How big of a fleet do you need to fight the xenon?

[XenoEvil]

I don't know if the amount of ships are different for each sectors but assuming I want to clear out the xenon sector near hatikvah's choice, how many ships will I need for the fight? And what kind of loadout should I be equipping my ships with?

[Belteguesian]

There is no correct or wrong answer to your question as everything depends on the random seed your game started with when created, along with what has happened all around the universe from that starting point until now.

[Pandorian]

It just depends on how much fighting you want to do personally. A fully equipped Erlking is perfectly capable of wiping everything if controlled by the player.

If you don't want to personally fight then there's considerations if you're going to be conducting the war In sector or Out of Sector. For example: A fleet engaging while you are in sector can result in a lot of defense drones which can strip capital ships of systems fairly quickly.

Generally on your ships Large Turrets are anti-capital/station (aka plasma) and Medium turrets are anti-fighter (aka flak).

I'm sure others can give you better numbers as in 5.1 I rarely did fleet engagements and only did fights in the Erlking to boost Fight rank. I haven't even touched fleet combat in 6.x other than testing carrier position defense.

[Daddy Shark]

If you're personally doing the fighting, a single destroyer outfitted with anti-fighter turrets will get the job done.

You should be aware, Xenon stations are WAY tougher than anyone else's. They're uparmored and their graviton turrets hit like Iron Mike.

[ArcticISAF]

Yeah if you really want to, you can do a fair amount of damage in your own destroyer. Although there is some fair degree of risk of getting overwhelmed being alone (imo), but can observe this and retreat, etc. An I in particular can take a long time to wear down in one ship (especially without plasma). I find the Xenon have a ramping response once they figure out you're an actual threat in-system.

For taking them on, overall you have three targets to think about - how to deal with stations, how to deal with a swarm of fighters and M ships, and how to deal with Ks and Is in a reliable concerted fashion, usually while fighting S/M ships. Imo, about 4-5 destroyers is a reasonable taskforce (depending a lot on if all turrets are green modded up, purple shields help, and what kind of destroyer as well). A dedicated L plasma destroyer is nice to have. You definitely need to have a good fleet to blown up a K or I fast, either if your ships are nicely modded, equipment (plasma) or sheer numbers. There's some possible miscellaneous equipment (ion net launchers?) that can help but haven't dabbled in that.

A carrier is a great support for the battles (swatting down S/M ships in particular), although I would think about keeping them away from stations unless you have specific long-range missile bombers for them (I'm not really experienced at that, just have seen Wraith do some stuff using them). With carriers, at least my thought is that the more fighter/bomber numbers provided, they become exponentially better. Their numbers make them more survivable (being able to have someone take over and help) and they clear out arriving enemies before they can snowball into doing the same to you. Can't help but think about a particular youtuber who parked their carrier in Hatikvah and tried a position defence with 8 fighters. Well they were cleared out pretty fast by xenon with the carrier being attacked/under threat after

Be inventive, make a save and test it out. A good test is to cross over jump gates and sit there, aggro attention. Retreat back to Hatikvah (or other) if it gets too hairy, although they may chase some. I'm sure others will have good advice to give for you to consider as well.

[Yuki]

In general if you do all yourself a single ship "can" be enough to fight Xeno's.
A single Hydra (M) can kill an I (XL) if flown manually.

In reality if you are about to clean sectors its more. How much depents on what you use and how much time you want to invest. Xeno stations have several times the hp of other stations (e.g. yours, NPC empires).

Now that region you mentioned is exactly what i just cleaned (all the way up to the Yaki) and right there in the first there was another bad surprise. That system north of Hatikvah's has asteroid bases. When i got there 3 Asgard, 4 Syn (all L on Plasma) and 6 Ray where not enough.

To counter the self repair.

The asteroid itself is invulnerable and you have to plug the modules scattered all over its surface one by one. And it has increased self repair. If you do it alone chances are the moment you flew around the asteroid to the other module the base is back at 100%. Additionally given that this is a landmark rather than normal station the AI doesnt properly recognize it as target. They will fire a single volley and then- idle if you are lucky. Fly closer usually. If they fire at all.

You will cry. The AI is just plain out - not working. You may want to take a look into AI mods. (Personally i got all DLC and no mods, in case they actually bring ventures back)

Originally posted by Daddy Shark:

You should be aware, Xenon stations are WAY tougher than anyone else's. They're uparmored and their graviton turrets hit like Iron Mike.

Their shipyards can two-shot an Asgard (>1 million shield HP).
More actually. In that specific incident the station was stripped of all defenses by the carrier group and they did it with just a few turrets or whatever they got repaired.

You picked a bad spot to start heh. Cleaning the former Zyn empire was way more easy.
I suggest you bring in a scout and put down some advanced satellites first. Take a look at whats in the system, their fleets especially. Ive heard some people have never or maybe only once seen an I for instance. I was facing whole fleets of them with 2-3 K each as a mere support. It also depents on how long you let them prepare and what other systems they already got.
Try to tackle one of those fleets. They will come if you just jump through the gate. If thats enough you are probably good to go. If not- reload, build up.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3015154471
Matrix 79B, the system behind Tharkas. There is another group on the other side as well. Thats the usual "gate camp" i was facing in that region. It is way less now in the former Split territories.

Today i use or have positioned at their gates:
2 Asgard. They are exclusively for anti-capital duty. An Asgard can one shot a K. Two shot an I. Hence two. Turrets: L on PAR plasma, M flak/beams. They are however surprisingly useless for stations unless flown manually.

6+ Ray. L-net launchers, otherwise Arc turrets. They are for station duty and will be in their own fleet. They are dirty cheap, can handle fighters/drones extremely well and unless its an asteroid base simply get the job done.

I also add whatever Syn i had left (same turrets as Asgard) but- not really necessary. It speeds up the process though if you send them there on their own (Syns are way slower and if send in the same group will often delay a coordinated attack by 15-30 minutes, Asgards are even worse. Keep them in their own fleets!)

There is usually a carrier group to intercept S/M Xenos, set in such a way they do NOT cover the station, but everything else. Thats however not really necessary.

As far as fitting goes: Your ships should always have their L-turrets at >8km range (hence the net launchers on Rays). Its what they take as combat distance. If you have less range they will always get close (which equals suicide if that wasnt clear enough), with that range they will only occasionally do so. Usually when they are switching between enemy target modules and then decide to go on a 500m station flyby to the other side of that module right in front of them for no apparent let alone conceivable reason.

[XenoEvil]

So is the abandoned Odysseus decked out with plasma and flak and is personally pilot by me a good enough start?

[Bozz 💀]

You can do some damage with it but it's gonna be tough fighting an I with escorts and fighters.

I would advice to use the Ody to get a rattlesnake by boarding, Rattlesnake can solo a whole fleet if you have the skilss but we don't really know if you have the right skills.

Should get a few destroyers, Osaka's perform well and are easy to get as Terrans always have good supplies. get the free Syn, it's the best destroyer in the game in my opinion.

A little fighter squadron to get rid of xenon fighters and the drone swarms from stations.
Otherwise your destroyer can get stuck in an area for a while because fighters will prevent them from engaging Travel Drive and it will take time to destroy them.

You can solo xenons with one destroyer yeah, if you have good skills but there is not much fun, it's like the youtuber who was soloing entire capital ships with a small ship, took like 20 minutes for each, shooting it down while hiding in a blind spot, there is like 0 fun in that lol

[Yuki]

Originally posted by Bozz 💀:

Should get a few destroyers, Osaka's perform well and are easy to get as Terrans always have good supplies. get the free Syn, it's the best destroyer in the game in my opinion.

I also got some Osaka's. They where a solid choice until you have the rep for Syn's.
Not the cheapest but - controlled by AI a single Osaka is more valuable for station destruction than a fully fitted Asgard(!).
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3011678478
Three or more are better of course

Originally posted by Bozz 💀:

A little fighter squadron to get rid of xenon fighters and the drone swarms from stations.
Otherwise your destroyer can get stuck in an area for a while because fighters will prevent them from engaging Travel Drive and it will take time to destroy them.

This is where the Ray comes in. It will (if not set differently) shoot the station with its L guns too. And before you go "thats a waste"- those net launchers stick all drones and escorts to the station. Its an extremely fast moving plasma ball that on impact has a huge area effect explosion (but no damage -.-). Caught in that the escorts usually dont even begin to swarm the Ray and instead die of module explosions caused by its Reaper Beam.
And whatever still manages to come close is likewise told to sit down by the net launchers and then its a shooting range for the Arcs.
Plus: Instant travel drive. Yes. A destroyer with instant travel. You say nope to the I? Just turn around and go.

Originally posted by XenoEvil:

So is the abandoned Odysseus decked out with plasma and flak and is personally pilot by me a good enough start?

Its a start thats "possible" in most regions (as described above probably NOT the one you are aiming for specifically). But- it will take ages and require some very decent flying.

[Bozz 💀]

Originally posted by Yuki:

Originally posted by Bozz 💀:

Should get a few destroyers, Osaka's perform well and are easy to get as Terrans always have good supplies. get the free Syn, it's the best destroyer in the game in my opinion.

I also got some Osaka's. They where a solid choice until you have the rep for Syn's.
Not the cheapest but - controlled by AI a single Osaka is more valuable for station destruction than a fully fitted Asgard(!).
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3011678478
Three or more are better of course

Originally posted by Bozz 💀:

A little fighter squadron to get rid of xenon fighters and the drone swarms from stations.
Otherwise your destroyer can get stuck in an area for a while because fighters will prevent them from engaging Travel Drive and it will take time to destroy them.

This is where the Ray comes in. It will (if not set differently) shoot the station with its L guns too. And before you go "thats a waste"- those net launchers stick all drones and escorts to the station. Its an extremely fast moving plasma ball that on impact has a huge area effect explosion (but no damage -.-). Caught in that the escorts usually dont even begin to swarm the Ray and instead die of module explosions caused by its Reaper Beam.
And whatever still manages to come close is likewise told to sit down by the net launchers and then its a shooting range for the Arcs.
Plus: Instant travel drive. Yes. A destroyer with instant travel. You say nope to the I? Just turn around and go.

Originally posted by XenoEvil:

So is the abandoned Odysseus decked out with plasma and flak and is personally pilot by me a good enough start?

Its a start thats "possible" in most regions (as described above probably NOT the one you are aiming for specifically). But- it will take ages and require some very decent flying.

Hmm Interesting, I have not tested this for station destruction, Will try next time thank you ;)

[StormhawkV]

If you do it yourself and have Cradle of Humanity a single Katana and an Asgard is enough. It will take some time but it's not a problem at all.

[Gibbo]

I think you will need more than one fleet. A nice, big fleet to do the damage and another to block gates off because you're heading into a Xenon stronghold!

From what I gather you're heading into Tharka's Cascade 15? There's a matrix only 2 sectors away and they will be pumping ships out and even worse if the Xenon have taken Family Zhin (they will have) then they will be coming at you from 2 different gates.

I would take the biggest fleet you can afford and you will need another, smaller fleet to block at least one gate off otherwise this might be an expensive lesson.

[Нагризолич]

In my savegame I'd say no less than 70 destroyers with some 2 or 3 full carriers. Or 3-4 asgards.

[PeaceMaker]

Originally posted by XenoEvil:

I don't know if the amount of ships are different for each sectors but assuming I want to clear out the xenon sector near hatikvah's choice, how many ships will I need for the fight? And what kind of loadout should I be equipping my ships with?

Wouldn't that depend on how big they are in that sector of your personal game?

That's like asking, someone not in your war, how big an army you need to fight an enemy army in your war, but ONLY YOU can know how big your enemy army is! Every person's game is different. Maybe go do some recon?

[Ryuji66]

Based on my playstyle:

Several Asgards, more Asgards = faster station siege. I use 6 Asgards divided into 2 Fleets, 1 fleet focus on station siege, other fleet also station siege but also be aware of incoming Xenon.

1-2 Full Fleets to guard the jump gate(s) to cut Xenon's reinforcements. Use defense position command.
My fleet:
1 Carrier (Zeus Vanguard) as Fleet Leader - Bombard for Commander, L Turrets attack Capital Ships, M Turrets attack fighters
6-12 Destroyers (Odysseus E) - Bombard for Commander, L Turrets attack Capital Ships, M Turrets attack fighters
20-40 S Fighters (Ares) - Intercept for Commander
10 - 20 M Corvettes (Katana/Nemesis) - Intercept for Commander

Note: I have almost all DLCs except Boron Kingdom End. I like Paranid's ships because they are fast and quite balanced. Asgard is a must for everybody I think, unless you're hardcore gamer who needs more challenges.

[Xautos]

A single well piloted Asgard with all the trimmings is capable of wiping through a fleet of Xenon ships, both K's and and I easily enough. Stations may actually take some time to do.

You don't need a fleet when one ship can easily cause the trouble you want. Don't let the AI pilot one of your cap ships, they'll just mess it up right and royally.