Home » Stars! 2.6/7 » The Bar » Least useful component
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| Re: Least useful component |
Wed, 05 October 2016 00:54   |
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Anti-Matter-Tank (IT, weap 12 - bio 7)
I do love to play IT but never in all those games I could convince myself to use the anti-matter-tank.
Perhaps, perhaps in a really huge universe with sparse stars and everybody is restricted to 1 planet... but even then the combination of fuel tank (instead of the anti-matter) and building sfx would be cheaper and better. The sfx produces 200mg, helps repairing, comes with 2250mg fuel and researching bio 7 to get the anti-matter is a definite no no. The weight of the anti-matter-tank is another problem.
Anybody ever used the anti-matter-tank and thought it a superiour solution?
Probably the main problem of the anti-matter-tank: of all PRTs it has to be an IT-gadget, the PRT with the least fuel problems... the latter a bold statement because often enough my IT has the biggest number of sfx deployed but that's another story... had to look it up: in my last game I had 149 sfx busily channelling fuel to and fro between fleets at year 2459 (while not only playing IT but having also IFE/fuel mizer and ISB/docks).
IF the anti-matter-tank would be available for ITs right at the start like the settler's delight engine for HEs or the transport cloak for super-stealth... that might give it some early usage.
[Updated on: Wed, 05 October 2016 01:33] Report message to a moderator
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| Re: Least useful component |
Wed, 05 October 2016 04:26 |
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 magic9mushroom |
 | Commander |
Messages: 1361
Registered: May 2008 | |
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Bio 7's not completely useless. If you're non-NAS you need it for Elephant Scanners and Snooper 500X, if you're non-RS the Organic Armour is decent (though Valanium's better), and it gives miniaturisation on minelayers, QJ5, and scout chaff. Or if you're HP (though admittedly HP IT is generally considered suboptimal) you can use Smart Bombs.
Of course, there's the issue that at Con 14 the Super Fuel Tank shows up, and that's on the way to Valanium and miniaturises Battleships.
On a dedicated ship (particularly a dedicated Frigate) it compares very poorly to SFX as you note. Best attempt at an optimal design would be a multirole support Galleon.
IS-10/TGFS (TGMS makes running out of fuel hard, TS-10 means Nubians)
4 Bear shields
3/4 Overthrusters
7/6 AMG
Scanner(s) of choice
There, you've got what's primarily a combat freighter that doubles as an SFX. Mineproof, unlike the SFX, and escapes round 3 (SFX can't, even with the Enigma Pulsar), as well as saving a slot. And it's not like there's a huge amount of competition for the spare slots on such a Galleon; the only real other options are a slot of range-3 beams or a slot of minelayers (either of which you can, of course, mix into the given design).
LH6 is my guess. I guess it does become the cheapest engine at Prop 22 (or 16, if no Bio 5), but by that point it's only for use on gate-only ships and you'll probably have built a lot of those while it was a lot more expensive.
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| Re: Least useful component |
Mon, 09 January 2017 15:09 |
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| talkingbologna |
 | Senior Chief Petty Officer |
Messages: 86
Registered: November 2016
Location: 1947 | |
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It seems the energy dampener wouldn't be all that useful, unless you happen to have really slow ships, already.
Edit for spelling
[Updated on: Mon, 09 January 2017 15:10] Report message to a moderator
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| Re: Least useful component |
Mon, 13 March 2017 06:18 |
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The one way I think Anti-Matter Generator is useful is on B-17 and B-52 bombers. Most people would end up putting a fuel tank (standard or super size) into that Scanner/Elect/Mech slot. Putting an AMG there accomplishes the same and gives additional 50mg of fuel per bomber (100mg for B-52) every year, further extending the range of any bomber mission.
Bio 7 is not a big prerequisite IMHO (relatively easy to get even with Bio expensive), and it helps you get a number of things... like early SmartBombs, Organic Armor and penscanners for those who don't choose NAS. Even those who choose it, and don't research Elec, can get a decent non-penetrating DNA scanner with Bio 6 (which, with NAS, almost equals Cheetah w/o NAS). In some games I consider Bio 7 a natural limit on researching Biotechnology, not Bio 4.
As for the ED, I would add one thing on top of what Magic says: since it slows down all ships to a minimum of 1/2, it can make your chaff slow enough to actually not get in range of enemy missiles quickly enough to draw fire from your main combat ships. This is because most players put basic Warp 6 engines (LH6 or FM) on them. I've seen that a couple of times in testbeds... big ships dying first, then chaff getting pointlessly massacred as they caught up to range.
Basically, when playing against a sufficiently evolved SD, you should plan on having ED in almost every battle - especially a defensive battle involving a SD starbase. It really lets the starbase fire two more free volleys at anything coming its way, With a fully decked-out Ultrastation, that amounts to almost 200 free missiles. I'd rather stare into their exhausts rather than their warheads.
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| Re: Least useful component |
Tue, 14 March 2017 07:00 |
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| magic9mushroom |
| Commander |
Messages: 1361
Registered: May 2008 | |
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Loucipher wrote on Mon, 13 March 2017 21:18As for the ED, I would add one thing on top of what Magic says: since it slows down all ships to a minimum of 1/2, it can make your chaff slow enough to actually not get in range of enemy missiles quickly enough to draw fire from your main combat ships. This is because most players put basic Warp 6 engines (LH6 or FM) on them. I've seen that a couple of times in testbeds... big ships dying first, then chaff getting pointlessly massacred as they caught up to range.
Basically, when playing against a sufficiently evolved SD, you should plan on having ED in almost every battle - especially a defensive battle involving a SD starbase. It really lets the starbase fire two more free volleys at anything coming its way, With a fully decked-out Ultrastation, that amounts to almost 200 free missiles. I'd rather stare into their exhausts rather than their warheads.
While the thing about getting more shots is completely accurate, I'm not sure I follow the first half. Chaff with speed 1 will move one space in the first round whether or not there's an ED. If you were using faster chaff in order to get in range of retreating range-6 missiles on round 1, it'd mess that up, but with or without an ED beamers supported by speed-1 chaff against retreating missiles are taking at least one shot unprotected (against advancing/starbase missiles, the chaff is always in range round 1 even with speed 1/2). And missile ships... well, again, the only case where I can see an unprotected shot happening where it otherwise wouldn't is if the missile ships are speed 2.25+ (nubians or WM, presumably) and the chaff was speed 1.25+ vs. retreating range-6 missiles. (In fact, if the missiles were speed 1.25 through 1.5 with speed 1 chaff, the ED would actually solve an outpacing issue because of the floor.)
Bottom line is that relying on chaff to protect beamers is generally a bad idea. Retreating missiles are always a threat because you need speed 2.25 to fire round 2 and chaff won't go that fast. It certainly helps, but between that and all the other ways of nullifying chaff (sappers, chaff-shredders, minefields) it's foolish not to put jammers on mainline beamers.
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