Fleet Configurations?

[Darth-Griffin]

Q. What configurations of ships do you use?

 

I always play as the empire but have never found a good config of ships to use and was wondering what ships you use for various duties

 

Thanks

 

DG

[Krytos]

Hmm, well when I originally played (as the Rebels no doubt) I went for the bigger is better scheme of things. So, as soon as I could produce something larger than a Dreadnaught along came my Mc 80s and so forth until I had a large fleet. The only smaller vessels I had were Corellian Gunships.

All of this was supported by A and B-Wings.

 

Now, I play differently. I start off with building carriers and small support vessels with the occational Dreadnaught in there. I completely skip Mon Cal cruisers and stick to a large number of carriers.

Eventually, once I've researched all I can I start to even out my fleets with a mixture of my old system of Carriers supported by frigates, gunships and some cruisers, with my new(ish) system of adding heavy warships to the mix to deal with larger Imperial threats.

Personally I don't bother building many, if any, Bulwarks as I find them a waste of money.

I also like a mixture of fighters. I don't bother with Y-Wings, though I've usually got a few floating around my fleets from the start of the game. I mainly build X-Wings for general all round perpuses, with A-Wings in support. I either use A-Wings as a second line (only send them in once the Xs have begun engaging) or as interceptors against enemies fleeing.

Finally, my fighters are flooded with B-Wings to rip through enemy warships and most fighters (except those damn TIE Defenders).

 

That's pretty much the gist of my fleet, as the Empire I would do simular though focusing more on warships than fighters. I'd imagine an early fleet to be made up of some VSDs, Escort Carriers and probably Carracks . . . are Carracks base tech for the Empire, it's been that long since I've played as them

[Darth-Griffin]

are Carracks base tech for the Empire, it's been that long since I've played as them

 

Yep they are. Although i hardly ever build them as i dont find they are very good at all. Too weak to do anything useful.

[PHSYCOBOB]

are Carracks base tech for the Empire, it's been that long since I've played as them

 

Yep they are. Although i hardly ever build them as i dont find they are very good at all. Too weak to do anything useful.

 

Darth, Please play me one of these days, and I'll show you EXACTLY what a Carrack Light Cruiser is capable of in Rebellion. =o)

[StarlightCoast]

are Carracks base tech for the Empire, it's been that long since I've played as them

 

Yep they are. Although i hardly ever build them as i dont find they are very good at all. Too weak to do anything useful.

 

 

Ahhhh my young uninformed apprentice LOL You have much to learn young one LOL All kidding aside if you know how to use them 1 carrack can take on 2 corvettes and a bulk cruiser and win. I've done it before as have many of the experienced players. it also helps to have a less experienced player as your opponeent of course.

[teukros]

I've posted my Imperial Fleet Configurations before, but just in case you haven't seen them, here they are...

 

I love the speed of the Carrack but under the default settings it is seriously undergunned (fore and aft turbolasers of 5???) In my game I have doubled the TL ratings of most ships except for the Carrack, whose TL ratings I quadrupled. Fore and aft TLs of 20 still doesn't sound very impressive... the flank TLs of 60 are a little better. I also gave it modest ion cannon: range 35, fore and aft 0, flank 40.

 

I read at least one post about dividing all fighter squadrons by three down into flights of four fighters each. I suppose this means that you would have to then triple the fighter capacity of all ships. But if you did this you would also be able to give the Carrack (the Imperial version anyway, if you allow both sides to build it) a fighter capacity of one - it was retrofitted with exterior rails from which were hung four T.I.E. Fighters. Hmmm, I wish I had the time right now to give that a try.

[Darth-Griffin]

The fighter idea sounds good. However i would be happier if one of the 'big guns' here tried it out first. You could then have the dreadnaught with a fighter capacity of four, which would sound more realistic than the current twelve. I was always under the impression that the dreadnaught was not that big a ship, and would not have had the capacity for twelve fighters. However i maybe wrong of course

[teukros]

Twelve Fighter Squadrons in a Dreadnought?!!! Isn't that the fighter capacity of the Executor SSD?

[teukros]

Oh you were talking the individual fighters... my bad.

 

 

No I think a single squadron is about right... they were fairly big ships.

[Stellar_Magic]

I think you were thinking of my experiments with trying to make an ultra realistic SWR rebellion when you wrote about the Squadron to Flight thing.

 

Anyway I just try and strike a balance of fast and heavy ships in my games, usually establishing a number of small task forces instead of one or two huge fleets. Typically I'd deploy one or two heavy ships in a task force with three to four times that number of smaller ships.

[Krytos]

Anyway I just try and strike a balance of fast and heavy ships in my games, usually establishing a number of small task forces instead of one or two huge fleets. Typically I'd deploy one or two heavy ships in a task force with three to four times that number of smaller ships.

 

Yeah, you can't use just large fleets or you'll loose too many systems. I usually create a fleet per sector which continuously grow. I have them gaurd the most important system in the sector until I start getting raided then I break them up into task forces large enough to handle the raiding party and deploy them. Once the threat is gone, I rejoin the fleet.

 

Basic in concept, though a necassity. Leave small task forces to defend all your planets and they'll be to thin to protect you againts a real assault or launch and assault of your own.

At the same time, keep them together and you'll loose your planets one by one as the enemy (even the AI) randomly raids planets and eventually takes them over while your single fleet jumps around the sector trying to get to them before it's too late.

[Mad78]

I tend to stick to the "one fleet per sector" trick.

[Skynxnex]

I have to be honest, I heavily modify the game using RebEd. I dont like how default it takes forever..and I mean forever to build a ship. I also modify the hyperspace travel time for ships so I am not waiting 100 days for a ship to arrive somewhere.

 

With that said, I usually use one fleet per sector. Any extra fleets I make I try to use to hunt the rebels. (typically I play as the empire). I also tend to invest heavily in anti-starfighter ships since as the empire I find out that the rebels can kick arse with their fighters..at least till you start getting interceptors and defenders. Carracks are your friend till you get Lancers and better fighters. Nothing more aggravating than seeing a Star Destroyer get destroyed by 2 x-wings..heh.

[Paul]

As a Grand Moff it will be no surprise that I play as Imperials. My basic fleets are Victory I based with Carracks and Lancers thrown in- Always five Vics and then an Interdictor (which I allow to be built from day 1). The smaller ships are added as necessary. I update the fighters as other more advanced types become available-the best are the TIE Raptors. My battle fleets are based around a Kaiser Class SSD with 2-3 Vic I's, an Interdictor, and others as needed added to the mix. -Grand Moff Conway

[teukros]

I think you were thinking of my experiments with trying to make an ultra realistic SWR rebellion when you wrote about the Squadron to Flight thing.

 

Hey Stellar_Magic, does anything funky happen if there are e.g. 400 flights of starfighters buzzing about?

 

(Envisions an Imperial Strike Fleet made up of three VSDs and nine Carracks with external T.I.E. Fighter racks...)

[Mad78]

Quite an impressive vision.

[teukros]

What would be impressive would be if a TF of three such fleets arrived in a Rebel controlled sector. With nine VSDs, 27 Carracks and nine squadrons each of T.I.E. Fighters, T.I.E. Interceptors, and T.I.E. Bombers, local starfighter defenses would be brushed aside; the VSDs should provided sufficient bombardment to blow away any GenCores; after the defenders were eliminated, Stormtrooper Regiments could occupy just long enough to sell all infrastructure; and they could all be on their way again long before the Rebels were able to respond (the only thing the Rebels have that is fast enough to catch such a fleet is the Millenium Falcon )

 

EDIT: I just crunched some numbers, breaking one of those Strike Fleets down into three "Action Groups" and then (using my starfighter and Stormtrooper costs) comparing it to an ISD. The results were interesting...

 

Cost comparisons of one Strike Fleet's "Action Group" vs a single ISD:

1 Victory Star Destroyer  68 MAT, 44 MNT   1 Imperial Star Destroyer  112 MAT, 71 MNT
3 Carrack Light Cruisers  78 MAT, 72 MNT   1 Army Regiment              6 MAT,  3 MNT
1 Fleet Regiment           7 MAT,  5 MNT   1 Fleet Regiment             7 MAT,  5 MNT
1 Stormtrooper Regiment    9 MAT, 12 MNT   1 Stormtrooper Regiment      9 MAT, 12 MNT
1 T.I.E. Fighter Squadron  6 MAT,  6 MNT   3 T.I.E. Fighter Squadrons  18 MAT, 18 MNT
1 T.I.E. Int. Squadron     9 MAT,  9 MNT   1 T.I.E. Int. Squadron       9 MAT,  9 MNT
1 T.I.E. Bomber Squadron   9 MAT, 12 MNT   2 T.I.E. Bomber Squadrons   18 MAT, 24 MNT

                        186 MAT,160 MNT                              179 MAT,142 MNT

The ISD hits harder, but the Action Group gets there first. The ISD carries more fighters, but the Carracks themselves have some anti-starfighter defenses. The ISD carries more troops, but the bombardment of the ISD and its T.I.E. Bomber squadrons is only two thirds the bombardment of the Action Group.

 

EDIT: The ISD is a bit cheaper, maintenance wise (even with higher than default starfighter maintenance).

Edited February 22, 2005 by teukros

[Paul]

An Imperial Star Destroyer only carries three troops not six unless you edit with RebED.-Grand Moff Conway

[teukros]

Quite right, my error.

 

EDIT: Fixed

[Stellar_Magic]

Actually something odd does happen when you've got that many fighters around.

 

Because the distance between fleets is determined by the number of ships and fighters when you've got a ton of fighters the two fleets start farther away from each other, thats the only odd thing that happens.

[teukros]

Wow weird!

 

 

That's actually a good thing - gives the Imperial starfighters a little more time to deploy.

 

Thanks!

[Darth-Griffin]

Anyone got a screenshot of this strange effect?

[Krytos]

Actually something odd does happen when you've got that many fighters around.

 

Because the distance between fleets is determined by the number of ships and fighters when you've got a ton of fighters the two fleets start farther away from each other, thats the only odd thing that happens.

 

This would be very useful early on in the game, it would allow you to manouvre your fleet. I find that early games, and even the latter, stop you from doing any form of real strategy due to limited space and time.

 

Though, you'd probably have to reset to a fighter representing 12 fighters once your fleets have the capacity to hold 50+ fighter squadrons, otherwise your "holocube" will be extremely large

[Mad78]

With a mate we are going to organise a battle withmtwo MASSIVE fleets with about 500 fighters on each fleet.

[Darth-Griffin]

Now that will be mad

Look forward to the screenies of that