defense from planetary invasion

Every good planet needs a fleet.

Once it is gone you are pretty much at their mercy

Build farms.

No...seriously... farms are great last ditch defense against invasions.

Captain, they've broken through the orbiting space fleet and are beginning orbital bombardment!

Calm down lieutenant, we're safe.

Are you insane!?! The fleet is nothing but a smoldering graveyard, we don't have a single marine to protect us, we are doomed!

I told you it would be all right lieutenant. We have the farmers.

FARMERS?!? Sir, you've lost it. What are they going to do? Throw corn at the Drengin??

I just informed each farmer that the invading Drengins slept with their daughters.

......... Those poor Drengin.

I read in another thread that all ships have a minimum of 1 strategic movement, so you don't really *need* to put engines on them, right? If that is the case, it makes monitor ships a lot more useful (i.e. more weapons)

If i understand correctly, that's what the "battleaxe" and "defender" classes essentially are, right?

Even without those you can have kick ass planetary defences with starbases! I read in yet another thread of a tactic involving building pretty lousy ships with 1 attack, but getting them to 12 attack through starbase bonuses, so you can always make use of those for orbital defence. Unless the AI is clever enough to nail your starbase first, 'fcourse

My initial idea for monitor ship: weak attack, with maybe 1 or 2, and as high a defence rating as I can cram onto the hull, with no additional sensors, life support, or engines. Combine that with an insanely ultimate starbase bonus and you've got a damned good ship on yer hands.

I'd think that maintenence is also a big factor in these relatively static defences, so I would prolly go for moderate defence, and weak or no attack combined with starbase bonuses.

Or just intercept inbound troop transports. Then it's completely irrelevant how defended (or not) your planets are, since the AI can't actually invade

I read in another thread that all ships have a minimum of 1 strategic movement, so you don't really *need* to put engines on them, right? If that is the case, it makes monitor ships a lot more useful (i.e. more weapons)

By default all ships have 1 tile of movement space per turn, However that can be boosted with:

A. Engine modules

B. The engine tech tree branch (+1 basic speed at Impulse Drive, Warp Drive and Hyperwarp)

C. Racial Advantages (5 Points for +1 speed, 8 points for +8)

D. Starbase Modules (Stellar Wake)

E. Cheats

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If i understand correctly, that's what the "battleaxe" and "defender" classes essentially are, right?

Yes, Slow..Weak..Cannon fodder.

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Even without those you can have kick ass planetary defences with starbases! I read in yet another thread of a tactic involving building pretty lousy ships with 1 attack, but getting them to 12 attack through starbase bonuses, so you can always make use of those for orbital defence. Unless the AI is clever enough to nail your starbase first, 'fcourse

I am not sure that starbase bonuses work like that, However I am most likely dead wrong, If that is the case I would reccomend building tiny ships with a first-generation weapon on it (Laser I, Space Cannon, Particle Beam, Etc) (Because Starbase bonuses are activated when a ship has the attack ability) and focusing your planets production on millitary (Double click on the planet and click on the icon next to the Military production display)

Its also a good idea to place 8 high quality fleets around a starbase..

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No...seriously... farms are great last ditch defense against invasions

This stratergy works best when you use the "Dont Ask" racial advantage (+80 reproduction rate), At the end of the farming tech tree I think you get 15 or so billion people per farm, Building them on a farming resource only makes it better..

(Somehow all of your race have undertaken millitary training..)

Oh and before I forget, Remember to counterballence overpopulation with something like a Media Center, TV works wonders.

This stratergy works best when you use the "Dont Ask" racial advantage (+80 reproduction rate),

Are you sure? Because if there is a cap on the population growth per turn (like 200 millions), have 80% bonus reproduction rate won't help you when a specific size for the population is reached. It was that way in GC 1.

Military Starbases do provide bonuses to ships and what some folks don't know each other. Due to "navigation hazards" starbases however cannot be built withing 3 parsecs of each other. Drawing up a little square map that means that any given planet can have at least 5 within 5 parsecs of say planet earth. I do not remember the exact highest bonus that the offense can get up to but lets assume it is 22 per weapon per starbase and at that range all of those starbases do overlap each other so...

5*22 = 110 Beam, 110 Missile, 110 Mass Driver.... without a weapon on board!

Defense wise there is at least a minimum of a 4 granted which translates into 1 per b/m/md defenses. Given 5 for each defense on a ship w/o defenses (like a defender or scout).

With the addition of the planets own orbital defenses for example the one that doubles your hit points and the one that helps your ships in orbit act as a fleet... that can and probably would mean a pretty much unattainable planetary body that is probably going to be untouchable.

But your going to need quite a few constructors to finish the 5 off and will the other races see the overall strategy is a good defense is mearly the beginning of a good offense and come finish you off before all of them bonus factors can play in.

That ring of starbases was what I was referring to in a previous thread of this type a couple of months ago. Lets expand on that a bit more...

You have a couple of 15 type planets with bonuses in that overlap of at least 3...so although you have less than your homeworlds 5X advantage you still have a smoking hot advantage (there are many a reason alot of folks like to play with really tight clusters of star systems in a galaxy, this is one of them) throw in a couple of smaller worlds like the UP Michigan types and the Mars types and you have a working economy that can support a decent military and reseach as well as sustain its own culture as there is simply no way to build a foreign culture in that sector that will have much of a chance, especially if you thrown in an economy starbase in two of the left over corners and in the other two corners a culture starbase (which if I am not mistaken in the overlap area provide would provide a total boost of 680% to your culture and a minimum of 44% to your economy... 44 based on the highest I have ever made a game last before winning or losing in beta. Them manual will give you the max numbers.)

All this while only building a small but effective navy that can escort your freightors around....... sounds vaguely familiar, kinda like deja vu doesn't it...

W/R
Suralle Straykat
Kat Lord @ Large

Bear in mind if you go the starbase defense route, it's all completely moot if they take you out before you fire back... A single decent ship with a starbase of its own backing it up can take out an undefended 110/110/110 starbase without taking a scratch.

I liked somehow the way MOO2 showed the battle on the ground.

Sure you could bomb a lanet into the stoneage from the orbit but if you would like to capture it intact this should take some time. The tielsystem would be perfect shwoing how a planet slowly is conquered tile by tile....

Well I will know how GalCiv2 handles this topic soon enough.

Oh aye, I didn't mention the host of constructors you will need to build up the starbase attack and defenses itself

What will stop them from just launching several fleets at every starbase you have? The enemy should be smart enough to notice why their influence is dropping and you mass-producing a stationary unit will not provide a decent defense against a huge number of ships that can be constantly reinforced, while you can only defend that particular area and hope you won't be overwhelmed when you are building offensive ships.
This is also dependant on the AI to attack that Fortress Europa and not bypassing to a weaker area.



OT: Are there any spellcheck buttons?

(Somehow all of your race have undertaken millitary training..)

Certain countries even today require that all of their young people of a certain age serve in the military for a few years. 

Certain countries even today require that all of their young people of a certain age serve in the military for a few years.

And especially countries that should know better (speaking of my own country of origin here)... It's so outdated it hurts. Luckyly it's very easy to fool our military so I'll never have to worry about that again and they can't even stop me leaving the country if a war breaks out (unlike the people they did draft).

As technology becomes more important and cannon fodder less important, the need for a truly specialized professional army arises and the need for a universal draft decreases. Training is expensive; why waste it on someone who will only serve 2-4 years?

Luckyly it's very easy to fool our military so I'll never have to worry about that again and they can't even stop me leaving the country if a war breaks out (unlike the people they did draft).

It was about 20 years ago that I first come home from training in the navy. December 1984. It was cold in Michigan that year. Really cold, especially for someone who had just spent the last two years training in San Diego, CA and Pensacola FL. My step-father (dad) had been the one to sign for me to join the navy when I was 17. There were no jobs that a 17 year old could do in Michigan at that time, especially where I grew up (cow country, about 6 miles south of the cow that made milk famous, Elsie).

We had just sat down to dinner, earlier my dad had asked me to drive the 20 miles, roundtrip to go get my step-brother, I did gladly, not because I liked my step-brother, because my dad meant the world to me even though I have a hard time telling him that even today. My dad also served in the navy he was a gunners mate on five inch guns, both manual fire and guidance fired. He wanted me to be a pilot you see, we couldn't afford the schools for it and to tell the truth I freaking hate heights although I fly frequently for my job even today. My dad like some other fathers was a bit rough around the edges, but he taught me a dying skill, how to fend for myself, anywhere, any climate, any time. Hunting, fishing, tracking, fire, dam construction, cleaning, etc etc... just like he taught all of my siblings (1 step-brother, 4 sisters). Back to the story though.

We had all just sat down to dinner and the topic came up by one of my sisters (all younger than me) what would happen to me if a war broke out. Before I could reply that although 50% of all submarines were lost in WW II that I was in the safest place in the world (a new 688 class submarine) my step-brother spoke up and stated:

"Better not be no damn war anytime soon, I would have to leave and go to Canada."

Without saying a word, my dad folded his place napkin and laid is across his plate signaling to us all that the meal was done and that we were dismissed from the table. When I looked back from the den I know I seen the smallest hint of a tear in his eyes, but like a true father, he did not speak out against his son, but rather went on throughout the next few years quietly changing that young persons mind, pretty much the way I imagine a chief had changed my dads mind about the navy that he had to enter so long ago.

If you take one thing from this post/story is this. You sleep comfortable in your bed or in your house because there is someone who is not sleeping in their bed in their home in the world today. There is someone who misses his dad, his family and his place beside them.

SO ask yourself, who is the bigger fool, the one putting it all on the line to keep you and the ones you love and the things that you love free for you to do or the one who casts a doubt on fooling his country and military.

W/R
Kirk Smith
Retired Chief Petty Officer - United States Naval Submarine Service
ska: Suralle Straykat
Kat Lord @ Large

PS: I may not agree with what you say or in the way that you may have stated it, but I will defend your right to say it until they pry my Colt 45 from my cold, dead fingers.

/quote]Bear in mind if you go the starbase defense route, it's all completely moot if they take you out before you fire back... A single decent ship with a starbase of its own backing it up can take out an undefended 110/110/110 starbase without taking a scratch.

You make it sound like the starbase is defenseless. I had one game where each of my starbases had a defense of over 300 in each category (yes, over 1000 total). Even the Dread Lords couldn't touch them, and I couldn't say that for any of my fleets. Even in normal games, I'd rather they attack my starbases than my planets, because my starbases are usually tougher than the fleets defending the planets. Fully decked out, a starbase has something like 60 points (plus bonuses from military resource starbases) of defense in each category, which won't hold against a strong fleet in the end game, but it's not exactly a soft target, either.

Figure just the first two levels of Starbase Fortification plus the first level of battle stations gives you 15 defense in each category, and I think another 15 offense in each category, which is fairly good for the time of the game that I get that far.

Also, a military starbase can add up to 4 defense to each category early on in the game, I believe. Stack a few of those, and you can get some interesting bonuses

Now, You certainly can't depend entirely on starbases, especially with the release AI on higher difficulty level. The AI is much less suseptable to wasting ships attacking strong starbases.

If you take one thing from this post/story is this. You sleep comfortable in your bed or in your house because there is someone who is not sleeping in their bed in their home in the world today. There is someone who misses his dad, his family and his place beside them.

I never asked ANYONE to stay awake let alone die for me. I don't ask anyone to defend my rights. Not the military of my country and especially not that of another one. I can do that myself, thank you. If you think you need a military, go ahead. But the United States currently don't force young people to join, if I recall correctly (which is an improvement compared to my countries military). However, I did not mean to offend anyone. This is just IMHO & YMMV.

I think the japanese solution is the best, BTW.

Oh, and for the question who's the better fool: I didn't ask them to draft me and I didn't TRY to fail my physical either. I just answered their questions intelligently. They fooled themselves (even the doctor they send me too laughed about it). If I wanted to really annoy them I would have strapped on my Telecaster and did a pretty good impression of the Boss singing Strong & Whitfield's "War"

A defense only strategy makes you a punching bag. You want to rely on attack, supported by an appropriate military doctrine. Engage on your terms, not the enemy's. This is true on land, but is especially true for a navy.

Starbase bonuses are nice, but unless the areas that you need to cover are static, they aren't that helpful. They really only allow you to decrease the number of ships dedicated to covering a particular area so you can use them elsewhere.

Former EM3 (Nuke) here. What was your rate, chief?

Coner ET/3MC

Musta hit a nerve.

W/R
Suralle

Ähm..we all know how the USA handle his intresst in millitary case at all...we know and see allready that war for the US-Gouverment is not the last what they will do...of course this gouverment is electet from the us-citizen..only a bit over 50% but electet...so the most Americans(a littelbit over 50%) will think like the gouverment..we still wait for the next one who don't follow the american wishes..not to make there on way in nuclear technologic even nucelaer weappons and has something the us-gouverment will control--par exsampel-- oil...oh north corea has nothing what the us- gouverment want..so they realy save to do what ever they want..iran is a ather story...we will wait and see...future will prouve my words Anyway the doctrin for germany is clear we don't want a state in the state and a closed big army is a state in the state with own law, police ect. in germany we have devensiv-serves or instand that for peopel they don't want to learn to kill ather peopel social-servise for 1/1,5 years..and this system is ok for me..and germany don't wan't anymore invollt in a war and our politicans will do nearly everything .
for that even to hear something gossip abot them and germany fron our friends over the great sea..When we belive in ather diplomatic possibillitys. To shut is the last and very sadly step to act