Which Modules to use?

[madocs]

So building titans at the end of the game. Trying to figure out the best modules to use.

I build 3 types of ships at this stage (considering 4)

1) Short range beam
2) Long range missile
3) a ship that is a utility ship with scanner and wide area jammer, and the warp disappator
....4) frigate defence ship for avoiding beams (due to its mobility) - I call these kamakazi, but soak up a lot of fire!

My big ships are getting nuked by torpedoes.... seems the bigger you are, the easier it is for torpedoes to damage... I have enough PD to stop missiles, and I use hard shields to boost the absorption from their beam weapons.

Is energy absorber useful?
Are multiphased shields better than hard shields?

Which gives you more shield regeneration? Energy absorber or the stat bonus shield booster one?

Does armor and resilience help against torpedoes?

Any links to ideas or run down of best modules to use and when??

Cheers and TIA

[madocs]

Anyone have any links?

[frdnwsm]

Torps, even semi-guided ones, are best used against immbile or big and slow targets. Frigates are almost impossible to hit with them.

I have never bothered with most of the specials you mentioned. My ships of battleship size and above get battle pods, heavy armor, reinforced hull and auto repair (which is mainly useful between battles, not during). Titans get Hyper-X capacitor and High Energy Focus.

Smaller ships get BP, hvy armor and reinf hull. Cruisers wih missiles get dauntless in addition.

All gun mounts are heavy with autofire and continuous mods, set in broadside position. Mass drivers for PD, even if you have phasers; you can stuff more of them into the hull.

Xentronium armor if you have blitzed the Guardian, otherwise Adamantium.

Now, before I research the Hyper-X and HEF, I just stick as many MIRVed pulson mssiles as I can into the hull of every ship of every size. Dauntless for every ship size except the frigates.

Emphasis is on offence over defence. Very simplistic concept of ship design, but it works. Heavy gun mounts outrange missiles and regular mounts; hug the sides of the combat map and blaze away from your broadside gun ports. Kill the enemy fast, and your defensive measures are relatively unimportant.

[Captain Keen]

Obviously, all modules are useful. It's a question of priorities.

There are two limiting factors to take into account: Space and production cost. If your perfect ship design cannot be built before the game ends, that's a problem.

So I've tried, succesfully, to go in the opposite direction: Focus exclusively on firepower, hoping essentially to wipe out the enemy before they do enough damage to do the same to me.

In other words, I didn't even build shields. Just a giant pile of weapons.

This works. At least within a certain enterpretation of 'works'. It's a stupid thing to do, but not so stupid as to be unviable.

What I'm saying is, you can't really go wrong - except if you use torpedoes, or fighter bays.

Also, you ask about hard shields vs multiphased. For all such questions - shields, hull, etc - the answer is research one and steal or trade for the other.

[frdnwsm]

Cap'n Keen is a little TOO keen on the offense vs defense side of things. I use the best shields I have, Heavy armor and reinforced hull take up almost zero hull space and add a lot to your ship's endurance. I don't bother with shield mods, however.

[Captain Keen]

Oh agreed. Don't do what I do.

I like to test the outer limits of what is viable. And it's a credit to the game that you can do so many different things and still make them work. On the other hand, it sort of also implies that it doesn't really matter what you do, because everything (sorta) works.

Building ships without shields makes the game harder. It's actively, decidedly, a worse choice. But it's definitely still doable.

It was harder to make beam weapons work early on.

[Red Earth]

Originally posted by madocs:

Is energy absorber useful?
Are multiphased shields better than hard shields?

I've used the energy absorber and I really can't tell how well it works.
Multiphased shields are more general purpose. Hard shields do best against beams, low damage weapons, and shield piercing. Increasing shield points with multiphase won't help if they shoot right through them. I'd use hard shields on small ships and multiphase on bigger ships.

Originally posted by madocs:

Which gives you more shield regeneration? Energy absorber or the stat bonus shield booster one?

I can't even tell if the energy absorber really does recharge shields.

Originally posted by madocs:

Does armor and resilience help against torpedoes?

Yes it does. The effect of resilience is percentage based so it works best against high damage weapons like torpedoes. The best defense against torpedoes though is a displacement device so you can get out of their way at a moments notice.

[Raceclimb]

have you considered putting stellar coverters on you titans ?

nothing like having a whole FLEET of "death satrs"...hehheheh

[madocs]

I have tried stellar converters, but I never really saw them fire in tactical..?

I might have to change from using hard shields to armor resilience perhaps?!?

I have been putting augmented engines on my larger ships to try and increase beam defence on titans.
I don't tend to play the tactical map.... I have found it a little clunky, and trying to manage so many ships at one time is painful. IF you put broadsides on, does the AI play it correctly?

[Raceclimb]

you wouldn't see them used in tactical, they come into play during the attack colony phase and uhhh.....well they do exactly what the "death star" does....blow up entire planets...LOL

it can be truly un-nerving to a player to suddenly realize you don't NEED a Doom Star and you actually have a whole FLEET of ships capable of blowing up planets !

[Red Earth]

Originally posted by Assassin Raceclimb:

you wouldn't see them used in tactical...

Yes you would. They're just like another beam weapon but in a special slot.

[Raceclimb]

if you say so

so far i've blown up about 20 planets using it....not sure how that would work in tactical

[madocs]

It does say that it fires in tactical combat, range 60, damage 600, fires a few times from memory.... Never really saw it work though, but I probably just missed seeing it work.

True that though... enemy pissing you off.... boom no world!

I actually give the person I want to go to war with, all my smaller planets (small and tiny), and then blow them up on the next turn so I can create larger planets in my borders. Before I give it to them though, I remove all defensive platforms on the planet, and remove all but 1 population.

[Raceclimb]

hmmm...interesting

because i've mostly used the ploy in MP i don't relly use "tactical mode" (yet)

just thought you might appreciate the idea, obviously you've put alot of work into desinging specialized Titans :)

as for me?....nahh, i just like to blow stuff up....lol