suggestion for ship to ship combat

from Stardock Forums
i noticed that the ship to ship combat has some 'flaws'

+ it's usually a slug fest where one ship survives wounded, and is this picked off by the next ship, which is picked off by the third ship

+ production planets send endless streams of material to the front lines, where they are more or less destroyed in a non-tactical melee

+ ships gain experience, but there isnt any real 'crew' to represent the gained experience


some possible solutions:

+ a tactical battle screen like heroes of might and magic where ships can be arrayed when fleets meet

+ a deeper, more strategic AI that combines large fleets and sends them on multi-year deep strike raids into the inner ring of the opponent's area

+ a faster version of the corvette for tactical deep strike raids

+ a 'defenseless' carrier or repair ship that can move with a fleet --- in navy terms, a fleet tender or repair ship this ship will add repair % to other ships in the area

+ add a data base of people, commanders, or rare individuals that can be attached to large fleets. these individuals can add values such as firepower, defense value, or move speed to their ships... they could be trained in academies, etc

+ a better array of standoff weapons like the antimatter missile and the 'spacemine' download that someone coded





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Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
+ a tactical battle screen like heroes of might and magic where ships can be arrayed when fleets meet

+ a deeper, more strategic AI that combines large fleets and sends them on multi-year deep strike raids into the inner ring of the opponent's area
End of quote


They were specifically trying to avoid this because it tends strongly to lead to megafleets that kill anything if they get first attack. (I know I did this alot in both MoO 1/2 and HoMM. It's the only way to get past some parts of HoMM in a time-frame smaller than 'forever'.) Which leads to the only counter, a megalfleet that can kill anything of your own. The entire navy of every empire ends up concentrated in one or two fleets because it's the only way the fleet will survive a battle.

+ add a data base of people, commanders, or rare individuals that can be attached to large fleets. these individuals can add values such as firepower, defense value, or move speed to their ships... they could be trained in academies, etc
End of quote


This was planned some time ago, but may not actually appear until the sequel.

+ a better array of standoff weapons like the antimatter missile and the 'spacemine' download that someone coded
End of quote


If someone can code one, someone can code more: the tools are linked to in one of the sticky threads in the GCMods forum, if you want to try to jump start the process.
~SDC~
[Message Edited]
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
+ a 'defenseless' carrier or repair ship that can move with a fleet --- in navy terms, a fleet tender or repair ship this ship will add repair % to other ships in the areaBR>+ a better array of standoff weapons like the antimatter missile and the 'spacemine' download that someone coded
End of quote

A repair ship could be elcome, but actually, starbases can do some repair, so the constructor may be used for this purpose. The problem is the repair rates remain very low even with starbases, so you may want to add more repair modules.
As for AMMs, they are a bit overpowered IMO. Since ships tend to get destroyed after a few fights anyway, it's better to use only AMMs and a few cheap ships like corvettes or starfighters to get rid of colony ships.

Galactic Civilizations III
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
I think the problem is calling a stack a "fleet". the only thing fleety is they move together. I virtually always unstack my ships and attack piece-meal. You do all the fleet management yourself, and there isn't much.

endless streams of material to the front lines
End of quote


sounds alot like WWII to me.

non-tactical melee
End of quote


since the fleet management is in your hands, so is the tactical situation. you might be surprised what you can accomplish with sensor drones, freighters for cannon fodder (cardboard tanks in Kosovo come to mind), and overlords.

Cheers!
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
A repair ship could be elcome, but actually, starbases can do some repair, so the constructor may be used for this purpose.
End of quote


Isn't there a tech that embodies the idea of a ship tender-- interstellar repair, where ship can repair faster in deepspace away from star bases and planets. Using constructors to repair ships would not be a bad idea though, it would be like upgrading a startbase. The idea needs more thought though... Honestly, I prefer this to managing yet another non-combat vessel.

For that matter, I would prefer getting rid of transports as well and allowing them to appear automatically when you shift population from one planet to another (ala MOO1)... I like combat transports though for the protection they provide.