Darvin3

Reply to Is the AI bad? in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

Depends on your perspective, really. In comparison to other AI's for RTS games, the AI is actually pretty solid. It's got its weak points, but nothing too serious. However, it's a mere shadow of what a player is capable of. It all depends on what level you play at. I always bring up the example of Starcraft mission 3 in contexts like these. The mission is notorious for being ruthlessly difficult for a beginner. However, if you finish the game (don't

Reply to Research Stations in Strategy Sins Forums

It definitely depends on the distance between you and your enemy. Going civic when you're 4 or fewer jumps away from an enemy homeworld is quite dangerous. On the other hand, there's largely no need for military labs early on if he's 7 or more jumps away, since it's virtually impossible for him to attack you. As for a civic/military combo, the main reason you don't see this very often is because you either attack or you don't. Going half-and-half is usually a sign of

Reply to Lums are FUBAR (Very broken) in Strategy Sins Forums

[quote]Better LRM[/quote] In terms of raw combat power, that's a definite yes. However, as Amish has already mentioned, the assailant is a shocking capital ship assassin. [quote]Better Flak[/quote] Not really. The defense vessel deals more damage, but the sentinel receives a pretty potent special ability. The sentinel is slightly tougher, but slightly more costly. Seems roughly on par, certainly not a measurable advantage. [quote]Better

Reply to Is the Destra Crusader worth using? in Strategy Sins Forums

It's a heavy cruiser, and it gets the job done well. Its special ability isn't that great, and it doesn't share its damage upgrade with any other units, but if you can live with that there's nothing wrong with it. Certainly late game when you have the time to sink some cash into its damage upgrade it becomes very good, and when fully upgraded it's easily the most dangerous heavy cruiser of them all! One consideration to make is that against Vasari you should have at least

Reply to Making Pirates Interesting in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

Just use galaxy forge; you can create multiple pirate bases easily, and you don't have to worry about the hassle of mucking around in the text file. When there are multiple bases, they usually launch from the one closest to their intended target. Pirates will not do star jumps or wormhole jumps. There are some conditions on which they will return to their base rather than continuing an attack, one of them being their target planet was destroyed. They do get stronger as

Reply to Lums are FUBAR (Very broken) in Strategy Sins Forums

[quote]You have to look at the big picture. Advent as a race isnt overpowered because Vasari have their own strengths to compensate for the kanrak.[/quote] Voice of reason. A one on one scenario is hardly representative of a real battle. In reality, the space egg is firing off another shot of nanos every 12 seconds, which is an assured kill of another illuminator. If nanos takes a (much needed) nerf then we can talk about the assailant not stacking up to the il

Reply to Carriers & Marza nerf discussion in Strategy Sins Forums

[quote] Carriers would stop being a support craft and start becoming an assassin fleet.[/quote] Honestly, as far as the late game is concerned, they're already there.

Reply to Mass bomber defense in Strategy Sins Forums

[quote]Flak burst is hands down the best anti-strikecraft tool in the game albeit with somewhat varying effectiveness depending on what race you are facing[/quote] I'd strongly disagree. Flak burst is [i]arguably[/i] the best, but definitely not hands down. I personally think the Halcyon's telekinetic push is the most powerful by a decent margin. First of all, TK push has a [i]much[/i] larger area of effect, which is critical for protecting your entire fleet. S

Reply to [Suggestion] Unlearning Starbase Upgrades in Strategy Sins Forums

I'd have to agree, both on starbases and fleet command. However, with the fleet command example it has to be implemented properly so as not to prevent people from selling a fleet upkeep level if they're actually using the capacity it offers.

Reply to Ironclad's Future After Sins? in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

Don't confuse Ironclad with Stardock. Ironclad developed Sins, whereas Stardock published it. Demigod is something that Stardock is publishing and working on, and doesn't involve Ironclad.

Reply to Ironclad's Future After Sins? in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

Having just graduated and living in the Vancouver area myself, I'm job hunting. There's one thing that immediately came to my attention on the IC website: there was no "careers" page. It's a subtle message that they really aren't hiring. I wouldn't be surprised if that may change by 2012, but presently they don't appear to be expanding at all.

Reply to Mass bomber defense in Strategy Sins Forums

Eh, what about a Dunov with shield restore? Excellent choice for a second cap if you want to try to get that Marza to survive till level 6. It even has an anti-strike craft ability that doubles as a disabling ability!

Reply to Mass bomber defense in Strategy Sins Forums

You have to presume your enemy is getting bombers if you have heavy cruisers. Often your opponent will have no other option whatsoever, so you [i]know[/i] for a fact he will be getting bombers. This makes it very predictable, and you really have only yourself to blame for being caught off guard. Particularly when your army is mostly one type of unit, you have to be careful about staying one step ahead of your enemy. In this case, you basically need carriers.&nb

Reply to Orgov Captain - Canadian?! in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

Two things: A ) Ironclad is located in Vancouver, so it's quite likely that the voice actors [i]are[/i] Canadian. B ) Canada is a big country, accents vary dramatically from one location to another. There is no one definitive Canadian accent (as much as media stereotypes may convince you otherwise)

Reply to Advent Revelation Cap Ship - Lvl 6 ability question in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

[quote] Yes, but the cooldown on that ability (Perseverance) is one minute, so its not very practical to allow them to make up a large percentage of your fleet. What is good about that ability is that it renders the target ship immune to disablement for 40 seconds (or until the Subjugator itself is disabled).[/quote] They're one and the same ability. Perseverence restores hull and renders the target ship immune to disablement for the duration.

Reply to Advent Revelation Cap Ship - Lvl 6 ability question in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

Obviously, when in doubt pick the most expensive unit. Carriers and heavy cruisers make your best choices. Aside from that, support cruisers are your best bet. Make sure to pick one with lots of anti-matter left!

Reply to Carriers & Marza nerf discussion in Strategy Sins Forums

The Marza's nerf hasn't changed much. It gives you you more time to react before your fleet gets toasted, but otherwise isn't going to stop your fleet from getting toasted if you don't run or counter it. Very mild nerf overall. As for the carriers, I have mixed feelins. I think the change on its own is a good thing, but I tend to agree that it's flogging a struggling horse (carriers aren't dead; siege frigates are the only unit in the game that are honestly and truly

Reply to Light Frigates Turn Speed in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

The marauder could certainly use the buff, so I totally agree with you.

Reply to Light Frigates Turn Speed in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

[quote]I thought LF's did turn a bit faster?[/quote] I don't know the specific implementation or stats, but just going off of experience any advantage the LF may have isn't noticable or usable in a practical sense. [quote]And it is a pretty well known micro tactic to move your targetted ships past the enemy formation to turn them and make them waste time while the rest of your ships keep shooting. LF's would have to be damn fast to fly around LRM's and nev

Light Frigates Turn Speed in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

I've recently been considering the speed of the light frigate - something that is supposedly it's primary advantage. In practice, most battles become clumps after the first few seconds and then most movement is actually turning, at which the LF has no perceivable advantage over other frigates. Unless your enemy starts running and you're pursuing, your move speed will mean quite little throughout the battle. So I started to think, what if the LF was also given a superior tu

Reply to culture toggle option in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

[quote] option to trun off culture takovers[/quote] You said turn of cultural takeovers, you said nothing about turning off culture altogether. Interpreting you literally, your game setting would still cause loyalty to decrease to 0, but you just wouldn't lose control of the planet.

Reply to Capital Ships in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

[quote]i, personally think that shield mitigation, while was designed to sort of punish focus fire... doesnt do it very well...[/quote] The problem is that, in practice, focus fire just makes mitigation reach its cap sooner. Even small amounts of damage, given enough time will cap out their target's mitigation eventually. Hell, send 3 cobalts to a neutral asteroid gravity well and order them to attack the militia. They will reach their mitigation cap before you destr

Reply to light frigates in Strategy Sins Forums

Honestly, what are those 150 people even doing? The ship has like 1 thruster and two lasers. It has a shield system, a self-repair system, and a phase-drive system. Presumably it has a captain. That's 5 functions (most of which are probably controlled by computers...) plus a captain. Why do we need this many people again? Also it's a poor meat shield in practice. The main damage of an early-game fleet is LRF, which just rip LF to shre

Reply to Going Commando in Strategy Sins Forums

That presumes that there are neutrals nearby the planet in question that you are colonizing. If this is not the case (which is most likely) you will need [i]two[/i] colony frigates, whereas someone with a progen needs only one. In practice, a colony frigate doesn't have the anti-matter regen rate to be colonizing, capturing neutrals, and phase jumping early on. Besides that point, you're going to save a bundle with the progen's built-in 20% planet upgrade discount.&nbs

Reply to Help in MP in Strategy Sins Forums

[quote]I'd like some advice on how to run a economic and military game and the same time and try to balance it out as much as possible.[/quote] Typically you should be a little further ahead on the military tree than the economic tree. The reason is quite simple really: a good economy means nothing if you can't defend it. As I've mentioned before, acquiring new planets is a better way to build a strong economy than building trade ports or any other structures.