Send fleets to attack a Hive in space?

[Xiupan]

Can I not send fleets into space to attack a hive without my nearby presence? I don't want to risk getting hit and dying. If there's a way to do this, how do I do it?

Can plasma turrets shoot the Hive in space? Is it just a matter of range? Is there any way to extend the range of the plasma turrets?

Like thematically, we already have EM Rail Ejectors to launch solar sails around the sun... can't we just re-purpose them to bombard hives with ordinance?

[Andy]

For me, it seems the only way to send corvettes and destroyers into battle is to get Icarus close to a hive. Fly by the hive fast, but not too close, and your ships will start fighting. The amount of passes you can make before having to land and recharge depends on how much energy Icarus has, and how strong your shield is. I'm playing a pretty low difficulty, so I imagine a lot more finesse is needed at higher difficulty.

[dhitch89]

Keep in mind that space combat is currently incomplete, and so we currently have few options for attacking space hives.

The dev team has said that they plan to expand that side of things in 2024, and will temporarily reduce the difficulty of space combat in tomorrow's planned patch, presumably to help account for the current state of things.

[Xiupan]

Ah I see. The flyby with fleets seems like a clumsy solution to me but I get it. Like you said @dhitch89, I guess the space combat is incomplete for now.

I hope they add an ability to launch fleets from a planet via a logistical tower or something, instead of thru Icarus. Or the ability to bombard space targets from afar via turrets. Or even design defenses into the Dyson Swarm or Dyson Sphere itself!

[dhitch89]

I don't know about Dyson Swarms/Shells - though that would be cool :P - but the devs blog mentioned that there's at least deployable fleets, space stations, and 'ultimate weapons' (or similar) planned IIRC.

So, I'm looking forward to seeing this system cook even further over time

[jacquesdereims]

I've found a way to send a space fleet a little ahead of Icarus, up to 2 AU, to allow the fleet to auto-attack anything before Icarus arrives. Press Z to enter combat mode when flying in space. The set of fleets will be on the right of the screen. You can deploy them by clicking on the fleet or on the banner above all the fleets. With them deployed, you can hold Ctrl and click on a spot ahead of Icarus on the virtual plane grid that appears under Icarus (the reticle will turn blue when this is possible) and send them forward. They will stay deployed in that direction until recalled.