for the campaign what munitions should i use

[Androgos]

as the title asks i have the ability to unlocu more munitions but to me torpedos and guided missles seem fine, are the mines and emp stuff useful or super niche?

[Spartan Delta 27]

I know that I hate when Cylon forces use mines against me. They are probably very effective at damaging the ships you know will be heading a certain direction.

Also, Nukes are useful but expensive. Daidalos Fleet allows you to use all unlocked upgrades without cost in its forces, so you could stock an entire armada with Nuclear Warheads as their munitions and probably plow through any hostile fleet incoming. Keep in mind, these are a late game munition in the base Campaign and I believe the Campaign completion achievement is only available for the vanilla one.

Honestly, I stuck to Guided Missiles throughout my playthrough. I avoided purchasing other munitions because I was worried the Cylons would upgrade their own as well. As long as you ID a target, those missiles can do some decent damage (As long as you do not run into any Wardrivers, those redirect guided munitions) to most soft targets and clear space for your heavies to deal with what is left.

... On the other hand, I was pretty bad at the Campaigns and played on Lieutenant difficulty... So take my "Tactical Advice" with a grain of salt.

Best of luck and good hunting!

[Sabaithal]

Each munition is useful in certain situations.

Guided missiles - Good vs smaller less armored and more agile craft, due to their tracking. Not the best vs heavily armored targets like revenants.

Torpedos - Good vs larger more well armored ships like revenants, and other slower ships. They do not track, so they have poor performance vs nemesis and cerastes and other fast ships. They can also fire without a clear lockon.

Armor Piercers - Haven't used these too much, but pretty much the same as torpedos, only less hull damage and much more armor damage. Also they are slower.

PCMs - Good for anti-missile defense if you have nothing else. They excel at eliminating nukes, but ideally you would want something else to deal with an incoming salvo of missiles or torpedos if possible.

All mines - Situational as hell. Still, since the AI reacts and manuvers around mines you can use them to limit your enemies movements, force them to go in a general direction you want. Or you can just deploy them right on top of a slow moving ship, but generally torpedos do that job better.

Nuke - One shot. But it hits HARD, destroying smaller ships instantly and heavily damaging larger ones more often than not. It also tracks, but moves slowly. I use them as backups on my battlestars. When sh## hits the fan, nuke it.

[Sir Wagglepuss III]

You can run start to finish with nothing but guided missiles. But whilst efficient, that'd be awfully dull.

That being said, some munitions are better than others. Torpedoes are neat for dumping high damage with otherwise low output ships, like the Adamant. They require close range, slow targets, or the ability to disable a target's mobility first (Assault Raptors sniping the navigation of a target, for example).

AP missiles make a natural pairing with guided missiles, cracking targets before guided missiles make a mess of the hull. For example, a Janus with 1x AP 2x guided missile can dump 60 armour 60 hull damage into a target with a full salvo. That's enough to give Nemesis and Cerastes an instant critical existence error, or leave mid-tier ships hurting a ton.

Nukes are of course, the easy ticket to picking a target and deleting it. They are however completely overkill for anything less than a Revenant / Arachne. You also need to be very aware of Wardrivers, as having 160 points of damage redirected at you can be... Problematic.

PCM's are somewhat underwhelming. Sweepers, Flak, and Vipers are all satisfactory choices for dealing with hostile munitions and you're bound to have at least two of those options in field at any time. They have a rather niche use for sniping nukes and mines in flight, but your munition slot is usually better served elsewhere.

Regular proximity mines are basically 40 damage in a can. Easy damage output in the early game, if you know how to lead targets and account for arming time properly. If you don't, you're better off just taking guided missiles. Once you have Artemis in full production you can ditch them in favour of more consistent options, as Artemis will cover your raw damage needs with BS-Arty.

EMP mines are legitimately dangerous. Hitting a ship with one will leave it in a poor state, two of them is pretty much a death sentence. If you don't mind playing around them and being patient, they'll let your fleet take on twice the odds. Just expect fights to take MUCH longer if you do - They are extremely efficient but the trade off is how much longer matches take.

Debris mines are very useful, if you know how best to deploy them. A single debris mine can wipe half a dozen squads of Raiders, if you can encourage them to stick around in the field. Baiting with your own squadrons, locking them into a brawl with sacrificial squads, or deploying multiple debris mines can lead to trashing a lot of hostile squadrons. If you can't aim mines worth a damn, or cook up the situation to suit your needs, they are pretty much dead weight and just suck up a munition slot.

Finally, the EMP Generator is a bit of a funky one. It's the only munition that can actively screw you by using it at the wrong time. However, using it right can let you shut down multiple hostile ships. It's generally used on quick ships like the Manticore which can distance themselves from the main fleet and position themselves to catch as many enemies as possible before flipping the switch. It can also prove useful as a panic button on core ships like a Jupiter. A lesser known note is that not only does the EMP Generator stun all squadrons in it's radius for a turn, but it also fires just fast enough to deploy before your own Vipers are deployed from a ship - You can deploy EMP and Vipers in the same turn to have them deal significant damage to the disabled squadrons.

Is that a detailed enough breakdown for you?

[Androgos]

Originally posted by Sir Wagglepuss III:

You can run start to finish with nothing but guided missiles. But whilst efficient, that'd be awfully dull.

That being said, some munitions are better than others. Torpedoes are neat for dumping high damage with otherwise low output ships, like the Adamant. They require close range, slow targets, or the ability to disable a target's mobility first (Assault Raptors sniping the navigation of a target, for example).

AP missiles make a natural pairing with guided missiles, cracking targets before guided missiles make a mess of the hull. For example, a Janus with 1x AP 2x guided missile can dump 60 armour 60 hull damage into a target with a full salvo. That's enough to give Nemesis and Cerastes an instant critical existence error, or leave mid-tier ships hurting a ton.

Nukes are of course, the easy ticket to picking a target and deleting it. They are however completely overkill for anything less than a Revenant / Arachne. You also need to be very aware of Wardrivers, as having 160 points of damage redirected at you can be... Problematic.

PCM's are somewhat underwhelming. Sweepers, Flak, and Vipers are all satisfactory choices for dealing with hostile munitions and you're bound to have at least two of those options in field at any time. They have a rather niche use for sniping nukes and mines in flight, but your munition slot is usually better served elsewhere.

Regular proximity mines are basically 40 damage in a can. Easy damage output in the early game, if you know how to lead targets and account for arming time properly. If you don't, you're better off just taking guided missiles. Once you have Artemis in full production you can ditch them in favour of more consistent options, as Artemis will cover your raw damage needs with BS-Arty.

EMP mines are legitimately dangerous. Hitting a ship with one will leave it in a poor state, two of them is pretty much a death sentence. If you don't mind playing around them and being patient, they'll let your fleet take on twice the odds. Just expect fights to take MUCH longer if you do - They are extremely efficient but the trade off is how much longer matches take.

Debris mines are very useful, if you know how best to deploy them. A single debris mine can wipe half a dozen squads of Raiders, if you can encourage them to stick around in the field. Baiting with your own squadrons, locking them into a brawl with sacrificial squads, or deploying multiple debris mines can lead to trashing a lot of hostile squadrons. If you can't aim mines worth a damn, or cook up the situation to suit your needs, they are pretty much dead weight and just suck up a munition slot.

Finally, the EMP Generator is a bit of a funky one. It's the only munition that can actively screw you by using it at the wrong time. However, using it right can let you shut down multiple hostile ships. It's generally used on quick ships like the Manticore which can distance themselves from the main fleet and position themselves to catch as many enemies as possible before flipping the switch. It can also prove useful as a panic button on core ships like a Jupiter. A lesser known note is that not only does the EMP Generator stun all squadrons in it's radius for a turn, but it also fires just fast enough to deploy before your own Vipers are deployed from a ship - You can deploy EMP and Vipers in the same turn to have them deal significant damage to the disabled squadrons.

Is that a detailed enough breakdown for you?

yea that was very helpful ill stick with the missles and torpedos though i may give the EMP mine a try it sounds intresting

[Sabaithal]

The EMP generator has infinite charges, but does have a cooldown time AND does partial damage to the ship using it and any surrounding friendly ships. Use an EMP gen with lone ships.

Basically a kamikaze tactic of flying an EMP gen ship into the middle of an enemy formation (like a manticore), then using the EMP gen in the middle of them to do heavy system damage and knock out some of the enemy ships as well.

There aren't many other useful situations for it though, at least none that I can come up with.

[Spartan Delta 27]

Originally posted by Sabaithal:

The EMP generator has infinite charges, but does have a cooldown time AND does partial damage to the ship using it and any surrounding friendly ships. Use an EMP gen with lone ships.

Basically a kamikaze tactic of flying an EMP gen ship into the middle of an enemy formation (like a manticore), then using the EMP gen in the middle of them to do heavy system damage and knock out some of the enemy ships as well.

There aren't many other useful situations for it though, at least none that I can come up with.

I believe I experimented with that tactic either in Skirmish or the Sins and Sacrifice Campaign. I had trouble using it and it felt like it did not work well, so my Manticore "Sacrifice" became a Nuclear scout instead... Cause Nukes.

[Sabaithal]

Originally posted by Spartan Delta 27:

Originally posted by Sabaithal:

The EMP generator has infinite charges, but does have a cooldown time AND does partial damage to the ship using it and any surrounding friendly ships. Use an EMP gen with lone ships.

Basically a kamikaze tactic of flying an EMP gen ship into the middle of an enemy formation (like a manticore), then using the EMP gen in the middle of them to do heavy system damage and knock out some of the enemy ships as well.

There aren't many other useful situations for it though, at least none that I can come up with.

I believe I experimented with that tactic either in Skirmish or the Sins and Sacrifice Campaign. I had trouble using it and it felt like it did not work well, so my Manticore "Sacrifice" became a Nuclear scout instead... Cause Nukes.

Yeah, generally don't resort to EMP weapons unless you believe you will lose in a contest of arms. Typically just unloading a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of missiles into the enemy is more efficient than trying to disable their subsystems.

[LewdestRoadCone]

torpedos used to be really good. a few versions ago you used to be able to lob them all the way across the map before you even get dradis identification, but now the cylons all have reactionary ability so they can dodge during their half of the turn.

honestly thats my biggest but also only one true annoyance with this game so far, they cylons can react to my launches but i can't react to theirs. i feel like an ability where if your commander is max level you should be able to give oh ♥♥♥♥ reactionary commands too rather than be locked into eating it all during those 6 seconds. its a little silly of course, the cylons always launch on round 3, and then you can just count (or inspect their cooldown) and throw up flak on their next available launch time.

anymore i just roll in full heavy. max out +attack stance right from the start and focus fire one at a time with all the ships with cannon fire. when its missile defend time, battlestar throws up flak for a round or two. now i've replaced one viper squad with a sweeper drone laying down chalf so i don't even have to lose the damage output from the battlestar going into flak mode. makes for pretty quick rounds. put the support celestra right behind the battlestar since all the cylons focus fire and will deep dive for it, but hit the battlestar instead, then put the support drones on the battlestar to heal the armour that gets hit while its LOS tanking.

during that entire time, vipers were launched round one and sent to their deaths to id targets and keep cylon raiders busy lol.

fwiw i only play on commander, the middle of the difficulties.

[Supreme Doge]

Originally posted by Androgos:

as the title asks i have the ability to unlocu more munitions but to me torpedos and guided missles seem fine, are the mines and emp stuff useful or super niche?

Colonial proximity mines can be quite useful when fighting in areas with asteroids or obstacles, PCMs are generally good whenever you need to intercept only a few projectiles (e.g. nuke), EMP mines are worth using when fighting basestar groups. The other munitions are situational or supplementary.

[Sir Wagglepuss III]

Originally posted by darkconsole:

honestly thats my biggest but also only one true annoyance with this game so far, they cylons can react to my launches but i can't react to theirs.

You can react to Cylon torpedo launches in exactly the same way you react to torpedo launches in multiplayer.

Just keep your ships moving on the vertical axis. Keep going up or down, and you'll naturally dodge incoming torpedoes. If you are running Battlestars, you should be diving anyhow.

Max range torpedo launches are a dice roll on a good day. They are designed for getting in close and unleashing hell, or sniping very slow (Basestar) or mobility disabled targets.

[House of Dust]

In the campaign you can react preemptively against torpedoes. Assume torps will be launched on turn three, then three turns later, etc. Evasive manoeuvres on those turns cut down a lot of damage.

You can improve your odds when sniping by waiting and watching the enemy dradis signatures. If it's moving slowly and steadily directly towards you, might be worth a shot. But like Wagglepuss said it's still a dice roll.

Kiting. Still as cheesy and still as effective :)

[Sabaithal]

Originally posted by House of Dust:

In the campaign you can react preemptively against torpedoes. Assume torps will be launched on turn three, then three turns later, etc. Evasive manoeuvres on those turns cut down a lot of damage.

You can improve your odds when sniping by waiting and watching the enemy dradis signatures. If it's moving slowly and steadily directly towards you, might be worth a shot. But like Wagglepuss said it's still a dice roll.

Kiting. Still as cheesy and still as effective :)

Also, Arachnids usually fire on turns four and five, so if you see them prepare accordingly.

[Androgos]

thanks for all the good advice guys im making progress in the campaign finaly, using your suggestions on munitions i beat a cylon fleet of 8 ships with my 2 artimis

[OMG My Profile Name Does Not Fi]

Originally posted by Spartan Delta 27:

Originally posted by Sabaithal:

The EMP generator has infinite charges, but does have a cooldown time AND does partial damage to the ship using it and any surrounding friendly ships. Use an EMP gen with lone ships.

Basically a kamikaze tactic of flying an EMP gen ship into the middle of an enemy formation (like a manticore), then using the EMP gen in the middle of them to do heavy system damage and knock out some of the enemy ships as well.

There aren't many other useful situations for it though, at least none that I can come up with.

I believe I experimented with that tactic either in Skirmish or the Sins and Sacrifice Campaign. I had trouble using it and it felt like it did not work well, so my Manticore "Sacrifice" became a Nuclear scout instead... Cause Nukes.

What about using two manticores with them - flank the enemy from opposite sides then activate the EMPs.....

[Sabaithal]

Originally posted by OMG My Profile Name Does Not Fi:

Originally posted by Spartan Delta 27:

I believe I experimented with that tactic either in Skirmish or the Sins and Sacrifice Campaign. I had trouble using it and it felt like it did not work well, so my Manticore "Sacrifice" became a Nuclear scout instead... Cause Nukes.

What about using two manticores with them - flank the enemy from opposite sides then activate the EMPs.....

Might be worth testing. You could potentially do some major damage IF you can get close before the manticore get trashed. I'd say its all a matter of timing and positioning. Namely, you don't want enemy missile salvos to hit the manticores.