Grrr Silver mist....

[Larsenex]

This wonderful space critter seems to be the bane of my existence. I saw it ate one of my colony ships. So I send one of my 8 ship cruiser fleets over there thinking I would kill it and be able to colonize the one planet......

..........Three LOST fleets later I have withdrawn and wonder how this thing is defeated.

[Makarn]

If I'm not mistaken, Ion weapons are effective against the silvermist

[Raap]

Correct. If I see silvermists close to one of my colonies, I immediately research ion weapons and design ships with only those weaps + armor and speed. I then build lots of those ships and send them to exterminate the critters. Sending a 'normal' type of ship/fleet is suicide, unless you're at very high tech level and/or the mists are few/small. Also, they grow stronger and multiply the more ships they destroy.

[ehsumrell1]

Larsenex;

A fleet consisting of ships with numerous Ion Cannons and Carriers with plenty of Fighters
with the Carriers battle stance set to 'Standoff' is the optimal route to go.

Yes, those Sivermists are a pain in the arse! Like your signature....Go for the eyes!

[Bingeling]

In my old experience, I have fleets of different strengths... One strength level is "Is able to defeat a LSP with 4 defensive bases". I think one or two of those fleets should stand a chance against the silvermist

Last time I checked 8 cruisers are not even close to be able to the above, but maybe in very early game.

The good thing about them is that they get stronger when they kill things. So you are basically feeding it.

[WoodMan]

I've come across these critters a few times. I have managed to destroy them by sending a high tech fleet of reclaimed ships against them. If they are not in a vital location, I ignore them and have found this is a good approach, don't feed them for the sake of it [:D]

[Pipewrench]

Larsenex,

Makes it feel like the wild wild west when you run into them. Remember that the frustration is also experienced by other empires. My last game had 3 other empires lose 5 colonies shortly after they appeared. Talk about a interesting tug of war until techs caught up and colonies could be held and defended.

[ehsumrell1]

ORIGINAL: WoodMan

If they are not in a vital location, I ignore them and have found this is a good approach, don't feed them for the sake of it [:D]

Remember though Woodman the following:

A. the SilverMist(s) have hyperspace capability and can move from one system to another one.

B. Other Empire's explorer ships, mining ships, constructors and any escort vessels on auto can
unknowingly travel to the infected system and provide sustenance for them.

My strategy is to prioritize exterminating the first one that is found IMMEDIATELY!

[Nedrear]

I know we all wait for the quarantine system for DW. Telling your AI ships NOT to go there is helpful.

"This sector got uncleared Kaltors!" "But it got so beautiful much polymer close to your spaceport!"

"This starcluster got silvermist!" "But this Aculon is closer!"

Yeah sure... as if it ever reaches me...

[Bleek]

Funny thing is I've only met them once and they weren't near me, so as far as I'm aware I've never raised the shields in anger against a Silvermist!

[Gareth_Bryne]

Silvermist are by far the most exciting and interesting space monster in DW. Sure would nice to have more (eeeeevil) things done to the other monsters.

[WoodMan]

ORIGINAL: Gareth_Bryne

Silvermist are by far the most exciting and interesting space monster in DW. Sure would nice to have more (eeeeevil) things done to the other monsters.

Some random ideas:

1) Being attacked by Kaltors has a chance to set a mutated strain of the ancient virus in motion across the galaxy.
2) The Ardillus should wrap itself around a ship and disable it then grow slowly as it slowly devours it, so unless you finish it off after it has a ship trapped it can grow very fast very quickly!
3) Space Slug and Sand Slug remain as a dead body when they are killed. Their body contains an extremely rare luxury resource (on par with the 3 super resources) that can be mined by a mining ship, of course only a small amount per slug. Sand slug should be more valuable as it is the rarest creature.

[Gareth_Bryne]

Agreed on all 3 counts. Just would like to add that Ardilus needs some speed, and Slugs - some danger. For instance - sand slug is invisible until colonization, and then appears after a while and begins slowly damaging the planet population. Cannot be taken out by ground troops (too big for them), only from space.

[Bleek]

Or one of the space 'bugs' makes nest on one of your planets and it's hands on deck!

I also like the idea of a blowing up planets with a massive weapon - that would be nice. And messy.

[Bingeling]

I think the slugs, kaltor, ardilus are fine until you tech up. You meet them early, and can handle them if you are somewhat careful.

[scotten_usa]

I think the Silvermists got 'nerfed' in later patches. Even with Ion weapons, I still managed to lose ships in a battle with them awhile back, but lately the 'mists seem either slower or less aggressive.

[Bingeling]

Right now the silvermist is on the border of forcing me into editor territory.

I don't mind having a bit trouble with them, but...

My explorers found them outside the edge of my expansion area in the Ring, where the Quameno had their border colonies towards me. Notice "had".

My automated explorer triggered 4 (from what it appeared), which is fine. I was a bit busy with a war at the other end, but did shift focus after piece and losing a few frontline colonies. There were already silvermist reports before that happened.

I sent two fleets of 10 cruisers and 2 carriers each (400 size tech, not very advanced). The cruisers sport epsilon torpedos, heavy rail guns, and two ion cannons.

Such fleets can take down a 1000-1500 strength silvermist with one damaged ship (one limped to repairs with 30-40 damaged each time). Killing a 3000 strength with a 1000 strenght adding to the fight reduces the number of ships significantly. The last nasty one killed 10 out of 15 survivors of the two initial fleets (one mauled fleet joined the other).

I think I have now killed two 1000 strength by themselves, and duos in two other systems. Two new larger fleets are on their way, and can kill some more...

But they thing is.

- They are hard to detect. It appears sitting around in the system waiting for them to maybe attack is the way.
- There are gazillions of stars in a small area. Sitting in all of them is not very feasible.
- I have killed, I believe, 5.
- There are at least two more from which I have heard.
- A legendary pirate crew set up in one of the systems...
- They move around

This has tilted from being a fun challenge (which I was somewhat prepared for), to a chore.

To add to the above, they eat small colonies silently...

[Gareth_Bryne]

Bingeling - try vice versa, 10 Carriers and 2 Cruisers. As for detecting, yes, just sit a fleet in an area where you killed one last. The 'mist patrols a certain area of space, switching to yummy targets. If there are too many of them, they start spreading to nearby systems.

[Bingeling]

I have some sort of control, but they for sure breed. I push them backwards. It seems they maybe patrol a few systems, as some for sure are heavily visited (until they die).

I colonize the systems where previous owners have lost their colonies (border systems), and park a fleet at the colony waiting for visitor. And I jump after reports.

I currently run fleets of 11 cruisers and 4 carriers, but they are not tailored to the task beyond 2 ion cannons on the cruisers. In the general area, I now run 4 of these fleets, and I have a reinforcement fleet at my former forward decent colony that I use to put ships in as I build them further back, and reinforce the others as they lose some ships.

There have been quite some 3k strength ones that have fed on fresh colonies, often joined by a 1k one (that I think may be a "child", and it is meeting one strong and a weak (or two weak) at once that hurt.

I notice that a Dhayut colony has disappeared, I guess there are more left. If it was not the two I met at a phantom fleet base busy fighting the phantoms as I was pirate hunting...