Fractal Softworks Forum

Starsector => General Discussion => Topic started by: Alpacalypse on August 10, 2019, 09:42:32 PM

Title: Impact of raiders/expeditions on multiple colonies vs. only having one?
Post by: Alpacalypse on August 10, 2019, 09:42:32 PM
Founded my first colony recently, on one of the few good Terran planets I could find after exploring 95% of the (small) sector. Smooth sailing so far, it's at level 6 and earns about 250k/month with freeport enabled and no AI cores. Has me wondering, though, would a second colony in a system about 8ly away be too much of a hassle? How do the piracy/expedition mechanics work when you have two colonies up instead of one? And, would it be worth the potential gains?

Also, unrelated question, but what sort of fleet composition should I have for this stage in the game? I roam around with a handful of cruisers and two carriers, with supply/fuel ships in tow. Works fairly well for general threats, but isn't very capable against heavy opposition. I'd like to expand it without my fleet guzzling every drop of fuel it finds - 36/day is annoying enough.
Title: Re: Impact of raiders/expeditions on multiple colonies vs. only having one?
Post by: phampanvn1998 on August 11, 2019, 01:08:55 AM
they will attack any colony you own that have something they don't like. Piracy some time raiding one system at a time or multiple system, you just have to locate their base and quash them.
You do get more money from having more colony and if they producing different goods they can export to each other and lower maintenance cost, given the trade routes between your colonies are cleared of hostile.
Title: Re: Impact of raiders/expeditions on multiple colonies vs. only having one?
Post by: Serenitis on August 11, 2019, 02:48:57 AM
would a second colony in a system about 8ly away be too much of a hassle?
Logistically, 8ly isn't a huge distance. So unless you're splitting your storage or having to move materials around because of trade disruption then it shouldn't be too stressful.
Defence is the primary concern, as smaller colonies just can't put enough ships 'in the air' to defend themselves properly. So they need some assitance until they grow.

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How do the piracy/expedition mechanics work when you have two colonies up instead of one? And, would it be worth the potential gains?
Pirates will start 'activity' in any system you settle, and will throw raids at it shortly after just because it exists. You'll also get a system-wide reduction in accessibility and stability. Which ranges from mildly annoying, to crippling.
Every system you colonise will end up dealing with these random popup events at some point.
If a raid is successful they'll leave for less than a month and then come back. You'll lose some extra stability for a while. And probably also get disruption from missing trade fleets.
In unsuccessful they'll leave for 2-3 months and then come back.
This will continue so long as that pirate base exists. And each subsequent raid will be stronger than the last, with successful raids having a much more noticeable effect.

Expeditions get sent when you start becoming 'too successful'.
This means producing enough goods or materials to be noticed. This can get triggered for any resource, but generally this won't happen until a colony gets to size 5+.
Unless you do heavy industry early, or slot forges/cores into every concievable hole. Which seems to be a good way to attract attention.
If your colonies are widely separated, you might have issues with defending them until they grow sufficiently to maintain large fleets, and have built fortifications. Basically, the closer together your worlds are, the easier they will be to defend.
I've seen expeditions sent for being too good at farming on a poor (-1) farming world. So while it's usually industry or mining that triggers it, it can be anything.

Honestly, I can't be bothered dealing with all this. So I pick a system to settle which has all resources, and only develop colonies there
And then only have disposable tech-mining outposts anywhere else.
Colonies in the same system will support each other with thier fleets, so they can fend for themselves a little earlier and just more competently in general. And you only ever get 1 pirate event at a time to deal with.

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Also, unrelated question, but what sort of fleet composition should I have for this stage in the game? I roam around with a handful of cruisers and two carriers, with supply/fuel ships in tow. Works fairly well for general threats, but isn't very capable against heavy opposition. I'd like to expand it without my fleet guzzling every drop of fuel it finds - 36/day is annoying enough.
Personally, I'd flip that composition around and have the majority of my fleet be carriers with just a few combat ships.
Use one of the front line ships as your flagship, and let the fighters create openings for you to exploit.

There are skills which reduce both supply and fuel use fleetwide, and other skills which increase the amount of both which can be salvaged.
There is also a hullmod which reduces supply and fuel use for an individual ship.
Basically, anything will work with the right preparation. Although capital ships tend to be a little too expensive to be a regular part of your fleet.
And carriers are probably the most effective part of any fleet.

-36 fuel/day is not a huge number. When you get to the stage of fighting multiple large fleets back-to-back, your fleet can possibly be drawing 100+ fuel/day, with your reserves being 6000+.
Don't worry. All this means is that you have plenty of content ahead of you.
Title: Re: Impact of raiders/expeditions on multiple colonies vs. only having one?
Post by: Flying Birdy on August 11, 2019, 03:09:44 AM
Founded my first colony recently, on one of the few good Terran planets I could find after exploring 95% of the (small) sector. Smooth sailing so far, it's at level 6 and earns about 250k/month with freeport enabled and no AI cores. Has me wondering, though, would a second colony in a system about 8ly away be too much of a hassle? How do the piracy/expedition mechanics work when you have two colonies up instead of one? And, would it be worth the potential gains?

As you may have noticed by now, pirate bases usually spawn "near" your colony systems. Thus, having colonies in two separate systems may make it cumbersome to clear out the pirate bases that are produced. For instance, while travelling between your colonies might only be 8LY, travelling from your main colony to a pirate base plaguing your other colony might be like 16 LY. So unless that new planet is godlike, I would stick with multiple colonies in the same system to lower the time wasted on clearing out pirate bases.

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Also, unrelated question, but what sort of fleet composition should I have for this stage in the game? I roam around with a handful of cruisers and two carriers, with supply/fuel ships in tow. Works fairly well for general threats, but isn't very capable against heavy opposition. I'd like to expand it without my fleet guzzling every drop of fuel it finds - 36/day is annoying enough.

You'll preferably want to keep a single capital ship in storage in your main colony as your flagship when you defend against raids. Otherwise, fleet composition depends entirely on what you are doing.

That said, I would definitely 100% cut most of the cruisers though; toss em in storage and use them as cannon fodder when the hegemony comes knocking with 10 onslaughts. Pick a single ship you are really good at piloting and can do a lot of damage with, and fill the rest of your fleet with either carriers for combat or cargo ships.

And I wouldn't bring more carriers than absolutely necessary on most outings, just to lower costs even further.
Title: Re: Impact of raiders/expeditions on multiple colonies vs. only having one?
Post by: Alpacalypse on August 11, 2019, 09:27:42 AM
Founded my first colony recently, on one of the few good Terran planets I could find after exploring 95% of the (small) sector. Smooth sailing so far, it's at level 6 and earns about 250k/month with freeport enabled and no AI cores. Has me wondering, though, would a second colony in a system about 8ly away be too much of a hassle? How do the piracy/expedition mechanics work when you have two colonies up instead of one? And, would it be worth the potential gains?

As you may have noticed by now, pirate bases usually spawn "near" your colony systems. Thus, having colonies in two separate systems may make it cumbersome to clear out the pirate bases that are produced. For instance, while travelling between your colonies might only be 8LY, travelling from your main colony to a pirate base plaguing your other colony might be like 16 LY. So unless that new planet is godlike, I would stick with multiple colonies in the same system to lower the time wasted on clearing out pirate bases.

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Also, unrelated question, but what sort of fleet composition should I have for this stage in the game? I roam around with a handful of cruisers and two carriers, with supply/fuel ships in tow. Works fairly well for general threats, but isn't very capable against heavy opposition. I'd like to expand it without my fleet guzzling every drop of fuel it finds - 36/day is annoying enough.

You'll preferably want to keep a single capital ship in storage in your main colony as your flagship when you defend against raids. Otherwise, fleet composition depends entirely on what you are doing.

That said, I would definitely 100% cut most of the cruisers though; toss em in storage and use them as cannon fodder when the hegemony comes knocking with 10 onslaughts. Pick a single ship you are really good at piloting and can do a lot of damage with, and fill the rest of your fleet with either carriers for combat or cargo ships.

And I wouldn't bring more carriers than absolutely necessary on most outings, just to lower costs even further.
The problem with my current sector is that the few systems which do have terran planets ONLY have terran planets. My current system has one other planet, a useless barren world with no resources and 200% hazard. That's true for almost every other system with terran planets. The aforementioned 8ly distance system has a 100% hazard terran planet alongside 4 other planets, none of which have resources and all of which are 150% hazard or over. I got *** on by planet generation, essentially, so my only option to expand colonization is to take nearby systems.
About carriers, all the talk I've seen is about them being absolutely stellar. I never found the appeal. My heron will occasionally get kills on unlucky ships which couldn't shoot down the torpedos,  but it's never been the star of the fleet. Are carriers only effective in large numbers?
Title: Re: Impact of raiders/expeditions on multiple colonies vs. only having one?
Post by: Megas on August 11, 2019, 10:37:40 AM
150% hazard is not too bad.  Actually, unless you plan to abuse cores, you probably need to settle at 150+% hazard worlds to mine enough ore and/or volatiles, unless you get lucky with high-gravity habitables.  Anything at 200% hazard or less is acceptable for mining said ores and volatiles, especially if it is close to your other colonies.

Terran or other 75% hazard world is good mostly for dumping Fuel Production or Heavy Industry on it and Farming (and Light Industry).

Due to industry limits, even no resource planets may be alright if hazard is low enough, especially if you need anything that is not Farming or Mining.
Title: Re: Impact of raiders/expeditions on multiple colonies vs. only having one?
Post by: Flying Birdy on August 11, 2019, 01:34:43 PM

The problem with my current sector is that the few systems which do have terran planets ONLY have terran planets. My current system has one other planet, a useless barren world with no resources and 200% hazard. That's true for almost every other system with terran planets. The aforementioned 8ly distance system has a 100% hazard terran planet alongside 4 other planets, none of which have resources and all of which are 150% hazard or over. I got *** on by planet generation, essentially, so my only option to expand colonization is to take nearby systems.
About carriers, all the talk I've seen is about them being absolutely stellar. I never found the appeal. My heron will occasionally get kills on unlucky ships which couldn't shoot down the torpedos,  but it's never been the star of the fleet. Are carriers only effective in large numbers?

Yea universe gen is something that we all learned the hard way here. It's one of the reason why a lot of experienced players will choose to fly a dram through every system until we find the most optimal location to set-up. There was a universe generation seed thread here a while back, you can look it up to find one with good systems to skip the boring dram flights.

Alternatively, don't colonize the outer rim. You know those perfectly habitable planets in the middle of the map with tons of great resources that you can't colonize because people already live there?  Colonized planets are an easy problem to solve with lots of marines and space jihadism (but don't bomb the planets though because pollution is bad). After the population are gone, you can make those amazing planets your own through the normal methods.
Title: Re: Impact of raiders/expeditions on multiple colonies vs. only having one?
Post by: SafariJohn on August 11, 2019, 03:27:54 PM
A Dram? Nah, fam, get 3 Afflictors, soup them up with Logistics hull mods, and cruise the fringe in style!