Are Frigates even worth using? Honestly, how to make them last longer I would like to know.

[Bud]

So far at to my BEGINNER self, frigates are the useless ones. I am going on the Homeworld scale for ship design and there it starts at the smalllest and work its way up to massive ship design which is; Fighter, Corvette, Frigate, Capital Ship. In this one going by THAT scale, I will either buy the fighters or the capital ships as the middle two just die way too quickly.

Am I wrong on this.

[Rilf Danielson]

I don't think you're wrong there. I keep trying to find a use for them but they just instantly blow up to fighters and cruisers alike, no matter what the armor rate it.

[EvilPolygons]

They're great as point defense ships for your larger vessels. A couple of cheap PD escorts per capital ship can really obliterate incoming enemy fighters, without using up a ton of pilots/points. Just remember to set them to escort specific ships. Locking them into formation can help their survivability, too, ensuring that the tougher capital ships get targeted first.

[Koresawa]

they are very usefull and can be used for diffrent rolls depends on your faction. for example,
the outcast race's frigate has sniper laser which has 1200 range. its one of the best range in the game and its a laser.

however, i am not playing as an outcast and i use frigates as torpedo ships which is a great damage dealer, defender ships that only shoots down incoming missiles, and anti fighter ships.

try to design them as chip as possible since they are the supporter and you will find them extremly usefull since they are alot cheaper than crusier and squad of fighters.

[Bud]

EvilDastard původně napsal:

and

Koresawa původně napsal:

To cut this down I deleted what you said but I quoted your names to let you know I read your comments. It seems that this game pretty much plays the same as Homeworld 2 with the Frigates dying quickly.

I will try what you suggested and have them mostly as support and in behind...just like in Homeworld 2...

[Overread]

I have to second the ideas of using them in very specific roles. Myself I also use them as either an anti-fighter version set to escort the bigger ships or as a long range support ship (also normally set to escort the bigger ships so that they can advance without getting ahead of the slower ships).

With some long range weapons they can put out a lot of fire power as you can mass them up

[Bud]

Overread původně napsal:

I have to second the ideas of using them in very specific roles. Myself I also use them as either an anti-fighter version set to escort the bigger ships or as a long range support ship (also normally set to escort the bigger ships so that they can advance without getting ahead of the slower ships).

With some long range weapons they can put out a lot of fire power as you can mass them up

I do that mostly in Homeworld 2 as well with the fighter help but still, they are definently for the back line. I did read that your capital ship is meant to take the damage and absorb a lot of punishment ot avoid the damage going on to fighters and frigates...I guess the same here.

[Koresawa]

I just spent couple of hours tyring beat all the battle mission with only frigates.

made fast assult frigate with ion cannons to kill crusier with some pulse laser to

shoot down annoying fighters. worked like charm.

once the wolf pack gets near to those super crusiers, their heavy missiles can't touch

the frigates and the ion canons jsut melt them down.

it really depends on the faction and how you use them. i find some factions with really stong

frigates and some what not.

[Bud]

Koresawa původně napsal:

I just spent couple of hours tyring beat all the battle mission with only frigates.

made fast assult frigate with ion cannons to kill crusier with some pulse laser to

shoot down annoying fighters. worked like charm.

once the wolf pack gets near to those super crusiers, their heavy missiles can't touch

the frigates and the ion canons jsut melt them down.

it really depends on the faction and how you use them. i find some factions with really stong

frigates and some what not.

Ion Cannons and going hard with range...got it.

[ScrooLewse]

I'm a Rebel faction, and despite what people keep saying, I prefer my frigates over fighters. I prefer the Asgard and Midgard models and load them-up with weapons, dealing a ton of damage very quickly. I'll have a few shield-heavy cruisers up front to suck-up all that damage.

Frigates are best for being cheap extra guns and specialist ships. They're too small to take a hit and they're too slow to dodge reliably, but compared to Cruiser modules, theirs are dirt-cheap.

[Bud]

ScrooLewse původně napsal:

I'm a Rebel faction, and despite what people keep saying, I prefer my frigates over fighters. I prefer the Asgard and Midgard models and load them-up with weapons, dealing a ton of damage very quickly. I'll have a few shield-heavy cruisers up front to suck-up all that damage.

Frigates are best for being cheap extra guns and specialist ships. They're too small to take a hit and they're too slow to dodge reliably, but compared to Cruiser modules, theirs are dirt-cheap.

...I haven't gotten that far yet. I am about five missions into the first campaign and all those expanded campaigns are a distant second on things to do in game. But yeah, I figured just like in Homeworld 2, one factions Frigate cleans house over the other factions...

[Guilty Man]

My main nomad ship is the Fang Frigate (the green rocket design). No shielding just armour plating with three different weapon systems. I field them in a group of at least 20 ships as without the shields their very cheap. The key is the AI programming, set them to always move and to close to near point blank as well as all the cooperative settings. Their combined guns can easily destroy larger ships by just picking them to pieces and their armour negates most fighter fire.

Their cheap, expendable and deadly. combine them with some fighter and torpedo/rocket boat support and very little can stop them.

[MrRobot]

ScrooLewse původně napsal:

I'm a Rebel faction, and despite what people keep saying, I prefer my frigates over fighters. I prefer the Asgard and Midgard models and load them-up with weapons, dealing a ton of damage very quickly. I'll have a few shield-heavy cruisers up front to suck-up all that damage.

Frigates are best for being cheap extra guns and specialist ships. They're too small to take a hit and they're too slow to dodge reliably, but compared to Cruiser modules, theirs are dirt-cheap.

i agree with you.

[Xavi]

Frigates? Cruisers? Nope, don't need that, i just max out on fighters and kill everything that stands in my way, even in higher difficulties, don't believe me? I know that fighters can't damage most types of shields, but you once you get in close and get inside the shield radius of a cruiser or of a frigate you just blast them to pieces. There are however some types of armor that fighters can only damage with *lucky shots* but since you have so many fighters you'll be getting *lucky shots* all the time and you'll get their armor down quickly and then it's just a matter of seconds before their hull is down as well. However, you do need to direct control your fighters for this strategy to work :p.

[EvilPolygons]

Koresawa původně napsal:

I just spent couple of hours tyring beat all the battle mission with only frigates.

made fast assult frigate with ion cannons to kill crusier with some pulse laser to

shoot down annoying fighters. worked like charm.

once the wolf pack gets near to those super crusiers, their heavy missiles can't touch

the frigates and the ion canons jsut melt them down.

it really depends on the faction and how you use them. i find some factions with really stong

frigates and some what not.

That's why I like this game so much. You can come up with these "frigate-only" or "fighter-only" experiments and just focus on tweaking your designs and pre-battle strategies, leaving the combat itself to the AI. GSB is perfect for us wannabe starship engineers and fleet admirals ;)

[Grey Dragon]

Here's how my frigate designs worked out:

Anti-fighter frigate equipped with anti-fighter lasers, shields and armour. No significant impact on enemy fighters. The enemy fighters quickly shredded this design.

Missile frigate with strong defense. No effect on enemy cruisers. Quickly vapourised by said cruisers.

Close-range anti-cruiser frigate. Ripped apart before it got in range.

I have tried various other experiments, but all of my frigates seem to serve as only a brief distraction for enemy fire. They never deal any significant damage before being ground to dust.