Are Combat Freighters Useful?

Bump for sensor range increase..

I have two types of freighters.

1. Unarmed, for planets close to my home planet.

2. Armed with missiles, for planets a long ways away. Also, as many sensors as possible.

The hp stays the same but at least if I see an attack coming, I can attack them and possibly destroy them.

Also why can you not stick other ships in a fleet with the freighters to add more protection to the routes?

Yup, totally undefendable and unfleetable.

Yup, totally undefendable and unfleetable.

I already know your opinion Marc..

I have one kind of freighter, too (actually a large hull). I find them very useful. I go to the shipyard and put as many engines on a large hull (1 HP) that I can, with just enough room for a weapon. I call it my Fast Troop Interceptor. That way I can fly half way across the galaxy (exaggerating a bit, lol) to intercept an unarmed troop transport that is getting ready to invade one of my planets.

Cheers,

Helo

Helo you let your imagination run wild..

Thank you Helo! You saved one of my planets! I used your idea(yours and yours only idea, I won't take responsibility for it). Now I don't have to worry about Invasions from the Drath anymore. The Iconians always have fighters occumpaning their troop transports.

THAT"S IT build a fleet of freghters with a single hit point and there are your emergency defenders too.

I think I will build an entire army of these pathetic ships...

I'm still partial to large hulled battle ships. One of my creations can destroy an entire fleet of fighters or defenders.
But they're slow. With fast freighters, you could go anywhere almost instantly. With a fleet of fast freighters, you could go on long range destruction campaigns and be back by dinner time. You would have to be like a boomerang though, attack, return home, attack, return home. That way no one could destroy them.

a large hull (1 HP)

Large hulls have a lot of HP. Cargo hulls only have one. Get it straight.

I think I will build an entire army of these pathetic ships...

Don't knock those ships until you've tried them. I usually have one or two cargo hulls (not large hulls) loaded with engines, scanners, and a single cheap weapon. I use them as advance scouts and for blowing up freighters, undefended star bases, and unescorted troop transports. Pretty pointless to put a trade module on it though, or to build more than just a few. Your inability to see the value in such a raider type ship marks you as a noobtard, while your sarcastic remark that you're going to build an entire army of them shows that you have no idea how they're supposed to be used.

I'm still partial to large hulled battle ships. One of my creations can destroy an entire fleet of fighters or defenders. But they're slow. With fast freighters, you could go anywhere almost instantly. With a fleet of fast freighters, you could go on long range destruction campaigns and be back by dinner time. You would have to be like a boomerang though, attack, return home, attack, return home. That way no one could destroy them.

Not going to work when update to 1.2 is done.

That's alright. My Deathbringr (e left out intentionally) is the ultimate battleship of any of my games I've done so far. I'm only half way through the tech tree in my current game and already, it is the best.

In my opinion that is. You would probably laugh and call me names.

As for freighters, in all actuality, I don't like them. Not even for trade. That's why the theory of being able to use them for battle was intruiging.

I only use high-speed cargo hulls as scouts, survey ships, and the like before I get Eyes of the Galaxy. After that, I just pump out the assault ships and transports. Of course, that doesn't really answer the original poster's question.

noobtard,

Noobtard. I kove it. Never heard that before.

I have one kind of freighter, too (actually a large hull). I find them very useful. I go to the shipyard and put as many engines on a large hull (1 HP) that I can, with just enough room for a weapon. I call it my Fast Troop Interceptor. That way I can fly half way across the galaxy (exaggerating a bit, lol) to intercept an unarmed troop transport that is getting ready to invade one of my planets,

I'm completely new to strategy games (Playing my third campaign of my first title) and even I see the benefits of a lightning fast attack ship for quick responce. been using them since game one. That in combination with heavily armoured and gunned ships parked next to vital targets or on sensitive borders

Not going to work when update to 1.2 is done.

What they doing then.

I used the Q-ship concept to great effect a few times. Most of the time they aren't worth the cost to put defenses on compared to the total trade revenue they bring. The cost of an armed and armored freighter is far higher than a soft one, and you still get one hit point. I only use them on games where I am bringing in a lot of trade revenue and the AI managed to build a Galactic Privateer first. Oddly enough, I've had freight attacked even when I did have the Galactic Privateer. Where the armed freighters came in handy was attriting the attacker's merchant raiders who went behind the lines to attack in my rear areas. One Q-ship wouldn't outright kill most ships, but it usually does a nice bit of damage before its defenses fail and it loses the one hitpoint. I try to make the Q-ship much cheaper and quicker to build than any comparable warship.

The whole purpose is to avoid having to either build more warships to deal with the intruder(s) or have to redirect a frontline unit or picket. Yard capacity has afair bit to do with it as well. In the games where I did use Q-ships, they were often built or quick bought at non-military shipyards, i.e. those that cannot produce a warship in reasonable time. Mostly due to the fact that during those times, my military yard capacity was maxed out with current projects.

What I'd like to see in the future are convoys. Convoys are a well established method of protecting the merchants. In gameplay terms, I'd like to be able to fleet up some freighters, assign a few tin cans (DD's) to escort them, and send them on their way to establish a new trade route(s).