Looking for Guidance on combat issues for a new player.

from GalCiv2 Forums
Okay,
I just got the game and have played a bit and learned a lot already but there are a couple thing I still don't under stand after reading through the manual and posts here. These center around combat with ships, starbases, and ships in planetary orbit. I am cueently just running through the campains to learn the game.

How do starbases work? I build them and upgrade them but they never seem to aid my ships in battle (at least from a graphic prosective). The enemy comes and takes out a well upgraded start base later in the game so I tried putting a ship in the same square as the starbase that can easily kill the attacking ship but it doesn't seem to help. When I have a militaary starbase upgraded and econimic starbase upgraded with defenses with in the radius of each other why one let the other be taken out? I though I read that the effect were cumilative. Starbases cost a fortune to make and keep up to date and seem to be taken out easy.

How do ship in plantary orbit work? It seems like the enemy just comes in and picks them off 1 by 1 no matter how many ships I have there. I've created fleets and move them into orbit but then when I click on the planet they are all single again. I noticed one improvement I could build that says it uses all ships in orbit reguardless of logistics which implies it would use as many ships as I can create a fleet if they are in orbit for an attack but that does not seem to be the case.

Thanks.
-Cimmeron
3,227 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Ships in orbit aren't in fleets unless you have the Orbital Defense building.

Military starbases can be upgrading to provide offensive and defensive assist bonuses which are different than it's own offense and defense value. Only military bases can provide assist bonuses. If any of your ships are in its area effect you should notice the attack and defense values are increased. You need at least one point in the category for it to give the bonus however.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
First. starbases are not active attack ships. It can't fire on an enemy ship attacking another starbase 4 pct away. The weapons and defences on a star base are for when it does get attacked itself. Then normal combat calculations are done (the attacker always has the advantage over defending because it's first strike). Modules placed on military star bases (non self defence modules) increase the appropriate stats of ships within their range. Since the game rounds eveything down, your not going to see the benefit of +10% to weapons if the ship in the SB radius only has an attack value of 1. I have not had the oppertunity yet to develop a good military SB, so i don't know how the rounding down works with fleet stats. Does it apply to each ship then round down, or apply to the fleet stats then round down? i am sure one of the players who use them more can answer that.

Ships in orbit defend against attackers one at a time unless you have an orbitl fleet manager built on the planet. If you do, ship in orbit defend as a fleet UPTO your logistics ability. if you can put 5 ships in a fleet and you have 7 ships orbiting a planet with OFM, it would take two attacks to clean it out. the first battle would be against 5 ships, the second battle would be against 2.

However, I would recommend a more agressive defence. Unless the AI is doing a back stab, none of their fleets will ever reach any planet at any time for any reason so it's not a big issue for me. The Viraxians take tresspassing very seriously (more so even than genocidal war crimes)
Siege of Centauri
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I would like to see a starbase have an offensive capability to attack any ship or starbase within its sphere of influence assuming these are owned by a race that I am at war with. Otherwise I agree that for the investment in a starbase with a dozen or more modules, they can be taken out too easily by an enemy fleet .
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The key is to plan strategically, and to have a fleet nearby of your own to prevent the enemy fleet from getting close. Static defenses are always of the last ditch kind.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
i don't know if this has changed with the 1.1betas, but under 1.0x, to receive defense/attack assist bonuses, i've found you don't need a point in the specific category, just at least one point for attack/defense. ok that isn't explained well. example: you're fighting an early war against a civ using mass drivers. chances are you can't place a ton of defense on your small/medium ships to still have a viable offence. if you put armor defense assist on the starbase, it will only show up on your ships if you have at least one point under defense. however later the civ catches on and switches to lasers you don't need to redesign whole new ships or research shields (at least right away) you can put a new shield defense assist on and you'll receive the +3 bonus even if the defense on your ships is armor. in the early game these defense bonuses are huge (i think even more powerful than attack assist) as you can win many battles without taking much damage. though i hear in 1.1 it's gonna cost ya!

sorry if that's convoluted, so much easier done than explained!
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Still doesn't make sense to me how you can have starbases built using tech that you haven't even earned on the research tree.
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
There are 2 types of starbase military upgreades.

Defense for the starbase includes Battlestations, etc...stuff that gives the starbase itself an attack/defense value. These can be added to ANY starbase, and means that the starbase can fight back if attacked.

Assist modules can only be added to military starbases, but give a bonus to every one of your ships in the radius.