EMP generator discussion

[Sabaithal]

So I've been taking a careful look at the EMP generator for the colonials recently.

For everyone unaware, the EMP gen has a short range from the ship it is broadcast from. It is not a projectile. It slightly damages the subsystem of the ship using it, but significantly damages the subsystems of hostile ships within range. I do not know how long the effective range is.

So I've found a use for most munitions, but this one definitely seems to be an odd duck. Because of its friendly fire AOE capability, it should only be used by lone ships. There aren't exactly that many fleet that have lone ships that also dive in close range with the enemy. Which is why I made this topic, to get some ideas.

Here's my first one. A fleet composed of say 2 minervas and 2 rangers, both armed with heavy offensive ordinance. The other 3 ships are manticores. The manticores are all armed with the EMP generator. During the battle the manticores rush in towards the compacted enemy fleet as fast as possible, into close range, and detonate their EMPs. Ideally, this would be enough to cripple most of the enemy fleet in a single manuver, leaving them completely open and defenseless to torpedos and battlestar artillery (or nukes). I haven't tried this YET, but I am building a fleet to try it out.

Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? Accusations of Arson for unrelated reasons?

[Sir Wagglepuss III]

EMP Generators also work as a pretty decent panic button, as whilst they still do friendly damage... They do less damage to friendlies than to hostiles (4 to friendlies vs 8 to hostiles, at last check).

So whilst you will take a hit, the enemy will be more screwed than you are at the end of it.

You can also do the lulzy triple Manticore EMP dogpile. If you can find a way to get them close enough you can shut down most of an enemy fleet instantly, to which you can have about 8 torpedo salvoes shred them whilst they literally can't move.

It definitely requires creative thinking to get the most out of it compared to standard munitions, that's for sure. I encourage out of the box thinking with it's application.

[Sabaithal]

Yeah, I just tried it on an enemy fleet. It was terrifyingly effective. In one turn, all 3 manticores activated their generators and the entire enemy fleet was dead in space. The minervas and rangers tore them apart.

[Sir Wagglepuss III]

It'll murder the AI pretty nicely, and it's sustainable too as Manticore's are cheap to replace in the event they take losses.

The fleet you proposed does however lack anti-squadron support. Might be worth floating a Debris Mine or two to bait enemy Raiders into with the few Vipers you have.

Against players the fleet would be a one-trick-pony. An unsuspecting opponent would get derped on the first time, but they'd just bring overwhelming squadron and munition support in a rematch and snipe the Manticore's, then take their time dismantling the core ships.

It'd also perform poorly for Anabasis as every ship is relatively fragile, and Manticores rushing in are going to be taking costly damage every single round.

[Sabaithal]

Originally posted by Sir Wagglepuss III:

It'll murder the AI pretty nicely, and it's sustainable too as Manticore's are cheap to replace in the event they take losses.

The fleet you proposed does however lack anti-squadron support. Might be worth floating a Debris Mine or two to bait enemy Raiders into with the few Vipers you have.

Against players the fleet would be a one-trick-pony. An unsuspecting opponent would get derped on the first time, but they'd just bring overwhelming squadron and munition support in a rematch and snipe the Manticore's, then take their time dismantling the core ships.

It'd also perform poorly for Anabasis as every ship is relatively fragile, and Manticores rushing in are going to be taking costly damage every single round.

Understandable. There would only be 4 dedicated squadrons with this fleet. BUT consider how fast manticores potentially are. In about 3-4 turns I was able to beeline right into the middle of the enemy fleet, and activate the EMPs. No matter how much damage they are doing, they will not be able to take out more than one before they get within range.

But yeah, heavy squadrons support would be this fleets weakness, even if colonial ships are abnormally good at eliminating squadrons (minervas have 11 point defense guns on each side).

[Sir Wagglepuss III]

If we talked MP for a moment...

My tournament-standard Cylon fleet could slam dunk what you've proposed with little effort.

1x Nemesis (1x Guided Missile)
3x Revenant
1x Cerberus (3x Raiders, 1x Wardriver)
2x Argos (1x AP Missile, 2x Guided Missile, 3x Prototype Raiders on each ship)
(No, I'm not concerned about making the fleet public, I'm sure folks have seen it enough times in tournament streams)

So here's how that'd play out. The Nemesis with it's 10km DRADIS range will ID you on the first turn, or second if it's a really big map. When I see 3x Manticores with EMP Generators, I'm going to immediately delete two of them with a 1x AP 2x Guided salvo each, and have 9 Raiders jump the third whilst I turn my entire fleet around and leg it.

Once they go boom after about turn 3/4, I'll then take my time pulling the 2x Rangers and 2x Minervas apart in standard fashion.

Back to standard campaign...

You're right, the Manticores would charge in, zap the enemy fleet and you'd pick them to pieces at your leisure without even losing a ship. It's not something I'd want to bring into the story missions though, as core mission 9 and onwards starts having a lot of Cylon squadron deployments.

[Sabaithal]

I'm curious, how do you handle large amounts of hostile munitions with that setup? The only missile defense you have is a warpdriver and raiders, and while the warpdriver will redirect guided munitions it will do nothing against torpedos (and most of those ships are big slow moving targets).

The raiders could suffice IF they aren't met with heavy fighter resistance I suppose.

[Sir Wagglepuss III]

Torpedoes get dodged at long range (Yes, even by Argos and Cerberus), Wardriver threatens to redirect anything guided, Raiders clean up if they do bother to launch. There is also the point that the fleet is VERY mobile with a massive DRADIS detection ability. It can stay out of most Colonial fleet's DRADIS range piece of cake as everything but the Cerberus is extremely mobile. Against a Cylon fleet it'll use it's mobility to move in quickly and snipe key targets with either the munitions or the Revenants depending on the situation.

Heavy fighter resistance is dealt with by drawing hostile squadrons into gun range of the Revenants and letting them get ripped to shreds by accurate Revenant fire whilst the squads brawl.

Honestly, I could write pages about how that fleet works and adapts to situations. Got an excess of 30-40 matches clocked in between it, and it's older version which had a 3rd Argos instead of the Cerberus. Not a single loss. I should probably get back into MP matches and see if some new blood can give me a run for my money, I've been ridiculously busy these past few months.

Minor note - It's Wardriver. No p in it. :p

[Sabaithal]

Originally posted by Sir Wagglepuss III:

Torpedoes get dodged at long range (Yes, even by Argos and Cerberus), Wardriver threatens to redirect anything guided, Raiders clean up if they do bother to launch. There is also the point that the fleet is VERY mobile with a massive DRADIS detection ability. It can stay out of most Colonial fleet's DRADIS range piece of cake as everything but the Cerberus is extremely mobile. Against a Cylon fleet it'll use it's mobility to move in quickly and snipe key targets with either the munitions or the Revenants depending on the situation.

Heavy fighter resistance is dealt with by drawing hostile squadrons into gun range of the Revenants and letting them get ripped to shreds by accurate Revenant fire whilst the squads brawl.

Honestly, I could write pages about how that fleet works and adapts to situations. Got an excess of 30-40 matches clocked in between it, and it's older version which had a 3rd Argos instead of the Cerberus. Not a single loss. I should probably get back into MP matches and see if some new blood can give me a run for my money, I've been ridiculously busy these past few months.

Minor note - It's Wardriver. No p in it. :p

You could always have a go with me sometime. I mean I am a total novice to multiplayer, but no one is ever in the lobby...

[Sir Wagglepuss III]

If you want to catch people for MP, hop onto the official Discord server, it's linked ingame on the main menu. People aren't in the lobby often, but you can get a game fairly regularly by shouting up in the matchmaking channel on that Discord.