How do you properly use the Hoshiko and the Cielo?

I usually let the Hoshikos manage themselves, but I manage the Cielos so I can control which enemy I use designate target on. This ability is really only useful against capitals, though. Other than that, Embolden works as well being auto managed as the Hoshiko's repair abilities.

Hoshinkos autocast is bad.. you need to manual tell ones to use either one.


Nothing is supposed to be high-micro the devs said.. but the autocasts don't work right, so the game is very high micro just not in a APM kind of way.

If you want to see some horrible autocast decisions then check out the exploding missile ability for assailants and sentinel's...

Nothing like ordering your units to withdraw only to watch half your fleet root themselves in spot because something came in range.

Cielo: Embolden buffs antimatter regeneration and shield regeneration. It also gives your standard weapons a 10% reduction in cooldown. But wait, theres more...it also gives 10% increased damage to all standard weapons. My level 10 Kols put out 118 autocannon damage. With Embolden it goes to 130 in addition to increasing my beam weapons damage.

Designate Target: With your Cap ship now putting out +10% damage due to Embolden, you can now bring that total to +35% with this handy little number. BTW, with a range of 9000 you can give your Sova heavy fighters/bombers (+3armor/+30%dmg) a devastating first strike against a charging Cap ship to the tune of +55% damage. If you complete your missle research tree (+30% dmg)that figure goes to a whopping +85% damage from bombers.


edit: DT long range also syncs very well with the Kodiak Intercept ability. Laser that fleeing/charging Cap ship then instruct your Kodiaks to intercept at range.


Hoshiko: Whats not to like about a ship with the ability to heal you and shut down others?

-25 shield mitigation is not +25% damage.

It's more like +45%

The Cielo autocast seems pretty mediocre....I watched one of mine in a battle and it almost never cast Embolden, even when it was surrounded by un-buffed ships.

The Hoshiko is better at auto-repairing, in my experience. But yeah, the autocasts need improvement in general, though even now they're leagues beyond most games' autocast AIs.

Now that you mentioned it and I ran some preliminary #'s it looks like the damage difference between hitting a shielded ship with 65% mitigation and one with 45% mitigation (DT) is about +57% (assuming 100% damage to armor type). Never bothered looking into the actual damage numbers before. Makes that Cielo even more valuable if used properly.