Fleet Configurations?

[Darth-Griffin]

I guess so

[Mad78]

But i wonder why they then used a TIE Boarding craft to transport the prisonners.

[Paul]

Mad, that was in a book of drawings not in the film.-GM Conway

[Texas_Fett]

I won't comment on the fighter compositions of ISDs both pre- and post Interceptors, but I'd like to chime in with what I've noticed regarding fleet compositions.

 

First off, there are ways to take advantage of the AI regardless of whether or not you are dealing with a human or computer opponent. For example, giving the order to 'engage fighters' does not allow you to choose which specific type of craft to engage first. The AI simply decides this for you, based on the craft's threat level against capital ships and, as near as I can determine, which slot it occupies (red, blue, yellow, green). Therefore, in a late-game battle, it makes sense to have a mix of fighters, since the opponent will be forced to deal with your B-Wings and A-Wings while your X- and Y-Wings have virtual free-reign.

 

The same can be said of capital ships. Any player worth his/her salt is going to take out the biggest, baddest ship in the opposing fleet first, unless the C2 (Command & Control) for the fleet is on another vessel. For example, if you have a fleet consisting of a Mon Cal, two Neb-B's, and a pair of Dreadnaughts, the computer will focus on the Mon Cal first and then pound on the Neb's and Dreads. It's rare that the AI will attack multiple ships (in my experience), and will even focus on a specific task force before moving on. A human player is slightly less predictable: they're going to take out your admiral and/or commander first, then focus on your big ships and/or whatever will do the most damage to their starfighter cover (he/she must obtain Starfighter Superiority to effectively assault the cap ships).

 

Given what I've said above, I tend to create a mix of craft for my fleets. Surprisingly (or not, given its capabilities and the comments of others), I find myself building Neb-B's even into the end game, although Dreadnaughts and Bulk Cruisers have long since gone the way of the Dodo. But I find it fascinating that these early ships are virtually overlooked in battle. They're fast to build, and provide perfect support for the larger ships in a task force. I never, never, NEVER put my command staff in my best ship...they're well protected, but never on the frontline ships. (it's also best if you can have a redundant set of characters holding the same ranks on a separate fleet, as they'll take over the duties should the other fall in battle)

 

Anyway...just my quick 2-cents. I know a lot of it is common sense, especially to veterans of the game. But I thought it was relevant to restate it.

[Jahled]

My fleets always consist of a half number of anti-fighter frigates to munch up as many fighters as they can before enemy fighters engage my own. That way you tend to have all the fighters behind your battleships. This way your frigates are also protected from your opponent's heavier battleships.

 

I doubt however that this works against a human player.

[teukros]

Ah, the KDY Munchkin-B Frigates! Built by the Kuat Drive Yards for the Rebel Alliance!

 

I went back to 2002 and copied this from that old "Damned Corellian Corvettes" thread (all costs are default):

 

• One Imperial I Star Destroyer plus six TIE squadrons costs 130 construction points. Three Nebulon-B Frigates plus six X-Wing squadrons costs 132 construction points.
   
  Which side would you bet on?

[Texas_Fett]

It gets even better once you start using Mask's Neb-B2.

 

Although, it DOES tend to even out when you make 'em available to both sides...and the AI LOVES to complement SD's with Neb-Bs.

[Jahled]

Ah, the KDY Munchkin-B Frigates! Built by the Kuat Drive Yards for the Rebel Alliance!

 

I went back to 2002 and copied this from that old "Damned Corellian Corvettes" thread (all costs are default):

 

One Imperial I Star Destroyer plus six TIE squadrons costs 130 construction points. Three Nebulon-B Frigates plus six X-Wing squadrons costs 132 construction points.
 
Which side would you bet on?

 

Which is why I haven't used the game's original settings for years. A battleship that is a mile long and with enough firepower to reduce the surface of an unshielded world to molten slag, defeated by three frigates?

 

My money is on the Star Destroyer. In fact every penny I have.

 

The frigate by definition aren't designed to engage destroyers or battleships (as seen through the last 150 years of our own naval history at least) they are flanking vessals.

[Darth-Griffin]

Jahled can you provide us with a list of your settings for the capital ships please. Would be good to see what changes you have made as a seasoned pro at the game

[teukros]

Off the top of my head:

• I doubled the turbolasers of all ships, except for the Neb-B and the Death Star (and I tripled the Carrack's). So, Forward TLs: ISD: 200 Carrack: 15 Neb-B: 80 (Hmm maybe that's still too high)
  I gave the Neb-B decent Laser Cannon - 150 fore, 90 aft, 120 flanks I think. Range 17.
  The Damage Control, Max Shield and Shield Recharge of the Neb-B got reduced to 10, 200, and 10, respectively.
  And of course I only allow the Empire to build the Neb-B and Golan III, with both sides being able to build Dreadnoughts and Corellian Corvettes.
  Any Laser Cannon range above 20 got lowered down to exactly 20.
  I gave the Dreadnoughts modest ion cannon - 20 fore, 0 aft, 40 flanks; range 35.
  I reduced the MAT & MNT costs of the Alliance Carrier and the Strike Cruiser (by a third) and increased the MAT costs (only) of the Lancer and Gunboat (by 50%).
  I also reduced the Corellian Corvette's hull from 500 to 400.
  And I allowed the Carrack to carry one flight of T.I.E. Fighters.
  I also replaced the Bulk Transport with the MC-40a, making it kind of like a Carrack on steroids.
  Besides screwing around with the tech levels, that's about it as far as the ships go.

Edited March 1, 2005 by teukros

[Jahled]

Jahled can you provide us with a list of your settings for the capital ships please. Would be good to see what changes you have made as a seasoned pro at the game

 

ISD I

 

Con-112 detec-10

Mai-71 hype-50

 

Hull-3000 sub-4

dmg-35 man-1

 

shield-800 fight-6

recharge-35 troop_3

 

200 75 170 170 70

175 40 165 165 55

 

tractor 4-20

 

rech-40

bomb-3

 

Dreadnaught

 

38 10

29 60

 

1000 3

15 1

 

500 2

25 2

 

85 20 100 100 65

45 10 45 45 45

 

1-20

 

10

1

 

It's tricky to come accross with much sense unless you get the broader picture with everything else, but alot comes down to the ultimate rebel superiorty with fighters (despite my TIES being quicker and with better lasers), which come with torpedos.... and subsequently a much more formiddable threat enmasse in fleets.

[Darth-Griffin]

Jahled if you get the time can you email me the complete list as i would like to play a game or two with those stats. Looks like it could be more fun as the basic firepower is a lot higher. Quicker battles i would guess as well, which is a good thing

[Jahled]

Jahled if you get the time can you email me the complete list as i would like to play a game or two with those stats. Looks like it could be more fun as the basic firepower is a lot higher. Quicker battles i would guess as well, which is a good thing

 

When I get the time dude!

 

Just bear something in mind; every referance to a Star Destroyer anywhere in the SW mythos has them as nightmeres!

 

Before day 600 or so the Imperial player can't realistically build them.

 

Four Star Destroyers stuffed with TIEs can't bombard a shielded system. Four rebel escort carriers with X-Wings and Y-wings, perhaps with one a few supprt craft and an admiral can... Maybe a little left of right here off the top of my head, but it should paint the picture...

[Darth-Griffin]

Dont mind the wait as i think it will be worth it. As of now i dont have the ISD available for the empire until level 3 is reached. Thinking along the timeline of the republic, so only the Dreadnaught is available as a mainline capital ship at the start. I have things like the carracks avail as well but have increased the firepower of the Dread and increased the fighter capacity and troop capacity as well

 

Look forward to the stats Jahled

[Technopeasant]

Just picked up on this discussion.

My strategy relies on simplicity,and cost-effectiveness. So, I load X-wings into escort carriers (very cheap & quick) and build a fleet around 6 or 7 carriers, and later on add a Mon Cal cruiser. Try this, as it adds huge firepower, even against major units. If I suspect they have many major units I add B-wings as soon as available (I also assign maximum resources to ship research, ie Wedge, Ackbar and Tallon, as soon as I can.

[Technopeasant]

Just picked up on this discussion.

My strategy relies on simplicity,and cost-effectiveness. So, I load X-wings into escort carriers (very cheap & quick) and build a fleet around 6 or 7 carriers, and later on add a Mon Cal cruiser. Try this, as it adds huge firepower, even against major units. If I suspect they have many major units I add B-wings as soon as available (I also assign maximum resources to ship research, ie Wedge, Ackbar and Tallon, as soon as I can.

[XeqtR]

when you play as rebells you have to build your fleets around your only real strength ... thats fighters. I'm not going to give away how I setup my fleets but you really need to have alot of fighters all the time.

[Darktrooper]

My standard imperial fleet is this.

 

pre-1000 days and/or full core control.

 

Main Battle Fleet.

 

3 Vic-star

2 TIE Fighter per ship

2 Stormies per ship

 

6 Carracks

 

2 Cariers

4 TIE Fighter per ship

2 TIE Bomber per ship

 

2 Dreadnaught

2 TIE fighter per ship

1 Army per ship

 

1 Imp-Star

6 TIE Fighters

3 Army

Command structure

 

 

Fast Response Fleet.

 

10 Carracks

 

6 Vic-Stars

2 TIE fighters per ship

2 Stormies per ship

 

 

After control or the core and full tech-tree explored.

 

Planetary defence fleet.

 

2 Strike cruiser

1 TIE Defender per ship

 

6 TIE Defender in planet

 

 

I got more configs but I will not reveal them, As they are trade secrets.

 

PS. All stats are factory default.

[R2-Opus2]

The last time I was here posting, which was quite some time, I was getting my Rebellion fix. That's usually when I tend to revisit the forums here, or I by revisiting, I get my hankering to play again.

 

Anyway, my last outting, I went with a more moderately modded game using RebEd. I experienced a lot of problems during the space combat where, as described by another poster in the first page, spread fleets out so far it dragged battles out so that, by the time the fighters engaged, it slowed things down to slide show effect.

 

Instead what I ended up doing was upping the maintenance on a few key ships, such as escort carriers or any ship carrying more than 3 squadrons of fighters. It helped a bit during the combat to make it go by faster so I ended up tending to see my opponent using a lot of escort frigates if it was the rebellion, or the same (I enabled them for the Empire as well) the bad guys.

 

I still built the expensive stuff, but put limits on the counts i.e. I allowed myself to build MC80s or Imp Stars but maybe like 3 per every serious task force with characters in it as the core, then focusing on anti-starfighter ships to enforce the battles to be done by the big guys more than by fighters.

 

Anyway, its a tricky balance I'm still wrestling with in terms of editing the game cause its hard to get the AI to build anything unless you make 'em affordable. In another editing session, I too also gave the Carrack the equivalent of 1 fighter squadron, then also just lowering the squadron count to just shy of 12. Tweaking down the fighter squadron count also lends to nice battles between mostly cap ships I find.