Anone seriously tried bombs? It's counter intuitive, but equipping just one bomb on a ship basically triples the time it takes the AI to take off.
Feels a bit like cheating.
I've only just started to play this game in earnest. From what I've seen, the're been a lot of fuckery going on in regards to balancing,
with whole builds becoming obsolete with each new patch. I'm not a fan of this hatchet-job approach myself.
Also, just in case anyone wants to demo the game, the 1.14 build that's available crashes in the editor, which makes it worthless.
The solution is to get an earlier build and merge the files. I went with 1.12, merged files with 1.13, then with 1.14 just to be sure.
Anyways, here's some thoughts from a beginner.
> The tutorial doesn't teach you shit. I mean, it does show some basics, but none of the really important stuff - working with all the sensor types,
how to use aircraft and long range missiles, how to do AA (i.e. what to do when they are being used against you).
The manual only helps a tiny bit (still, you should read it), but do yourself a favor and watch some vids.
> The ship fight is usually where people naturally drawn to this game would struggle the most.
My solution to getting gud was making sure you start with the right ship for the job. Most of th sub 300 kmh craft will be useless to you in the beginning.
What you want is to strap into that Lightning and learn how to dodge shots and missiles. I would then use it as a platform to test
the various light weapon systems - R-5 Zenith, Vympel vs. 100 mm vs. 130 mm to get a handle on what works best for me.
Once you get comfortable, you can try and build an improved design.
> Strategic part - so, this game plays like a roguelite, meaning you're not expected to succeed on the first run, instead you will be unlocking extra
pre-built ships and funds for your next run, depending on how well you do, so treat those early runs as testing grounds and write yourself an AAR
to organize your thoughts about what worked and why.
>As far as I'm concerned, Sjebastopol is a big, lumbering pile of crap. It's speed is abysmall and its weapons configuration me scratch my head really hard.
You really want to move it out of the starting town (because it attracts attention) and park it somewhere while the more nimble parts of the fleet spread out.
A task force comprising Lightning and Skylarks has good mobility and can capture a bunch of towns. It also has good mileage, so your fuel expenses
will be noticeably lower. And if you find any fuel post-combat, it should last you for a bit.
>You also want aircraft and missile carriers on your taskforce. I generally prefer to build them myself, the Longbow is a touch too lumbering, and I'd much
rather have a flexible set of two lighter carriers with 3-6 planes also acting as tankers and radar support. Yars is way too armored for its own good, but
Mk.2 is a good fixer-upper with 4 tubes already there. I strip all that plating off, then put a bunch of AA crap on it instead.
>Now, my other problem is that Sjebastopol means 100 000 worth of shekels are sorta left there, rusting in the field. And you're kinda stuck with it.
This doesn't make me happy. A simple fix would be to edit the project files to build an own design and flag it as an HQ ship.
But I like to work with what the game lets me.
So Instead, what I like to do is immediately scrap the entire thing, leaving just the bridge and a bunch of 4x4 hull segments to work with.
I rig two basic engines onto it and a fuel tank so it can at least take off (with view to gradually build it up to serve an actual role.).
This leaves me with a bunch of crap lying around which I can sell to recover some of the money, though that's a lot of clicking.
The missiles and some of the guns go into stockpile.
I'm not 100% sure if the game calculates the repair costs, but it seems to take items from your stockpile before buying new things,
so it might make sense to leave it as a spare parts bank.
>Another big brian idea I had to optimize starting costs was to edit the starting ships slightly, so that some non-essential components will be removed to save money.
I would then use the parts from the scrapped HQ to bring them up to speed.
This means it'll take me some 10-20 hours before the main bulk of the fleet is 100% operational, but in that time I would send out Interceptor+Tanker pairs
to scout out the nearest towns anyway.
So, my current starter fleet composition:
2x Tanker + 2x Heavy Interceptor combo. The tankers will be refitted with ELINT from Seba. Interceptors are souped-up lightnings fitted to mount three AK-100 (though they start with two) and and 2x Zeniths
These task forces do most of the heavy lifting early on, the interceptor can attempt to fight strike groups if they're sufficiently weakened by aircraft and missiles.
I'm considering swapping out 100 mm to 130mm for this particular occasion, but AP ammo is a must, regardless.
2x Light Carriers. Runway space allows 6 aircraft max, but each starts with just 1-2, to be used for early game scouting, with view of buying more whenever convenient.
Those will also inherit fire control radars and AA missiles from Seba.
1x Refitted Yars mk2. Gutted all the armor and The Kh-15s. Fits a full AA package - FCR + 2x minigun + 6x AA missile.
Now, what I'm missing here is a heavy hitter, but that one will have to wait until I get more starting allowance.
The plan for now is to snag something decent off a Tarkhan.
I also like to buy cheap ships and refit them into light early warning craft - elint + IR, going 800 kmh. This helps to accurately triangulate enemy positions from ELINT.
