Celanus Core advice?

By ck07 Posted November 6, 2009 17:23:06

1.181, SP, Vasri vs. TEC (feel like it).

This is the one with an outer loop of 4 asteroids, 1 ice, 3 AFs.

Inner loop of 5 good planets, 3 linked to star.

From home planets to outer loop: 1 jump, T inner : 2 jumps, by way of dead asteroid.

If I make it to late game life will be good because of phase stabilizers (have to try this the other way later).

I see three imaginable openings:

-Take two nearest As, continue around outer loop (2 jumps from 2nd asteroid to nearest enemy A, 4 to home). Short and boring if it works.

-Cap colonizer goes in (3 LONG jumps--i.e., through star--to first planet), small fleet goes for nearest As. Very fragment and very cash poor for awhile.

-Cap colonizer goes out for the two As, then in (5 LONG jumps from where it will be at that point). No simultaneous push inward because planet garrisons too big. Stays cash poor for even longer.

Finally, this map is more pirate vulernable than average, meaning more bids on them and even less cash around.

Thanks in advance.

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Okay, I just opened up the map in GalaxyForge to get a look. First things first: any time you see a string of asteroids near your homeworld, they are your top priority. Asteroids are inexpensive colonize but nearly as lucrative as a full-sized planet. Those asteroid belts will also contain a random amount of neutral extractors; those have higher efficiency than normal extractors in a gravity well and are also high priority. It should be noted that you don't need to send a capital ship to take any of these; colony frigates with a few combat frigates for backup will suffice... at least so long as your enemy doesn't attack.

Dead asteroids are nasty business. They offer zero economic benefit, but still cost you in the form of infrastructure upgrades. Fortunately the AI doesn't know how to abuse this, but a dead asteroid next to your homeworld is actually a huge liability, because a smart player will set up a staging base there.

On such a small map, it's unlikely the pirate base will enter into the actual equation. Although risky, you can attempt to run through it and hope you don't take too much damage. Wouldn't recommend it unless you're in desperate need of a short-cut. The AI will not attempt this.

The challenge on this map is that your three different approaches to attack the enemy are not connected. If your forces are at his dead asteroid, there is no way they can back-track to defend your own outer asteroids if they come under attack. As a result, you will need multiple strike forces. One big fleet won't cut it. Now, the AI will always keep one big fleet. To beat this, you need to have defenses (particularly repair bays) set up. Whenever he comes to defend himself, retreat back to your repair bays (your other force will be attacking at this time). If he follows to attack you, you'll need to use your defenses to survive. If he turns around to attack your other fleet, just return right back to the battlefield and start attacking him again.

My approach on this map would be to immediately send my colony capital ship to my enemy's dead asteroid and start setting up defenses there. In the meantime, I will scout the desert planet, and if it has few militia I will capture it and use it to build a forward frigate factory. While capital ship is occupied on this offensive move, I will send a few frigates to capture my asteroids as well as my neutral extractors. Once I am in position, I will attack the enemy homeworld in an effort to grab his attention. I will then build a second capital ship to attack one or both of his flanks. The AI is very poor at handling these two-pronged attacks and will likely collapse shortly afterwards.

This is basically my option 2. Means I will be very cash poor as asteroids yield almost none--but so will they.

You're right that all I really have to do is hold their main fleet (and the pirates) with part of mine. Not quite trivial as the kee places have low installation limits.

It is not even necessary to be serious about attacking on another front since if the game reaches Imperial level 5 they're done.

Thanks.

Means I will be very cash poor as asteroids yield almost none--but so will they.

Most of the time in the early game, you rely on selling metal and crystal to the black market to generate credit revenue. This is normal; an extractor economy is easy to get running and the cost of getting something more elaborate is often too high.

Not quite trivial as the kee places have low installation limits.

Actually, asteroids (dead and otherwise) have exactly the same amount of tactical logistics space as a full-sized planet despite being much smaller. This means you can actually build much denser fortifications here. The best defense is still a bank of repair bays with a strong fleet holding the location, but that's all the less area that fleet has to protect. In a big gravity well it's entirely possible for an enemy to completely go around your fleet (mind you, an AI won't do this).

It is not even necessary to be serious about attacking on another front since if the game reaches Imperial level 5 they're done.

If you're going for imperial labs, you may as well try to slowly colonize the inner worlds. You can focus on the planets with low militia count first, then when you have the opportunity send a capital ship to clean up the harder ones.

I've started. 4 LRMs are attacking the nearest asteroid while my cap ship attacks a desert planet 3 jumps away. Bad news is that it has taken a while to get here. Good news is that my scouts have found 7 extractors at the three AFs and converted 4 so far. Medium news is the extractors are 5/2, the near asteroids are 1/1 each, my home and the desert are 2/1 each, and the terran beyond the desert is 1/1. So I will be selling a great deal of metal.

Okay, a few things

You probably waited too long to take your asteroids if you're doing it with LRM. Three Cobalts (or three Skirmishers or four Disciples) will cut it.
More important than the number of extractors on the planets you scout are the number of militia. This will indicate how easy or hard the encounter is.
Make sure you get a frigate factory up and running on that desert. You know how far it is from your homeworld, even cutting one jump out of your journey will save you much needed time (you can even set the rally point from your factory to another gravity well.