How do I make a replenishing missile base?

[wufei88]

Hi guys, so I am at the point where I'd like to buy a XL ship I was thinking of buying a Zeus Carrier / Zeus Sentinel, maybe sentinel since it has more cargo idk, but what I'd like to do is make it into a missile boat with tracking turrents I am thinking,,, I have a missile component factory, I have a the missile blue prints purchased but idk how to go about producing them at the base for the ship to replenish or if maybe i should just do the same with a auxiliary instead (only because I heard that they also maybe create these missiles? Or am I wrong here?) I don't know im sitting on 113 million with slow payments of 5mill or so every now and then but if anyone has any advice about going about all this I'd love to hear it so I know what I need to do, hopefully I don't have to make a maintenance/building factory that'd be so pricey,,,,

Thanks!

[conrado.lacerda]

- I recommend the Vanguard version for combat ships, they're faster and more maneuverable while having the same shields and only marginally less hull (cargo capacity is irrelevant in combat).
- To replenish the missiles, you can use an auxiliary set to supply for fleet (Atlas Sentinel is a good choice - here cargo capacity matters).
- The other choice to resupply the missiles for your carrier is to build an equipment dock or shipyard, but the blueprints for the required modules can get very expensive.

[trooperrob]

for a ship you should order it to resupply to the missile load you wish (either from your shipyard / aux / npc shipyard)
You may have to do it in chunks from your aux as it may not have enough for all in one go.

assign the carrier to a fleet.
assign the fleet leader to do something other than hold position.
assign the aux to the fleet (after a successful get supplies )
assign trader to support the aux.
set resupply policy of the fleet.
If the carrier uses missiles, it should then resupply from the aux.
Not an expert in big fleets, but except for raptor, carriers in theory should be a support ship with wings of fighters doing the combat. use other ships for missile boats.
Also carrier default behaviour might conflict with your plan. - ie it might try and avoid due to it being a carrier.

Once a ship / base knows how many missiles you want, I think it will resupply to that level after use, provided blueprints.

if the aux uses up stores making the missiles then it should create a buy order for that ware.

try making a bomber wing of fighters and assigning it to the carrier - you might find it better.

[bitzN]

You can only replenish missiles at Equipment Docks, Support ships and Shipyards.

[conrado.lacerda]

Originally posted by trooperrob:

carrier default behaviour might conflict with your plan. - ie it might try and avoid due to it being a carrier.

It definitely will. I foresee a lot of frustration with the OP's plan.

[wufei88]

Yes, it sounds very complex.....thank you for the answers. Maybe too much for me unless I have too much money to spend.

I just thought and hoped that I would get a missile gunboat monster of a XL ship that can rip and tear through foes. I kinda have a rough time trying to figure out what turrents to use to start with since some are rather short in range and too slow of a projectile. Its a bit well overwhelming really... I just figured Zeus would be rather nice since it was fast, and has a great travel speed. Kinda funny saying this but I kinda thought itd be cool to use it as a freight hauler too with the cargo space...but then again not all ports can support such vessels I didn't think about that til now...

Thanks everyone.

[trooperrob]

not really - get an aux - get supplies then assign to supply a fleet.
assign it a trader
set resupply level.
buy blueprints - you probably have them.
I would give them good pilots.

but carrier is not a missile platform.

If you want to try it:
capture pirate large ships. - refit with missiles.
capture an aux.

try it out.

I would build up your empire. - even refitting those ships with decent kit will cost.

and the old adage - if you have to ask how much it will cost. you need to build a shipyard...

I would concentrate on the empire until you have enough money to retire and experiment.

edit - 5 s ships or a couple of m ships can make great torpedo bombers.
I think I used a nemesis and heavy torpedo to take out turrets for boarding.

[Konril]

A few of the above posters mentioned it. But what you really need for now is a resupplier ship, also known as an auxiliary (aux) ship. These ships are able to repair and resupply consumables to your other ships as long as they have the right materials on board and the blueprints. Otherwise, you would need to attach an XL Equipment Dock or Shipyard to your station for your carrier, and that can get very expensive.

The resupplier ship can get the materials from the station either by docking at a pier attached to the station, or with a small courier or medium trader as an intermediary. You can actually set small and medium ships to trade for the resupplier ship, and they will keep you stocked up. Using the resupplier is about the same as using an actual equipment dock. Give a ship an order to the resupplier and you get the equipment dock menu which will allow you to upgrade your software (for free), repair (again, for free), and change consumables (provided blueprints and materials are available). Resuppliers can also build drones for those ships that use them, as well as mines, laser towers, satellites, and nav-beacons when provided blueprints and the correct materials.

It is a good idea to have up to 5 cargo drones on your resupplier to help with getting stuff between it and other L and XL ships, and between it and the station when docked at a pier. The number of drones actually used will depend on the skill of the captain, so even with the huge drone capacity, there is no need for more. Most of that space for drones can stay empty or used for defense drones if you want.

[gorgofdoom]

On a tight budget:

1) buy both M missile turret blueprints & those for ammo.

2) add energy cell array

3) Build turrets, add at least one set of each kind and more if you want to stock more ammo

The above costs about two and a half million credits.

4) Set base to stock whatever ammo you need.

5) once it has the ammo made for itself, ware transfer them to your ships.


But you're well past the early game. For this stage: aux ships are old news. Equipment docks are newly, vastly superior for rearming ships because they have expandable storage & have been given these AUX like abilities in 7.0. For S/M ships they are not too expensive, only 36 million for the blueprint iirc and pretty cheap to build physically.

[wufei88]

So what would a good aux be then? Is Holy visions version good enough? I was thinking split a long time ago, but I understand that their shields are so minimal and awful that I worry they'd die too easy, so I am kind of afraid of getting them. Especially with a budget thats not immense. Plus I am not sure if the Fed's shielding would be enough. Hmm...

I am just SOOOOOO FED UP with Xenon invading my Heretic's end now and then with K's and I's destroying my miners and freighters that I wanted to set up. This is really what made me want to go with a missile like gunboat of a colossus. I just wanna annihilate them from my system and keep my guys safe so they can mine, trade in peace.

[Konril]

The Paranid Atlas is the fastest of them and well shielded, so you can't really go wrong there. HOP sentinel has a better cargo and hull capacity, PAR vanguard is a bit faster to get around. Stork and Nomad just seem to be slower with no actual benefits over the Atlas. BOR Orca is the best shielded and has the second-best cargo capacity, but is pretty slow to get around with the way Boron XL engines work. TER Honshuu has the best cargo capacity, but is slowest and minimally shielded, so I wouldn't recommend going out of your way for one.

[trooperrob]

an aux if set up right, allows your bombers to fire missiles and then resupply automatically at the aux, which can follow the fleet.
The aux doesn't have a big capacity, but you can assign traders to the fleet (or aux) cant remember which.
when the aux resupplies a ship, it will generate a buy order and the transport can go fetch the wares you need.

You might want to check the transport white / blacklist, to ensure it doesn't stray into danger fetching wares.

otherwise you have to order the ships to refit manually.

- I think in 7.0 they ships will repair / refit at your eq dock / shipyard if you have one, but they may be too far away.

Carrier can repair (resupply?) small/m, aux can do any ships.
for gate security, I usually use a fleet and a station - station to help / assist / distract enemy if nasty capitals come through.
check my posts if the aux isn't working for you. There is a bit of a knack to setting it up.
I think the aux may repair any ships in sector that want to.
Not sure though if / when ships on repeat orders will choose to do so though.

[wufei88]

What is the transport white/blacklist? There is a option that can prevent my ships from entering dangerous area's?? How would I set that up...?

I did buy both zeus and atlas. Can't do paranid as I am not rank 20 with them, thats okay. Ill settle for Holy right now....fitted it out with smart missiles and gosh it didn't last too long, maybe too many missile launchers Idk.....I did buy 2 medium freights for the aux and told those to trade for it, the npc's cant find any kind of trade to do with that orange ol icon. To be honest, I am not even sure how I can set the Aux to make what missiles I want them to make, because I bought all missile BP's. It sure does have the components, but it doesn't do anything to produce the ammunition. Maybe I need to go and have Zeus buy a few missiles of each type and see if Atlas starts crafting them then....idk... maybe I have to make some kind of freight traders that trade for commanders build storage sort of thing to get it going. I'm kinda clueless here.

If I can't figure this out, I may just have to go and simply get different types of turrents to avoid this hassle...hmmm...

[trooperrob]

read my post above. 27 june 9:59
You need the blueprints for the missile. put a high skill pilot (2-3 star on aux and its trader.)
so long as the aux has the mats, if a missile boat in the fleet or nearby uses a missile -it should resupply at the aux after an interval.
test it can by manually ordering a ship to refit at the aux with some extra missiles / torps.
So long as the fleet with aux are not on hold position, and everything has a resupply setting it should work.
It doesn't work instantly, so test it as above post and this, and do something else for 5 minutes. then take another look. For the rest, you will need ships to actually use their missiles, then they will want to resupply...

[Set-115689]

Depending on what you want you could build/store the missiles elsewhere.

You can store missiles on non missile ships via transfer wares between ships. Can probably store over 1000 missiles on a carrier using fighters, etc... as storage.

You could build a s/m maintenance dock and store the wares there then equip m ships with missiles and transfer missiles from the m ship to the other ship. Stations have much larger storage and you can assign trading ships to them. Stations can also probably store missiles. They might need a missile turret?

Missiles work ok out of sector?

[trooperrob]

just be aware that the more junk you store on your aux the less space it has for missile wares.
Can't remember if raw mats or missiles take more space, but if you fill the hold with drones or laser towers then there will be no space for missile parts.