haphazard1
Dancing Bear
I second many of the points made by scratchthepitch.
I like the creative trait, because it lets you play with the most toys. But it is not necessary. I strongly agree with not taking penalties to your basic economy -- food, production, or cash.
For early combat ships, your main choice is between missiles and beams. If you have a decent computer to get accuracy up to at least 100%, beams are probably better. Otherwise missiles give you better odds of actually doing damage but if you don't finish the enemy fast you will be out of shots.
If you go for beams, I like mass drivers for the longer range without damage penalties. Stay back and try to snipe the enemy. If you go for missiles, I usually try for fewer larger volleys -- lots of 2x racks rather than larger racks. If you get into an extended slugging match with missiles you are doomed anyway, so try to overwhelm the enemy with the initial volleys.
Scan the enemy ships to see what they have. The AI sometimes creates weird designs, and some ships may be significantly greater threats than others. Pick your targets accordingly.
Tactics are important -- concentrate your fire and wipe out one target before shifting to the next. Especially if the enemy has shields, you need to pound those down and then pour in the fire before they regenerate. Manouver to hit the same "side" of their shields repeatedly, and to deny them the chance to do the same thing to your own ships (assuming you have shields). Paying the cost to give your weapons full directional capability (or at least 270 degress) helps a lot, so you can turn your ship to present a full-strength shield side to the enemy and still fire.
Another thing to watch out for early is military leaders -- you can see these if you scan the enemy ships. If the enemy has a leader with a big defense bonus on a small ship, you are never going to hit it with beam weapons. If you get a chance at a leader yourself, they can make a big difference in early effectiveness.
All the above applies mostly to the earlier phases of the game -- more options (fighters, boarding shuttles, etc.) are available later. I hope this helps. MOO2 is a fantastic game and I have had many, many fun hours playing it. I hope you can master combat and enjoy the game as well.
I like the creative trait, because it lets you play with the most toys. But it is not necessary. I strongly agree with not taking penalties to your basic economy -- food, production, or cash.
For early combat ships, your main choice is between missiles and beams. If you have a decent computer to get accuracy up to at least 100%, beams are probably better. Otherwise missiles give you better odds of actually doing damage but if you don't finish the enemy fast you will be out of shots.
If you go for beams, I like mass drivers for the longer range without damage penalties. Stay back and try to snipe the enemy. If you go for missiles, I usually try for fewer larger volleys -- lots of 2x racks rather than larger racks. If you get into an extended slugging match with missiles you are doomed anyway, so try to overwhelm the enemy with the initial volleys.
Scan the enemy ships to see what they have. The AI sometimes creates weird designs, and some ships may be significantly greater threats than others. Pick your targets accordingly.
Tactics are important -- concentrate your fire and wipe out one target before shifting to the next. Especially if the enemy has shields, you need to pound those down and then pour in the fire before they regenerate. Manouver to hit the same "side" of their shields repeatedly, and to deny them the chance to do the same thing to your own ships (assuming you have shields). Paying the cost to give your weapons full directional capability (or at least 270 degress) helps a lot, so you can turn your ship to present a full-strength shield side to the enemy and still fire.
Another thing to watch out for early is military leaders -- you can see these if you scan the enemy ships. If the enemy has a leader with a big defense bonus on a small ship, you are never going to hit it with beam weapons. If you get a chance at a leader yourself, they can make a big difference in early effectiveness.
All the above applies mostly to the earlier phases of the game -- more options (fighters, boarding shuttles, etc.) are available later. I hope this helps. MOO2 is a fantastic game and I have had many, many fun hours playing it. I hope you can master combat and enjoy the game as well.