Standoffs are my new favorite weapon!

[EricLarsen]

I finally got into the good standoff weapons and wow am I impressed by them. With a good crew you can usually get off the first and last shot before the alien's ever know what hits them. It's been lots of fun watching as my ships fire off a few standoffs and the alien target frantically tries to blow them up to no avail while my ship watches and the crew laughs when the aliens go boom.

I even got into a mismatch battle with one of my frigates up against some uber cruiser with 4 shields (2 front 2 aft single-phase) and 3 antimatter generators and 3 advanced phasor beams. I only had 3 standoffs left so I launched them and then told my cruiser to cut the battle and skeedaddle. Well the alien ship was too busy defending itself against the standoffs to be able to catch my fleeing frigate.:p

The only downside is they have a limited ammo supply, but considering they always get the first shot in whch is usually the last shot needed.
Eric Larsen

[Digital Age]

I, too, like standoffs, but they suffer terribly at the low end of the tech spectrum. They are particularly ineffectual against waves I've found. Once you get Anti-matter standoffs, though... wow!

D.

[EricLarsen]

Digital Age,
Yeah the standoffs at the low end of the tech scale aren't so hot, but then I'm usually into the beam weapons then as they seem about the best at the low end. Those antimatter and better standoffs are wonderful fire and forget weapons. Usually only takes a few to blow up a ship. I'm going to have to try them against worlds tonight. I'll have to see how advanced singularity standoffs do against multiphasic shields of cities.
Eric Larsen

[Digital Age]

Everybody has a different style, I'm sure, but my personal favorite weapons progression is waves, guns, and then standoffs. At the low end defensive waves are just so darn good at stopping stuff and the 360° field of fire helps when all your captain knows how to do is charge and retreat. At the high end standoffs are awesome, if a little big, and particle guns are a nifty middle tech system at only 1 space. They need a hefty powerplant, but that isn't really a problem.

And I think I've already mentioned how much I love teleporting assault pods. Those things are great.

Does anybody actually like fighters? I hate sending crew outside the shields and armor, therefore requiring more frequent crew top offs, and they never seem worth their 2 space cost.

D.

[zaz]

Originally posted by Digital Age

Does anybody actually like fighters? I hate sending crew outside the shields and armor, therefore requiring more frequent crew top offs, and they never seem worth their 2 space cost.

I find that the fighters can be a real pain to my fleets when I'm dealing with mostly limited ammo weapons. Since they can draw off a LOT of heavy firepower from an enemy having them available when you are dealing with multiple enemy ships is a great bonus. Sure, they are a sacrifice, but since each fighter means one less shot that hits your ships, they are very valuable.

If however the enemy is all beams and waves, don't bother with the fighters. It really comes down to what weapons you are going against. Torpedoes and Missles are at a dissadvantage when swarmed with lots of fighters.

[startrekdork]

i prefer the laser systems. a limitless weapon cache. i read in one of the earlier strategies listed in the forum about how over powered the laser systems are. i mean think about it, early in the game when you're exploring with standoffs, if you run out, you have to run back to your planet and reload. but if your using lasers you just recharge that way you never have to return unless you're ship is badly damaged. guns works the same way later in the game, but in the beginning and at the end they recquire ammo.

now, i understand how early in the game that early space exploring vessels would recquire ammo. for example if i was the head a of a space faring race and i sent off my ship loaded with stand offs and kept running out of them and having to reload, eventually i would try to figure out a way for my ship to build stand offs while on deep space missions, effectively having a never ending supply of weapons.

i wish there was a way to add techs into the game. i would totally make a tech like the replicator where it takes up on slot but can use energy to build or create ammo for your ships!

[EricLarsen]

Originally posted by startrekdork
i prefer the laser systems. a limitless weapon cache. i read in one of the earlier strategies listed in the forum about how over powered the laser systems are. i mean think about it, early in the game when you're exploring with standoffs, if you run out, you have to run back to your planet and reload. but if your using lasers you just recharge that way you never have to return unless you're ship is badly damaged. guns works the same way later in the game, but in the beginning and at the end they recquire ammo.

startrekdork,
I always start off with beam weapons myself because they have unlimited ammo if you have the generators. Then I get into standoffs and replace the rocket packs so that I have both beams and standoff weapons on my ships. The standoffs are just so awesome at getting in the first shot and making the enemy play defense right off the bat and then when you manuever in close you can toast them with the beam weapons if the standoffs haven't already finished the job.
Eric Larsen