Question about ship combat values

from Stardock Forums
Hello!
My situation is like this:
I´m playing with 1.03A in a medium sized galaxy with a bright AI. My empire is an evil aligned war party, and I´m at war with the Altarians and Torians. Obviously, I´m superior in technology, because I can´t request other techs in the diplomatic screen, and the stats list me as number one as well.
Right now, we have a big Dreadnaught slaughtering around my planets...so far so good...

But what I don´t understand is why the Altarian´s Dreadnaughts are all the way stronger in hitpoints, attack and defense value.
Altarian readings: hp 92/att 36/def 21
My numbers: hp 90/att 26 base value +12 bonus/def 16+1

My ship example is a Dreadnaught manufactured on a planet with shipyard and starship foundary, it is supported by a strong starbase as well, so that it can reach a 38 att value. Both ships are in the same sector and are on level 0.
Outside of my starbase protection, I don´t stand a chance against the enemy
Why are the Altarian ships so strong? What bonuses might be in play that I´ve forgotten?
Thank you
GxR
201 views 3 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
Besides the techs there's several things that could be making their ships stronger:

1) Built on a planet with a lot of ship bonus social improvements. (Not just shipyards, a few others help as well. Like medical centers, and a few others.)

2) Mining a military resource or two.

3) They may had picked racial picks that increased it, as well as maybe being the War Party.

4) Ships gain levels as they survive battles, and as the levels go up so do the ship's stats.

5) There is also a random event that causes the race that gets it to gain power every turn. That can really skyrocket their numbers, including ship stats. You would have gotten a message about the event if this was happening.

Hope that helps, and remember that you can use all those things to your advantage too. :) Except for the random event, I think only the AI gets that.
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
Incidentally, have you tried hitting the DN with an anti-matter missile? You've got the tech for it (Dreadnoughts), and at attack-100, they're pretty nasty.

att 36/def 21 doesn't seem too out of bounds for a dreadnought.
Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
I see...in fact the Altarians were mining at least one military resource. Somehow I always thought this resource only gives ground soldiers a bonus.

Anyway, the game is over now, I´ve been overrun, but I was an idiot. I started missile production too late...relied too much on the more flexible but expensive ships