The best ship?

[Ragnos28]

Tokyo can store 40 and carry 18 on deck. 58 total. Yet, TER Patrol Tokyo has 65 fighters in its fleet. (Then again, no more than handful seem to ever dock into it.)

The main question is, how would player AI cope with surplus?

Are you sure? I don't think you can order a fighter to land on your to Tokyo, when 40 fighters are already on board I will try it, but I am fairly sure that I will not be able to do it.

[jlehtone]

TER Patrol Tokyo is a NPC ship. To be fair, it has actually only a handful of Gladius on its "groups". Each of those Gladius have their Gladius/Kukri escort wings. Quite different order of battle from player Carriers.

Do such NPC Carrier fleets repair at Carrier, or do they just die? I've mainly seen them die.

[Ragnos28]

Somewhat different perspective here. For me the fear of losing expensive destroyers is the main reason I use fighters & carriers in all my fleets - fighters are a lot cheaper to replace & are a lot easier to manage, repair & resupply if you use carriers to deploy them. They keep enemy capital ships busy shooting at cheap ships (which they mostly miss anyway), while my destroyers bombard them from long range. Constant fire from my fighters also negates travel mode, making it significantly harder for enemy capitals to close with mine.

Hmm...I only need destroyers for station demolition, even in Asgard lead fleets, as I do not enjoy the dead times of the main battery recharging. For engaging capital ships, my torpedo Chimeras or torpedo boats are more effective and fast to engage (that is why all my fleets, with the exception of the split, have a dedicated torpedo boat wing). By the time the destroyers as much as point their "noses" towards the target, my torpedoes have made the capitals go boom.
Your tactics, with fighters negating travel mode while your destroyers engage capitals is the tactic use by the Xenon, so you are on to something That tactic is what make the use of a solo Asgard so frustating, when you want to travel drive towards the next K or I, but you can't, because the mighty Xenon N pew pew you

[Ragnos28]

TER Patrol Tokyo is a NPC ship. To be fair, it has actually only a handful of Gladius on its "groups". Each of those Gladius have their Gladius/Kukri escort wings. Quite different order of battle from player Carriers.

Do such NPC Carrier fleets repair at Carrier, or do they just die? I've mainly seen them die.

I don't know if npc carriers repair ships I've seen my damage traders landing on the carriers or aux ships for repairs, when my fleet is in sector, but not sure if the NPC ships do the same with their carriers and aux ships. By the amount of police ships that have 1% hull, I guess they don't

[GCU Grey Area]

What does prevent one from assigning 100 fighters on one Colossus?

Probably the fact that Collossus can't store 100 fighters?

You can still assign more fighters than it can store. Certainly wouldn't recommend it, in particular it's a bit awkward if you want to move the fleet & there's a significant disparity between the carrier's travel speed & that of the excess fighters, however they can definitely be assigned. They'll receive appropriate orders (e.g. Intercept if valid targets are nearby), whether they've got space to dock or not. They still return for repairs (& presumably to rearm, though did not test that specifically). Only difference is there's always a queue for the docks & if one ship takes off to do something another will dock in it's place. Tested with a Colossus & 64 Eclipses.

[Ragnos28]

The way I see it, at least for the "big boys", best ship is one that, no matter the threat, does not have to turn tail or wait for reinforcements.
Case scenario...you meet 1 I + 4 K's + 20-30 P/M escorts.

Asgard. Just works... One-shots the I, turrets kill one K, one-shots the other K, then goes on to kill 5 more Ks. The S/M ships are of no concern and the immediate capitals are dead you can let your turrets massacre them.

Of course this is all optimal play, but it still works even if you mess up badly and ram the I at 4 km/sec causing you to fail to one-shot it and so end up parked right in front of the gravaton batteries on the I for an extended periond. Had this happen to me yesterday, yet still it was a decisive victory without shields even dropping below 40%. There literally is nothing the Xenon can throw at a player flow Asgard to kill it.

Like we have talk before, that depends on what the Asgard use for the L turetts. By the way, I have found out, why the AI Asgards have beam for L turetts...the reason is for this to be posible: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss20vEGRW_g&t=4s.
I think the intention of the devs was not to make the Asgard an unstoppable ship in AI hands and the Asgard OOS invincibility it is what it is..a bug. On that regard, I've heard good things from beta testers for 4.2 and aparently, the Asgard have a more realistic OOS performance, like in 3 K's being able to kill it. Now, if only the devs will adress the issue of Xenon Capitals losing their turetts whit ease when OOS in 4.2

[Omni-Orb]

Have bombarded K with Dragon in v.2.x and spend more 50 heavy torpedoes on it. Have get disappoint... Expensive, not effective...

Its good fun

[Imperial Good]

I think the intention of the devs was not to make the Asgard an unstoppable ship in AI hands and the Asgard OOS invincibility it is what it is..a bug. On that regard, I've heard good things from beta testers for 4.2 and aparently, the Asgard have a more realistic OOS performance, like in 3 K's being able to kill it. Now, if only the devs will adress the issue of Xenon Capitals losing their turetts whit ease when OOS in 4.2

My story was from the 4.20 beta 2. In sector it is now even more broken as the L turrets hit S and M sized ships a lot more reliably.

[jlehtone]

My story was from the 4.20 beta 2. In sector it is now even more broken as the L turrets hit S and M sized ships a lot more reliably.

How about low attention?

I had 13 Phoenix V's against four Osaka for a good while in 4.10. Never saw main shield of any ship to dip. PVs did start to lose turrets, but otherwise a stalemate. I did add Rattlesnake and Syn to the mix, while TER sneaked in two more Osaka. No change. Enter high attention and immediately Rattler is out of shield and in hull damage. Barely broke out alive. The PV's and Syn concentrated on each Osaka and fight was short.

Asgard + Syn at least can hit Osaka visibly in low attention. Takes 4-6 "broadsides" to kill. If Asgard is the only one who can do low attention damage in 4.10, then there is no fight. Back in 3.30 9 PV's did kill K's quickly in low attention.

[Imperial Good]

How about low attention?

Also even more "broken" since it now bothers to point at the target more readily so reliably lands its main batteries on XL sized targets. For example my Syn fleet has no problem killing an I in low attention instead of entering a stale mate, and the Asgard will strip most of the shield off an I very fast in low attention.

That said the Xenon I is now also a lot more powerful in low attention. It pretty much 4 hits a TEL Phoenix Vanguard.

[Alm888]

Inspired by your sugestion, I began switching my Chimeras to SPL Combat Mk4 to see if that will improve survivability That's a lot of engine parts...I've build 8 engine parts factories and buy from all over the universe and still only 40 Chimeras are modified...just 60 to go now

Chimera is not about cost-effectiveness. Chimera is all about maximum awesome.

Resource-wise, every piece of equipment past Mk2 is not worth it. 10% stat boost for 4x the price? Yeah… But one can see things the other way: what is more painful, to lose a ship, or a highly skilled pilot inside? Won't be using ace pilots on junk ships with subpar equipment wasteful?

[Ragnos28]

How about low attention?

Also even more "broken" since it now bothers to point at the target more readily so reliably lands its main batteries on XL sized targets. For example my Syn fleet has no problem killing an I in low attention instead of entering a stale mate, and the Asgard will strip most of the shield off an I very fast in low attention.

That said the Xenon I is now also a lot more powerful in low attention. It pretty much 4 hits a TEL Phoenix Vanguard.

4.2 can't launch soon enough C'mon already...I'm on my 5th intervention Asgard that I destroy in sector Matrix #451...stupid Asgard, leave my last active xenon sector alone
Meh...is not that bad, my game has become pretty stale, at least making Asgards go boom give me something to do

I do have an reserved save slot from the moment my Asgard came out of my shipyard, about 10 in game days, with the Xenon sectors still mostly intact, my version of a custom start, to use if OOS issues are being resolved.

[Ragnos28]

Inspired by your sugestion, I began switching my Chimeras to SPL Combat Mk4 to see if that will improve survivability That's a lot of engine parts...I've build 8 engine parts factories and buy from all over the universe and still only 40 Chimeras are modified...just 60 to go now

Chimera is not about cost-effectiveness. Chimera is all about maximum awesome.

Resource-wise, every piece of equipment past Mk2 is not worth it. 10% stat boost for 4x the price? Yeah… But one can see things the other way: what is more painful, to lose a ship, or a highly skilled pilot inside? Won't be using ace pilots on junk ships with subpar equipment wasteful?

Still 20 Chimera from my torpedo wing to go, intercept wing is done. Can't sending them to battle yeat, but I do enjoy the aesthetic of the menacing red engine exhaust of the split engines instead of the bland white of the terran engines
Also, the + 200 m/s they will gain is not chopped liver either

I just finish the split plot missions and I was on the receving end of some split fighters atacks and notice that their speed makes them really hard to hit even by flak turetts, can't w8 to see how mine will do

[Eyeklops]

Asgard Battleship: Because OP as hell. 2 Shots Xenon I's.

1 shots the Destroyer I if you install mods on the XL Battery.

What mod would you recommend?

[Karmaticdamage]

Asgard Battleship: Because OP as hell. 2 Shots Xenon I's.

1 shots the Destroyer I if you install mods on the XL Battery.

What mod would you recommend?

I use annihilator, rerolled for high damage and cooling, ignore other stats as they have no effect. Slasher will grant the largest damage increase of any mod, but will greatly increase time in between shots because of its cooling penalty.

[Imperial Good]

What mod would you recommend?

Annihilator with high damage and cooling rolls. Basically what Karmaticdamage mentioned.

The XL battery does not benefit from fire rate.

4.2 can't launch soon enough C'mon already...I'm on my 5th intervention Asgard that I destroy in sector Matrix #451...stupid Asgard, leave my last active xenon sector alone

After further testing, the Destroyer I is now insanely OP in low attention. One can single handily kill most of 9 Syns, all with best shields. Asgard is pretty much the only ship that can go toe-to-toe in low attention and not get massively damaged.

[Alm888]

After further testing, the Destroyer I is now insanely OP in low attention. One can single handily kill most of 9 Syns, all with best shields. Asgard is pretty much the only ship that can go toe-to-toe in low attention and not get massively damaged.

As it should be, I suppose. One just need to keep in mind a Syn is no tougher than a Behemoth hull/shield wise. If Syns can not end the battle quickly by utilizing superior firepower, they will suffer from retaliatory fire.

[Imperial Good]

One just need to keep in mind a Syn is no tougher than a Behemoth hull/shield wise.

With TER Mk3 shields it is compared to the standard Behemoth with TEL shields.

If Syns can not end the battle quickly by utilizing superior firepower, they will suffer from retaliatory fire.

Yes but a replay of the battle was won in high attention without player control with 0 losses and only 1 badly damaged Syn... Low attention seems to simulate that all ships are parked right in-front of all the batteries. In high attention only 1 or 2 are hit at any given time by some of the batteries.

Despite the Syns missing most of their shots in high attention, they still landed damage more consistently against the Destroyer I, probably because they did not spend the entire fight dancing around in circles preventing their forward DPS from working. In low attention the Destroyer I literally lost its shields instantly upon entering range, then proceeded to take little to no damage until I started to lose Syns. In high attention the damage was at least vaguely consistent, taking the I from full shield down to dead at a constant rate.

[Kajar]

"The Best Ship" Very much depends on your perspective. The most powerful, single ship? Well then you have the already mentioned Asgard, Syn etc.
However, there is also the perspective of cost-effectiveness. In this category all the terran ships are essentially at the bottom of the list as they are so much more expensive than anything else.

I want the most bang for my buck and buying an Osaka for 24 million or buying three Behemoth for 7-8 million each, is an easy choice for me. While the Osaka individually may be stronger, it will lose to three Behemoths easily, making the latter far more cost-effective.

Therefore you will find more "cheap" ships in my list. This is purely for AI controlled fleets.

Best Carrier - Colossus. Plenty of docks, very tough with three shield slots and very much on the low cost end. Easily able to do a carriers job.
Best Destroyer - Behemoth. Cheap and tough and the most reliable main guns.
Best Medium - Peregrine. Again, cheap, tough and even the fastest of the gunships.
Best Small - Is a bit harder, but Ares is a good, tough heavy fighter to go with, but a bit slow. I support those with Asp as interceptors and Falcon as fighters.

Overall, fighters are by far the most cost effective unit, easily being able to beat ANYTING cost effectively and then some. Exception are Xenon Stations and Khaak Hives.

[budforceuk]

My new favourite is the Kuraokami.

I think it's a good balance between he Dragon Raider and Katana.

Put 5 Terran Pulse lasers and the plasma turrets because turrets are basically useless so you might as well get the DPS if you are pounding an XL shield generator.

Terran shields, split mk4 engine.

Think it looks so cool and the cockpit internals are nice.