The Lost Colonies Fleet
By Sharkman
Taurus Class Scout
Ship Analysis:
As with the Rebels, you start with a free one at the beginning of the game. And
like the Rebels, this ship has just about as many uses, ie. None. Far too
resource hungry with respect to its abilities. If you need to use something to
tow a freighter or carrier around, use a Cobol, do not use this ship, it is an
absolute boy for beating in combat if it runs into something, ok make that
anything.
Roles:
Scout, Towing, Colonising, Light interceptor
Cygnus Class Destroyer
Ship Analysis:
A very effective ship, only needs hull tech 1, cheap and just one engine
required. Build bucketloads of these. Crank out a pile of mark 4 destroyers at
the beginning of the game and when cash is more plentiful, switch to mark 7 or 8
destroyers. Don't load them with too many torps (10-15 will do) because they
will go down pretty easily, but they will inflict a lot of damage. Can be used
for perimeter minelaying because the cargo of 50 torps is conveniently sized to
lay a decent minefield in one go, but prefer to use the Tranquility for
minelaying, the Cygnus is a ship designed for battle.
Additional Tactics:
The Cygnus' major weakness is susceptibility to minefields as it weighs in at
less than 100 KT. However unlike the Rebels, you can sweep minefields
effectively, so make sure that the Cygnus is part of a battle fleet that
includes carriers (not too hard since carriers are your main offensive weapon!)
Even a couple of cheap Patriots make effective minesweepers, clearing the way
for the fleet.
However you do not possess the Rebels' Guardian design, and a Cygnus simply
isn't as good as a Guardian in a lead-in ship sacrifice role. In fact the
Guardian has 50% more destructive power. So you will need to build a lot more of
these - fortunately they are tech 1 hulls, so once you find that nice Ghipsoidal
planet, upgrade the torp tech and away you go!
Battle Tactics:
A Cygnus should almost universally be set to fight first. Make sure it fights
from the right side of the VCR if the enemy ship is a carrier, you have a 60%
chance of being put above a virtual mass of 320 KT, which means enemy fighters
only do 1% a hit. The effect of a Cygnus as a lead in ship is not great against
enemy carriers, but it is better than just going in with your carrier first. And
it also safeguards against the enemy using a torp ship of his own to lead in,
which is something you will see experienced players doing a lot of.
Against a torpedo based ship, if engine shield bonus is off you should use
the Cygnus with caution, it will get splattered after just a couple of high-tech
torpedo hits. It is still a good idea to lead in with them though, as the enemy
may lead in with a weaker torpedo ship in order to spare his battleship some
damage. The best way to enter battle with a Cygnus is unseen - make sure your
enemy cannot predict the presence of a Cygnus when he is planning his battle
fleet. The best way to do this is fly a Virgo out alone in deep space, but don't
show a waypoint. Keep the Cygnus hidden at an allied or a neutral (unoccupied)
planet. Next turn, switch off the Virgo's engines and have the Cygnus intercept
it. As always the Virgo should be set to sweep mines. This tactic is even more
effective with the Colonies than the Rebels as all minefields within 100 ly will
be cleared or severely diminished, allowing the Cygnus to fly around with
relative safety. Your plan is based on forcing the enemy to intercept you, which
is a tad more difficult with the Colonies because you don't have RGA and planet
attack immunity. But if you are in his territory, it's likely he will be
intercepting you anyway.
Roles:
Light interceptor, light combat vessel, carrier escort
Little Joe Class Escort
Ship Analysis:
Included as part of a typical Colonial battlegroup in the Dreadlord Battle
Manual. I have learnt a lot of my strategies and ideas from this excellent war
manual but I disagree on this one, I don't like ships with just beams unless
they have something special to offer (eg. HYPerjumping) - they are too easily
conquered and whenever you don't get a chance to fight back in a battle you feel
cheated. This ship has 6 beams therefore is good for stripping 12 or so fighters
off huge enemy carriers, but it costs far too much minerals for this to be worth
it. Instead use a Cygnus with mark 4 torps - still only 1 engine and similar
minerals in the hull, but it has more mass, will still strip off a few fighters
and will do some damage to the enemy shields. Little Joe's can be used for
freighter hunting but then so can Cygnus's if you put X-Rays on them.
Additional Tactics:
Having said that, you might be able to use this ship to strip fighters off
enemies with low complements, in particular starbases, but also Crystal Thunder,
Instrumentality. These ships have good armaments in terms of bays but tend to
run out of fighters too easily. Using the Little Joe makes this a glaring
weakness. With 12-18 less fighters, plus the Virgo's 10 beams, these small
capacity carriers may not even do any damage to the Virgo in the following
battle, especially if the Virgo fights from the left.
Battle Tactics:
There's also the slight possibility you can use this ship to similar effect as
the Cygnus, but this time it depends on your opponent. If you can get the Little
Joe from the right side of the VCR, it can work. I will illustrate with an
example. In my last game as the Rebels, I was fighting the Colonies. I see 4
Virgo's heading for one of my bases. I scramble 3 Rushes and I figure that with
the left side advantage plus the backing of a 60-fighter base, I should be able
to turn this threat aside. Unfortunately one of the planets near the base was
not owned by me and as it turned out, my opponent surprised me by throwing a
Little Joe into the fray. Since I was trying to get the left side of the VCR,
the Little Joe ended up on the right, and as luck would have it, it got the 360
KT of extra mass. Now my first Rush to fight had crap engines (I was using the
sacrificial lamb tactic) and it only had 120 fighters (yeah I know I said to use
150-160 fighters in my Rebels fleet review, but as anyone who has played the
game will attest, you can't have everything your way all the time! :-p ). The
Little Joe, with the extra virtual mass, stripped off 18 fighters from the first
Rush, leaving me with just 102. This is nowhere near enough against another
carrier that has 10 beams, so I lost the first Virgo vs Rush battle. The rest of
the battle is irrelevant as far as this section on the Little Joe is concerned,
but if you're interested, each victorious Rush suffered a lower damage profile
than the victorious Virgo's, and the base ended up finishing off the last Virgo,
with almost all of the base fighters gone. That just illustrates how much of an
advantage the left side VCR is, in addition to the superiority of the Rush over
the Virgo (it is an easy mistake to believe that it's an even trade-off between
5 beams/10 bays and 10 beams/8 bays. It is not. Rush wins 60-65% against a
Virgo, possibly above 70% when Rush is on the left).
Roles:
Scouting, Freighter Hunting, Escorting, Stripping fighters off bases
Cobol Class Research Cruiser
Ship Analysis:
A highly desired ship by all races, be careful who you trade this one to, should
you even think about giving it away. Make sure you get another ship with a
special ability in return, like the Star Destroyer or Meteor Blockade Runner.
This ship is the perfect tow ship, explorer, coloniser, armed freighter and
minelayer all in one. Unlike the Robots Pawn, you should build one right at the
beginning because it doesn't cost very much and besides, you can use it to start
making neutronium straightaway. Right at the beginning, jet one out in each
direction to give yourself a reasonable chance of detecting good native planets
(it does tell you the population but unfortunately not the type of government).
Keep its mission on SENSOR SWEEP unless towing. Another idea in the initial
stages of colonisation is to build LDSFs with stardrive 1's and tow each of them
with a Cobol. The Cobol should have a few torps on board just in case, usually
mark 4 photons will do, but it is better to use a mark 7 Cobol for minelaying
(such minelayers only need 1 tube, if you cannot afford two, since they
shouldn't be entering combat anyway).
Roles:
Towing, light COMBAT! minelaying, exploration, colonising, RAMSCOOPING! Border
patrolling, anti-scout defence
Aries Class Transport
Ship Analysis:
This ship is equipped with an advanced alchemy unit, but you don't need its
function because you have the Cobol which makes fuel for free. Trade it to one
of the fuel guzzling races (Federation, Empire, Robots in particular) for
something decent. If you don't feel like trading much then don't build these.
Roles:
Alchemy functions, light freight routes
Sagittarius Class Transport
Ship Analysis:
Not terribly much harm in building these if you really think the Sagittarius
graphic is better than the Gemini graphic, because that's the only reason you'd
ever want to choose this ship over the Gemini. The Gemini only costs slightly
more credits and minerals but it gives a 33% increase in cargo capacity over the
Sagittarius. But as I said, if you want to build them, fine, they will still be
able to produce fighters at a decent rate.
Roles:
Build fighters, anti-scout, light freight routes, resupply carriers, fighter
minesweep
Lady Royale Class Cruiser
Ship Analysis:
I can't really recommend this ship. It is quite costly in terms of minerals and
tech levels, and you should be relying on the natives to generate income anyway.
You might need it if you are really strapped for cash and end up with bad
planets, but usually the natives provide the cash you require. To make a
difference you need several of these but that means a huge mineral outlay. You
can use them for dropping mines with their single tube, but that means there
can't be colonists on it so it is not generating credits. Just use the Cobol for
dropping mines.
Roles:
Generating cash, minelaying
Tranquility Class Cruiser
Ship Analysis:
Unlike the Rebels, you don't really need these, you have the Cobol, which has
the same armament only a lighter hull. But it can still carry a lot of cargo and
will never run out of fuel, so use Cobols whenever you can. It is still a
reasonably useful ship though, but you have better. If you do decide to build a
couple, keep them out of the heavier fights.
Roles:
light COMBAT! Escorting, light/medium freighter routes, perimeter patrol,
minelaying, resupplying, towing, exploring
Patriot Class Light Carrier
Ship Analysis:
The classic "round of ammunition" warship, capable of taking down most torp
ships with < 5 beams and inflicting rather nasty damage on most other ships with
few beams. It is only hampered by the tiny cargo capacity therefore must be
refilled with fighters after each combat if it is to survive for long. On
perimeter defence/patrol missions it can travel alone since it isn't too hard to
quickly hop back to a starbase to refill its fighters from the Gemini(s) in
orbit. But on campaigns, a Gemini/loaded Virgo should be present to refill
fighters and rebuild more if needed. Overall a very effective ship, extremely
cheap and I usually build loads and loads of these at the beginning of the game.
Later on, keep pumping a few out but you should really be focussing on Rushes by
that time.
Battle Tactics:
Its best to put these behind your Cygnus's (or Cygni? The plural of fungus is
fungi is it not??) when taking on a torpedo based fleet. Since they are light,
yet potentially very destructive, especially in numbers. Constant minesweeping
is often wise. I do not need to remind you that one minehit will splatter these
ships. Surprisingly, with engine shield bonus, a patriot is often enough to
destroy one of the smaller battleships (Missouri, T-Rex, Victorious, Diamond
Flame) if it follows after 2 mark 7 Cygni. Because the Cygnus has done damage to
the shields of the battleship, that has saved you 10 fighters straight off. The
30 aboard your ship are enough to finish off the hull provided the battleship's
shields are almost down.
Once you're committed to a campaign, in great numbers, use these ships to
overload the enemy's defences and divide his fleet. Don't let on that you've a
Virgo fleet waiting to invade, keep this hidden at a planet. Wait until the
Patriots shoot out and scatter. You will lose a few, but you'll soften up the
defences at the enemy's core, ready for a Rush invasion.
A word of caution : do not use these against the Empire! Their carriers,
although they do not have many bays, are loaded with beams and these will take
out those 30 fighters really fast! Patriots are okay against Robots and Rebels
due their lack of beams.
Roles:
Medium interceptor, medium combat vessel
Gemini Class Transport
Ship Analysis:
As with the majority of your ships as Colonies, in battle the Gemini has a life
expectancy of around 10 seconds (literally - if you run VCR at fast speed with
anything greater than a Pentium). But its not supposed to fight. As the ultimate
fighter factory, it can build up to 40 fighters a turn for your Patriots/Rushes,
and you should transfer off those fighters as soon as possible. You need to look
after this ship carefully. If you need to pause your invasion to restock, then
either have something guarding these, or just sit in the grav well while you
wait for more reinforcements to arrive.
Additional Tactics:
At the beginning of the game, you should build them, but don't have them
building fighters full tilt, you'll run out of moly in no time. Unless the
situation demands it, you should be building ships instead of fighters to claim
valuable ship slots and only building fighters as spare resources allow. Once
the ship limit is close you can really crank up the fighter production.
Roles:
Fighter factory, fleet support/resupply vessel, armed freighter
Scorpius Class Light Carrier
Ship Analysis:
This ship is quite possibly the biggest rip-off in the game! Even the Moscow
Class is better. At least it's only tech 4 and doesn't cost as much minerals as
a T-Rex. No matter how hard one tries, one cannot imagine a single purpose for
building this ship. Therefore it's a universal rule : unless there is an addon
or modification which gives them some sort of special ability, don't build them!
Roles:
A VERY expensive anti-scout/patrol/escort ship, fighter minesweep
Iron Lady Class Frigate
Ship Analysis:
You don't need this ship as much as the Rebels do, you have fighter minesweeping
available, and a Virgo tends to fare better than a Rush against starbases due to
its 10 beams. For stripping fighters off starbases you have a cheap alternative
in the Little Joe which only requires 1 engine (see above section on the Little
Joe). I don't really see much of a use for this ship in the Colonial fleet.
Virgo Class Battlestar
Ship Analysis:
The Colonial flagship is often regarded as the worst of the super-carriers. This
is only partially true. Yes it does not fare very well when fighting Golems,
Rushes, Gorbies or Biocides. I once swatted two Virgo's in a row using a Gorbie
with 200 TIE-Fighters (from the left side of course!) Medium carriers like the
Crystal Thunder and Instrumentality often perform well against it (at least if
you don't manage to pull off a surprise Little Joe sacrifice). BUT!!! It does
have its advantages. First and foremost is fighter minesweep. Well okay, that's
a race advantage, not a property of the ship. There is however a hidden
ship-based advantage, one that most players do not realise. It fares very well
against battleships!
I will explain. With only 8 bays rather than 10 that the other super carriers
have, it launches fighters slightly slower. This means that the 2nd incoming
wave of fighters is further away than the first wave (which have fired their
weapons and are now turning to head back to the Virgo). At this stage, the enemy
battleship's beams have recharged, and they now fire at the fighters closest to
them. Instead of taking out some of the incoming wave, as they do against the
10-bay carriers, the beams will target mostly, if not all, the returning
fighters, freeing up more fighter slots for you to launch a new wave of
fighters. The net effect is that the battleship will probably fire one less
salvo of torpedoes compared to what it would fire against a 10-bay carrier. This
alone almost offsets the mass disadvantage you have compared to Golems, Biocides
and Gorbies (they take 2% hull damage from a high-tech torpedo, you and the
Rebels' Rush take 3%). Plus you are more mobile!
You, more than the Rebels, need to bring along Geminis for re-stocking
fighters on a campaign, due to your smaller cargo bay. Tow them along if
possible, then utilise the grav wells to keep yourself safe from the enemy if
you feel that is necessary.
Additional Tactics:
This ship needs EIGHT engines so you're better off building it with novas or
heavynovas and using the Cobol to tow it into battle. Do NOT put just stardrive
1's on it, your enemy if he's smart enough will cloak-intercept the Cobols if he
can and thus you have a stranded gun platform, unable to move or chase down the
enemy. You may need a couple of transwarp equipped Virgos to act as mobile
fortresses, able to respond quickly to sudden dangerous threats. These are the
best minesweepers in the game, even with only 10 X-Rays, which is all they
should have. If you detect the presence of Crystals nearby, think about saving
the resources to put out a couple with heavy phasers, you'll need them.
If engine shield bonus is say 50%, you really need transwarps on these if
you're up against a torpedo based race. Just manage your resources wisely and
shell out for them. I've said it once and I'll say it again, economy is
everything in this game!!! (well not quite, saying it like that just makes it
sound more forceful :-) Anyway the reason is that the mark 8 torpedo will only
cause 2% of damage against your hull if you used transwarps. The mark 8 seems
seems to be the torpedo most opponents choose - I believe that the mark 7 is a
far better alternative in most cases, but that's another story for another time!
Battle Tactics:
This ship is cheaper than a Biocide or Gorbie so you don't have to go all-out to
try and preserve them as say the Empire would with his Gorbies. But that doesn't
mean you can simply throw them away! Try to have support ships whenever
possible, particularly Cygni, plus a few Patriots to use as distractions. As I
said above, do not use Patriots against the Empire, their many beams will eat up
your limited fighter capacity very quickly. Against a torpedo race, use the same
principle as the Empire normally uses, that is, plan on having enough support so
that your Virgo fights near the end and survives. Of course, if the enemy force
is large, you will lose one. Against a power fighter race like Empire and Bots,
you are going to lose Virgo's in any case and your support ships are not as
effective, as these races have very powerful support ships like the Super Star
Cruiser and Instrumentality. Your edge here is in fighter production rates - you
must keep up the attack and outnumber them. One Virgo for a Gorbie is a good
trade!
Against Empire, the plan is Cygni to cripple the Super Star XXXs (probably
Carriers and Cruisers, although the odd Frigate will occasionally enter battle)
with a Virgo to finish off the support ships and start working on the Gorbie.
You'll likely need a 2nd Virgo to finish off the Gorbie. Trust me he will not
set the Gorbie to fight before the smaller ships. It does not work out well for
him. Even though a Gorbie can occasionally beat two Virgo's in a row, it
certainly won't beat them if it has to fight 2 Cygni first (losing most of its
shield in the process). And the Super Star XXXs are crap against a Virgo if they
have no Gorbie to do the mop up work at the end. NB: Don't try this stunt if
engine shield bonus is off! Although he is handicapped without E/S in that his
Super Star XXXs take 2% damage from fighterhits, you are handicapped even more
because now you cannot use your Cygni or your Patriots against him!
Against the Cylons, your mortal enemies, the Patriot comes into effect as a
viable battle option since the Cylons have trouble shooting down fighters with
their few beams. Aim to soften up Instru's before using Virgo's to fight them,
since their Achilles' heel is their low capacity. The Cylon player will just
have to throw Instru's at you, since that's his main fleet element ship (they
don't have any torpedo based ships that are worth much in battle). With
judicious use of your support ships, you can turn this into a favourable
exchange for you. Beating an Instru that has been "softened" by a Little Joe,
Cygnus or Patriot will cost your Virgo fighters, but usually, next to no damage,
so if at all possible, put a bigger payload (150-175 fighters) on it. As I
mentioned in the Cylons Fleet Guide, it's just stupid to skimp on your payload
to save resources because I can tell you from first hand experience, it is very
sickening to lose a major carrier in a battle you would have won handsomely, if
you had not run out of fighters. Again, be sure to check the config settings for
E/S bonus - don't say I didn't warn you! (a few years ago one guy in the NG
advised using Thors to take down Gorbies. He neglected to mention how crucial
E/S bonus was to this plan. Few days later, a disgruntled player posted to the
NG complaining about how he lost 3 Thors, all with transwarps and mark 8s,
without firing a single torpedo! Ouch.
|