But that requires Cap backup: I'm talking about the situation "if you only send a colony ship and no backup".

(though, you could be lucky enough to have the optimal Cap's target be right on the other side of the current planet, in which case it could kill the siege while passing through while only losing a few seconds)

It would be hard to do for reason that militia would kill constructor until he has chance to build those turrets.

What you could do is to send 1 scout make it circle then send colony colonize and build turrets as siege cruiser is moving to bomb. With 1 siege from militia it would definitely work. With 2 siege it would depend where constructor spawns relative to siege cruisers and if siege cruiser split when moving to better bombing position. With 3 or more siege its impossible.

incorrect, the seige frig does not move far enough to escape being under attack from the turret.  It is infact the fact that the seige frig does move is actually the thing that makes this possible.

I have tried multiple times, placing the turret directly between the siege and the planet, as close to the planet as possible to maximize radius range, and each time the siege has moved out of range. Even when I place the turret in the direction I know the siege is going to move in, it gets out of range after maybe getting shot once or twice.

Note that I'm talking about a planet, not an asteroid.

ohh, it does not work for planets, only asteroids.

To be successful with a planet you do need multiple turrets.

Thats why people tend to kill siege with ships or they would all use scout and turret strategy. 

Warning: long, complicated walls of text.

Assuming there's only one siege frigate:

From my tests, the siege frigate seems to always go clockwise or counterclockwise around the planet, if there is a spot where it will be able to bomb safely (if all turrets under construction are completed). It keeps going in that direction until it finds safety or until the entire planet radius is covered with under-construction turrets, at which point it may continue for a bit and then stop to bomb despite the danger.

Given the size of a planet, it looks like one would have to start construction on 4 turrets to ensure the siege frigate will stop and give up and bomb the planet from its current location; only when the siege frigate is destroyed does it seem safe to cancel the other turrets (otherwise the siege frigate'll start moving again to a safe zone).

The other local militia will also attack the first structure construction is started on as soon as the colony ship leaves. Given the range of turrets (I'm using TEC for these tests), if the local LF/flak are firing on one turret, they'll be out of range of the other turrets: since you can't scrap that first turret until the siege frigate is destroyed, the first turret will be destroyed first unless it's ~75% constructed or more (results from testing on Faster speed with 2 LF, 2 flak). (Does cancelling unfinished but damaged structures give you back only part of what you invested?)

I thought of using the colony ship as bait and have it continuously warp in and out of the gravity well, drawing the attention of the militia, keeping the first unfinished turret mostly undamaged, but it seems the militia ignore incoming colony ships if the planet is already colonized.

So a significant chunk of time needs to be spent on partially building the first turret if it is to survive (long enough for it to be cancelled, that is). I thought that if I could figure out how to "corral the siege frigate by placing the second turret in such a way as to make it reposition back into range of the first turret" it would be easiest just to finish the first turret and then force the siege frigate back into its range, but that doesn't seem possible: the siege frigate will first maneuver out of the 1st turret's range, and if a second turret starts being constructed there, will keep moving clockwise or counterclockwise... etc., until you've started construction on 3 turrets, covering 3/4ths of the planet radius, with the siege frigate in the other fourth. If you then start construction to threaten that last area, the siege frigate will simply stop and bomb from there. So, there seems no way to goad a siege frigate back into the range of a turret, unless there's some tactical possibility I've missed. At that point, your only option to kill the frigate would be to finish the 4th turret, at which point you would have 2 active turrets.

The only way to get this to work while only building 1 turret, so it seems to me, is to

(1) colonize, build a turret close to the siege frigate, wait until construction gets to 75% or so (first turret, covers one quarter of the planet's radius)

(2) have construction frigate start construction on another turret in the direction of the siege frigate (covers second quarter)

(3) as soon as construction is started, do the same thing for the next undefended area (covers third quarter)

(4) as soon as construction is started, do the same thing for the next undefended area (covers fourth quarter)

(5) As soon as the construction starts on the 4th turret, the siege frigate should be in range of the 3rd, where it will soon stop moving and start bombing: tell the construction frigate to finish building the 3rd turret

(6) As soon as the siege frigate is destroyed, cancel all other turrets (the 1st turret should be down to 5% health or so by that time). Colonization finished

The above seems to be the only way of acquiring a planet with only a colony ship, unless you know how to goad the siege frigate back into range of the first turret.

I only see this strategy being viable in the first 3 or so minutes of the game, when the planet in question is connected to the HW, obviously, and:

* you're trying to pull off a double- or triple-colonization start (focusing on initial economy instead of military)

* when the capital ship is occupied fighting another heavy-militia planet

* when the rest of your fleet is busy attacking a planet with 3 siege frigates (putting heavy demand on supply and construction time)

* when you need 2 or 3 LFs for clearing out neutrals elsewhere (putting heavy demand on supply and construction time)

* when the target planet has only 1 siege frigate and no LRMs (else, you'd need scouts, which might as well kill the siege first)

* and when (a) the planet your solo colony ship is targeting has no connecting gravity wells to planets (not asteroids) you'll try to attack in the next few minutes (otherwise, it'd probably be better to wait for the rest of your fleet to wipe out the local militia, so your colony ship can warp in, colonize, and recharge AM in preparation for the next attack). Or (b ), if a connecting gravity well has little or no militia, like an asteroid or one with neutral extractors, a quick-colonize on the first planet and subsequent move to the second well could be good. Or (c), if the planet is a dead end.

Of course, fulfilling all of these conditions (also, your HW would have to have 4 phase connections) would be exceedingly rare, and you would have to have very quick initial scouting to recognize the viability of this strategy before your colony ships are occupied elsewhere. It would also require a lot of MM. (The construction frigates seem to not-unusually get stuck on the structures they're trying to build, holding them up for 15 or 30 seconds, which could be vital)

However, carrying out the strategy could mean 5 or more extra minutes of peak tax income, along with a few more minutes of extractor income. Quite useful for an ice planet... if, of course, your initial focus on colonization and economy doesn't doom you militarily.

Sorry if this is overly detailed, I was trying to systematically explain the process/reasoning to myself while testing.

I never build colony caps (yet), and refuse to build more than 2 colony frigates, so I've never run into much of a problem.

But, even were you to attempt a 3-way, careful use of the black market can help you along significantly - either that, or just to wait 30 or so more seconds before sending the colony ship so you have enough income.

The "negative income" effect you mention shouldn't steal more than about 200 credits for each planet (about 300 for volcano and ice) if you develop quickly. Just with the HW you get that amount in, what, 10 seconds? (Faster speed)

The "terran population upgrade research" surely can wait until your colonization resource squeeze is out of the way first, and I'm very tempted to say the same thing about trade ports: you probably aren't going to build them on your HW (or, if so, probably only 1), so you might as well wait until you actually have your initial planets and their resource extractors (during planet development) before thinking about trade ports. Also, shouldn't you wait until you know you can build a chain of at least 3 or so trade ports before starting them? You don't need them immediately. That said, I don't have quite enough MP experience to say for sure.

I'm also leery about investing in trade ports at all when you're also trying to colonize many planets, including volc or ice: you may have to defend yourself against an early-game rush, and researching/building trade ports on top of all the other development you're doing might be a path to disaster. That said, I have virtually no MP experience.

Not sure what exactly you're saying, but although break-even could occur faster with lightly defended targets like asteroids, the long-term benefit from colonizing earlier is greater with the more heavily defended planets. Population growth takes a long time.

Out of curiosity, do you play against AI or do you play online multiplayer against real people?  What race(s) do you play and what caps do you build?  The colonizer caps are actually quite useful, especially if you start out in an eco slot (in a team game).

For Advent you'll want a Progenitor at some point since it has shield restore, making it an essential component of an Advent battle ball (combined with Guardians).  The Vasari Evacuator is great for solo-colonizing (alone without any fleet) while the rest of your fleet fights the battles, and if you can get one up to Level 6 (planet suck), look out!  The Akkan probably has the best economic boost but is the least helpful in battle unless it's at Level 6 (Armistice), although the increased firing range ability is useful.  You might also want to build a colonizer cap from a "suicide slot" (in a team game) if you end up being forced to migrate.

At the start of every game I'm always a little conflicted as to whether I want to start out with a carrier or a colonizer.  The economist in me really wants the colonizer, but as a practical matter I have to go with a carrier unless I'm in an eco slot or I start out in a suicide spot and intend to migrate immediately.  I might build a colonizer as a second or third cap depending on the situation.

I've heard of that, but really don't like the idea of wasting 70 crystal (cap factory costs 100 crystal) and the other resources when I'm going to need a few more capital ships relatively soon anyway.

Your point is well-taken that it costs a lot; that's why it's essential for a good player to look at precisely how much they're going to spend on development and lose on upkeep before they send the colony ship, so they aren't stuck in underdevelopment due to lack of funds.

If a player is meticulous like this, like I said before, they should lose less than 200 credits to underdevelopment (300 if ice or volc). So although "-9 cred ps" or more sounds like a lot, once you know you have enough upfront funds, it doesn't actually hurt you that much.

I used to play against the AI until I found it too simple and boring to beat. I've only played a couple of MP games, though. For this thread assume everything is MP.

TEC for now, though I'll probably be switching to Vasari once I get more familiar with them (especially with how to use their scouts in combat); never Advent. I almost exclusively build carrier caps (for now) but am aware of the potential usefulness of a colony cap; the carrier pays off more later in the game.

Pretty much, though if you're going to build a colonizer, I don't see why you wouldn't build it first.

The egg is significantly more useful as a fighting force than the Akkan, so I'll probably be using it more than I use the Akkan currently.

From my current (very limited) MP knowledge, I was under the impression that battles are rarely fought in range of a starbase (unless it's a Vasari SB), because people are generally smart enough to just evade them. Wouldn't starbase-destroying just be time-consuming mop-up work? Even better if you have bombers, which can strike with impunity unless the starbase also has hangar upgrades.

After you've built 4 or so capital ships and have frigate factories near your front lines, it's not that bad of an idea to scrap those at your HW, but doing so before then could create very serious difficulties, especially if your opponent decides to rush.

I've played a grand total of 2 MP games (all 1v1), not counting the one against the guy who rushed Novaliths and had no fleet other than a couple of Dunovs, who RQ about an hour into the game.

I have played about as many as that, but I am rarely on.

I love Ion Bolt, simple but effective at its job.