is there any strategy in fleet battles?

from Stardock Forums

i dont see the point of having a varied fleet of escorts and cruisers and capital ships if all you do is right click and mass target the juggernaught, followed by the capital ships, then the enemies cruisers followed by escorts, and only in that order

 

also its frustrating watching your corvettes and weaker ships get destroyed while they are forced to target a single ship with tons of HP and shields... imagine how it would like to be the crew and be ordered to ignore the ships shooting at you and target someone else :o

 

or can it work to have each ship class target the ship it counters (ie, le the LRF target the light frigates) instead of mass-targetting the strongest ship? my inkling is that in a PC game everything is all-or-nothing so mass targetting is probalby the most efficient way, if you were to fight the same battle twice.. too bad its so boring and frustrating 

7,885 views 3 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

That is why mass flak spam works so well. You dont have to issue any focus fire commands because they spread their damage across all targets equally.

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

i dont see the point of having a varied fleet of escorts and cruisers and capital ships if all you do is right click and mass target the juggernaught, followed by the capital ships, then the enemies cruisers followed by escorts, and only in that order
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If you think that is the only order to engage targets I'd encourage you to experiment a bit more. While titans are usually a prime target, at times it is actually better to destroy frigates before capitalships, depending on exactly what kind of capitalships the enemy has, as frigates have better DPS per fleet supply.

imagine how it would like to be the crew and be ordered to ignore the ships shooting at you and target someone else
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Well, that's basically what carrier planes had to do in World War II, and if Pearl Harbor was any indication the pilots are rarely scarred if they attack in large numbers.

or can it work to have each ship class target the ship it counters (ie, le the LRF target the light frigates) instead of mass-targetting the strongest ship? my inkling is that in a PC game everything is all-or-nothing so mass targetting is probalby the most efficient way, if you were to fight the same battle twice.. too bad its so boring and frustrating 
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This is what the game tries to do by default. Assuming all targets equally far away, each ship will attack an enemy ship it counters.

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Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

mass target
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In many cases focus fire is the worst solution, it brings up shield mitigation fast, meaning more part of your damage will be lost, compared to low shield mitigation (splitting your fire). Sometimes it worths more to split your fire.

i dont see the point of having a varied fleet of escorts and cruisers and capital ships
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Me neither. Having only a few ship types is way more effective than having ships from all types. Just you need to know what ships are extemely effective in what part of the game.

mass target the juggernaught, followed by the capital ships, then the enemies cruisers followed by escorts, and only in that order
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Yes, titans are a serious threat, but sometimes it is better to get rid of the smaller enemy ships first, it causes way more damage economically. Of course assuming he does not have many extremely dangerous capital ships or a titan. Just think about it, if you manage to save your capital ship, thought heavily damaged, but your opponent can save his capital ship in a good condition, BUT lost his whole fleet while you only the half of yours? Isn't it better?

 

Luckily titan area attacks usually get rid of anything but corvettes really soon, and AI never mass spams corvettes (never goes above 100).

 

have each ship class target the ship it counters (ie, le the LRF target the light frigates)
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Sins of a Solar Empire tries to do this every time, you can see it when you attack a neutral gravity well, the LRM's always attack the light frigates even if you send in your capital ship first (speaking only of a small cap+LF coloniser fleet), and Heavy cruisers always try to kill LRF's first.

Damage-wise it is somewhat more effective to attack something that your ships counter well, you get rid of those ships faster this way, but practically it can mean your defeat if your opponent's titan manages to destroy your fleet due to the lack of your focus fire on it.