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[Krelian]

My goal right now is get the Dreadnaught COL, with Cracker rounds. From what I gathered, a single shot of that thing will spray out effing eighty mines! (twenty, times four COLs on the Morrigi 'naut) I just want to SEE that thing fire.

wow, I have never attempted that! Even better try a flagship with 3 of those dreadnaughts for 240 mines a shot xDD

If you do that dread, please post pics of it shotting

[Krelian]

Man, the AI is a bitch. I have a NAP with two human empires, one of them begins to pile loads of ships on my colonies so I figure it'd be better to get in this alliance. I give them a bunch of money and protect them whenever necessary but they simply refuse to be in an alliance with me! Anyway, after all this one of them just cancels our NAP and simultaneously attacks most of my colonies.

Now he's almost out of the game, but I don't trust the AI any more...

yeah the AI is usually not very trustworty, unless it is the same species as you

[Empty]

No no no.

It's easy.

The more you defeat the ai the more it likes you.

[Greiger]

Huh I never really had a whole lot of trouble making alliances.  Just get to a NAP and then stay out of their space (they get annoyed if you keep sending scout ships into their space) then continue exploring other places as normal.  Once you start fighting somebody that your potential ally hates they start liking you.  And then I just start proposing an alliance every few turns until they accept.

I never had to send money or research to get an alliance, and although I'll occasionally send a few ships to help a NAP if asked, it's rarely more than just a handful of extended ranges and I won't go out of my way to do it.  Doesn't seem to matter what you send as long as you send something.

Also if you can't do something they ask, saying sorry seems to help matters.  Apparently the AI actually responds to those communication options intelligently.

[Omegastick]

Oh, that reminds me: what's the point of extended ranges?

I mainly play Hivers, but have tried every race at some point or another, and find that they are useless. They can't be attached to a tanker because that would make their range pointless and they are just going to have to be scuttled when you get to your destination. I find it much better to just send a tanker (coupled with a gate, in the Hiver case) and whatever else you need over there (a colonizer and some armour if you're exploring).

[Sean Mirrsen]

An extended range is cheaper than a tanker and some armor, and still packs a halfdecent punch too. Human ERs are especially invaluable (maybe Zuul too) because before AM engines and N-Pathing, only they can traverse the odd 20-something LY nodelines that appear on the map at times. Of course, for SOME races the tanker+extras way is preferable. The Morrigi travel faster in packs, so the standard explorer kit is two tankers, four droneships, four colonizers, gravboat, CnC if available. Laser drones can even kill off a Swarm nest in that setup. The Hivers don't need ER at all when they get Ramscoops, and before that almost any trip to another star is an expedition unto itself - you don't send just a "strike fleet" over STL, you send an armored convoy with a gate ship or two. For others, the ER is the standard scout, no more no less. The sort of ship you send to map the stars out in the early game and forget entirely about until they're eaten by Von Neumann or something.

Also, tried that Dreaded COL thing. Can't post screens - they turned out garbled, maybe because I play widescreen. Anyway, it was rather less intimidating than I expected. With just Leap Mines, the COLs were a lot like guided cluster buckshot. One round is enough to decapitate a Human cruiser, but overall they're not effective, perhaps because the Leaps tend to stay together after release. Researching Implosion mines now (well, Gravity mines. Let's hope I get Implosion), they're 15 per round for a total of 60 per recharge, but their effects should be rather more pronounced. I'll also make a test Flock dread and see if blasts of expendable drones are better than the discrete option.

By the way, if you don't mind micromanaging, standard Flock COL Cruisers can be a rather devastating weapon. Since the COL can be fired manually and fires along the ship's axis, you can fire it ahead of yourself while fleeing - and still have the drones double back and give the pursuers the well-deserved pounding. Add in some quality shields and phaser PD, and you've got the coward's ultimate weapon. Whether or not it was intended, but Morrigi cruisers are especially suited to that one, having a narrow-arc Heavy Turret, facing backward, on their AM engine section.
(well, I guess a fleeing Minelayer can be a bit of a nuisance as well, but the drone COL is less predictable)

[Krelian]

I think it is better to use common drones that COL drones. Advantages of COL: you can fire drones twice a battle (every minute and a half... on 3 minutes fight it is twice). They can fight for half the time (wont matter as they usually die before) and have half the life (this is the problem IMO).

Normal drones, you get the same number as the COL, but only once per fight. But they are more durable and can fire longer without refuel.
As I see it, the COL drones will never survive long enought to be alive by the time the second wave of COL drones can be used.

Anyways, drones are kinda useless after the enemy get PD phasers, or Interceptor missiles, they really overshot with those defensive weapons.

[Sean Mirrsen]

A single Wild Weasel ship in the vicinity will wreck havok on the PD missiles, as will installing a PD Phaser on the drones themselves (the Morrigi light drone can do that, and still remain armed with a pair of Pulse Phasers). Against Phaser PD, the only solution is buffing up the drones themselves (heavy drones can use second-level hull upgrades and anti-laser coat, I think), so they can get enough shots in to count for something. Also, if your enemy is PD-heavy, you have an advantage in direct firepower, and you can simply pack disruptors to give your drones breathing room. Setting the drones to a separate weapon group, so they can be released when the enemies are vulnerable, is also a good strategy. Timing drone releases with missile or mine COL volleys is also fun.

And if the going gets really tough (such as, you don't have ways of dealing with PD), then COL drones will be preferable to normal ones. At least you don't have to replace them, and depending on race, a single COL round will be equivalent to a dozen or half-dozen medium cannon turrets sent to fire smack dab into your enemy's face. For example, antimatter cannon turrets.

[forsaken1111]

I LOVE the COL with the drone rounds. LOVE IT.

I actually volley fire them in a method that my friend claims is cheating. I do the same with assault shuttles.

Take many many cruisers with drones or shuttles and a single large cnc ship. Have the cruisers launch their drones/shuttles and then retreat to the back of the line immediately. Repeat this until every single cruiser has launched drones or shuttles, then move in with your actual combat craft and fight.

Take half a dozen repair cruisers and you can even rebuild the lost drones/shuttles between rounds (they're destroyed as they can't land on their mothership using this method)

[Sean Mirrsen]

I LOVE the COL with the drone rounds. LOVE IT.

I actually volley fire them in a method that my friend claims is cheating. I do the same with assault shuttles.

Take many many cruisers with drones or shuttles and a single large cnc ship. Have the cruisers launch their drones/shuttles and then retreat to the back of the line immediately. Repeat this until every single cruiser has launched drones or shuttles, then move in with your actual combat craft and fight.

Take half a dozen repair cruisers and you can even rebuild the lost drones/shuttles between rounds (they're destroyed as they can't land on their mothership using this method)

You can even repeat that tactic with COL launchers, though I'm not sure if they can cycle back before their weapons reload. I'm sure this technique is very fun for humans, though not with drones but with Node Missiles. Pack a hundred along with an Armada CnC, waltz in, set everything to autofire. Since the things count as destroyed the moment they launch...

[forsaken1111]

I never tried it with node missiles, but the tactic is nothing short of devastating when used with assault shuttles. It absolutely will ruin an enemy world.

[Krelian]

New SotS2 video

http://www.moddb.com/games/sword-of-the-stars-2/videos/sword-of-the-stars-ii-trailer

[Orb]

New SotS2 video

http://www.moddb.com/games/sword-of-the-stars-2/videos/sword-of-the-stars-ii-trailer

 

Well, there isn't a doubt in my mind I'm not getting this at launch or sometime soon after.

For those who don't plan to watch the video for whatever reasons:

1. Obviously there is a new race, the ancient race the game mentions a few times.
2. Looks like a new engine(game engine), but maybe not. Might just be revamped graphics.
3. Paradox entertainment took part in the making of this game, I know they have a history of good games, at least ones I liked.
4. A larger ship hull than the dreadnought? Maybe I've never compared a destroyer to a dreadnought, but some of those ships are quite huge.....

[Zai]

1. Obviously there is a new race, the ancient race the game mentions a few times.

Been known for quite a while that they'd be in the game. The game (pre-expansions, at least) will only have 6 factions though, just like AMoC/ANY SotS.

3. Paradox entertainment took part in the making of this game, I know they have a history of good games, at least ones I liked.

I'm pretty sure Paradox is still just the publisher. Kerberos are still as far as I know the only people working on the development of the game. Paradox gets their name in there because they're the publisher.

4. A larger ship hull than the dreadnought? Maybe I've never compared a destroyer to a dreadnought, but some of those ships are quite huge.....

Leviathans (class bigger than dreads) have also been known about for quite a while (at least a year now). The plan for destroyers in SotS2 (as of fall 2010 at least) was being carried into battle as if they were heavier drones (the justification being that SotS2's modern FTL drives can't fit on Destroyers, if memory serves).

Also, apparently the release date is planned for September 2, 2011 (the tail end of summer, which is why it said summer 2011 in the video).

[Cajoes]

I thought the justification was basicly that destroyers don't last long enough to warrant a independent FTL drive system.

And to be quite frank, I can understand this reasoning. Piddly weapon-hardpoints, abysmal armor, even with massive upgrades... I rarely bother using them for more than spreading out the incoming damage if the AI is using heavy hitting stuff or distractions: And mind you, they're spent rapidly.