protect the Psilon and Human empires so their creative trait will uncover the necessary techs. Then steal the techs, or more usually conquer them.

BTW, I misremembered the part about using titans with plasma to knock out Antares. I used the same number of battleships instead and didn't start using titans till later, when I realized stellar converters had the advantage over beams in that Antaran reflective shields didn't reflect back the damage. This reflected back damage was usually the most serious damage my fleet would receive. Stellar converters are to large to fit on battleships.

With the plasma armed battleships, it usually took 2 rounds to defeat the Antaran force, and they took substantial damage, with 1 ship being destroyed often. When I began using the stallar converter armed titans, I found the battle would be over in the first round and I took no damage at all.

I would not even imagine how far into the future techs you have to be to get enough miniturization to do the job with 5 titans though. I take Plasma Rifle over Cannons as phasors do the job very well. The only other weapon after phasors that I would want is Disrupters.

I used almost every weapon but phasors since they seem to be glorified lasers and their shield piercing mod is not needed. When I first started playing the game I experimented a lot with the different weapons and phasors seemed to have the least bang for the space of all the later beams. Ships armed with phasors always proved to be the least effective at knocking out opposing ships in comparison to the ships I armed with other beams. In fact, I found phasors to be only slightly more effective than ap-af mass drivers and much inferior to ap-af gauss, which is at an equivalent tech level as phasors. The only time I used phasors was when that was what I was stuck with.

Looked at an old game at what stage of tech I am not sure, but not important.
Plasma Cannon 6-30 damage, space 13
Phasors 5-20 damage, space 4

So if you had 130 space for your cannons, you could get 10. That space (btw no mods on any) would yield 32 phasors. Dmg 60-300 vs 160-640.

With enveloping, plasma has an effective damage multiplier of 4, or so it seems. I've never actually tested the damage increase to find out exactly what it is. The game says enveloping strikes all 4 shields, so I'm assuming the damage against the rest of the ship is multiplied by 4. Whatever the multiplier is, the damage from enveloping plasma is astronomical for the space occupied by the weapon. The damage increase appears to be equivilent to the increase of autofire or missile mirv mods.

Heavy disrupters with the AP and autofire mods do similar damage, but take up a lot more space. Probably the most powerful beam in the game is the ion pulse cannon with autofire. One shot is usually all it takes to core explode titan size ships. The disadvantage of this beam is it does very little damage so cant get through shields and still have enough power to explode the ship's core. But a single enveloping, heavy plasma is usually enough to see off most shields, so I just used these first. The patch took away the heavy mod from the ion pulse cannon, it was way too powerful a weapon with it. When I modded the game, I removed the heavy mod from beams that used the enveloping mod also since heavy plasma was too easy to use to dominate a battle.

BTW, using beams without their mods is like using missiles without mirving. You end up wasting a lot of space for an inferior weapon arrangement. Not using the weapon multiplier specials also causes you to have weaker ships. The worst problem with AI ships I think is their lack of specials and preference for just filling up the ships with weapons. They also don't adequately use the weapon mods and the beam angle of attacks. By late game, this causes AI ships to be almost unable to damage my ships, even though they are packed with vastly greater numbers of weapons than my ships are. About the only AI ships that can still do much to my ships by that time are the Antaran ones.

 

[vmxa]

When they patched the cannons, it was plain to see they were not as useful as phasors, which you get sooner anyway. Everone stopped using them in SG and MP games, that was done for a reason.

Shield envelopment is not worth anything as you have no need to destroy all four shields. It is not like they are going to be able to turn and face you with front, left side, right side and rear, before they are dead.

I doubt one could count on the races to have titan or any later techs for me to get, but I do not allow trading as it is too strong for the human. Yes you could steal it, but why bother?

Can't really remember much about the fleets on Antares as I have not bothered to go there in years. By that time I just go ahead and eliminate everyone. What I do remember is they have a fair number of ships all with X armor and other special techs and a massive Star Fort.

Never really tried to take it down with a small fleet, but I suppose it could be done. When I did go, it was when only 1 planet was left. I would have a quite large fleet by then and no reason to not send them all.

The best thing about cannons is the sound and I do miss that and maybe next time I play I will see, if I can't stick a few in to jsut hear it. Now prior to their increase in size the were the best for certain. That is why they got nerfed.

 

[scratchthepitch]

When they patched the cannons, it was plain to see they were not as useful as phasors, which you get sooner anyway. Everone stopped using them in SG and MP games, that was done for a reason.

I've never played MP and don't even know what SG stands for, nor care, so I cant comment on why those who played these made the choices they made. Or whether your depiction of what weapons they use is accurate. In my single player stock games against the AI, I never found phasors did as much damage for the same space as the other equivalent or higher level weapons. By late game, my plasma armed ships rolled over everything the AI sent against them. I could put 4 heavy, enveloping plasma on a cruiser and with the hitting specials, it would be enough to take down any ship the AI sent up against it. Odds of 3-4 to 1 against my ships still would result in few or no losses to my fleet. To vary the game and make battles more interesting I would arm ships with different weapons and vary the tactics, since arming everyone with plasma and zapping the AI became the same battle repeated endlessly otherwise. It was like playing Civ3 with modern armor armies vs warriors (but not against spearmen - that would still be suicidal ).

Shield envelopment is not worth anything as you have no need to destroy all four shields. It is not like they are going to be able to turn and face you with front, left side, right side and rear, before they are dead.

Often I find it necessary to get at the ship from several directions. Having to knock down the shields all over again in another sector is twice the work. Being able to remove all the shield at one stroke saves a lot of micromanaging a battle. Often I have multiple ships attacking the same ship from different directions, for various reasons. I like to play around with different ideas, not just point a bunch of weapons and blast them out of the sky. Got bored with that same old same old a long time ago.

The enveloping is also very good to use on orbitals, since they do rotate each turn and bring a fresh shield to face you. Compared with shield piercing, it's a much more powerful and versatile mod. There is nothing that stops enveloping, like hard shields do to shield piecing. And plus, once the shields are gone, the damage done to the ship is equivalent to that of autofire and mirving.

In one recent game playing an uncreative race, I really got shafted in weapons and computers. I did have gyro destabilizers and assault shuttles. So I armed a lot of ships with these. I ran the ships towrds the AI line, then fired off the GDs to turn the AI ships facing away. This was so they wouldn't be able to use a lot of their beams that first round because many of these only fired forward. Then I unleashed the assault shuttles. It worked, the AI ships only were able to fire off maybe half their beam weapons (had they been able to fire everything, my inferior fleet would have been in a lot of pain) and the assault shuttles captured most of their fleet. What remained was easily taken care of by the other armed ships in my fleet. Even usually crap weapons can be put to good use.

Anyway, the thread is about the best modded weapons to use in ideal situations in the game. The best case scenario, not the worst case of being stuck with the lousiest techs that uncreative can throw your way. Obviously, given the latter situation, you have to use what you got and change tactics accordingly.

I doubt one could count on the races to have titan or any later techs for me to get, but I do not allow trading as it is too strong for the human. Yes you could steal it, but why bother?

I wasn't talking about tech trades, but spying and conquest to get the techs. Spying sometimes is very fruitful, but mostly I don't spy on an AI until I'm ready to attack, since all too often they found out and declared war before I was ready for them. Now I mostly use spying to get them to declare, then I get their techs through planet conquests and ship captures. I've acquired as much as half the techs that way in stock games of the past when playing an uncreative race.

Can't really remember much about the fleets on Antares as I have not bothered to go there in years. By that time I just go ahead and eliminate everyone. What I do remember is they have a fair number of ships all with X armor and other special techs and a massive Star Fort.

It's been a while since I've taken a game to that point since I've been mostly mod testing the last few years. The fortress was the toughest nut, but there were 2-3 large ships, plus a cruiser besides. One stellar converter shot on each is enough, but you need the initiative. You don't want them firing first, like the raiders do during the earlier part of the game.

 

[vmxa]

FYI phasors take down the Guardian just fine and I have not meet any ships they won't. Planets are another matter and need something better, IF they have a barrier shield. Disrupters or Stellar Converters work fine for that. Can't recall if Plasma Cannons will.

If you get a chance to try them, post the results as I just cannot recall.

SG stands for Sucession Game. Demo and SG's are played with several players and you better be able to justiify any choices you make with proof in those games. MP of course is player vs players. So mistakes in selections means death.

I am not sure if we have had any demo games here, but we use to on Apolyton. We have had SG's here, they come and they go. Most MP games faded away. They were played on Kali. Still were some what active 5 or so years back, not dead yet though.

Last time I recall going to Anties, they had several Doom size, a number of titan and large for a row and half of ships. It was a real battle. Never seen them with less than a near full row, but like I said I would not go, till the game was down to one planet. Not sure how they would fare going in maybe 200 turns.

Oh, Demo games are Democracy games. You have players with different functions. Usually a turn player does all the actual plays and the team has a vote so to speak on the turns actions. These are play against other humans normally.

 

[scratchthepitch]

FYI phasors take down the Guardian just fine and I have not meet any ships they won't. Planets are another matter and need something better, IF they have a barrier shield. Disrupters or Stellar Converters work fine for that. Can't recall if Plasma Cannons will.

If you get a chance to try them, post the results as I just cannot recall.

Just about any weapon of mid level or higher will take down the guardian, if you use enough of them. So far, the mix of merculite missile armed destroyers described on this forum seems about the cheapest way.

I think I explained why phasors wont pass barrier shields and plasma will on another thread, but briefly, barrier shields have 20 defense, regular phasors do 20 damage and regular plasma do 30 damage. The game appears to use the regular damage of a beam to determine if it will pass the planet shields. Heavy plasma are quite effective planet base busters, though later weapons with higher base damage factors do better per individual shot. The problem is many of these take up a lot of space.

Last time I recall going to Anties, they had several Doom size, a number of titan and large for a row and half of ships. It was a real battle. Never seen them with less than a near full row, but like I said I would not go, till the game was down to one planet. Not sure how they would fare going in maybe 200 turns.

I don't remember there ever being more than about half a dozen ships including the fortress at Antares. And it was always the same number and types of ships when I went there. Unfortunately I don't have any game saves at that point in a game where I can run a check on Antares. One of the things I've always wanted to mod was the Antaran force there since it is too easy to destroy.

If you go too soon, you will be behind in hitting tech and have a hard time trying to hit the Antarans. You will also not have initiative and see a lot of your ships destroyed before they even get off a shot. I think I tried an early invasion a long time ago and got beat up pretty badly. All the later times I've gone there it was after maxing the move and computer techs. Even against Antaran raiders I will not use attacking ships* till later in the game, since they usually have a hard time hitting the Antaran ships. I've found planet bases and orbitals are usually enough of a defense.

*A couple exceptions would be using expendable fighter-missile armed ships to bolster the stationary defenses, and more recently using assault shuttle-transporters-troop pod armed ships to try and capture Antarans to scrap for tech.

 

[vmxa]

So when are you going there that they only have 6 ships? Either in terms of the number of turns or the level of tech. I could see where they may have so few early in the game. I would make a run, but I am trying out Armada 2526 Supernova right now.

I read some poor reviews on Atari web when the original came out and passed it, but so far ir seems like it is similar to Moo2, with rts combat, sort of like Moo3.

I knew barrier shields are 20, but I was not sure if they used the lower damage or the higher. I have disrupters by then, so don't use phasors on them. Once I get disrupters I refit all the ships, even if I don't encounter barrier shields.

 

[scratchthepitch]

So when are you going there that they only have 6 ships? Either in terms of the number of turns or the level of tech. I could see where they may have so few early in the game.

I generally got to Antares between the mid 200s and early 300s in turn numbers. Once I wanted to see if the AI would go after Antares, like they will hit Orion if you wait long enough, but no dice. I kept hitting the next turn button till past turn 450 and they still never went there. I even gifted them the techs they would need to get there and successfully fight, but they made no move. I cant remember if they even built a dimensional portal. But I went ahead and went there. In all those games, no matter which turn I went there, it was always the same ships at Antares.

Since I've been modding, I'm not sure if I have done Antares. I've changed both weapon and ship stats and Antaran raiding ships have different weapon outfit now than they did in the stock game. They are more potent. I'm about halfway up the tech tree in a game right now of the mod. It will be interesting to see what I find at Antares. They'll probably be the same ships as before, but they should have different and more powerful weapon outfits.

I would make a run, but I am trying out Armada 2526 Supernova right now. I read some poor reviews on Atari web when the original came out and passed it, but so far ir seems like it is similar to Moo2, with rts combat, sort of like Moo3.

Sounds like an interesting game to try out. Thanks, I'll put it on my list for Santa.

I knew barrier shields are 20, but I was not sure if they used the lower damage or the higher. I have disrupters by then, so don't use phasors on them. Once I get disrupters I refit all the ships, even if I don't encounter barrier shields.

I like disrupters, but they eat up so much space initially, I can only put a few on. I tended to wait on refitting ships with new goodies till I'd researched a couple levels beyond, so their size requirements were more reasonable and you can use all the mods. That was the main reason to keep researching those up and beyond tech levels where you no longer got any more toys. But by the time you get to the end of the usable techs, you pretty much dominate all aspects of the map and the ship improvements are then more or less just academic and something to do more because designing new ships is fun.

 

[vmxa]

Yup they won't go for Antares in Moo2 and they won't go for Orion in Moo1. I tried to give them lots of time in both games, but no dice. Like you said, they will go for Orion in Moo2, if you delay too long.

I have had games where I did not find Orion, until they had taken it. I try to go right around the time I learn some of the 3500 techs. If I wait much longer they seem hit it. Depending on the game and how I feel I tend to not colonize Orion at that time.

I wait for them to get it started for me, unless I need to extend my range in that direction. I switched to exterminate mode at this point in recent years and only colonize planets to allow me to reach their planets. I use to go for taking and holding every system, but now I am lazy.

Even switched to voting a win in Moo1 more often than not. That I never did in the past, had to have all planets.

 

[scratchthepitch]

3500 would be level 12 techs. Thanks for that info. A lot of what happens in the game appears to be done using triggers like that. I've had the AI nab Orion often in games when I delayed too long, but I never had figured out what initiates their going after it, since they usually have the ships to do it long before they actually go there. A couple of times I noticed the AI headed for Orion a turn or two before I did and wondered if the game was programed to have the AI try and beat the player there, once the player had a fleet headed for Orion or was building up a fleet near it.

I usually colonize Orion, sometimes even construct the other planets in the system. To get Orion up to speed I will transfer a lot of people there and buy its first dozen or so buildings. Back before I began modding the game, I had also gotten in the habit of building the dimensional portal at Orion.

In most of my games I knocked out the repulsive races and maybe 1 or 2 of the others, if they declared war, while teching up to the level of an Antaran attack. I would keep any planets I captured and built them up to the point where they paid for their own upkeep at a minimum. Often times, it was captured planets that became my highest producers. The extra command points were also useful, especially in the stock game before I modded these, as I was usually in the CP negatives. It's been a few years since I played a game where I conquered everybody.

 

[neilkaz]

In a recent game I went to Antares on turn 291 and they had only the Doom Star (Harbinger) and one Battle Ship for defense along with the hard to destroy Star Fortress. In another game I went to Antares after reducing the last remaining AI to one planet on turn 394 and, as usual the later you go to Antares, the more defensive ships they have. Then they had the Doom Star along with 3 BB's.

EMG makes short work out of the Antaren ships since they have no shielding. Sooner or later some missiles with EMG will hit and the ship will explode. Of course, I have other missiles on board the larger missile ships since I've been using them earlier vs AI ships and star bases. At Antares, my beam ships go after the Star Fortress and of course any remaining missiles are also shot at it.

The Guardian does have shields and as a result, MV Nukes don't seem to do much to it so Mercs are needed. In one game (always Pre-Warp start for me) a very runaway Sakkra AI went after Orion and took it at turn 291 but usually it isn't til turn 300 or so that having an AI take Orion is an issue and if they aren't strong and otherwise occupied, you can perhaps leave Orion alone til turn 315 or even 325 before the AI takes it from my experience in games that have lasted that long.

EMG is so good it is almost like cheating and to take Orion quickly, blow away the shields on one side and then pump in some EMG missiles. Sooner or later some will get through the lightning field.

I don't have much experience with early Mass Drivers although in my Mrrshan game when I first tried winning with all 13 standard races, it was very effective to use early MD's. Mrrshans race bonuses are great for beam ships with +50 attack and Warlord.

I'm up to Mrrshan again in my second run thru all 13 races (I need to update my thread) and while I've rolled a poor start, I think I'll try the same approach and see what I can learn, or is it still better to just try for MV Nuke Missiles early?

EDIT: My Mrrshan game is such a lousy start that I am way behind the AI's so what ever I do isn't terribly effective but I am learning a few things about Mass Drivers and will continue to try new things, replaying from saves and will add posts as my experience grows.

.. neilkaz ..

 

[neilkaz]

OK I got some more experience using Mass Drivers playing a few times from a couple Mrrshan saves. I made quite a few destroyers (DD) with them, and as more techs came in, I could make them both AP and AF. I think AF is worth the extra cost, noting the Cats +50 attack to help mitigate the lessor chances to hit for the extra two shots.

AP MD helped chew up ships that didn't have heavy armor and a couple times, I could stop shooting when the ship was immobile and then soon capture it. Some of my ships had aug engines, also making them harder to hit with enemy beams. AP also was destroying ship systems giving them less and less to shoot back at me with.

My starting spot wasn't at all good, so I was slower than normal in the game I am playing out to the finish for my playing all 13 race again task. Anyhow, I was left mostly alone by other AI's and finally when the Sakkra's attacked, my fleets mostly of AF AP DD's with a few MD's chewed them up. A fun game resulted where I later flew into their home system with 16 tranports and went onward from there aided by a couple of battleships.

The no range disapation is very nice ! In tests I'd suffered badly from enemy fighters so I made my ships with heavy (need that 9 attack) and quite a few PD mass drivers and was able to reduce the numbers of missiles and fighters.

Soon Sakkras and Klacks (who'd decided to DOW me) had radiation shields so my MD's were useless vs planets. I added a couple of bomber cruisers and later some MV Merc missile ships and a captured Klack ship that had graviton beams to help take out planetary defenses. Gauss cannon tech was stolen by ground troops so I was soon using that as well.

I almost always research mass drivers even when playing with my usual early/mid game missile ships since I want my star bases to have at least a reasonable beam weapon to shoot if attacked and since I go for Fusion Rifle when invading early as usual. Now I realize that with a couple more Force Field Techs added, I have a decent weapon for ships, especially if enemies have ECM (I use ECCM) and anti-missile rockets.

Re: Orion, in this game I didn't take it til turn 329 (pre-warp) and the Sakkras (who's empire was 2/3 conquered by me, had gone there, but not taken it) Klackons were strong, but involved fighting me, and hadn't gone there yet. I didn't think I could let it wait much longer and the lone EMG ship in my fleet scored its fatal hit. Turn 340 now, and Klackons are now badly hurt, and I just took the Trilarian home world as well as I mop up Sakkra. A very fun game where Ants and Lizards destroyed most of my starting planets and my population is mostly tolerate/subt/high grav Lizards. By the latish stage, MD's just aren't strong enough to be killers, but still are punching thru class V shields.

.. neilkaz ..

 

[scratchthepitch]

In a recent game I went to Antares on turn 291 and they had only the Doom Star (Harbinger) and one Battle Ship for defense along with the hard to destroy Star Fortress. In another game I went to Antares after reducing the last remaining AI to one planet on turn 394 and, as usual the later you go to Antares, the more defensive ships they have. Then they had the Doom Star along with 3 BB's.

That's interesting. In my current game I'll have to experiment and check out Antares as soon as I get dimensional portal and then reload and conquer the map and go again, and compare the Antaran forces there.

The Guardian does have shields and as a result, MV Nukes don't seem to do much to it so Mercs are needed. In one game (always Pre-Warp start for me) a very runaway Sakkra AI went after Orion and took it at turn 291 but usually it isn't til turn 300 or so that having an AI take Orion is an issue and if they aren't strong and otherwise occupied, you can perhaps leave Orion alone til turn 315 or even 325 before the AI takes it from my experience in games that have lasted that long.

EMG is so good it is almost like cheating and to take Orion quickly, blow away the shields on one side and then pump in some EMG missiles. Sooner or later some will get through the lightning field.

I sometimes arm my EMG merc destroyers with a mirved nuke to fill in the space left over. Useful for removing the regenerated Guardian shield prior to firing off the EMGs. Other than that, nukes are too weak to do much to the Guardian. Found the same with interceptors. Before I learned about the EMG trick, I had experimented with using swarms of fighter armed destroyers. It worked if some had bombers, but if they only had interceptors, the Guardian was able to repair the damage during the AI turn.

I've been seeing the AI go after Orion by the mid 200s in my prewarp games, but this is using my mod and the AI tend to expand faster. Sometimes they don't even wait till turn 200. In my current game, I nabbed Orion exactly at turn 210. I was initially going to take it around turn 180, but a war between the Mrrshan and Bulrathi opened up the left hand side of the map to me and I decided to go for a monster planet there and do some exploring in case there more of these, before converting my destroyer fleet to the anti-Guardian role.

OK I got some more experience using Mass Drivers playing a few times from a couple Mrrshan saves. I made quite a few destroyers (DD) with them, and as more techs came in, I could make them both AP and AF. I think AF is worth the extra cost, noting the Cats +50 attack to help mitigate the lessor chances to hit for the extra two shots.

AF is definitely worth the cost, I use both unless there isn't enough space. I prefer AF to AP, since the damage is triple.

AP MD helped chew up ships that didn't have heavy armor and a couple times, I could stop shooting when the ship was immobile and then soon capture it. Some of my ships had aug engines, also making them harder to hit with enemy beams. AP also was destroying ship systems giving them less and less to shoot back at me with.

I use that capture method before I get transporters. It fails most of the time since the ships frequently explode before becoming immobile. And if I don't capture them that same turn I immobilize them, the AI will usually self-destruct them on its turn. I learned, the hard way, that if I couldn't reach one of these ships that same turn, to stand off a few tiles away so when they self-destructed my ships wouldn't be damaged or destroyed.

The no range disapation is very nice ! In tests I'd suffered badly from enemy fighters so I made my ships with heavy (need that 9 attack) and quite a few PD mass drivers and was able to reduce the numbers of missiles and fighters.

It's also nice that you don't have to pay extra for the no range disp, with lasers and phasors, I believe you do. I make my heavy MD ships with all heavy AP-AF MD, with the last weapon being a regular or PD version of MD, if there is room for it. If I have inertial stabilizer by then, they'll get that, but their only other defense will be whatever shields I have. The NRD allows these ships to remain at the back with no real ill effects and they are seldom targeted by the AI. For missile and fighter defense, I'll use regular AP-AF MDs and regular enveloping fusion, and arm fast destroyers exclusively with these weapons. I also try and put at least one on each other ship. This has always proved enough of a defense against the AI. I used to use the PD versions, but found the regular size weapons destroyed more missiles, had longer range and they could also be used against ships if the AI wasn't fielding much in the way of missiles or fighters.