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[Paul]

I never really liked the addition of the wormhole aliens. They're a never ending threat that you can't fight back against - all you can do is kill the ships that come through.

Now if there was a way to research their engine tech and learn how to travel the wormholes, then send fleets back through after them - then it wouldn't be so bad. At least then you would have a goal - stop their incursion once and for all, even if it takes 500 years of building up to do so. As-is, there really isn't a goal associated with the wormhole aliens, other than kill them as they come through and don't die. I mean, at least give us a way to close up their wormholes.

It could have been done really well, like being able to research the tech that opens the wormholes and discover how to close them. Say for example to close them you have to destroy the wormhole generator on the other side, which involves sending a fleet through to take out their defenses and destroy it. The catch is, once it's gone the ships left over there have no way of getting back - so you're left with a choice of how many ships should you leave on the other side to destroy it, and can you get away with leaving one small ship to finish it off when they might get reinforced at any time. Maybe you could eventually research the wormhole generators themselves, and build your own to be able to launch attacks against their generators and get your ships back home with your own generator, then turn it off until you need it again. Eventually you may even be able to turn the tables and get on the offensive, making strikes against their worlds, which would be extremely well defended and require a massive strike force to even have a chance.

Just an example of something that IMO would have made for better gameplay than "Wormehole opens. Aliens stream through endlessly."

[Sheb]

Don't tell us. Tell Steve, he's really open (althoug he just found a job)

[Greenbane]

Now if there was a way to research their engine tech and learn how to travel the wormholes, then send fleets back through after them - then it wouldn't be so bad. At least then you would have a goal - stop their incursion once and for all.

That's how it worked in Master of Orion II. The Antarans would randomly jump in and attack, and one of the late game techs allowed for the construction of a dimensional portal. You could use it to send a ship to strike their home directly (meaning as well their main fleet and a super star fortress with a godly commander) and defeat them once and for all.

A similar goal to defeat the Invaders would be neat. Wormhole traversing could be a technology you can't research and must be obtained from captured/salvaged Invader vessels. Once you got your hands on it, you'd use it against them and destroy their primary base and industrial capacity.

[Earthquake Damage]

snip

I like your idea, so I went ahead and submitted it in your stead.  No offense intended.

[Sirus]

Quick question concerning my game. I had a few ships exploring a system when I ran into an alien ship. The thing was MASSIVE, well over 100,000 tons. It was also able to keep up with my fleeing ships, repeatedly attempting to ram my jump tender. It eventually succeeded, though the impact seemed to cripple it.

When I came back with a couple early-tech warships several years later, the hulk was still there, and once again tried to ram the corvettes. I was expecting a protracted battle, possibly the loss of both ships as they attempted to gather data, but it died from a single 15cm carronade shot, leaving a wreck (salvagers on the way) and no lifepods. So far, no sign of any colonies or other ships in system. Was this Precursors, the remnant of a Star Swarm fleet, or just a very oddly-outfitted alien?

[Narmio]

Quick question concerning my game. I had a few ships exploring a system when I ran into an alien ship. The thing was MASSIVE, well over 100,000 tons. It was also able to keep up with my fleeing ships, repeatedly attempting to ram my jump tender. It eventually succeeded, though the impact seemed to cripple it.

When I came back with a couple early-tech warships several years later, the hulk was still there, and once again tried to ram the corvettes. I was expecting a protracted battle, possibly the loss of both ships as they attempted to gather data, but it died from a single 15cm carronade shot, leaving a wreck (salvagers on the way) and no lifepods. So far, no sign of any colonies or other ships in system. Was this Precursors, the remnant of a Star Swarm fleet, or just a very oddly-outfitted alien?

125,000t? No offensive weapons, but maybe some CIWS? Sounds like a Rhino. I believe it's some kind of Invader civilian ship - purpose unknown, to me at least.  It got the nickname Rhino from one of Steve's campaigns where it kept trying to headbutt freighters. It was comical until another invader fleet showed up and massacred everything in the system.

[Greenbane]

Might be some kind of very large troop/assault transport.

[AlStar]

I don't know if they have any other purpose, but pairs of them are going around stabilizing jump points in my current game.

Bloody things absorbed 450 missles (size 5 warhead) each - all fired in one volley, too - their CIWS systems would take down 25-30 missles, then it'd take all the rest to finally put one down.

On the plus side, each one tends to give 20 or so engines and 4 or 5 CIWS of really, really high tech.

[EuchreJack]

If their only weapons are CIWS, why not use beam weapons?

[Sirus]

Quick question concerning my game. I had a few ships exploring a system when I ran into an alien ship. The thing was MASSIVE, well over 100,000 tons. It was also able to keep up with my fleeing ships, repeatedly attempting to ram my jump tender. It eventually succeeded, though the impact seemed to cripple it.

When I came back with a couple early-tech warships several years later, the hulk was still there, and once again tried to ram the corvettes. I was expecting a protracted battle, possibly the loss of both ships as they attempted to gather data, but it died from a single 15cm carronade shot, leaving a wreck (salvagers on the way) and no lifepods. So far, no sign of any colonies or other ships in system. Was this Precursors, the remnant of a Star Swarm fleet, or just a very oddly-outfitted alien?

125,000t? No offensive weapons, but maybe some CIWS? Sounds like a Rhino. I believe it's some kind of Invader civilian ship - purpose unknown, to me at least.  It got the nickname Rhino from one of Steve's campaigns where it kept trying to headbutt freighters. It was comical until another invader fleet showed up and massacred everything in the system.

Missile tech sucks right now, so I have no idea if they had CIWS or not. Besides, I'm pretty sure that invaders are turned off in this game, since I've never even faced Precursors or Star Swarm. Still, the resemblance with the Rhino is uncanny (the unknown ship was just about 102,000 tons).

Are any of these special opponents marked in any way? My data just reads them as aliens from the system I found them in, and I could try to communicate (sadly, communication failed after a couple years).

Slightly related question: I have some CIWS built and installed on my corvettes, but in the combat menu I was unsure whether or not I could fire them. Does CIWS have built-in fire control, or do you still need one?

[EuchreJack]

CIWS are purely self-contained defensive systems.  Just slap it on your ship, and it will kill missiles.  I think...

[forsaken1111]

I believe CIWS is a fully self-contained system with its own fire control and sensor. Note that it ONLY protects its own ship, it will not cover other ships nearby unlike other anti-missile systems.

[Greenbane]

CIWS are purely self-contained defensive systems.  Just slap it on your ship, and it will kill missiles.  I think...

Pretty much. They don't need any configuration to work as advertised. And as forsaken1111 said, it can only protect the ship it's mounted on, as if it were another weapon set in Final Defensive Fire (Self Only) point defense mode.

[Thexor]

CIWS are purely self-contained defensive systems.  Just slap it on your ship, and it will kill missiles.  I think...

Pretty much. They don't need any configuration to work as advertised. And as forsaken1111 said, it can only protect the ship it's mounted on, as if it were another weapon set in Final Defensive Fire (Self Only) point defense mode.

On the plus side, IIRC their inability to deal damage (or do anything besides self-defense) means they're also classed as civilian. Of course, if your civilian ships actually have to use CIWS, they've probably got bigger problems than a couple of missiles. 

[Sirus]

@ all: Good to know