Strategies The advice in this chapter is tested: where a box says simulated , computer fleets fought the same battle with and without the idea, hundreds of times.
Status: battle sections from Phase 1. Economy (Phase 2) and factions (Phase 7) follow.
Counter-picking
Simulated: pure fleets, 12 command points, 1 000 battles in each role
The counters are decisive. With equal command points, the counter wins:
Counter
Wins
Fighters vs bombers
98 %
Bombers vs capital ships
100 %
Bombers vs cruisers
100 %
Cruisers vs frigates
100 %
Capital ships vs fighters
100 %
Capital ships vs cruisers
100 %
A fleet of one class is easy to read and easy to beat. Mix.
Building a line
Simulated: five test formations, 1 000 battles in each role
Win rate of the row formation against the column formation:
Swarm
Wall
Strike
Line
Escort
Swarm –
40 %
87 %
75 %
3 %
Wall 60 %
–
0 %
70 %
100 %
Strike 13 %
100 %
–
24 %
37 %
Line 25 %
30 %
76 %
–
96 %
Escort 97 %
0 %
63 %
4 %
–
Swarm (8 fighters, 2 bombers, Advance) shreds bombers and mixed lines, but frigate shields soak its small shots.Wall (capital ship and 2 cruisers, Focus fire) crushes fighters and escorts – and melts against bombers.Strike (4 bombers behind 2 frigates) is the answer to a wall and loses to almost everything else.Line (2 cruisers, 2 fighters, a bomber and a frigate) beats escorts and strikes.Escort (2 cruisers, 3 frigates, Intercept) stops swarms cold.
Every formation has one that beats it. Scout before you attack.
Frigates belong next to the ships they protect
A frigate shields its neighbours only. Put it on the flank between your front and your back row and it reaches both.
When the clock matters
Simulated: 12 frigates against 12 frigates
Shield walls can hold until the time limit – and then the defender wins. Against frigates, bring cruisers (they counter frigates) or an EMP: it strips a row's shields and stops them recharging.
How good are the generals?
Your deputy and the bots run on the same decision logic – they only differ in style. We let whole seasons play out (14 days, three galaxies per setting) with a commander who never gives a single order and only lets the deputy work:
Deputy order
Never visits
Looks in once a day
Economy only
1 sector, 10 points
1 sector, 10 points
Careful
7 sectors, 82 points
84 sectors, 1 410 points, 25 valuable sectors, 87 ships lost
Bold
7 sectors, 82 points
90 sectors, 1 138 points, 27 valuable sectors, 99 ships lost
The bots in the same galaxies, by style (median at the end of the season):
Bot style
Sectors
Points
Usual place (of six)
Expansionist
21
250
3rd
Raider
22
262
3rd
Defender
20
245
3rd–4th
What the numbers say
Economy only never attacks, so it keeps your realm busy but doesn't grow it. Careful attacks only at a high chance and loses the fewest ships. Bold goes for valuable sectors – jump gates, anomalies, shipyards, academies, relays – at even odds and presses on after victories: after four days it holds about a third more valuable sectors and a quarter more credits than Careful , at the price of more losses; over a season both end close, with Careful a little ahead in points. A deputy without you stops a day after your last visit – a commander who never comes back stays small.
Designer's notes
In the first run the deputy acted every hour, day and night, for as long as you stayed away – and a commander who never logged in won every season with about 170 sectors. Now it plays at the pace of the bots and stops a day after your last visit. With one look a day it still plays a strong season – a deputy is there to cover your absence, and so far we think that's fair. Bots stay deliberately below the best players.
Planned
Wide or deep: many lightly held sectors or few strong ones, and what supply lines do to each.When to stop a campaign: damage stays, so when does the next battle cost more than it brings? (Rules and first numbers in chapter 3, Campaigns .)Faction match-ups: the counter circle in numbers.Abilities: when EMP pays off and when the emergency jump saves more than it costs.
Corebound
