arming or not arm mines

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arming or not arm mines - 4/29/2010 6:43:11 AM

lostsm

Posts: 170
Joined: 7/10/2009
Status: offline

i was wondering what people think about putting weapons on mining stations

by default, there isn't any at all on AI made mining stations. also, with enough ships on AI patrol, your mines should, in theory at least, stay alive until the AI arrives.

so should player made mines have weapons on them? the other AI doesn't have any and they dont put any as far as I can tell. is it fair play for custom designs to have a rack of lasers and torpedos, or more okay to just pad the station with extra shields so it has a better lasting chance until the patrols show up. and is it worth all that extra maintenance cost, especially when old frontiers become 100% rat free and all those stations which will never fire ever again pile up the maintenance costs

Post #: 1

RE: arming or not arm mines - 4/29/2010 6:50:46 AM

Bloodly

Posts: 94
Joined: 4/14/2010
Status: offline

That's a matter of opinion.

The old doctrine for me was arming everything, but you likely won't afford it now. However, we are still left with Pirates stealing your designs, which means for reasons of safety your own ships must by default be weak, so as to keep them in check. Also remember that during times of war mining stations and research stations tend to be the first targets and thus must be able to hold their own. This is especially true for Gas Mining stations which are refuel points for everybody.

(in reply to lostsm)

Post #: 2

RE: arming or not arm mines - 4/29/2010 9:16:27 AM

Resan

Posts: 98
Joined: 4/1/2010
Status: offline

it's really helpfull to arm them, the AI will throw it self at them a few ships at the time, and get owned most of the time. But it does kind of feel like cheating, since it does give me a unfair edge on the AI empires.

(in reply to Bloodly)

Post #: 3

RE: arming or not arm mines - 4/29/2010 9:25:51 AM

Bloodly

Posts: 94
Joined: 4/14/2010
Status: offline

It's the fault of the default designs, which grants insufficient shielding and no weapons at all. The ability to design is your greatest strength vs the AI. It has to suffer pirates and can't do much vs them, and then the pirates steal their designs which makes it worse for them-moreso if it steals a heavily custom military design from you. Then everyone's screaming. One of these days I expect to somehow see a post or something wherein basically the entire galaxy is stopped dead because of pirates with your heavy designs that no-one can kill...not even you.

(in reply to Resan)

Post #: 4

RE: arming or not arm mines - 4/29/2010 11:00:34 AM

taltamir

Posts: 1290
Joined: 4/2/2010
Status: offline

I find that the money is better spent on more warships which then hunt down and destroy the pirate bases.
I have literally bankrupted myself before with armed mines. I much prefer to armed ships to armed mines.

besides which, some mines become obsolete... them being destroyed is a culling process... if they were valuable enough, they will be rebuilt.

_____________________________

I do not have a superman complex; for I am God, not Superman.

(in reply to Bloodly)

Post #: 5

RE: arming or not arm mines - 4/29/2010 2:39:13 PM

HsojVvad

Posts: 1036
Joined: 3/24/2010
Status: offline

I arm and armour my mining bases. It saves me alot of grief when it's only one or two pirate ships attacking it, so it survies. But when you have 3 or more ships then they get destroyed as they should. It happens too many times with pirates just attacking one at a time. Just because the AI dosn't do it, dosn't mean you shouldn't. You do have to pay for it in maintenance costs if they don't get attacked. So damned if you do damned if you don't.

(in reply to taltamir)

Post #: 6

RE: arming or not arm mines - 4/29/2010 2:45:20 PM

Astorax

Posts: 188
Joined: 4/11/2010
Status: offline

I redesign and arm all my mines but they aren't really all that heavily armed. A torp and a couple blasters or so. Extra shields/armor. Nothing outstanding but enough to dissuade a pirate escort or frig.

My ships are as redesigned and strong as I can make them but then I don't make Escorts, Frigates, Destroyers or Cruisers. Just variations of Capital Ships.

Screw the pirates.

(in reply to taltamir)

Post #: 7

RE: arming or not arm mines - 4/29/2010 8:37:53 PM

lostsm

Posts: 170
Joined: 7/10/2009
Status: offline

i've been arming mines since I started playing pretty much, but I'm wondering if it's just not necessary. the AI doesn't do this and they manage fine at expansion. nor do they suffer much by pirates either and it's well known the AI designs aren't efficient

partly because it feels like another freebie that makes the game that much more easy, and partly because i'm tired of tweaking my mine designs on new games, even when loading saved designs, I think I'll just stop arming them and see how things roll.

it would be nice though if we had the ability to edit the design templates. surely it's something along the lines of x amount of reactors + x guns + x missiles, etc. the game would be vastly improved imo if I could edit that data

(in reply to Astorax)

Post #: 8

RE: arming or not arm mines - 4/29/2010 8:44:52 PM

Cindar

Posts: 101
Joined: 4/5/2010
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Bloodly
However, we are still left with Pirates stealing your designs, which means for reasons of safety your own ships must by default be weak, so as to keep them in check. Also remember that during times of war mining stations and research stations tend to be the first targets and thus must be able to hold their own. This is especially true for Gas Mining stations which are refuel points for everybody.

You are massively overexaggerating the pirates. I've conquered galaxies with super ships and the pirates really present no threat. The have absolutely no coordination, they may have 1 or 2 good ships defending their base while I jump in with 20.

(in reply to Bloodly)

Post #: 9

RE: arming or not arm mines - 4/29/2010 8:48:09 PM

lostsm

Posts: 170
Joined: 7/10/2009
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Cindar

quote:

ORIGINAL: Bloodly
However, we are still left with Pirates stealing your designs, which means for reasons of safety your own ships must by default be weak, so as to keep them in check. Also remember that during times of war mining stations and research stations tend to be the first targets and thus must be able to hold their own. This is especially true for Gas Mining stations which are refuel points for everybody.

You are massively overexaggerating the pirates. I've conquered galaxies with super ships and the pirates really present no threat. The have absolutely no coordination, they may have 1 or 2 good ships defending their base while I jump in with 20.

yup, even with pirates on 'many' they are not a threat just a nuisance, but free rep nonetheless

(in reply to Cindar)

Post #: 10

RE: arming or not arm mines - 4/29/2010 10:07:10 PM

Fishman

Posts: 795
Joined: 4/1/2010
Status: offline

Pirates on many are not a threat unless they start using super-designs you made for their ships. Even then, their bases tend to be easily killed because they are NOT super, plus a base cannot really run away from you. This, however, does nothing about the armies of rogue unkillable pirate ships floating about in ships no one can actually kill. As for arming mines, one caveat to arming mines is that you can easily create a primitive, unwanted mine that you cannot get rid of normally, whereas allowing them to be destroyed by pirates allows you to replace it with a proper, "final" version. Of course, in the end, I end up arming everything, VERY HEAVILY, with the sole exception of colony ships...and slob pirates unboosted by your designs because you eschew the making of those design types can lose shootouts against those, anyway.

(in reply to lostsm)

Post #: 11