Planetary Shields - Waste of research time and building space?

[MissedHurry]

... Or, do they have value to you?

[Meewec]

i only would build it if i was making a fortress world(as in all fortresses)

[DankDansk]

Originally posted by Meewec:

i only would build it if i was making a fortress world(as in all fortresses)

I use them to fortify vital worlds. It's great, especially on multiplayer, to have a fortress complex and planetary shield array to add an extra layer of protection, especially when your fleets are stretched thin and your planets have to function independently for a bit while you have bigger fish to fry.

In the early game they aren't to useful, but are much more useful in the mid-late game once borders are established and the galaxy plunges into chaos.

[DankDansk]

Originally posted by Meewec:

i only would build it if i was making a fortress world(as in all fortresses)

Those are pretty useless unless you just want to have a ton of extra fleet cap.

[nullwyrm]

IMO, they could potentially be useful, but I personally have never been in a situation where having one would have been beneficial.

[Meewec]

Originally posted by mccartneyconnor280:

Originally posted by Meewec:

i only would build it if i was making a fortress world(as in all fortresses)

I use them to fortify vital worlds. It's great, especially on multiplayer, to have a fortress complex and planetary shield array to add an extra layer of protection, especially when your fleets are stretched thin and your planets have to function independently for a bit while you have bigger fish to fry.

In the early game they aren't to useful, but are much more useful in the mid-late game once borders are established and the galaxy plunges into chaos.

i tend to keep a defensive bastion at the entrances of my empire and assign a fleet to each one. basically that fleet deals with any invasion against me or offensive action i may take from that location by itself unless i absolutely have to bring in forces from other fronts. i don't usually build fortresses or shield generators.

Originally posted by mccartneyconnor280:

Originally posted by Meewec:

i only would build it if i was making a fortress world(as in all fortresses)

Those are pretty useless unless you just want to have a ton of extra fleet cap.

i don't bother with a fortress world, it doesn't provide enough of a benefit in my opinion and the locking down the ai with it seems cheaty to me. i was just saying that's the only time i would find a shield generator useful. any other time i'd rather have a job producing building that benefits my empire as a whole and they aren't exactly something you can build last minute.

[MissedHurry]

Originally posted by Meewec:

...any other time i'd rather have a job producing building that benefits my empire as a whole and they aren't exactly something you can build last minute.

I tend to agree with this. My first two games, after I researched the tech (and was excited about it because it was purple, and a rare tech) I put one on each planet, and then never even got invaded and ended up replacing the buildings in late game with other things.

I do see the points about vital worlds that can't always have a big fleet stationed on them - and also I've read various opinions about making fortress worlds at choke points to keep enemies out. Seems like if you were going to bother doing that, slapping a planetary shield generator on it would be a sensible choice, too.

[climbingeastofwinter]

Military focused planets make much more sense in games like MoO2 and MoO3 which allow you to build planetary defenses and defense platforms. In Stellaris, if you lose the fight for the system, thats generally all that matter. I suppose it can be nice to have a world full of fortresses for those cases where the enemy isn't going to be fielding enough armies to conquer your planet without a decade of bombardment, and you have a fleet powerful enough to do damage of your own to their worlds while they're busy trying to crack yours, however.

So there are probably cases where you may want them, but I expect they're highly situational.

[Nightmyre]

Originally posted by climbingeastofwinter:

Military focused planets make much more sense in games like MoO2 and MoO3 which allow you to build planetary defenses and defense platforms. In Stellaris, if you lose the fight for the system, thats generally all that matter. I suppose it can be nice to have a world full of fortresses for those cases where the enemy isn't going to be fielding enough armies to conquer your planet without a decade of bombardment, and you have a fleet powerful enough to do damage of your own to their worlds while they're busy trying to crack yours, however.

So there are probably cases where you may want them, but I expect they're highly situational.

That's pretty much what Meewec meant by "feels a bit cheaty".

You can stick an outpost on your borders and make it an effectively impenetrable fortress for relatively cheap, and pretty much shut down any attempt from the AI to attack you.

[DankDansk]

Originally posted by Nightmyre:

Originally posted by climbingeastofwinter:

Military focused planets make much more sense in games like MoO2 and MoO3 which allow you to build planetary defenses and defense platforms. In Stellaris, if you lose the fight for the system, thats generally all that matter. I suppose it can be nice to have a world full of fortresses for those cases where the enemy isn't going to be fielding enough armies to conquer your planet without a decade of bombardment, and you have a fleet powerful enough to do damage of your own to their worlds while they're busy trying to crack yours, however.

So there are probably cases where you may want them, but I expect they're highly situational.

That's pretty much what Meewec meant by "feels a bit cheaty".

You can stick an outpost on your borders and make it an effectively impenetrable fortress for relatively cheap, and pretty much shut down any attempt from the AI to attack you.

Isn't that kind of the point though? To protect your empire?

Like I get not building massive fortress worlds, but having your planets heavily militarized and your borders well protected by impenetrable fortresses is pretty accurate, or the hyperlanes system wouldn't make much sense in initial design.

[Wokelander]

In my 600+ hours of Stellaris I don't I ever felt that Fortresses or Shield generators were worth the slot they took up

[Earthless Rock]

Might be a good idea, i was playing on scaling hardest difficulty. But in my case i would build lots of strong starbases at the borders fast, and check AI altitude to go red and send fleet at red borders.

To defend at start: AI usually attacks in straight line, so you need to find not only a chokepoint system, but something like these hyperlanes: (-<) (--),
I never take these systems with crosed hyperlanes (+), which are hard to defend at game start, so I ussually give them to AI to claim even if its a juicy one, or rush expansions as fast as possible until i get easy defendable hyperlanes. Alloys are key to victory so I don't waste them on hard wars...

Wait for technology to develop magnet icons on starbases and enemy ships cant pass trough. Now i start to take systems with crosed hyperlanes (+)...

AI has to defeat my Starbase Fortress, with ethernal vigilance, lots of defence stations with some pd, research focus on military components, and military focused unity. sometimes with fleet behind starbase, so starbase would tank some first attack damage. Goodluck AI to try to take them, as they always miscalculate and lose fleets fast.

So in the end military based worlds are kind of useless at start and mid game. They might become really good like you guys had said on borders, but with end game crysis at hand, also they would give you bigger fleet size, and I think you can take a perk that gives you even more fleet size and unity with fortresess.

So yeah, shield will make your fortress worlds a pain in the ass...

[MissedHurry]

Originally posted by Khorvale:

In my 600+ hours of Stellaris I don't I ever felt that Fortresses or Shield generators were worth the slot they took up

Ha! I was waiting to hear this from someone. Felt like getting a second opinion confirmed at the doctor's office when I read it (though referring to the shield generators - I do see some use for fortresses here and there). Thank you, Khorvale, and everyone else for your opinions.

[Elitewrecker PT]

It all depends on how often you're attacked deep enough to get bombarded/invaded.
If you punch the AI so hard they never get into your territory then ye, pointless.

[Azunai]

kinda hard to justify a building slot for the shield. might be worthwhile if you could add the shield as a planet feature (through a decision or something) so it doesn't take up one of the very limited slots.

[Nightmyre]

Originally posted by mccartneyconnor280:

Originally posted by Nightmyre:

That's pretty much what Meewec meant by "feels a bit cheaty".

You can stick an outpost on your borders and make it an effectively impenetrable fortress for relatively cheap, and pretty much shut down any attempt from the AI to attack you.

Isn't that kind of the point though? To protect your empire?

Like I get not building massive fortress worlds, but having your planets heavily militarized and your borders well protected by impenetrable fortresses is pretty accurate, or the hyperlanes system wouldn't make much sense in initial design.

The point is that if you were against a human player, they would find ways around it, either by using jump drives, by attacking an area you didn't defend, by using colossus, or just by having a very, very large military fleet.

But the AI won't do that. It will just throw smallish armies at your planet over and over again, and never break through.

When you've got a military strength of 4k+, a fleet bombarding it will just take an eternity to break through, and they won't recognize this fact when attacking you.