Are Terror Stars a bit pointless?

[Newbunkle]

This was something I was worried about before Twilight of the Arnor was even a twinkle in Brad Wardell's eye. People had been requesting that terror stars be added into GC2 (they were in GC1). At the time I asked how it would enrich the game, and I don't think I ever got a good answer from the pro-TS members of the community.

I've been playing Twlight of the Arnor for a while now, and it was only recently that I built my first terror star. The reason I'd never made one before was that I never needed to. I've never been threatened with one, and I haven't encountered any problems I couldn't defeat without one. I only made the effort to build one recently to see what they were like.

And, I was a bit disappointed to be honest. It took frickin' ages to research it, a dozen or so turns to mobilize it, and a dozen more to get it into position around my opponent's nearest star. Once that was gone it would have taken another 10 turns or so to reach their next star. Well, thats a bit boring to be honest, especially when compared to the Korath's spore ships (I love spore ships!)

Spore ships effectively do the same thing to planets. They can be re-colonized with the right tech, but then you can just spore them again. They're just too much fun (sometimes I have to force myself to use a normal race - I get addicted to Super Annihilators).

By comparison, the terror star is a bit weak. I'd like to see them beefed up a bit to make them more fun. I'd also like to see the AI using them more often (actually, I haven't seen them build a single one yet - but maybe I need to up the difficulty). Maybe they should be cheaper to research, and maybe they should be able to move a bit faster (3 parsecs/turn?). To offset that, maybe they should cost more logistics to add to a fleet, so they can't be protected so easily.

I don't know, maybe its just me. Anyone else have an opinion on them?

 

[Popcornlord]

Alot of people agree with you, including me. Nearly everyone wants Terror stars much stronger. Unfortunutelly, I think terror stars are hard coded in, meaning they're not moddable. Can anyone please prove me wrong?

 

[Sarcasticon]

Fully agree on that one. I still need to build my first terror star, after months and months of TA. Whereas in GalCiv I they actually had practical use.

 

[Jerrymander]

Ahh, spore ships. I haven't used those in ages.

 

[Newbunkle]

Ahh, spore ships. I haven't used those in ages.

As a Doctor* I recommend flogging yourself immediately.

*Qualification free when purchasing a McDonalds happy meal - does not entitle the holder to practice medicine.

 

[Elite]

Terror Stars? nothing terrifying about them, it took me ages to build one like you all mention, and then right when it gets 15 turns from enemy system, a stupid lil' ol fighter comes in and bombs it to hell and I'm like:"WTH?!?! this is all BULL****!!!" I got capital ships larger and stronger then that Terror Star, most notable ships I got are:

World Destroyer(Capital ship)
World Eater(Super Capital ship)

MOST of my Capital ships were built out of anger and need for bigger better weapons(mostly anger)

 

[Fistleaf]

Terror Stars are good for committing suicide when you are down to your last planet and overwhelmed by enemy fighters.

 

[Sarcasticon]

But what are the chances of having so many constructors around + the time needed to build the terror star if your empire is in its death throes?

 

[Strato]

Building ships due to anger. I love it! Done it many times. Even better is naming those ships when in said anger stage, expletives included.

I just wish that the names weren't restricted by character length.

 

[Fistleaf]

But what are the chances of having so many constructors around + the time needed to build the terror star if your empire is in its death throes?

That's where planning comes in. If you know you are losing, start building the terror star. Only people who plan well deserve to go out with a bang.

 

[Sarcasticon]

That's where planning comes in. If you know you are losing, start building the terror star. Only people who plan well deserve to go out with a bang.

So... you're setting yourself up for a loss in your planning?
My point was just that I'd prefer to pursue another route when I see I'm starting to lose. Anyway, I remember I did use terror stars every now and then in GalCiv I but absolutely never in II.

 

[Fistleaf]

Okay, seriously maybe the real use of a terror star is to force a turtling civ to fight. If you see a well defended terror star inching its way towards your star, you have to fight even if you are a pacifist.

 

[JonathanStrange]

A Terror Star as a Doomsday weapon launched by a defunct AI civilization as its final swan song? I like the idea, perhaps having a damaged AI that makes it attack randomly; passing over some planets completely.

 

[mwdowns]

I haven't yet gotten to the stage where I can make Terror Stars (picked up GalCivII a couple weeks ago), but my thoughts on them, as a pacifist turtler, is more to use them to create astoroid fields out of those useless star systems that typically surround your systems. I would think that turning a couple systems into astoroids and sending out the space miners would make some slightly productive planets into powerhouses and would push a mid-level civ up to the top. Though, I think that using a Terror Star is looked down upon by other civs. Is it the same if you blow up star sytems without anyone in them and within your own boundries?

 

[Fistleaf]

I haven't seen anybody mention about the consequences of using a Terror Star. However, if you can afford to research and build a terror star, you should be strong enough to win without it. The extra asteroids are just icing on the cake.

 

[p dandy]

It's good when I don't want another planet to manage or waste resources to defend. Plus this way I can just build only attack ships and not have to worry about transports and civs with high planet defense/fast pop growth. The ability to take out 3 planets + mine + starbases in one shot is very neat. Just nuke and move on.

 

[RichPowers]

So basically you use Terror Stars to hasten the "steamroller" phase of the game. I could see that being useful if you reach that point.