Can this be right ?

Of course it's right. What did you expect to happen? You have to buy an orbital fleet manager for them to be a fleet.

It's a little bit of an odd game mechanic but you can use it to your advantage, really. Since they can only attack one ship at a time it will take them quite awhile to get through your planetary defenses, so holding them is actually easier WITHOUT an OFM. More to the point, if they attack and kill one of your ships you're free to form a fleet out of the other ones and attack their fleet.

so when is OFM advantageous then?

oooops,, I thought I had purchased one already...nevermind

so when is OFM advantageous then?

It isn't.

Build a million empty hulls and put them in orbit and you'll nevet lose the planet.

Then have a couple of fleets near by to hit'n'run the attackers so you are always the offensive one.

Easy

Errr... superhest, by late game the AI has more movesment points per fleet than you can have ships in orbit. Which means defending without an OFM loses the advantage, so I always have one, and put powerful defence ships in orbit.

so when is OFM advantageous then?

Almost never.

The basic idea is that you shouldn't have people attacking your planets to begin with. You should have seen the enemy coming, launched all ships, and hit them first.

However, if, for some reason, you like defending without attacking, an OFM is useful if you have a number of powerful, defensive (ie: slow) ships in orbit. Instead of simply delaying the invasion, which is what would have happened without an OFM, you will destroy the invaders when they attack your world.

I'm not sure how you implement your "hit N run" tactics when its the AI turn and he is destroying your oribtal ships one after another,,..hmmm
And as for seeing them coming and attacking them first.uh,, why would it be more prudent to attack them outside of orbit as opposed to in orbit ?? learning as I go here..

If you have a planet(s) that keep getting attacked but you have no way to pre-emp the attacks, OFM with some decent ships will help repel them.

If you don't want to spend the money on the OFM, get your ships out of orbit, fleet them up, and put them back in orbit. they will remain, and fight, as a fleet.

The attacker gets in the first volley, which is an enormous advantage.

I find having an OFM is almost useless. I just put a fleet of ships around each system with planets I own and have them look out for invaders. When the AI starts getting higher movement rates I either put a sensor shio out or get eyes of the universe.

As mentioned above, I've had non-OFM planets use fleets in the defence. I'm only using 1.1b1, so perhaps this has been fixed.

Frankly, I think the 'one ship per move point' thing has to go. Fine, if you've got plenty of defenders, but empty hulls? Transports? Without an OFM, they should be destroyed last, and all at once. I figure attackers would go for the warships first, and the defender could screen the weaker ships, but there's no way five empty ships can both run away - so as not to be killed - AND stop the enemy ships landing at the same time. Really, the little 'shield' should mean that there's something in orbit that can stop transports landing, and empty hulls or freighters etc can't do that.

Errr... superhest, by late game the AI has more movesment points per fleet than you can have ships in orbit. Which means defending without an OFM loses the advantage, so I always have one, and put powerful defence ships in orbit.

I almost never put more than a single ship to defend a planet. I use fast attack fleets placed in good tactical spots to defend multiple planets. The best defense is a good offence.

I also never use OFM's because of the tile usage. I would rather use the tile for something else quite frankly. And would rather the AI waste 10 moves nerfing piddly ships

Errr... superhest, by late game the AI has more movesment points per fleet than you can have ships in orbit. Which means defending without an OFM loses the advantage, so I always have one, and put powerful defence ships in orbit.

I did not mean a million literally

I have never seen AI-ships with more than 15-20 in movement and the first 15 moves are used just getting to the planet – assuming they started out of sensor range – if not they should have been killed off the turn before.

Orbitial Fleet Managers are really only useful if you also use Omega Defense Systems (+50% or 100% hp to all ships in orbit, I forget which). Also, maybe slightly useful with Spin Control Center (everything in orbit appears twice as dangerous to the enemy), just because if you launch all your ships your military rating drops (sometimes a lot).

In nearly all other cases it is better to launch your ships, form a fleet, and strike first.

Edit: I think there is also an improvment that lets you use all ships in orbit reguardless of your logistics, which means you could have a super massive (well, 12 ships) fleet. Forget what it is called though.

@#10
This isn't true, if you move a fleet into orbit the fleet will disband.

The good thing about having ships in orbit is that they get a nice bonus to attack and defense.

The good thing about having ships in orbit is that they get a nice bonus to attack and defense.

Isn't that only after you build a planetary defense building?