RBSotS1 SG2

[Zed-F]

T129: Turn off research temporarily to finish off our biome push and continue working on freighters in our new sector while simultaneously building a bunch of new Swarm 6.02 DDs (now with Poly armour). We can't get AP drivers in time to make a difference for this attack so the correct thing to do is just make do with more of what we have already. One of our two main defense fleets is gated to Chozanti while the other remains at Shononu in case of a Tarka fork attempt there. We also start assembling the beginnings of a third main defense fleet at Chozanti.

In other news, Eretria is colonized, Ko'Rorkor is next and probably last for now; there are no more gated worlds we can colonize.

T130: Continue assembling defenders at Chozanti and settling Ko'Rorkor.

This turn I have built some more freighters for our new sector (Sector 23) but otherwise have not yet built anything. I've used about 3/4 of our gate capacity getting more defenders to Chozanti, though.

Note that many of our new colonies are already fully mature as far as infrastructure and terraforming goes, and the rest are maturing rapidly. Hivers with Biomes can gobble up territory awful fast!

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Here's my suggestions for what the next 10 years should try to achieve:

• Economy: Finish maturing our freighter network in sector 23.
  
• Research: Finish AP drivers, work toward deep scan to detect incoming threats quicker. After that we'll want Translate Steelsong so we can get a NAP with Warriors of Mind in the far side of the map. We'd like a NAP with Yellow Morrigi too but I'm not entirely certain they'll give us one as long as they are allied to White Morrigi, even though our relations with Yellow Morrigi are pretty good.
  
• Military: Obviously, continue to modernize our fleet. Once we have deep scan, we'll be able to see where rival colonies are and where we might slip in a gate to an uncolonized world using a cease fire agreement. Now is the time to start trying to expand our gate network again, using gate/tanker pairs to the far side of the barbell.
  

Mardoc is up next; good luck!

[Zed-F]

Here they come again.

I don't recall how big Chozanti was -- can we support medium sats there? The extra missiles could be helpful if we can get them.

We could build some there, but it has very little available I/O. It wouldn't be able to build many in time.

Do we have salvage/repair cruisers with each of our main fleets yet? Might as well start rolling the dice for possible special projects. And the repair capability is always helpful, although with a developed planet around it would not be likely to be used.

Nope, but Mardoc might be able to build one at Chozanti before the bad guys arrive if he cancels the spare gate that's under construction. Still, with only Language 1 for the Tarka, we won't have great odds of salvaging anything and I don't recall that they have anything on their ships we are able to salvage yet. They didn't bring PD last time, certainly; their small mounts were all gauss cannons.

Looks pretty good so far, Zed. I guess that fleet will arrive just in time to welcome Mardoc back to the game. At least we also have strikeforce CnC now, so we can bring a lot more ships into battle. With Fusion DF this may just mean more targets for the Tarka, though.

I'm pretty sure between the fleet I gated there and the reinforcements arriving now, we should be able to take them. Their fleet can't have gotten that much better over the course of less than 10 turns, and we have more destroyers facing fewer enemies, plus we now have Strikeforce CnC. I think we'll lose a bunch of ships but ultimately prevail -- just remember the enemy will be gunning for our gate, so we'll need to stay close to the planet to engage at close range where our mass drivers need to be. We can't be charging all over the map trying to chase them down.

[Mardoc]

It sounds like I will certainly have my work cut out for me. I think I'll actually start playing now, but who knows how far I'll get tonight? Especially with an important battle on my shoulders. It sounds pretty straightforward - let them come to me, and gun them down.



Ssmagus, I look forward to having you on board

[Zed-F]

You actually have a couple fights. Double check those Yellow Morrigi fleets! I just noticed, at least one of them is more than just a few scouts.

[Mardoc]

T130 - Can't quite finish a R&S cruiser at Chozanti in time for the battle, but I decide to queue it up anyway in case it becomes a multi-round battle like haphazard's Tarka encounter.



Now that I know to look for it, it looks like we're shooting Ping pong balls at them, given the number of bounces. I almost think they could win by returning our shots off their hulls! AP will really help against the Tarka, at least.

Definitely rearranging the fleet to put the Swarm ships up front this time. And what do CnC's look like? I really ought to focus the firepower on them, only I'm not sure what to actually aim for.

T131 - We gain a new trade sector, sector 19 (one of our colonies has grown up). It's still got some terraforming to finish, but then I'll put it to freighters like everyone else.

[Mardoc]

You actually have a couple fights. Double check those Yellow Morrigi fleets! I just noticed, at least one of them is more than just a few scouts.

We're Ceasefired with them, aren't we? Or do we need to be prepared to fight anyway?

[haphazard1]

Good luck, Mardoc!

Check their ship types once they arrive. For the Tarka CRs, the "Glory Bound" seem to be CnCs and the "Ghost Reaper" are DF missile ships. Hopefully they do not have any repair ships of their own, and you can wear them down. (We get tons of available repair from the planet, fortunately.) And try to smash those CnC ships -- it really helped at Shononu, although it took several rounds of combat to get them all.

Welcome, ssmagus! I just joined up this game, and we can always use another SotS player.

A question for the team: When you have 36 command points from strikeforce CnC, that is the CnC cruiser and 15 destroyers (assuming you don't have any other cruisers). How do you set up your fleet formation?

I have tended to go with pretty simple swarm/cluster formations, usually with the CnC in the middle for some protection. But I don't really know if this is effective or if there are superior approaches.

[haphazard1]

Ah, cross-posted with the first round of battle.

You got one of their CnC ships, excellent. Tarka CnC have this odd unfolding boom extension from the top of the mission section. It sort of opens and closes over time, you can probably pick it out if you zoom way in on their ships.

The "Mek Kaan" CR type was a refinery -- we saw one earlier at Knossai. Not a big concern, although it makes a nice "boom" when you blow up the mission section.

[Zed-F]

We're Ceasefired with them, aren't we? Or do we need to be prepared to fight anyway?

Ceasefire only applies when we meet at uncolonized worlds; for us to avoid fights at colonies we need a full NAP, which is why they are so valuable to Hivers who want to put gates everywhere and be able to help defend friends (or stab them) at will.

Definitely rearranging the fleet to put the Swarm ships up front this time. And what do CnC's look like? I really ought to focus the firepower on them, only I'm not sure what to actually aim for.

Look for big flat extendable radar blades. They don't rotate but they fold in and out; there should generally be 1 CnC and 5 armour per fleet (mission sections) so look for the odd man out! The Tarka may hold it back or run it away from combat if they only have one though, so in that case they would be sending 5-packs your way rather than 6-packs.

A question for the team: When you have 36 command points from strikeforce CnC, that is the CnC cruiser and 15 destroyers (assuming you don't have any other cruisers). How do you set up your fleet formation?

Depending on whether I want the CnC to be part of the fight, I will either put the destroyers near the CnC and surrounding it in the anticipated direction of the enemy (i.e. to the front most of the time) or I will keep the CnC a ways back of the main combat group for safety (which also means reinforcements spawn farther away.) CnC ships are not so tough that they can afford to shield combat ships, but instead should usually be shielded by them. At least unless you are Zuul and have a lot of money for spare CnC ships...

The "Mek Kaan" CR type was a refinery -- we saw one earlier at Knossai. Not a big concern, although it makes a nice "boom" when you blow up the mission section.

Also the engine section. And that boom is actually dangerous to nearby ships -- especially DDs, so watch for that. We could easily lose damaged DDs en masse if they are too close to it, and anything but the outer edge of weapon range is too close for mass driver DDs.

At this rate we might even want to pick up better lasers if we want to keep using destroyers! This is a bit unusual since small mounts are more often used for PD, but we don't have it. The Tarka certainly don't seem to be using any sort of reflective armour though, and early laser techs up to UV are not that expensive any more; it could be a good investment as long as we are a bit worried about gate capacity.

[Mardoc]

T132 - with focus on the CnC, and lasers instead of nerf balls, the second round goes much more smoothly.



We successfully dove the big Morrigi fleet at Ir'idan; that might have been possible because we severely outnumbered them . It's a growing colony, so if they want to wait until it finishes building out and has nastier missiles, maybe a defense ring...I'll let them.

T133 - I ship some more Biomes to Ko'Rorkor, but after this round I think I'll be done with Biomes. It just feels silly to dump them on a 60 infra, 200 CH world that's doing 30 terraforming a turn itself . Yes, this is two turns after it was settled - I like Biomes!

The remaining Tarka dove and run away during battle, and we can't catch them! I think I'll have to autocalc it next turn to make sure we get them.

And...we spot an incoming Liir fleet to Chozanti of 48 ships. It's got to be mainly DD's, but, well, I deploy a Gate this turn, and build a bunch of MD ships at our homeworld. I'd prefer to wait for tech and build the upgraded ones, but we've taken enough casualties that I think we need something here.