Defending ships, I feel like I'm missing something.

Hey all.

There's something about ships defending planets that I don't quite get and I feel like I'm just missing something about it.

Basicly, why do they only defend as one and not as a fleet? It just seems silly seeing them go up alone against a big group and get destroyed when there's a whole bunch of other defenders just standing by and looking, when a hostile fleet gets close I've gotten into the habit of just pulling my defenders from orbit, grouping them togeter and let them fight it out before they reach the planet in order for them to help each other.

But I can't quite shake the feeling that I shouldnt have to do that.

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There is an improvement that lets ships fight as a fleet (up to your logistics value), as well as a superproject that simply groups all ships (regardless of logistics) into a fleet.

I agree that it is a bit strange how it works now. The only problem is that I have the feeling that the AI doesn't pull their ships from planets in order to engage fleet-to-fleet.

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Solam

Join Date 03/2007

+16

No they do not. You always get to fight them on a fleet to one ratio. Makes things a bit simple when you conquer them.

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Or more difficult if you don't have enough movement points to finish wiping out their defenders :/

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Mistralok1

Join Date 05/2006

+22

more difficult if you don't have enough movement points to finish wiping out their defenders

That's the point of this type of strategy. If the defenders were in a fleet, then the attacker could wipe them out and invade in a single turn. A stack of throwaway defenders requires the attacking force to slog through them one by one, giving, perhaps, an extra turn to bring a fleet to bear that might actually have a chance of victory.

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Well I've never seen the AI save its own bacon that way, but I do see the AI's planets falling left and right because they send individual ships up to stop me.

And it's a very rare occasion when I can't just break my fleet in half or save one ship out so as to essentially double my movement points and easily take out any planet's defenders in one turn.

The kung-fu movie planet defense (i.e. send the combatants one at a time) is weak sauce.

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The rationale is that coordinating all those ships in orbit to face an incoming threat on short notice isn't a simple task... hence the need for a command and control center on the planet.

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Mistralok1

Join Date 05/2006

+22

I've never seen the AI save its own bacon that way

I have, more than once. Now, I rather doubt that the AI was 'consciously' using that strat; more likely that the fleet just happened to be in the vicinity and chose to attack the nearest target. I was talking more from a human perspective. I almost never fleet my defenders while in orbit, for the reason given.

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Last night I assaulted the Yor home planet and found out to my surprise that it sported the orbital fleet improvement structure. His 3 battleships, 3 frigates, and defender swatted my first good-sized invasion fleet like so many flies.

I guess the one-by-one defense works in its own way if you surround your planet with throw-away ships, but there's a lot to be said for massed defense and I think the AI should do it more often.

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