Tips & Tricks

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)

The periodical pirate raid is a double-edged sword; the pirate raid system is basically the hiring of pirates to attack a player who has had the most bounty placed on him/her. Pirate raids can be used to temporarily stop enemy players from developing or advancing, but typically comes at a significant economic cost. --Azncutthroat 00:38, May 24, 2010 (UTC)

Dealing with Pirates

Especially in Diplomacy, pirates can be a serious nuisance to your trade ships, if trade ships go through them, or can be irritating if you miss bountying before pirates launch, resulting in the pirates attacking you. Therefore, there are times when it's best to get rid of them. The TEC have a serious advantage here; they have the Novalith Cannon to simply destroy the base, and the Akkan Battlecruiser has the Armistice ability, allowing it to perform hit-and-run attacks against pirate bases with the support of high-health units, preferably other capital ships, without losing any ships. Otherwise, it's probably a your best chance if you just send a massive fleet of frigates and cruisers (it's a bad idea to risk your capital ships), rebuilding and resending when the fleet is destroyed, as the pirates can't build ships (they can only get reinforcements from returning raiders). Eventually, you can destroy them. It's also possible (I've never actually attempted it, though) to directly attack the base with a large amount of siege frigates and hope they kill the base before they die. The Vasari can use the Kostura Cannon to stun the pirate fleet while attacking, which would help. During a frontal assault, it's a very good idea to stay out of range of the defense platforms, which do tons of damage (they can hit to the edge of the gravity well, up to the point where you can start to phase jump. Note that the defense cannons can, apparently, use an ability similar to the Kol Battleship's Flak Burst ability. On certain maps, it's possible to accurately predict where the pirates will go (it's the closest planet to them, assuming the planet has structures and such); you can use the starbase and defense platform (and repair platform) tactic described in the Defense Platforms section on this page to heavily reinforce the planet in question; if you add a few trade ports to distract the pirates (they tend to go for your trade ships) so they don't all attack your defenses at once, you should be able to handle pirate attacks without major problems.--RandomguY 03:05, May 28, 2010 (UTC)

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)

I find it's better to save colonizing them for later, particularly if they have heavy militia. It's difficult for the enemy to actually get into the back to take them for himself, and they'll still be available for you to take later.

Darvin3 04:56, April 11, 2010 (UTC)

I find they are prime positions for labs, since they are secluded and require little defence.

Nuno, September 23, 2010

Moving your front line up until it borders on enemy territory is much more important in the beginning than colonizing dead-end planets. It's nearly always better to establish your first line of defense, and only then go back and take the pocket planet/asteroid when you have the resources to spare.

Copyeditor523 00:47, April 25, 2011 (UTC)

Dead end planets can be hiding places for superweapons, and can be easily defended due to only one way in, unless an Antorak Marauder comes in with Stabilize Phase Space...

Gunslinger117 10:06 PAC 4/26/11

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

A spreadsheet of damage amounts is given in the following spreadsheet. Unfortunately, it includes only the units included in the original Sins.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p7xc_snd9Cc-6o2UwvPEWUg&gid=0

Copyeditor523 00:50, April 25, 2011 (UTC)

Defense Platforms

Defense platforms are quite underrated, and not as useless as many would think. Sure, a defense platform is defeated easily by an enemy fleet, and sure, even en masse, they are defeated by an enemy fleet, but think about it-the enemy fleet itself has units en masse. When the stats are actually compared, a single defense platform is about equal to two heavy cruisers, when upgraded fully (or perhaps even greater). After all, they have large amounts of hull. Personally, I have found that a good strategy is to surround a starbase with them; thus, you can get them all in one place without fear of losing your planet (you did get that upgrade, right?) while having a starbase to add to the firepower (and, conversely, having defense platforms to supplement the firepower of the starbase). Note that, unfortunately, they are quite vulnerable to strike craft (which they can't attack) and Long Range Frigates (which out range them), so get hanger defenses to deal with them (and get repair platforms to improve longevity).--RandomguY 16:04, May 2, 2010 (UTC)

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)

Missile platforms and hangars are easily destroyed by large forces of units, and are usually a complete waste of money if the enemy attacks in force. Your best defense is a good fleet that's in position to defend these planets, and frigate factories nearby to provide reinforcements. Repair platforms work very well, too. Hangars and turrets in particular are just too expensive for immobile structures when you can build units for the same price that can defend many different planets.

Darvin3 05:00, April 11, 2010 (UTC)

Hangars will still always make up for a nice and easy boost for your initial defences.

88.194.21.147 09:58, May 2, 2010 (UTC)

They're decent defense, but the problem is they're expensive. You can get the same effect at a much lower price by going with frigates and moving them into position whenever you're attacked. Every penny you save can be spent on building an even bigger fleet, and crushing your opponent. That's not to say they're useless, but they should be used sparingly.

Darvin3 07:42, July 3, 2010 (UTC)

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)

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.

The Novalith Cannon is very expensive to research and build. Often times if you put that money into military instead you can easily win the old fashioned way. As well, the Novalith won't stop the enemy from recolonizing the planet in a few minutes once the radiation wears off, so you're going to need to attack them sooner or later anyways if you want to win. There are several counters to the Novalith, the most complete being a starbase with the Auxiliary Government upgrade, which means that control of the planet cannot be lost by bombardment alone. An empire which gets more than 75% of its income from trade isn't going to be defeated by Novalith strikes alone since trade income doesn't decrease at all when control of the planet is lost. This isn't to say that Novaliths aren't powerful and devastating, but they will not win the game on their own, whereas pumping that cash into military might win the game on its own.

Darvin3 05:09, April 11, 2010 (UTC)

While the Novalith does not cause permanent damage, as Darvin3 pointed out, building 10-20 of them will wreak havoc, resulting in dead enemy planets (which will have to be recolonized), which significantly slows down the enemy economy.--RandomguY 03:26, April 28, 2010 (UTC)

And if the opponent doesn't have something to counter the Novalith Cannon, there is a certain number of Novalith Cannons that can destroy every planet the opponent at the same time. In a single player game it means that the AI has lost.

Kostura Cannon

The Kostura Cannon is the Vasari superweapon. While it is not, in itself, a game winner, it can significantly help your fleet attack the enemy; generally, front lines are fortified and core worlds are not; instead, most players rely on their front lines to keep enemy fleets out. The Kostura, however, upsets this strategy, as it makes the planet it attacks a temporary phase stabilizer node; you can thus move your fleet in and wreak havoc while the enemy fleet is too far away to respond. Even if the enemy fleet is stronger than yours and eventually attacks yours, you can always flee by using your Marauder (you have one, right?), with its phase stabilizer ability. This is exceptionally useful for taking out enemy superweapons, or, in Diplomacy, when pirates have ridiculously powerful ships, it can help you get around a pirate-infested planet without casualties. However, while it disables orbital structures and ships, as well as damaging them, this disabiling and damage is neglegible, unless Kostura Cannons are spammed.--RandomguY 03:26, April 28, 2010 (UTC)

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%.

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. Or you can build a star base around them.

Leaving a scout at every uncolonizable gravity well close to your borders as an early warning system is always a good idea. If the first you hear about an attacking enemy is shots being fired, it's probably too late...

Darvin3 05:10, April 11, 2010 (UTC)

Planet Defense

It is better to group your defense turrets together with repair platforms and hangars to maximize defense. One turret vs. the entire enemy fleet won't do much, but 15 turrets + repair platforms + hangars have a much better chance of knocking out those enemy ships.

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.

Culture

Make sure you build Broadcast Centers, Temples of Communion, and Media Hubs. They increase the allegiance of connected planets up by 10% or more (up to maximum allegiance), which means 10% more income per planet. In addition, having friendly culture which expands past your front lines can help prevent the enemy from colonizing new planets, and can even overthrow enemy planetary governments (eventually) if the enemy doesn't build cultural centers of their own. In addition, with reserarch upgrades, friendly culture provides each race with special bonuses to units inside the influence of friendly culture.

Multiple Systems

When you are playing with multiple systems (i.e. multiple suns), and you have conquered the entire system from your enemy, you want to hold on to all that territory. The best way that I have found to do that (in Entrenchment) is to build starbases in wormhole gravity wells (if present) and 4 starbases near the sun. When I build a starbase in a wormhole gravity well, I start by maxing out the fighters and hull points. I then add Trade ports to them to increase my income. Then with whatever is left, I increase the weapons.

When fortifying the sun I have always upgrade all starbases in the gravity well with max offense and max defense. But that is where each faction diverges:

When using the TEC's Argonev Star Base: I max out one starbase with Remote Construction, then Hangar defense. The second one I max out the Trade Port and round out with a Hangar Defense. And the last two I max out with Hanger Defenses. When placing these starbases, I usually place them in a trapezoidal formation with the two with maxed out strike craft hanging on the edge of the gravity well spaced far apart and the other two hanging near the sun closer together.

When using the Advent's Transcencia Star Base: I upgrade one with Trade Ports and finish out with the Evangelization Nodes. The second I max out the Hanger Defense after one upgrade of Meteor Control. The last two I add one level of Mass Disorientation then round out with Hangar Defense. When placing, I have them placed in a diamond formation with the Trade and Culture starbase resting near the sun and the Meteor starbase sitting on the periphery of the gravity well, directly across from the Trade and Culture starbase. I then place the last two at a median between and away (usually letting the edges of their weapon ranges touching).

When using the Vasari's Orkulus Star Base: Since there is only one upgrade point after maxing out the hulls and weapons, I make one a Trade Port, a second a Phase Stabilizer and the other two with Hangar Defenses. I place them around the sun in the shape of an "x" with the Starbases with strike craft opposite each other. Since the Orkulus can move, what I usually do for fun is have have all the bases follow each other.

When I am fortifying a star I always max out hangers on all 4 (playing advent), and put them in a line along the edge of the grav-well on the most likely approach. With 80 strike craft (split 40/40) you can really ruin the day of anyone who shows up.

While the above is a valid strategy for playing against the AI, the massive amounts of resources necessary would almost always be much better invested in other things when playing against humans, such as an offensive fleet.