Tips & Tricks
From Sins of a Solar Empire
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[edit] Pirate Raiders
Pirate Raiders can be a bit of a nuisance early in the game, but they can be an invaluable asset for leveling up your Capital Ships.
--S. Cassity 11:27, 10 August 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Dead End Planets
Dead End Planets (planets that appear at the end of a phase line with no other phase line leading to them) can be invaluable in your conquest. Enemies are not likely to stumble upon these types of planets, so they can be colonized without you having to worry too much about them. That is not to say they will not be attacked, but they are less likely, and more defensible. It is wise to colonize any Dead End Planets or Asteroids as soon as you can.
--Quip 23:05, 27 June 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Priority Targets
Much like Warcraft III, different units in Sins of a Solar Empire do different levels of damage to different units depending on their armor and damage type.
- Light Frigates (like the Ravastra Skirmisher or the Cobalt Light Frigate) do "Anti-Heavy" damage, or 1.25x damage to anything with Heavy Armor (including Support Cruisers and Light Carriers). Use them in the "anti-support" role, particularly since the Light Frigates of all three factions have some sort of "anti-caster" ability (such as the Cobalt's Sabotage Reactor.
- Long Range Frigates do "Anti-Medium" damage: 1.5 times their normal damage to Light Frigates. Use these to take out fleets of Light Frigates, focus-fire on capital ships, or bombard structures from outside the range of sentry guns.
- Heavy Combat Cruisers do 1.5x their rated damage to civilian vessels, Siege Frigates, and Long Range Frigates; they also do 1.25x damage to Support Cruisers and Light Carriers. Use these ships to chew up support fleets and long range fleets.
- Fighters do "Anti Light" damage, which makes them do twice their rated damage against Bombers, Long-Range Frigates, Siege Frigates, and civilian vessels. As such, Fighters are fantastic for commerce raiding against civilian vessels and for taking out Siege Frigate garrisons around colonizeable planets (or Siege Frigates raiding your own worlds!). If there are no fighters to suppress during a major battle, Fighters can be directed to take out the opposition's Long Range Frigates; a large swarm of fighters can destroy a Long Range Frigate in one pass.
- Bombers are the only units that do full damage to structures and Heavy Combat Cruisers like the Destra Crusader.
--User:68.32.213.129 23:33, August 25 2008
[edit] Hangar Defenses
In most cases, it is much cheaper and easier to install a Missile Platform rather than a Hangar Bay. However, in the long run, Hangar Bays will often prove to be much better then a Missile Platform. The ships from a Hangar can attack anywhere in the Gravity Well, and can be rebuilt if damaged. the advent have upgrades that allow you to have more ships in a Hangar Bay. It is a wise idea to have at least one Hangar over each planet, if not to defend it, then just to annoy any attackers until your fleet arrives.
--Quip 23:10, 27 June 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Staking Your Claim
The game will usually start you (depending on map size) in a solar system with a few other players. While this works for a while, eventually you're going to run out of space. Unless you want to ally with your neighbors and live in cramped conditions, it's a good idea to expand. Researching the technology that allows you to do long distance phase jumps is a good idea, although wormholes can work too. Once you obtain the ability to jump long distances, send a few scouts to the desired system to check for enemy presence. If none is found, send a colony ship and move on in ! If you plan to abandon your original settlement don't forget to relocate your capital to one of your new planets.
--Quip 09:05, 28 June 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Novalith Cannon
This is a very powerful TEC weapon that can wipe out planets or asteroids in one or two shots. It will gain you a major foothold in your game if you research and build this as fast as you can. It is a game-winner, as with it you do not need to move to destroy enemy planets, you can defend your own at the same time as destroying a planet.
[edit] The Power of Money
Veteran players of games like Starcraft know that economic warfare can be just as important as the number of units on the battlefield. Killing enemy workers may not do anything about the fleet parked on your doorstep, but it ensures that every unit you kill is destroyed for good, and not replaced soon after. In short, economic warfare is a crucial part of winning a war of attrition. Conversely, investing in a robust economy is a good way to mitigate the effects of economic warfare.
Tips for Economic Warfare:
- Carriers! Use carrier groups to penetrate enemy systems and destroy key targets such as trade ports, trade ships, factories, and mining installations. Trade vessels are choice targets, as well: if a trade ship is destroyed, credits are awarded to the destroying player and the income of the host depot goes down until the vessel is replaced in 25 seconds. So for every trade vessel you destroy, that's twenty-five seconds of reduced productivity at one planet.
- Another fun carrier tactic: park small carrier groups in neutral systems that fall within enemy trade routes, destroying trade vessels as they pass through. Fighters are best for this sort of thing.
- Anti-Fighter Frigates: The only thing that spoils a carrier group's fun as badly as a phase jump inhibitor is a swarm of fighters descending upon them as they enter the system. Fortunately, a small compliment of anti-fighter frigates escorting your carriers can solve this problem. This small investment can vastly increase the effectiveness of carrier raids.
- Know your faction! Some research can contribute to economic warfare. The TEC, for example, get a high-tier ability to reduce the productivity of planets within range of their culture.
How to survive Economic Warfare:
- Expand, expand, expand! More planets means more income, means more ships and less vulnerability.
- Civilians = income: Always develop your civilian population centers to make sure you don't lose credits to underdevelopment. Protect exposed or important planets from bombardment quickly: the more civilians you lose, the more credits you lose.
- Phase Jump Inhibitors: unless they're planning a suicide raid, anyone engaging in economic warfare is generally looking to stay mobile, and Phase Jump Inhibitors directly oppose this strategy. Use them to prevent ships from hitting and running, use them at choke points, and use them on your doorstep to make sure that fleets don't simply bypass your well-defended perimeter worlds (a common tactic in Warcraft III was to mix stationary defenses with logistical structures, because a smart player could simply move past a defensive perimeter to strike at more important structures with impunity)
- Hangar Defense: though expensive and toothless against a large enemy fleet, hangar defense can protect your planets from unprepared economy raiders and small groups of rogue pirates.
- Build Smart! Don't spread out, cluster your orbital structures amidst groups of two or even three repair platforms. Repair platforms are cheap and can keep a group of structures alive. Ultimately, in a war of attrition, spending your tactical slots on repair platforms to keep your crucial structures (including Trade ports and Phase Jump Inhibitors!) alive is more important than any number of defense guns or hangars.
- Know your faction! Certain research can help mitigate the effects of economic warfare. The TEC, for instance, can research the Civilian Ship Safety Act, which increases the survivability of all civilian vessels (trade ships, refinery ships, and construction vessels) by 30%.
[edit] Wormholes and stars
If you control planets surrounding a wormhole or the star, it is a good idea to have a couple of ships to sit at the wormhole or star as it gives a bit of a early warning if enemies are invading through those points and can slow them down/distract them long enough for you to get a retaliation fleet ready to push them back and even counter attack them back well. I normally keep around 15-20 ships per wormhole or star as early protection.
[edit] Planet Defence
It is better to group your defence turrets together with a repair platform and hangar defences to maximise defence. 1 turret vs. enemy fleet won't do much, but 15 turrets + repair platforms + hangar defence have a better chance of knocking out enemy ships.
[edit] Choke Points
On several maps, there's often areas that have only one or two ways in to their respective regions. Capitalize on these areas by fortifying them to crazy levels, as it forces the enemy to enter engage the bulk of your forces. Put a Phase Jump Inhibitor at the entrance so if they decide to run, your defending forces have more time to pick them off. If played right, you can sometimes wipe the enemy out before they can escape. Titan AEX4 18:16, 11 May 2009 (UTC)
Make sure that your culture ability is well-researched enough to let you keep cultural control of your choke points. Each race gets a substantial advantage from being within friendly culture range--this, combined with good fixed defenses, can let a weak or poorly balanced fleet take out a fairly powerful fleet despite the odds.
[edit] Culture
Just a note to keep you from getting rebelled on, build Broadcast Centers,Temples of Communion and media hubs. This also increases the allegiance of the connected planets up to 110%, Which means more profits
Culture can and should also be used as a economic weapon, and as a military weapon. since all planets effected by your culture will raise up to the maximum allegiance over time, which can vary from planet to planet, it will increase the tax income and minimal income from planets. As a military weapon, it can keep your enemy from colonizing planets that are effected by your culture to some degree, and some research upgrades provide benefits to your ships that are inside space that your culture effects.
- Space Ponies!
