Disasters and surprises

[Paul]

Well my current game is definately not boring. First off the rebels must have made a deal with the disaster god as there have been many which have taken out my major manufacturing,training, and shipbuilding planets. Every time I have rebuilt my facilities they are wiped out again.

To make matters worse I had a couple of major fleet disasters as well which resulted in the complete loss of two good fleets. I'm still managing to win as I own most of the core worlds(all but three) and have Luke and Mon Mothma as prisoners. Once my probe droids find the rebel HQ I'll take it out and end this game.-Grand Moff Conway

[BoShek]

Fleet disasters? Never heard of that. Is there really something like that? The only disastrous fleet encounters I know were of my own making when I attacked a vastly superior enemy.

 

Btw is your game against the AI or multiplayer?

[Paul]

I'm playing agaidt the A1 and the disasters resulted from bad intell. The report said small rebel fleets had taken my planets but when I attacked with my standard size fleets the enemy was there in overwhelming force.

I guess I should have been more cautious.-Grand Moff ConwaY

[Jahled]

I'm actually getting serious game-play evidence that you suffer natural disarsters in accordance with how successful you are being during the game. My latest campaign against the rebel vermin has been one of serious 'playing turtle,' resulting in not one of the dreaded event (@about day 1200) but frequent messages telling me I have new resources and system energy. This is game three i've held back to see what the AI does. Very revealing....

 

I think i'll kidnap a view more rebel scum to drop them on a very injured Skywalker to see how force-sensitive they are, before my Jedi move in for the kill.

[Paul]

Very interesting Jahled, in what ways are you holding back? It may help me to avoid future natural disasters-although the current game is winding down there's always the next time.-Grand Moff Conway

[R2-Opus2]

I've had frequent and infrequent occurances of new resources/natural disasters, and it didn't matter if I was doing well or not. I still try to get around them though through save games. Sometimes I've found that after a few times of loading and older game and playing up to the point it happened, at one point it'll stop repeating at that turn.

 

its still only works though if you've saved enough turns prior (I ususally hope I've got one 10 turns before, but I've risked it at around 8 turns before the event). The only way to know if your doing it right is if each time the disaster hits, it strikes a different planet each time, not the same one. If its the same one your screwed (i.e. saved too close to the event).

 

I just had one at turn 70, but it sucked in that instance cause the last time I saved was right after I began around turn 12

[Jahled]

Very interesting Jahled, in what ways are you holding back? It may help me to avoid future natural disasters-although the current game is winding down there's always the next time.-Grand Moff Conway

 

A number of ways. Chiefly i've allowed the rebels to secure entire sectors, while i've being doing the same but by leaving one system for them. (It's always that crap one with two energy slots!) except for Seswenna or what ever it's called; that's far to important to allow any rebel presance). I've also being deploying an extremely patient attitude; ensuring that systems are well defended before I move on. Systems that are essentially undefendable; thoughs you would invest more maintenance in system defences than you get out of their resources, i've been ignoring. The result has been large swathes of the galaxy under rebel control, including entire sectors, and only one natural disaster.

 

As long as I keep my Imperial Fleets strong patroling Imperial space, and constantly circulating my damaged fighter squadrons to systems with ship yards (damaged ships and squadrons repair faster), the rebels aren't really a concern.... though I am a bit worried about the fleet gathering over Besbin i've just discovered...that includes twelve Bulwark Battle Cruisers...

[Paul]

Interesting strategy Jahled, especially as it seems to work for you.-Grand Moff Conway

[Jahled]

I think we've actually touched something quite deep along these lines, Paul; given I just hit day 2000 with only one natural disaster...

 

It seems to me if you give the rebels some space to do their thing, the game somehow views you as on the back heel! As long as our Star Destroyers are capable of holding their own against the junk the AI throws at us, we are free to assemble Imperial strike fleets free from the fear of sudden unexpected events! Untill we've sussed the natural disaster and expell it from the game, my game tested advice is, go easy and give the opponant some room! It seems to work!

 

You also get the time to do cool stuff like play around with your force-sensitive characters, without an element of panic... sort of thing!

 

BTW: For non-Imperials, I guess this must work in reverse....

[Paul]

My problem is that I tend to want to control as much of the core as possible. Once diplomacy is used up I tend to send in fleets with diplomats to conquer and pacify until all is Imperial. So your strategy of allowing the rebel scum to have resources goes against my ingrained patterns. It is hard to change overnight I'm afraid. I may never be able to get myself to let the rebels flourish at all.-Grand Moff Conway

[R2-Opus2]

I wonder if your theory would still hold water say, if while letting the rebs have a crap sector, you blockaded every single system in it, if that chances the natural disaster frequency again.

[Jahled]

Given my game is at that stage where my tactic of 'holding back' is just about exhausted, we're about to find out R2! I've got no choice now but to take the war to the heart of the rebellion, and begin finding out just what they've been up to in their sectors!

[ADarkJedi44]

Found anything out yet?

[Jahled]

Yep! My theory is soundproof!

 

After a couple of months worth of 'playing it easy,' with the rebel vermin, I am now convinced there are certain measures you can take to avoid a steady flow of natural disarsters when you really don't need them. This 'random event,' is neither random nor randomly timed; it is linked to your galactic-dominance. Play hard to fast and unbalance the brain dead AI and it will shag you period. However, I have some advise that WILL work and avoid this hated event if you follow roughly what I tell you to do so:

 

-Give the rebels grief but also let them have their safe sectors of the galaxy. The more sector space you leave to the vermin the odds of suffering a N.D decrease.

 

-The AI seems to assume you are loosing if you you are not in complete dominance of entire sectors. My advice; that crap system you haven't conquered, leave it alone! It's going to cost you more to command it than it's worth. Whilst one system remains in the vermins control, they are not going to pull 'risky stunts' like planetary bombardments when they've got planetary support to loose.

 

-Smashing their fleets appears to have no effect on the game's assessment of 'how well you are doing,' so obliterate the rebel vermin as per norm, and worry not.

 

..Blast..back in a bit!

[R2-Opus2]

I've come to a similar conclusion, this one tied to blockading, not taking, those enemy systems. As long as they still control them, that should still count towards not experiencing natural disasters as frequently if at all. As near as I can tell, difficulty doesn't come into play (all my games have been on hard and in largest galaxy size).

 

I do experience the natural disasters though, they're just not as frequent, maybe 1 every few hundred turns. If/when they do, I resort to my save game method when posible of going a dozen or turns previously, play up til it happens, rinse and repeat, until it doesn't happen. If the natural disaster happens to a crap system of mine though, I let it happen and move on.

[Paul]

I just found out for the first time that an LNR2 can take out a super star destroyer- What a major pain in the ass. It totally screwed up my attack on a very important system and lowered loyalty to me throughout the sector. More work for the diplomats and shipyards.-Grand Moff Conway

[the_mask]

But as far as I know, It cannot finish a Deathstar.

If you create a single fleet with it and let that one bombard a shielded and armed planet, the Deathstar will be damaged, but the shields and batteries will be gone

[BoShek]

I just found out for the first time that an LNR2 can take out a super star destroyer- What a major pain in the ass. It totally screwed up my attack on a very important system and lowered loyalty to me throughout the sector. More work for the diplomats and shipyards.-Grand Moff Conway

 

Woohoo, that´s what I call I critcal hit ! (Probably hit the bridge while the shields were down and the emergency bridge unmanned so the SSD spun out of control and slammed in a moon ... It *happens* you know.)

 

That´s probably the saddest story I´ve ever heard, NOT. "Oops where did my flagship go ?"

[Lord_La_forge]

But how could that happen? Is the game deciding randomly, wich ship the lnr will destroy?

[Jahled]

A mighty bad piece of luck Paul! I trust you've ensured that the senior officer in charge of that operation didn't survive that squandering of the Empire's assetts?

 

Forge just picked up on something though, is the LNR strike on bombarding fleets completely random in the ship it will strike? Anyone? Any ideas?

[Lord_La_forge]

Nice At-At you have there Jahled

[Paul]

I'm not sure how the lnr2 decides what to hit, the same one wiped out a Star Destroyer and victory destroyer before I sent in three fleets at the same time to wipe out the shields and lnr2 at the cost of another vic destroyer. It took a while to improve the loyalty of the planets in the Sesswanna sector, even Courascant was low after the ships were destroyed. I tried 7 missions to destroy the damned LNR2 with commandos led by various characters but all were foiled.-Grand Moff Conway

[ElvisMiggell]

I think, though i am by no means certain, that the lnr's pick the ship of the highest value that they can.

[Lord_La_forge]

I don't think so. I don't had such experience, it picks also weaker ships in a fleet. Shooting down weaker ships would be more logical though.

I think it's quite possible, that the AI picks it randomly.

[R2-Opus2]

I guess there isn't much of a pattern I can find, although I did notice in one game session, ships with characters on them are at risk if they are in one of the toughest among the fleet.

 

Sometimes I noticed LNRs picking off weak as well as strong ships so I coulnd't find a pattern there. Something else with characters, slightly off the track here...In tactical mode, if I'm playing against Imps, and am nervous about running into a deathstar, I put all my charactrers in a small fast ship. Sometimes, not always (I noticed this with characters other than the main ones, luke, leia, han, and mothma). the deathstar always picks off the toughest ship.