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[Karlito]

I think NPRs are basically always hostile toward military ships that enter their systems. I suppose there's an argument to use commercial jump scouts for that reason.

Not always. I think it depends in part on their Xenophobia and Militancy ratings. I've had some first-contact
situations that shadowed my ships all the way back to the jump-point but never opened fire.

You're probably right about that one, since I think I recall a few similar situations. However, if your relations are above zero with them I'm fairly sure they won't attack your commercial and civilian ships under any circumstances.

Are you sure about that? I'm pretty sure I've crippled Swarm soldiers before. They have an engine component that can be destroyed, just like any other ship.

Not 100% sure, but I've never ever seen a drone fall out of a pack due to stopping movement. They appear to be fully functional right up until death. My thought was that Steve had modified the code where Swarm was concerned (just like the fact that they don't leave wreckage).

I definitely seen a few drop out of the pack before. They are small enough that if you're using powerful enough weapons you can destroy them in one hit after piercing the armor (you'll see the "liquid/atmosphere streaming from hulls" message once an armor column is reduced to zero, and it's possible to do that without actually having done any damage to the interior). I suppose it's also entirely possible that some of underlying swarm mechanics have changed since the last time I had to fight them. I know a few versions ago it was possible to board and capture a Queen with marines. She'd just be a very large, slow high-tech ship, and that 'feature' has since been removed.

[Another]

How does the Swarm negate "big gun" designs? An array of 35cm x-ray lasers on turrets should rip them to pieces from far away or trade a few points of internal damage from their mesons for instant ship-sized holes up close.

The queen is especially vulnerable to anything that can out-range it and keep a steady stream of damage to overload the shields.

What "big guns" are really useless against are missiles.

[RedKing]

If you've got 35cm lasers, you're teched up enough that the Swarm aren't a problem. I'm talking when you still have ion engines and 20cm laser/railgun constitutes a "big gun" (i.e. when you first encounter the Swarm, unless you turtle up in your starting system for the first 100 years)

[Another]

20cm lasers with modest range tech still give enough range that beam fire control would be the most limiting factor. Ion engines are like standing still against Swarm warriors but like missile salvoes depend on PD saturation to be useful - enough lasers (like 20 low tech lasers for every warrior) firing would stop the Swarm in a few volleys.

Getting an equivalent burst firepower with missiles may be many times easier. But what to do when the Swarm is encountered in a nebula?

[LoSboccacc]

Disclaimer: I've never tried this

I think that a FAC with particle beams would fit the anti swarm role perfectly (fac because those don't like turrets)

[Another]

I think I tried that and it works but requires a critical mass of FACs to be effective unless you can also beat 10km/s. Missiles may be really the cheapest solution to this problem (Swarm warriors but not the queen) in the end.

[darkrider2]

Thanks to my nebula adventures, I've discovered enemy ships don't load up on armor that much. Some precursors would only have like 3 armor, and the swarm was at five when I encountered them. But in a nebula you can take on the more advanced enemies with your lower tech, those OP missiles are out of the question though.

Also, when you get the message "a wreck has disappeared from our sensors" that usually means the swarm just salvaged a wreck and you should GTFO.

The only way I've ever found precursors is by losing a ship, and if you watch their ships you can usually trace them back to their "base", it will have an incredibly low thermal signature (my sensor ships had 500 ton thermal sensors and had to be on top of them before seeing anything). When I encounter them their ships usually have a therm sig of like 1600, so it might be plausible to put thermal sensors on your scouts or survey ships. I'm doing it right now actually.

Apart from on FAC's I've stopped using anything unless it can be turreted or is a missile.

[Karlito]

Also, when you get the message "a wreck has disappeared from our sensors" that usually means the swarm just salvaged a wreck and you should GTFO.

I believe that's what it always means.

[RulerOfNothing]

Also, when you get the message "a wreck has disappeared from our sensors" that usually means the swarm just salvaged a wreck and you should GTFO.

I believe that's what it always means.

So NPRs don't use salvage modules?

[darkrider2]

Also, when you get the message "a wreck has disappeared from our sensors" that usually means the swarm just salvaged a wreck and you should GTFO.

I believe that's what it always means.

So NPRs don't use salvage modules?

I think its hard coded into the swarm.

[Karlito]

Also, when you get the message "a wreck has disappeared from our sensors" that usually means the swarm just salvaged a wreck and you should GTFO.

I believe that's what it always means.

So NPRs don't use salvage modules?

I double checked on the Aurora forums, and as long as nothing's changed since March 2011 the answer is

Not at the moment, although its on the list

[darkrider2]

I'm encountering a weird bug where if you're in a nebula and you have enough armor to travel at maximum speed, the speed displayed will be 0 km/s, but the ships would travel at their normal speeds.

I SM'd the armor down to 1 on one of my ships and the speed was displayed properly. But once I SM'd it back to normal (4) the speed went back to 0 km/s.

I think it affected the Tracking speed of my non-turreted weapons too. Which is what disturbed me the most, particle beams had a constant zero chance to hit inside the nebula.

I never did get to zero range so I'm not sure if it wasn't due to normal combat problems like low crew grade or range penalties.

[LoSboccacc]

I think I tried that and it works but requires a critical mass of FACs to be effective unless you can also beat 10km/s. Missiles may be really the cheapest solution to this problem (Swarm warriors but not the queen) in the end.

Ok, I'm in the aurora tunnel again, this is time
 
to outswarm the swarm

[FritzPL]

How do I save the settings in Galactic map and how do I make my flag appear over the systems I control?
When I turn on the Galactic map there's a bunch of 76 errors, 'Path not found: 'Flags\''. I have a set flag for my empire, but it shows up for Kapetyns Star Swarm instead of me.

[RedKing]

Tried a new nebula-start game last night. Didn't look closely before I started. Level 19 Nebula. 1 level of armor for every 131 km/s.

Dang, yo. Even my freighters have 17 points of armor. Sadly, the DB seems to be bugged all to hell and back (new installation on home machine). Would have enjoyed seeing how my scouts and whatnot would fare outside the nebula, given they'd be armored like a battleship.