Are strike craft useful for anything?

[spacewalker]

ai constructed fleets will always have enough point defense to immediately take out all strike craft before they can do anything

it looks like they are even targeted by regular weapons.

i also noticed when i was going against ai that was loaded with mostly bombs missles and strike caft, that i would always win and theyr strike craft woud do nothing. (i had only reserched plasma weapons, and the ai had been teching up his strike craft)

i tried making a fleet of battleship carriers and crusier carriers (with destroyer and frigate support), and saw that the first thing that happened in a battle was all my strike craft were destroyed, even against much weaker fleets.

[Elitewrecker PT]

But if they get too close to the enemy PD they'll be destroyed and you're left with no PD so...
again, it's a risk. I really only use strike craft for the fun of it. But I have a 220k doomstack so...

[Darkeus]

That is true too.

[Tiitinen]

What I did since I love the idea of carriers was I built cruisers with as many strike crafts as possible along with point defense turrets and I had just a few of them in my fleet 'defending' as their computer setting so those were kinda support ships that did little damage on their own but proved to be a noice supporting option shooting down missiles and providing extra fire support with quick strike crafts. Idk but it sure is a fun composition. I call them Packleaders :3

[homersexual]

引用自 Buster Heimann：

I decided to try out strike craft in my latest campaign, but I have yet to tech up to the level at which I'd be comfortable replacing my high-tier lasers. Even before reading this particular post, I really didn't have high expectations. I always avoided strike craft for the same reason I generally avoid missile weapons: they seem too easy to hard counter with PD. I believe a single PD module can defeat several missile modules, so it seems like I'd be creating a very blatant mathematical disadvantage for myself in comparison to simply piling on high-tier energy weapons with a few PD modules of my own.

This has got me thinking, however... I bet a very effective way to employ strike craft would be along side missile weapons. Just send a huge wave of armored torpedoes and strike craft and completely overwhelm the enemy's PD. Now that strike craft properly move to engage distant targets, you could possibly unleash a devastating first blow that would see the enemy fleet in shambles by the time they close in on your fleet. Maybe I will attempt this strategy in my next game...

The best way to destroy a fleet from a distance, in my opinion, is by using lances (Particle, Tachyon). These are the two most powerful energy weapons in the game, have 90% accuracy, and a range of 60, which means that you can equip a battleship or cruiser with a bunch of them and destroy half the enemy fleet before the AI's regular weapons even get within range. Not to mention that they ignore all armor and can't be countered, which makes them infinitely superior to torpedoes, and the damage is instantaneous - no waiting 30 seconds for your torpedoes to actually hit anything.

[SBGaming]

引用自 a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ leaf：

The best way to destroy a fleet from a distance, in my opinion, is by using lances (Particle, Tachyon). These are the two most powerful energy weapons in the game, have 90% accuracy, and a range of 60, which means that you can equip a battleship or cruiser with a bunch of them and destroy half the enemy fleet before the AI's regular weapons even get within range. Not to mention that they ignore all armor and can't be countered, which makes them infinitely superior to torpedoes, and the damage is instantaneous - no waiting 30 seconds for your torpedoes to actually hit anything.

And if your opponent is also using Tachyon Lances, you'll need the same just to avoid your own fleets getting obliterated before they have a chance to engage.

When you find yourself in a Tachyon Lance/Matter Disintegrator matchup, you'll quickly find both you and the enemy in a Last Man Standing battle of attrition.

[Elitewrecker PT]

You mean a whoever has the most repeatable techs and plain ship numbers battle

[jarsdeux]

I built a bunch of battleships with 3x advanced bombers each but it didn't work at all. their damage isn't show on situation reports so it's hard to tell if they do any damage period, and if they do they still get shot down by PDs. all in all I think they are still a waste. don't know about fighters

[Mistfox]

Like torpedoes, strike craft are all or nothing propositions, no point having "just a few". And they get shut down hard by PD. Think of them as torpedoes. Not totally useless but hard to use. Against corvette fleets they used to murder, but now there are better weapons to kill corvettes since the nerf.

[Sathra]

From my experience, besides the tiny damage difference, flagella and advanced bombers have different attack patterns. Bombers circle, flagella fly under a target and jiggle.
As for effectiveness, if the enemy doesn't have adequate PD they will gut ships pretty steadily. The strike range is about the same as lances or artillery, without the cooldown or miss chance.

If they DO have adequate PD, then its a pretty good test. Taking out 40-80 strikecraft before they can make a mark on the battle is a ton of PD. Especially if you're throwing missiles and torps as well.

[Wunderland]

They are good damage wise, but they are underpowered because PD counter them way too hard atm, same with missiles.

[Farsha]

They are great against the Unbbiden for example, since the have no point defence and only shields. Attack bombers and torpedos wreck Unbidden fleets in no time.

But yea they are extremly weak agains point defense ( once shot down, strike craft dont respawn in combat)

Since 1.1 reffiting fleets is matter of moments so do it often.