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Cluster Wars (formerly Empyrean Challenge)
#94
First -- sorry for the long post, but there is a lot to cover!

I am looking at my options this turn, with an eye to taking over that alien colony, and it's not looking good.

It has 100k Energy Weapon-10s. Energy Weapons damage capacity scales up by tech-level-squared, so each one delivers 10 (base) x 10 (tech level) squared = 1000 damage units. If I spend my entire research budget this turn I can boost my energy shields up to tech level 7. Each one of those deflects 10 (base) x 7 (tech level) squared = 490 damage units, which is about half. So to deflect a full broadside, I will need about 200k EWP-7.

The damage delivered is further modified by distance, ship speed, and sensor tech. If I am building a big missile cruiser, I won't have enough space drive capacity to have high speed -- space drive tech is still low. The main thing would be to come in at around 30 distance units, where my missiles will all hit and his damage will be reduced a lot. So I probably won't need the full 200k Energy Shield-7s. This is good because lighting up a full set of shields would cost me 10 x 7 (tech level) = 70 fuel units. 200k of them adds up to 14 million fuel -- EACH TIME. There are 2 attack phases each turn (pre- and post-maneuver), so I'd have to budget 28 million fuel just for the shields, for one turn of combat.

That's not completely awful, because I've stockpiled about a billion fuel at the homeworld. But all that fuel is going to add a lot of mass to the ship, slowing it down and costing even more fuel to move it. I have a bit over 6 missiles stockpiled for each launcher, so that's 2 turns worth of combat. My energy shield fuel budget is now 56 million (plus hauling).

THIS is why I like Power Plants. At current tech I am saving 10m fuel per turn at the home world (which is currently burning over 70m fuel/turn to keep everything running!)

Anyway, what will I get for this large investment? I have a stockpile of missile-3, which do 900 damage each. I have about a million launchers, so each salvo can deliver a max 900 million damage. Woo hoo! But first, the alien colony gets a FREE round of energy weapon fire to shoot them down. (Not sure if this burns their fuel, but I would complain if it didn't.) The formula for shoot-downs is based on relative tech, so I can expect their 100k EWP-10 to shoot down 66k missiles.

Furthermore, damage against ships/colonies is divided by a factor, depending on the type. Vulnerable ships take full damage, but dispersed open colonies (like this alien one) divide incoming damage by TEN. I might also want to target their military systems instead of just causing general damage, which drops another 20% off. So now my 900m of damage per salvo is more like 67m. With two salvos per turn, that means I'm targeting their military sector with 130m damage.

I do have another batch of missiles and launchers tech 5 coming off the line in 2 turns. With around 600k tech-5 launchers, each salvo would deliver 600k tech-5 missiles each hitting for 2500 damage units = total potential hitting power of 1.5 BILLION units. They would be slightly harder to shoot down as well, so only 40k would get taken out, so with two salvos I can expect to hit them with roughly 220m in targeted damage that first turn, fired from a higher distance.

Immediate options:

- build missile cruiser now, hit them with 2m missile-3/turn for 67m targeted damage, diminished by their laser fire and with my ships unshielded
- build missile cruiser in 2 turns, hit them with the missile-3 AND missile-5 for up to 300m targeted damage, ships unshielded
- research energy shield 7 and build them now, to go into a missile cruiser 5 turns from now, with perhaps another batch of missile-5 and fully shielded.

And this is only the initial bombardment! Word on the forum is that those 1m ground combat factors they have will be supplemented by an emergency draft of all able-bodied citizens, to the point that we'd have to deliver a solid 10m ground combat factors to overwhelm them!

I could build a batch of assault weapons and military robots to shoulder the brunt of this, but that will mean keeping my factories pumping at a time when raw materials are running low.

I could count on heavy bombardments taking them down first, but then I'm destroying the very population and materiel I hope to capture!

And simply moving that amount of hardware and people is going to cost a fortune. (We're gonna need a bigger boat.)

THIS is why I love this game. Each one of these game mechanics is very simple, but taken together, it presents a big challenge to mount an invasion. And this is against a single small-ish foe, for which I have solid intelligence. I shudder to think what it's going to be like in conducting a war against human opponents, about whom I know little, with far more moving parts, and all of whom doubtless are handling THEIR empires far better than I!

* * *

Okay, I had drafted these notes days ago. Just now, however, I realized I don't even have the Hyper Engine lift capacity to carry all the missile equipment, let alone the fuel, invasion troops, supplies, etc. Space drive capacity is about the same. So to move this amount of material, I will need to build a big pile of engines, along with the energy shields. So looks like option 3.

I am pumping energy shields up to 6 (not 7), leaving enough tech to pump space drives up to 5.

I just finished a big pile of Factory-7, so I am disassembling some large Factory-1 groups and setting up production runs for Energy Shields and engine power.

Assembling about 1m Lab-8.

Shifting all production in the orbiter to Light Structure.

Setting up in-system habitable world colony FINALLY, by drafting a batch of constructors out of my pool of professional and unskilled labor. This includes Farms and Mines, and should start producing immediately. This is my first time using the new "temp ship/colony ID" method -- the old "setup" method is now obsolete. I figure I have a 50/50 chance of this actually working.

I have a LOT of factory-7 not yet dedicated. I am holding off to see what my raw material consumption is looking like for the next few turns.
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RE: Cluster Wars (formerly Empyrean Challenge) - by ixnay - 03-19-2014, 09:32 AM

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