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[Kanil]

found a planet with 150m+ tons of duranium. 0.1 accessibility.

New permanent colony.  Terraform it, you'll be done exchanging gasses before you're done mining.

Here I was thinking this was some sort of massive overstatement...

I have about 34k factories on earth...

But maybe you really do have that many mines?

[Mr.Mountain]

that's the reason I'm sending construction factories away from earth, this specific colony has loads of elements that earth has a surplus of, and the ones earth is scarce on I simply ship back. I'm sending construction factories to build yards for survey ships on the frontiers of my exploration efforts, and fuel refineries to make use of all the sodium there.

[Mr.Mountain]

I have about 34k factories on earth...

But maybe you really do have that many mines?

??

[Girlinhat]

Terraforming takes a long time.  If you're able to terraform, you've usually already exploited all the resources.  However, with that level of factories, you probably have a LOT of mines, and may be able to drain the planet quickly.

[Mr.Mountain]

a few quick questions:
what's the difference between each GU, aside from basic costs?
how does a plasma carronade differ from the other beam weapons? & how about the microwave?

[Lord Shonus]

Plasma carronades are high-output, but very short range. Microwaves do very little damage except to electronics, but are very powerful against those due to ignoring armor and doing bonus damage.

[Mr.Mountain]

now, how do I design a missile that doesn't have 11% hit rate  at 1k km/s?   

[Duuvian]

From memory:

Ground units: You'll have 4 brigades per division. Battalion and other size units are assigned to brigades, 4 per brigade.
Garrison: Purely defensive, has no attack value but high defense.
Mobile Infantry: Mostly defensive, has half of defense value in attack
Construction Brigade: Equal to one construction factory, brigade sized but still 4 per brigade command.
Assault Infantry: Mostly offensive, has half value in defense
Heavy Assault: Made up of space tanks, costs more. Highest offense and defense values.
Combat Engineers: For excavating alien ruins.
Marine Units: For boarding enemy ships

Plasma carronades are big short single shot ranged weapons. They are used mostly to ambush ships traveling through sectors as the enemy ships will appear right next to them without being able to close while shooting.

Lasers are single shot and mostly close ranged as they have a quick damage dropoff but they can be fired quite far away too.

Particle beams are longer ranged single shot weapons compared to lasers. They do less damage but they require only one research rather than two to increase their max range.

Microwaves do not deal damage or kill crewmembers, but they will fry ship systems like sensors and engines unless they have protected electronics. It's for capturing ships or pacifist empires.

Mesons ignore all armor layers. This makes them extremely dangerous. They can also fire through atmosphere which means you can put them on PDCs for point defense I think.

Rail guns are similar to lasers but in the Missiles and Kinetic weapons tree and they fire multiple shots per firing for less damage per shot.

Gauss Cannons are mostly for CIW systems for point defense but can also be mounted as weapons.

There is also Shock damage, which happens when a ship is hit by a lot of damage in one shot. It's internals can be damaged despite the shot not penetrating.

[Bouchart]

Construction Brigade: Equal to one construction factory, brigade sized but still 4 per brigade command.
Combat Engineers: For excavating alien ruins.

From what I remember, construction brigades also excavate ruins in addition to working like a factory, and combat engineers get a bonus attacking soldiers in a bunker and don't excavate ruins.

[Duuvian]

Construction Brigade: Equal to one construction factory, brigade sized but still 4 per brigade command.
Combat Engineers: For excavating alien ruins.

From what I remember, construction brigades also excavate ruins in addition to working like a factory, and combat engineers get a bonus attacking soldiers in a bunker and don't excavate ruins.

That's probably right. One of the engineer battalions is for excavation though unless it was changed to be construction brigades as those are a fairly new addition.

EDIT: They were changed to construction brigades.

[Girlinhat]

Plasma carronades deal a damage profile similar to missiles - triangular impacts on armor.  They're incredibly high damage, but super short range, making them useful for gate defenders and for fighters - despite the huge weight and penalties, a fighter with plasma can carry immense damage.

Microwave ONLY damages sensors and engines, ignoring all armor and shields.  It deals 1 point per attack, while upgrades improve the range and rate of fire.

Microwaves are useful for tackling ships in large salvos and then sending marines.  high powered lasers are also good for this, as they deal a straight damage line and can penetrate armor most effectively, and deal significant damage straight to the ship's internal components.  Carronades are treated as short range missiles with infinite ammo - they just bash through brutally.

Gauss are also good as sandblasters.  They deal 1 damage per, but one gauss can fire multiple shots at a time, making them spray weapons, and exceptional for dealing with missiles or small fighters.

Railguns function very similarly to lasers but like shotguns, except they have a shorter maximum range and no damage falloff.  So they hit for more consistent damage at medium range, while lasers deal high damage close range and low damage long range.

Particle Beams, I think, are another 1 damage weapon, but have exceptionally high range.

So the breakdown?
Highest range heavy hitters are missiles, which deal triangular damage patterns are are blocked the most by armor.
Long-range direct fire sniping is Particle Beams and, sort of, Microwaves, which deal 1 damage but at very long range.
Medium-Long range is Lasers, which deal piercing damage and get through thick armor the easiest.
Medium range are Railguns, which deal piercing damage to get through armor, but also fire shotgun style for less damage per shot.
Short-Medium range are Gauss, which fire shotgun style for 1 damage each.
Short range is Carronades, dealing triangular damage which is blocked the most by armor, but also deal tremendous payloads of damage.

[Karlito]

That's probably right. One of the engineer battalions is for excavation though unless it was changed to be construction brigades as those are a fairly new addition.

Construction brigades used to be called Engineer Battalions. The combat Engineer brigade is a recent addition.

[Bouchart]

Meson cannons deal 1 damage each, but they ignore shields and armor, and aren't affected by atmospheres.

Damage from particle beams don't drop off at range, but they can't be mounted in turrets and make for better long range weapons than short range.

[Bremen]

Plasma carronades deal a damage profile similar to missiles - triangular impacts on armor.  They're incredibly high damage, but super short range, making them useful for gate defenders and for fighters - despite the huge weight and penalties, a fighter with plasma can carry immense damage.

Microwave ONLY damages sensors and engines, ignoring all armor and shields.  It deals 1 point per attack, while upgrades improve the range and rate of fire.

Microwaves are useful for tackling ships in large salvos and then sending marines.  high powered lasers are also good for this, as they deal a straight damage line and can penetrate armor most effectively, and deal significant damage straight to the ship's internal components.  Carronades are treated as short range missiles with infinite ammo - they just bash through brutally.

Gauss are also good as sandblasters.  They deal 1 damage per, but one gauss can fire multiple shots at a time, making them spray weapons, and exceptional for dealing with missiles or small fighters.

Railguns function very similarly to lasers but like shotguns, except they have a shorter maximum range and no damage falloff.  So they hit for more consistent damage at medium range, while lasers deal high damage close range and low damage long range.

Particle Beams, I think, are another 1 damage weapon, but have exceptionally high range.

So the breakdown?
Highest range heavy hitters are missiles, which deal triangular damage patterns are are blocked the most by armor.
Long-range direct fire sniping is Particle Beams and, sort of, Microwaves, which deal 1 damage but at very long range.
Medium-Long range is Lasers, which deal piercing damage and get through thick armor the easiest.
Medium range are Railguns, which deal piercing damage to get through armor, but also fire shotgun style for less damage per shot.
Short-Medium range are Gauss, which fire shotgun style for 1 damage each.
Short range is Carronades, dealing triangular damage which is blocked the most by armor, but also deal tremendous payloads of damage.

Do microwaves damage engines? I thought they only damaged electronics. Also Railguns definitely have damage falloff, it's particle beams that don't.

[Lord Shonus]

MIcrowaves also don't ignore shields, just armor.