Starfrigates & Starcruisers

General discussion for the game Anacreon
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CaleyM
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This video explains the problem perfectly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qckKMEySSYg
CaleyM
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Megatheres are stupid. They close in on defenses and die despite having range advantage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB_cV8G6YXY
gc2
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Looks like your cruiser got shot down by autocannon satellites while targeting the HEL cannons. You can click on the "target" button and then the autocannon satellites icon to hit those first.
But yeah, megatheres aren't really worth building.
CaleyM
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In a different case it targeted the sats and still did the same thing. It is programmed incorrectly to close in too much.
CaleyM
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Manually changing orbit does not work either. When I try it triggers retreat if anything.
CaleyM
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Gorgos closes in on Vanguard ships:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJn0_WWspx0

There is bug/exploit to bypass range advantage: by waiting to attack until the starships are close.
Kourtious
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I think Starcruisers are designed this way, because otherwise Starcruisers would be too good overall. This would mean that players would usually skip starfrigates are go straight for Starcruisers making Starfrigates less game worthy.
CaleyM
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Starcruisers are complete trash. They would need to fire at a faster rate to be viable because missiles are only good in volume. The Gorgos are okay now because the attrition reduction allows a large number to accumulate and they can't be hacked against: helions can beat almost anything by exploiting.
Kourtious
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CaleyM wrote:Starcruisers are complete trash. They would need to fire at a faster rate to be viable because missiles are only good in volume. The Gorgos are okay now because the attrition reduction allows a large number to accumulate and they can't be hacked against: helions can beat almost anything by exploiting.
I agree, Starcruisers are indeed complete trash, but they have good armor though and are quite expendable.
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I don't really view starcruisers as an offensive unit; they are most effective used as a repositionable defense against big fleets of things like gunships. Their disproportionate weakness to Stingers and explorers is a major issue, though.

One possibility would be to have powerful missiles (Starcruiser and battlestation) explode when they hit or are intercepted, doing reduced damage (maybe as little as 10) to all units within a circle or cone with radius 2 or 2.5. This would be enough to offset Stinger defense (range=2) and utterly annihilate big explorer fleets with even small fleets of Starcruisers. AOE effects would be less effective against Eldritches (defense range=3), starcruisers, and defensive units (which are spaced out rather than clustered together like fleet wings), although direct hits by starcruiser missiles would remain very destructive.

Additionally, I feel that defending starcruiser wings should automatically prioritize breaking up into high orbit and attacking waiting transport wings. Their powerful armor makes them ideally suited for this role, but players are rarely in control of their own fleets when they are being invaded. Fleets of jumpships that are sent to reinforce a system while a battle is in progress should enter the battle screen from beyond high orbit and should also make it their first priority to attack orbiting transports.
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sun1404
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In my opinion, the ships with missile attack should also have secondary laser attack. Or at least the larger ones like starcruisers. Let missiles be the rare-to-hit but devastating bonus, effective only if you can clear out missile defenses. Large ships should still be useful if the opponent have missile defenses.

It looks like in the Anacreon universe missiles are an outdated weapon system, since they can be defended against so easily. So having large ships fitted only with missiles seems unreasonable.
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I'm opposed to making any one unit too complicated, e.g. by giving it multiple attack types. Missiles remain extremely effective against gunships, which in a densely populated galaxy would probably comprise the backbone of most offensive fleets since they're so efficient to build and use.
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catfighter
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True but it doesn't make it any less frustrating. :( Maybe as a higher level upgrade you could be allowed to choose what your large ships are equipped with upon building or just have an energy-weapon equivalent. (Though again, complexity.)
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... but starcruisers do have an energy-weapon equivalent: starfrigates.
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