This will go over formations, tactics, unit profiles of our current units, and some pew pew action of this mission. Anything in italics is from the manual.
First thing of note is that there is one tech that can be researched in this mission. This allows us to build interceptors.
So, now on to formations. This is the delta formation.
The standard flat triangle formation is an excellent way of organizing groups of Strike Craft into effective squadrons, but it lacks the flexibility and firepower concentration available to the more three-dimensional formations.
The broad formation.
This flattened line is not effective for Strike Craft as it disperses their firepower. It is more useful for squadrons of Capital Ships, where unit quick identification and selection are as important as firepower. It is useful formation to approach in if you are planning to break ships off to strike at specific targets once the battle is joined.
The X formation.
The flying X formation is an excellent Strike Craft formation, concentrating a large number of vessels into a relatively small three-dimensional space. Its only drawback is that the dense formation makes individual ships vulnerable to slow turret fire they might otherwise have avoided if they were dispersed.
The Claw Formation.
Like its natural namesake, this formation is deadly when striking out at an individual target. The claw is a superb formationfor Strike Craft when they are targeting a Capital Ship. The four curving lines of Fighters make concentrating firepower and envelopment deadly efficient. The only drawback is identifying and selecting single ships inside this complex formation.
The Wall Formation.
Most effective for Capital Ships, the wall formation allows larger vessels to concentrate firepower without dangerously crowding each other. The wall is not a subtle formation but does give large groups of big ships an effective attack mode.
This is the sphere formation.
This is the deadliest of all formations in terms of continuous firepower. Ships in this formation lose their ability to perform complex flight maneuvers but gain the ability to constantly fire at targets from every angle. This is also an effective guarding formation as it puts the vessel to be protected in the center of the sphereNow lets move on to tactics.
This is Alpha Squadron in pew pew action. Aggressive tactics is being displayed.
Ships in Aggressive mode are out for blood and will attempt to destroy the enemy even at the cost of their own lives. Use this tactical stance if resources are not a factor or if you need to hurt your opponent as hard and as quickly as possible. Strike Craft in this mode shunt power from the engines into the weapons grid, so speed and agility are reduced but firepower is increased. Ships in Aggressive tactics will not perform any kind of evasive maneuvers and also will attack nearby enemies without being issued orders. Resource Collectors in Aggressive tactics will continue to harvest even if under attack.I'm going to skip neutral since its the default tactic. Basically they stay in formation, and do a little evasion(like, er, I forget the word, strafing?).
Evasive tactics displayed by our group of interceptors(I tried hard to get SOME explosions in this picture).
Evasive tactics are best used when resources are tight and each ship is vital. Your ships won’t hit as
hard, but they are more likely to come home. Ships set to Evasive will boost power to engines in order to increase speed and maneuverability. This will come at the cost of lowered power to weapons and a slight increase in fuel consumption for Strike Craft (Fighters and Corvettes). When attacking, Fighter groups also will break up into flight pairs, where one ship will take point and the other will serve as wingman and take measures to remove threats that lock onto the lead vessel.One last concept before we move on to unit profiles.
Salvage corvettes can use their "magnets" to grab a hold of enemy units and neutralize their weapons/engines. Bigger ships require more salvage corvettes to get enough "magnetism" to shut the ship down. After they grab a hold of the ship, they drag it back to the mothership, where it is...
.....thrown in through the docking bay to where its fate is unknown to me. All I know that is after about 15 seconds, it comes out under our control(the drone was practice, so we don't get one).
Now finely we go to unit profiles. This will show our current build able units and a definition for them.
The humble scout. It looks pretty good actually.
True to its name, the Scout is a fast, cheap ship that is useful for scouting out enemy locations.Because of its high maneuverability, the Scout is excellent for creating diversions and light harassment while avoiding enemy fire.
Like a hawk, the Interceptor swoops down and attacks light targets. The Interceptor is your anti fighter-fighter unit. It also passes as an alright anti frigate ship in numbers.
While less maneuverable than the Scout, the Interceptor easily compensates with its much heavier weaponry. The Interceptor is a good Fighter killer and stacks up favorably against Capital Ships when used in greater numbers.
I've pretty much gone over everything I would say about the salvage corvette.
This beefy Corvette was once used exclusively for towing junk and salvaging derelicts. After being adapted for combat, the Salvage Corvette gained the ability to capture enemy ships
that are heavily damaged. Once captured, these ships are towed back to a Carrier or the Mothership for refitting.Note: The heavily damaged part is false. It can be full health. They probably made the manual before the game was finished.
This is the resource collector. Its pretty beefy in health terms.
Using a modified Phased Disassembler Array, the Resource Collector extracts at a molecular level the base elements in any resource. It then converts these elements into Resource Units, the generic term for base levels of material necessary for construction.
The probe is the cheapest unit in the game. Super fast, and can go anywhere, but runs out of fuel when it reaches its destination. Also has a large LOS.
The Probe is outfitted with a onetime use engine which provides a huge power output for a short period of time. This results in very fast travel, but once in place the probe can’t be moved again.
This is the research ship. We will only need one, since researching fast isn't really needed.
Each Research Ship is a fully functioning science facility that develops new technologies for the fleet. Newly-built Research Ships will link up with existing ones, increasing the aggregate armor of the facility.Going to tag some things here near the end.
Some unusual commands that you guys might want to use.
Kamikaze: Strikecraft/resource collectors crash into the unit they are targeting. Does -alright- damage, but isn't really recommended.
Retire: Units return to the nearest carrier/mothership and, well, retire. Their ships are scraped for materials and you get RUs back. It isn't a full refund.
Scuttle: Your ships go boom. Probably never going to be used, since units are almost never going to be captured.
So, lets wrap up this update.
All the ships dock and we do the very first test drive of the hyperspace module in the mothership. All fail systems are up and bla bla bla. We are hyperspacing into the outer rim(like the asteroid belt/comet belt, or something). More on this in the next update.
Our current ships
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Topic: Homeworld: Space RTS Play-Along - Mission 4: Great Wastelands - Update 17 (Read 32783 times)