Watch TV, Do Nothing wrote:
Helion and Vanguard explorers - Vanguards are not really a combat unit but they are cheap to build and are neccessary for mapping the galaxy in the early game. Helions are by far the fastest unit in the game and are as strong as a Stinger but cheaper (they do lack missile defense, though). Some players like to use them offensively, and why not- they don't require any components, so you can field a really huge number of them. This tactic may actually be effective against Starfrigates but I'm not really sure.
How well they do against starfrigates depends on where the group spawns. An exploit is to retreat and attack until they spawn close to the starfrigates. The exact formula for the number of Helions needed to win against 1 Gorgos at shooting range is the process numHelions+1 until GorgosHP/HelionDmg is exceeded.
See sigma notation. So 25 + whatever extra is needed to get into range is where Helions win the battle. Using your industry numbers the even point would be 47 = (7020+res)/(150+res). My
old video shows that some vanguards start shooting at approximately 35 in the hole. If the attacker was using the Helions and could fiddle with the orbit insertion, it might be a win.
--Imperator-- wrote:Regardless of all these issues, I recognise this is still in Beta and has much potential. The idea is very unique and definitely could attract many players, if done right. I'm extremely supportive of indie games and I'll be coming back in a year or so if/when the next release is available. Hopefully many changes will be forthcoming.
Sadly, I just restarted and can't see any difference since 2 years ago.
--Imperator-- wrote:Now even Gorgos defenses are useless. This is how: An attacker assembles 2 hosts, an intercepting Helion fleet several million strong: the "shield", and the other more powerful main fleet of Eldritch/Minotaur: the "hammer". The shield is sent to the target world first. It remains in orbit until the hammer is one jump away from arriving at the target, then the attack command is issued in the last 2-3 seconds of the watch/minute.
You don't need millions. You only need a few hundred explorer ships in fleets of 1 ship each. Then you would have near zero casualties in those because each defense group would kill only 1 ship at a time. I destroyed an empire twice the size of mine in B1 with a simultaneous strike on all of his sector capitals with only stingers screened like so. I lost a total of a few hundred ships - actually increased my fleet size quite a deal from the defections. It took about 3 hours including to park the fleets just outside his scan range and split them enough times. He logged in near the end of the decimation and sent his Eldritch fleet. I also had those hundreds of 1 ship fleets on defense, so the same thing would happen to an attacker. I also exploited by instantly re-attacking his eldritch fleet with my stingers every time he clicked retreat. You can basically just use the 1 ship fleet exploit to win everything regardless of numerical odds. If you had enough years left in your life span to click deploy enough times, even a new empire fresh off the boat could probably take every planet of every empire lacking sufficient ground troops. E.g., 10,000 Adamants could take out those 300k Gorgos in 900 shot turns (300,000*1200/40,000), so you would need 900 1 vanguard fleets plus a few to close range. Re-targeting order is nearest. The Adamants could still get unlucky. But make no mistake. You are not safe from anyone. Number of ships means little in Exploiteon. Only number of
fleets and ground troops matters.
! Hand abdicated too ! Poor galaxy!
I am Ashes of Aelion.