Not Finding the Weakness in Achilles Heel Mission

from GalCiv2 Forums
Hey all. I'm not sure if this was affected by the 1.1 patch, but I have no idea how to beat the Achilles Heel mission. I had better success the first time on Siege, for crying out loud (which I did beat, after a few tries)!

First time around, I just goofed miserably on it, and didn't stop a transport from getting into my primary research colony, so I was screwed there. I didn't make that mistake again, that's for sure. Second time around, I'm doing good. I have a decent starbase up, and DL transports and even escorts are getting nuked. I'm doing okay. BUT, then the escorts of power suddenly show up. Seriously, these things have a 30ish attack AND 23 in shields! I can't research any tech but beams, and even if I could research something else, that 23 in defense is still going to soak up a lot of damage.

So, is this intentional? A weird game issue with that one time through? Should I just try to do some lame invasion rush or what? It ticks me off, as I really was doing well the second time around: I hadn't bitten off more colonies than I could chew, and I was holding off all attempts to attack me, until these uber escorts showed up (and I'm sorry, but a ship that is a speck on the map should not be able to carry that much armament and defense... it just makes no sense).
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Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
It's been a while, but I kept 2 military starbases in range of each other and had a rotating set of fleets (so they could repair). If I could catch the DL in the open (but within the double bonus of the SB's) that's what I would do, but a fail safe would be to keep a fleet parked on top of a starbase. The DL always attacked the ships and the ships could attack with the double bonuses ( and defend from double bonuses). I simply wore the DL down until i had enough of a breather to go on the attack.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
While that wasn't quite my strategy, that is kind of what I was going for. The problem with that, though, is that there is no way in heck I can take on a 23-shield ship. I'm guessing that was some weird error or something, unless you found some good way to deal with it. Because even with two starbases giving bonuses, even a medium-hulled ship would have difficulty taking down one of these escorts (remember, it was 30 or so in attack, and 23 in shield defense)... at least with the plasma weapons you start the level with.
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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Actually I survived long enough to research miniturization heavily and the logistics branch to the point I had one more ship in my fleet than the DL did. I did my best to attack first and I was able to steal one tech from sneaking a transport onto one of their newly conquered planets.... it was one of the more powerful torpedoes. I remember thinking it was odd because the DL wasn't using missle based weapons. But I didn't complain.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I found this level nearly impossible too. I didn't exactly win this level; one of my AI team-mates did, I only provided him with most of his technologies. In a later mission, Armageddon, I did work out (with much help from others at this forum) ways to deal with the DLs effectively, at least on "Challenging."

I don't want to give all my ideas away, then it would be less fun for you. I will offer this: The DLs typically have poor sensor range, poor logistics, low hit points, huge guns, significant shields, moderate to high speed, and poorly defended transports. These things you can see by clicking on a few of their ships and observing them. So, for example, if you build starbases, there's little point adding battlestations and devestator beams to them, there are not enough hit points on a starbase for it to get a chance to fire back. Add ship-assist modules. A single ship-assist missile point, for example, multiplies its effect in accordance with the number of ships in your attacking fleet. If two fleets of four are attacking within the range, that's eight points of damage that that module does. Another idea, take a cargo hull, fill it up with sensors (and a few engines), so that you know where their incoming ships will be each turn. Position your fleets just out of their range before they come, and... Enjoy! I'd say more, but you probably don't want me to.

Some do a fast troop transport rush on this level, sneaking it (with some attacking ships) up one side of the map.

Good luck!
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I'm basically exploiting all of the AI's weakness as you described. The issue is that I don't have a ship about 2 months into the game that can take out a freaking escort that has about 30 attack and a 24 defense against shields, the only weapon available to me. So, my question was more along the lines of: is this a glitch? Just restart the mission over (I've soured over doing so after this happened)? Is there some magical answer that I'm not doing by going for miniaturization, logistics, and having an interceptor for transports?

I've also found that 1.1's population changes make the DL's even harder, as they can mow throw a lot of your population (making taking out transports even more important, I know, but you also have to have population to retake their planets!).

Also... can someone explain the minutiae of defenses to me? As I see it, if I have a bunch of fighters at 4 for beam weapons, they're never going to damage this DL escort with 24 in shield defense. Even if I have 7 fighters, my impression is that those defenses go against each shot my fighters make, not the total for their round of firing. Because of this impression I have, I think this escort is unbeatable, making this mission increidbly lame. Feel free to contradict this logic if you can. Thanks!
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I'm basically exploiting all of the AI's weakness as you described. The issue is that I don't have a ship about 2 months into the game that can take out a freaking escort that has about 30 attack and a 24 defense against shields, the only weapon available to me. So, my question was more along the lines of: is this a glitch? Just restart the mission over (I've soured over doing so after this happened)? Is there some magical answer that I'm not doing by going for miniaturization, logistics, and having an interceptor for transports?



I've also found that 1.1's population changes make the DL's even harder, as they can mow throw a lot of your population (making taking out transports even more important, I know, but you also have to have population to retake their planets!).



Also... can someone explain the minutiae of defenses to me? As I see it, if I have a bunch of fighters at 4 for beam weapons, they're never going to damage this DL escort with 24 in shield defense. Even if I have 7 fighters, my impression is that those defenses go against each shot my fighters make, not the total for their round of firing. Because of this impression I have, I think this escort is unbeatable, making this mission increidbly lame. Feel free to contradict this logic if you can. Thanks!
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I am also having a really hard time with this mission, but I can contradict your logic on the basis that you feel you won't be able to damage them. One key that helped me was trading with my allies. Always keep trading your tech with your allies, I got the Subatomic blaster from the Altarians this way. Even without the subatomic blaster I was able to take down a DL battleship with insane amounts of beams and shields, like 244 and 34, but it took like 4 fleets to take it down. I think with the transport hunter tip, and not keeping my planets garrisoned is the key.