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[goduranus]

In 0.9, the best single ship type spam is undoubtedly Reaper Harbingers, plus a couple of frigates to kill of the stragglers. But with that becoming nonviable, it's time to speculate what would be the mindless spammable single ship type for the next patch.

I posit that it would be some sort of Drover fighter spam that takes advantage of Reserve Deployment.
While tool tip says that carriers are best used to backup warships, I find that carriers are actually better used to back up other carriers, as each enemy ship can only shoot down a few fighters every second, and more fighters than the number the enemy could shoot down build up to becoming an overwhelming mass that melts enemy warships very quickly. Also, there's an AI issue when carriers are deployed with any warships, where AI will send excessive number of fighters to guard the warship, and rarely send fighters out to attack.

Maybe it only works with sparks? But maybe Broadsword+Talons would work too. This reminds me of the old times when someone deployed so many fighters that they worked like armor and blocked all the enemy shots.

[Megas]

Fighters used to be stronger in 0.8, and Sparks were overpowered in the first 0.8 release, with two burst PDs instead of one, plus stronger carrier skills (and Helmsmanship 3).  Astral could solo everything better than Paragon back then.  Today, fighters are not as dominating as they used to be.  They can still do damage and probably still useful for harming cowardly enemies, but they probably cannot overpower as well as a highly skilled solo warship that ruthlessly exploits AI cheese.

As for title, that will probably vary by skills taken.  With combat skills, I would be inclined to chain-deploy Paragons and solo as many as I can, if I stuck with only one ship type in battle.

Even though Repaer Harbinger will be gone, it seems Afflictor has been left alone.  If Quantum Disruptor is unnecessary to bypass shields, then Afflictor will take Harbinger's place.  Afflictor will still be good at killing battlestations through splash damage behind the wall.  May need to bring more Afflictors instead of only one or two Harbingers.  Afflictor has only eight Reapers (plus Entropy Amplifier for damage boost) instead of thirty Harbinger can carry.

[Midnight Kitsune]

The loss of the Reaper Harbinger irks me as it was a perfect space sub

[goduranus]

Made a vid of 20 Spark Drovers taking on 3 pirate doom fleets. Had to include some frigates because apparently weaponless carriers can't autoresolve pursuit.

[Kohlenstoff]

Despite the impressive results of the drovers i prefer still to "spam" one or two paragons because they are more fun to play with.



AI uses these also quite well (Aggressive or Reckless officers should be used against harder larger enemies to optimize results).

[Thaago]

Carriers stack well and are decently powerful, and can force concentrate/project quite nicely. They are currently crippled by AI problems when in a mixed fleet, but in a 'single ship challenge' I think their range and concentration ability make them contenders.

That said, I don't think carriers are that much more powerful than equivalent size ships. The 20 drover fleet looks good, but a cap and a few cruisers as escorts would get the job done as well with officers.

[TaLaR]

Are we talking player-ships or stuff good for AI to pilot? Reaper Harbinger was the player-ship, but giving one to AI was rather pointless. Fighter-spamming Drovers are on the other hand good example of second group, but piloting one yourself is a waste of player piloting potential.
Chain-deployed player-piloted Afflictors can still accomplish most goals on their own - Reaper variant for quick anti-capital work, AM blaster variant for sub-capitals.

[SCC]

I think that the original question was about mass-deploying a single ship class, not chain-deploying lots of flagships. Either way, I don't think it's necessary, once you get familiar with the game there are many enough ways to break the game.

[Megas]

I think that the original question was about mass-deploying a single ship class, not chain-deploying lots of flagships.

The title made it seem as such until I read Harbinger.  As TaLaR writes, Reaper Harbinger is the playership, something best used when chain-deployed.  AI does not use Reaper Harbinger very well.

[Null Ganymede]

Combined-arms fleets are more effective than single-ship type ones. Torpedo frigates combined with kinetic pressure, Salamander-ECM-ECCM spam to let brawlers close in and maul, EMP support for glass cannon ships, etc.

Updates to escort AI in 0.91 will make it more so.