Started a new game because I was bored of massive, utterly useless systems in my previous games. So far, so good! I've been dropping ruins on potentially habitable planets (under the justification that they
were perfectly habitable at one point), partly for the research boosts and partly to get some experience with ground combat; some robots awoke on Mars, and the combined efforts of the engineering and garrison brigades held out for a year until I could get some mobile infantry over there to finish the job (renamed Red Dogs).
Five systems link to Sol, three of which contain potential colony worlds, one of which might have an NPR (no sign of them yet though). A fourth contains nothing worth exploiting. The fifth system contains...
a stable wormhole Problem is, this is a conventional start, and while I have nearly a dozen scientists of various degrees of skill, none of them are Missile/Kinetic weapon specialists. Thus, I have created the Foxtrot class of ships, each armed with two 20-cm plasma carronades. The plan is for them to park in groups of five or so at various distances from the jump point leading to the quarantined system, and if anything unpleasant comes through they will open fire. Hopefully, the sheer power will overwhelm enemy ships before they can get shields or targeting sensors up, and if some die it's no big deal, as the Foxtrots are cheap (as far as combat ships go) and crewed with conscripts (as part of the narrative - humanity has shifted into a corporate dictatorship called the Industrial Alliance, and human life is cheap and easily replaced).
Of course, this is a stop-gap solution, designed to get some sort of decent defensive punch up ASAP. As time goes on, and assuming the
Invaders don't pour through and slaughter humanity in the meantime, I will be adding dedicated sensor vessels, meson-armed ships to punch through any shields that manage to get up, and if I ever get the proper specialists some missiles as well. Anyone have some advice for dealing with these guys, keeping in mind that they are a single jump away?