Ether Drake

[ThatRabidPotato]

So I have upwards of 80k in total fleet power, every one of my BBs has Tachyon Lances, all of my corvettes and cruisers are armed with plasma. I think this is enough to kill my local Ether Drake.
NOPE! I jump into the system and the thing wipes my entire fleet and only loses a quarter of its health. WHAT THE ♥♥♥♥?! HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO KILL THIS ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ THING?!

[corisai]

Tested it and, dragon is piece of cake - my basic 52k fleet with generalised weapon setup (and flak cruisers ) wiped it loosing only 2 BB. It's even having a lot of kinetic artillery, that lost 69.2% damage via beast armor.

Dragon is boosted on Insane difficulty, but again - my generalised 40k fleet able to wipe it. Now loses was notable higher - 6 battleships from 20, and 11 cruisers from 60. Oh, 20/20 flak cruisers remains alive Well, I maybe a bit underestimate monstrousity that created myself ^_^

So - either your ship builds are horrible, either you have some mods that boost Leviathans like hell.

[Red Dox]

I killed the dragon in the past with around 400-60k fleets, consisting of a blend mix like 40 corvs, 20 destroyer 40 cruiser and some battlesthips. If you mix to much BBs into your fleet, to rise your fleetpower, that may be the main problem. If I remember right, the dragon breath is a hevy one-shot weapon against weaker BBs.

You spould rebuild your fleet, maybe check if your ship designs are somewhat good or could be optimized and try again.

[corisai]

Originally posted by Red Dox:

I killed the dragon in the past with around 400-60k fleets, consisting of a blend mix like 40 corvs, 20 destroyer 40 cruiser and some battlesthips. If you mix to much BBs into your fleet, to rise your fleetpower, that may be the main problem. If I remember right, the dragon breath is a hevy one-shot weapon against weaker BBs.

Actually it isn't issue if his battleships fitted correctly. Both my test we with battleships being main part of fleet and cruisers be only other class.

I'm almost sure that same fleet composition can take ED even with 30k if will refit weapon for him (KA against him... well... not impressing).

[Red Dox]

So you are sure that a BB with lvl1 shield/armor does equally fast die under Dragon breath then a BB with lvl5 gear?

Which brings me back to the assumption that he may have sticked to many battleships in his fleet. Since he did neither provide numbers nor a screenshot, at least I can't know how his fleet was composed. Bringing hypothetical 20 dreadnoughts with 10 cruisers and 10 corvs to a dragon fight sounds just like a bad idea in my head, regardless how the tech would look or if the fleet strength with a good admiral would say 80k.

And since we already know that he did mess things up, when we bot can kill the Dragon with less fleet strength, the assumption is maybe not that far off. Also if you would say your min/maxed ship design *could* beat the dragon with BBs only, that still may be an other case entirley since we do not know his BB design or tech level. Only that he uses at least lances and plasma lvl1 ;)

[corisai]

Originally posted by Red Dox:

So you are sure that a BB with lvl1 shield/armor does equally fast die under Dragon breath then a BB with lvl5 gear?

Well, I don't think about other players as morons without some serious proofs ;)

OP clearly have laser 5, plasma 1, lance 2, BB - to think that he keep lvl1 armor and lvl1 shield is ridiculous to me :)

Plus in that case fleet power will be reduced accordingly. To have 80k fleet power you need many battleships and/or repeated techs :)

Yes, you're right and I too almost sure that OP did something really stupid with own ships designs, but there's still small chance that he have some "rebalancing" mods.

So until he post more info - we can't help him more.

[ThatRabidPotato]

Originally posted by corisai:

Tested it and, dragon is piece of cake - my basic 52k fleet with generalised weapon setup (and flak cruisers ) wiped it loosing only 2 BB. It's even having a lot of kinetic artillery, that lost 69.2% damage via beast armor.

Dragon is boosted on Insane difficulty, but again - my generalised 40k fleet able to wipe it. Now loses was notable higher - 6 battleships from 20, and 11 cruisers from 60. Oh, 20/20 flak cruisers remains alive Well, I maybe a bit underestimate monstrousity that created myself ^_^

So - either your ship builds are horrible, either you have some mods that boost Leviathans like hell.

It must be mods. Every one of my BBs had Tachyon lances, and the DPS class had all kinetic artillery.
Cruisers had 2 KA and 2 medium plasma.
I decided to trade out the KA for Plasma and try again, and actually did worse- this time I couldn't even get it down to 3/4 health. It literally healed faster than I damaged it when i just used plasma and lances.

But the only mod I have that effects battle mechanics is the ISBS, and that one doesn't say anything about affecting Leviathans, just the Unbidden, Scourge, and FEs.

[ThatRabidPotato]

Oh, and this is a serious endgame fleet I'm using. BBs have 6 Zero Point reactors, 1 Neutronium armor, 1 Phased shields, 2 Hyper Shields, 1 Tachyon Lance, 4 KA on one class/ 2 Plasma, 2 Gauss, 4 PD, 1 Fighter, 1 Bomber on the other class.
Cruisers have 3 Zero Point reactors, 3 Neutronium armor, 1 Phased Shields, 2 Hyper Shields, 2 Kinetic Artillery, 2 Plasma.
Destroyers are specced as PD bc I haven't been able to get flak yet.
Corvettes are 1 Plasma, 1 Neutron Torpedo, 5 Zero Point reactors, 1 Afterburners.
Everything has max thrusters/sensors, Psionic combat computers, and tier 2 Warp Drives.

[Gustuv Wynd]

Hmm...on the normal difficulty at least I thought this thing was a real push over. The last time I fought one I believe I went in with about a 100k fleet power fleet but it was armed mainly with kinetic artillery. I was all ready to kill the game and reload...but it died without taking many of my ships with it.

Are the Drakes random in strength maybe?

I always been temped to try missiles or strike craft on the drake. It should be unlikely to have point defense weapons.

[corisai]

Originally posted by ThatRabidPotato:

Oh, and this is a serious endgame fleet I'm using. BBs have 6 Zero Point reactors, 1 Neutronium armor, 1 Phased shields, 2 Hyper Shields, 1 Tachyon Lance, 4 KA on one class/ 2 Plasma, 2 Gauss, 4 PD, 1 Fighter, 1 Bomber on the other class.
Cruisers have 3 Zero Point reactors, 3 Neutronium armor, 1 Phased Shields, 2 Hyper Shields, 2 Kinetic Artillery, 2 Plasma.
Destroyers are specced as PD bc I haven't been able to get flak yet.
Corvettes are 1 Plasma, 1 Neutron Torpedo, 5 Zero Point reactors, 1 Afterburners.
Everything has max thrusters/sensors, Psionic combat computers, and tier 2 Warp Drives.

Seriously? Neutron torpedoes against ~80% armor?

Why you're mixing hyper shields with something called "phased shield"? mod? If so - ask author what he's messed with Leviathans.

Originally posted by vagrantstorm:

Are the Drakes random in strength maybe?

No, it's strength should depend only on game difficulty.

Originally posted by vagrantstorm:

I always been temped to try missiles or strike craft on the drake. It should be unlikely to have point defense weapons.

It's have super rapid fire PD with range of almost whole system. Don't know how good it's against fighters/torpedoes but it shots into cruisers very passionately :)

[Gustuv Wynd]

Heh, oh yeah...that area effect damage it has. I forgot. Strike craft are definitely out...missiles might be OK since it doesn't spam it constantly...torpedoes would not be good on it since it has no shields.

Just was secretly hoping for an actual good use of missiles in this game on something...even just an edge case.

[ThatRabidPotato]

Originally posted by corisai:

Originally posted by ThatRabidPotato:

Oh, and this is a serious endgame fleet I'm using. BBs have 6 Zero Point reactors, 1 Neutronium armor, 1 Phased shields, 2 Hyper Shields, 1 Tachyon Lance, 4 KA on one class/ 2 Plasma, 2 Gauss, 4 PD, 1 Fighter, 1 Bomber on the other class.
Cruisers have 3 Zero Point reactors, 3 Neutronium armor, 1 Phased Shields, 2 Hyper Shields, 2 Kinetic Artillery, 2 Plasma.
Destroyers are specced as PD bc I haven't been able to get flak yet.
Corvettes are 1 Plasma, 1 Neutron Torpedo, 5 Zero Point reactors, 1 Afterburners.
Everything has max thrusters/sensors, Psionic combat computers, and tier 2 Warp Drives.

Seriously? Neutron torpedoes against ~80% armor?

Why you're mixing hyper shields with something called "phased shield"? mod? If so - ask author what he's messed with Leviathans.

Originally posted by vagrantstorm:

Are the Drakes random in strength maybe?

No, it's strength should depend only on game difficulty.

Originally posted by vagrantstorm:

I always been temped to try missiles or strike craft on the drake. It should be unlikely to have point defense weapons.

It's have super rapid fire PD with range of almost whole system. Don't know how good it's against fighters/torpedoes but it shots into cruisers very passionately :)

Phased Shields aren't a mod, they're in the base game. They take off a little HP in return for giving a shield strength of two Hyper Shields of their size, as well as a large shield regen buff. You get them off of Fallen Empires.
Weren't you the one who said yourself in another thread not to bother with physical torpedoes and keep energy torps on your corvettes permanently?

[ThatRabidPotato]

As I noted, the only mod I have on that affects battle mechanics is Improved Space Battles, or ISBS. The description for the mod says nothing about affecting Leviathans, though I guess it does.

[corisai]

Originally posted by ThatRabidPotato:

Phased Shields aren't a mod, they're in the base game. They take off a little HP in return for giving a shield strength of two Hyper Shields of their size, as well as a large shield regen buff. You get them off of Fallen Empires.

No, basic game don't have them. Maybe you're speaking about Enigmatic shields from Enigmatic fortress?

Originally posted by ThatRabidPotato:

Weren't you the one who said yourself in another thread not to bother with physical torpedoes and keep energy torps on your corvettes permanently?

Yes - against AI. For killing leviathans ASAP I still prefer to swap torpedoes for all-plasma. But even with 50k of fleet power that's don't matter in vanila.

Seriously - check your mods, some of them done something with Leviathans. No way you can lose with 80k! and quite strong fleet composition.

[ThatRabidPotato]

I guess you're right- Phased Shields are from the ISBS mod, they're not on the list of techs on the wiki. Crazy, I could swear I remembered them being in vanilla.
I left a comment on the mod's site about this, I think I'm going to message the guy directly.
And I actually misremembered- I had MORE than 80k, I had one fleet of 25k, one of 35k, and one of 37k. All 3 commanded by 5 star admirals.

[corisai]

Originally posted by ThatRabidPotato:

I guess you're right- Phased Shields are from the ISBS mod, they're not on the list of techs on the wiki. Crazy, I could swear I remembered them being in vanilla.
I left a comment on the mod's site about this, I think I'm going to message the guy directly.
And I actually misremembered- I had MORE than 80k, I had one fleet of 25k, one of 35k, and one of 37k. All 3 commanded by 5 star admirals.

That's stats of Insane Ether Dragon in vanila game - http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=850701545

You can compare it with yours (use console command "observe" to enter into observer mode and be able to see design of every ship).