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[Jo Jo]

Gates are not active until I finish that quest, and even if I do, there is no guarantee one will be spawned close enough (to my colonies).  They do cut down on travel at times near the end of a game, when I start killing endgame fleets.  (But I did not grind Ordos for long.)  Also, I want to explore the entire sector to find all gates first before I select the system I want to ruin permanently.

Sometimes, I simply want to explore in an Ordos infested system but do not want to run too far away from them.  I had less than 20 burn before, and it was miserable trying to avoid Ordos (takes longer to "leave their sight").  Burn 20 makes it easier dance around (or otherwise dodge) Ordos, and pounce on one that separated from the group and kill it.

AI can run, but with max burn, they cannot escape so easily.  It is a good thing when enemies run from your fleet because player can auto-resolve them to death for risk-free, fast, and easy kills (deploy the civvies and clunkers instead of your A-team of ships to wipe out enemies via auto-resolve).  If a bigger fleet means more enemies run away, that is good.  Having big fleet also means more ships to deal with big enemy fleets.

Don't mean to cut into this discussion though your last comment brought up a question I have. I know the systems with the "high" danger warning signs have [Redacted] star bases and once you destroy the base then no more [Redacted] ships can be built and the system can be cleared. Does the same mechanic work with the "low" danger systems? Do they also have a star base  you can destroy and thus clear the system? Thanks!

[SCC]

Low danger systems never have a Nexus, so those fleets are finite. Medium danger ones may or may not have a damaged Nexus and if you destroy it, no more Remnant fleets will spawn there. High danger systems always have a fully operational Nexus.

[Jo Jo]

Low danger systems never have a Nexus, so those fleets are finite. Medium danger ones may or may not have a damaged Nexus and if you destroy it, no more Remnant fleets will spawn there. High danger systems always have a fully operational Nexus.

Thanks! BTW, what kind of danger is at the fully operational Nexus? How many stars? My fleets can kill a standard one-star Luddic Path or Pirate base with just a few cruisers, though I've not had the opportunity to encounter a base stronger than that.

[Thaago]

I'm not sure about star rankings, but damaged nexus's have no shields so can be taken down by surprisingly small fleets if they are built for it. Fully operational nexus's have shields and an alpha core officer - they can be quite nasty and I'd recommend bringing a capital!

[SCC]

I always thought danger ranking was relative.

[Megas]

Damaged Nexus in orange systems are not much of a threat.  The fully operational ones in red systems are nasty, but not as nasty as a full-strength Ordos with three Radiants.  Fight with several Radiants (plus smaller Remnants) is probably the hardest fight in the game.

[bob888w]

To piggyback, the true hardest fights the base game can offer is the rouge remmanat ordo... Gear up for that one

[Jo Jo]

Thanks everyone! It's good to speak with others who have been there and can provide wise counsel. Frankly, the fleets you folks warn me about have me concerned.

I just intercepted my first Hegemony AI patrol when playing last night, and it was certainly the hardest fight I've had yet. Must have been six to seven capitals total, in two huge fleets with what seemed like an additional 40 or so ships - fought both simulataneously. I had six capitals and a bunch of cruisers and it was simply an exercise in trying to pull my ships out when they got down to 1/2 hull. Just before that I fought four, full-strength pirate fleets simultaneously and the two Hegemony AI patrols were at least twice as difficult as the four pirate fleets. I can't imagine what fighting the endgame fleets will resemble.

I had two Paragons, two Onslaught XIV, one Odyssey and a Conquest, plus several heavy cruisers, a couple Champion, a Doom, and a variety of lighter 22 point and 15 point cruisers. I think I was down to the last couple cruisers while two Capitals were still fighting when the Hegemony fight ended. Keep in mind all ships were flown by the AI and I have 10 at least 5 point officers, plus all my Capitals have two built-ins. I was limited to 240 DP at the time, which I have since raised from max 400 to max 500 to see if there's any improvement in the effectiveness of my fleets.

I'm kind of wondering where the improvement in capability on my side will come from. Certainly after the Hegemony fight I started building another Paragon since the tracking stats consistently show that's my highest damage ship, and I don't have any of the AI ships in my fleets yet, but I am maxed out on character fleet skills and on officers. Guess I'll have to do more exploration, find and capture some AI ships, find more BP's, see if I can get any Tachyon weapons, manipulate the fleet deployment size, and then go from there?

[Thaago]

Just be aware that bigger battle size means the enemy can deploy more forces at once as well. It can help, but isn't guaranteed.

It seems like you have the basics down so improvements are going to start being harder, especially as you don't pilot. Fine tuning builds is part of improving combat performance, as is overall fleet composition. I personally do not like cruisers very much for endgame and prefer capitals + frigates and/or destroyers depending on tech level and build (low tech doesn't use frigates, mid tech likes unofficered tough filler frigates + destroyers, high tech might not use destroyers because their frigates are so good and benefit from wolfpack so much and might use their destroyers as unofficered ships rather than their frigates). For me the reason is that, in general, cruisers have a lower ratio of offense/DP than the other ship classes, the truly offensive cruisers do much better in player hands and at that stage capitals are a better player amplifier, the 'anchor' role is better done by capitals, and there is a lot of value in just having more ships on the board than the enemy (or at least not be outnumbered so badly!).

Oh, and if you aren't using lots of missiles: use lots of missiles.

[Megas]

I like bigger sizes because I want to deploy more than a few ships.  (Small ships do not count because they lack PPT.)  The default of 300 is too small, feels like I play Star Control or a tag-team fighting game instead of a free-for-all or battle royal.

I do not like size 400 much either, it is barely big enough.  Would like size 500 or even higher.  If enemy wants to abuse capital spam, I want to too, and want as many ships out at once instead of three, give or take, squeezed out at a time like a devolved Star Control style duel.

If capital spam (by the enemy) is here to stay, then it would be nice if in-game settings max size was restored back to 500, or better yet, raised higher to 600 or even 800+.

[Jo Jo]

Just be aware that bigger battle size means the enemy can deploy more forces at once as well. It can help, but isn't guaranteed.

It seems like you have the basics down so improvements are going to start being harder, especially as you don't pilot. Fine tuning builds is part of improving combat performance, as is overall fleet composition. I personally do not like cruisers very much for endgame and prefer capitals + frigates and/or destroyers depending on tech level and build (low tech doesn't use frigates, mid tech likes unofficered tough filler frigates + destroyers, high tech might not use destroyers because their frigates are so good and benefit from wolfpack so much and might use their destroyers as unofficered ships rather than their frigates). For me the reason is that, in general, cruisers have a lower ratio of offense/DP than the other ship classes, the truly offensive cruisers do much better in player hands and at that stage capitals are a better player amplifier, the 'anchor' role is better done by capitals, and there is a lot of value in just having more ships on the board than the enemy (or at least not be outnumbered so badly!).

Oh, and if you aren't using lots of missiles: use lots of missiles.

The last part really made me laugh! Yes, all my officers have the 2x missiles trait, and I do focus on missile spam as I can. The preceding info on fleet comp made me think. I read quite a few posts indicating the meta was faster/smaller ships in the current build, though my experience in game was leading me to your conclusions - capital ships are king and cruisers for the most part just can't do much compared to Capitals, besides using their long range beam weapons to discourage blobs from overwhelming your capital ships. I also believe the AI is good at many things, though escort pathing is awful. I've watched escorts time and again either rush out in front of the capital, only to be focused and die, or get stuck behind the capital, unable to contribute. Cruisers do seem to escort each other quite well, and I do like to put two Apogees together. Capital ship escort is where things devolve, from my limited experience at least.

BTW, just noticed below your sig, "Harpoon Fan." Are you referring to the predecessor of the Command line? If so, I'm right there with you. I played the entire line from the original Harpoon game, though Harpoon 97, to the Gold Edition and now own all the Command releases though I've slowed quite a bit with the latter. Command has been plagued by bugs which is a deterrent since my game time is quite limited. It does appear to have more support the last year or so than I've seen previously, which is a good thing.

Thanks again! I've got quite a bit more learning to do about this game and maybe a change in my fleet comp once I find more blueprints. Exploration!

[Jo Jo]

I like bigger sizes because I want to deploy more than a few ships.  (Small ships do not count because they lack PPT.)  The default of 300 is too small, feels like I play Star Control or a tag-team fighting game instead of a free-for-all or battle royal.

I do not like size 400 much either, it is barely big enough.  Would like size 500 or even higher.  If enemy wants to abuse capital spam, I want to too, and want as many ships out at once instead of three, give or take, squeezed out at a time like a devolved Star Control style duel.

If capital spam (by the enemy) is here to stay, then it would be nice if in-game settings max size was restored back to 500, or better yet, raised higher to 600 or even 800+.

Your observations match those of Thaago, and I believe you make good points. I'm going to seriously spend some time experimenting with larger fleet fights and different ships / builds. The mod below as well as the "Noob's Insight on Ships" is helping me gain a better understanding of who is doing what. Thanks again!

Detailed Combat Results by Nick XR --Highly recommend this mod as it breaks down combat results by ship and weapon.

[Yunru]

Harpoon Pods and Sabot SRMs, a combo made in heaven.

[Jo Jo]

Harpoon Pods and Sabot SRMs, a combo made in heaven.

Now this makes sense! I'm already a huge Sabot SRM fan.

[FooF]

Just be aware that bigger battle size means the enemy can deploy more forces at once as well. It can help, but isn't guaranteed.

It seems like you have the basics down so improvements are going to start being harder, especially as you don't pilot. Fine tuning builds is part of improving combat performance, as is overall fleet composition. I personally do not like cruisers very much for endgame and prefer capitals + frigates and/or destroyers depending on tech level and build (low tech doesn't use frigates, mid tech likes unofficered tough filler frigates + destroyers, high tech might not use destroyers because their frigates are so good and benefit from wolfpack so much and might use their destroyers as unofficered ships rather than their frigates). For me the reason is that, in general, cruisers have a lower ratio of offense/DP than the other ship classes, the truly offensive cruisers do much better in player hands and at that stage capitals are a better player amplifier, the 'anchor' role is better done by capitals, and there is a lot of value in just having more ships on the board than the enemy (or at least not be outnumbered so badly!).

Oh, and if you aren't using lots of missiles: use lots of missiles.

I guess it depends on what Cruisers you're talking about. Any Cruiser that can't be highly specialized does become a liability in the end game but I find that Champions and Furies (of all things) still do well in the end while more middle-of-the-road Cruisers like Falcons/Eagles/Dominators are much less useful. The AI isn't aggressive enough with Auroras so that 30 DP cost is much better spent on 2 Furies and the Doom...well, that's another beast entirely. Champions really are the Platonic ideal of what a late-game line Cruiser should be, able to punch-up while still maintain some speed advantage over Capitals. I'm hoping that the Dominator buffs bring it back into the fray as a reliable line cruiser but at present, it's not there. If it becomes a better brick, I'll load up with double Mk. IXs against Remnants and spam Harpoons.

As for Destroyers, the only Destroyers I might even consider in endgame are Sunders, Medusas, and Harbingers. Sunders can at least match range with larger ships and can bring a heavy weapon to bear for just 11 DP. Medusas can escape and still bring enough firepower to do something and Harbingers are the ultimate interference ship. Hammerheads, Enforcers, Shrikes and the like are great in smaller battles but their lack of range and relative firepower makes them pop against any kind of Capital. I'd rather have a Wolfpack Tempest/Scarab or Hyperion than any of those Destroyers.