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Whats the best scanning ship?

Thu, 15 December 2011 18:07

joseph

Lt. Junior Grade

Messages: 440
Registered: May 2003
Location: Bristol

So Im thinking about building some scanning ships and have pen scans 100ly range.

I think I have 3 options
Many cheap ones (Frigate with single scanner?)

Enough medium cost bigger range (Frigate with 5 scanners)

Just enough expensive big range & cloaks (Galleon with cloaks and scanners)

Whats the best and why? Also is there an option I have missed (I dont have nubians)

Joseph
"Can burn the land and boil the sea. You cant take the Stars from me"

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Re: Whats the best scanning ship?

Thu, 15 December 2011 19:36

slimdrag00n

Lieutenant
Helped track down one or more Stars bugs

Messages: 630
Registered: January 2009
Location: new york -5

It all depends on preference or play style I think.

I'm not one who likes small range scanners because sometimes you just can't get the distance needed. But I can see how someone would want to send lots out on rotating way points back and forth from a planet into enemy border space. This works if your enemies don't use many skirmishers or if they have little to no minefields.

I personally like to have at least 3 scanners on a frigate design. Sometimes adding the two more scanners sometimes makes me feel like I am not getting enough range for what I am paying for.

My opinion is the FM with a fuel pod and 3 scanners is the best option for a small universe.

Galleon is much to expensive for my taste.

......
Ranked games: 8-1
Recently won the game Knife Fight.
Looking for a practice duel.
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Re: Whats the best scanning ship?

Thu, 15 December 2011 21:41

nmid

Commander

Messages: 1608
Registered: January 2011
Location: GMT +5.5

I prefer cheap Rhino scanners at the start (with the NAS, gives you 100 LY scanning.
After the first 25-30 years, when they start getting shot down faster than I can replace them (or not showing any new enemy designs) I'll go in for specialized scanners.
Specialized scanners referring to increasing the cost of each scout from 25 odd resources to about 250 resources. (Stealth + pen scanning galleon if I'm playing a SS).

slimdrag00n wrote on Fri, 16 December 2011 06:06

If you are adding the fuel pod to a Frigate, then you won't be able to add more than 2 scanners.. Confused2

I know my minefields.. but I'm a chaff sweeper.
I used to curse when I got stuck in traffic... till I realised I AM traffic.

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Re: Whats the best scanning ship?

Fri, 16 December 2011 08:46

slimdrag00n

Lieutenant
Helped track down one or more Stars bugs

Messages: 630
Registered: January 2009
Location: new york -5

That's true. Forget I said fuel pod. Smile

......
Ranked games: 8-1
Recently won the game Knife Fight.
Looking for a practice duel.
.......

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Re: Whats the best scanning ship?

Fri, 16 December 2011 15:39

iztok

Commander

Messages: 1206
Registered: April 2003
Location: Slovenia, Europe

Hi!

The absolute max would be Nub with Elephant+Tachion combo. But you're not asking for that, so the usual answer is: it all depends on the situation. Wink

1) Who you're facing?
2) What PRT and tech they have?
3) How much resources and MM you're ready to invest in scanning?
4) How much free shop design slots and fleet "slots" you want to dedicate for scanning?

Barring that, my usuall scanning solution has:

a decent scanner (100+ LY scan) on my FF minelayers. They're everywhere, why not also scan?
a good scanner (200+) on my SFX.
if no IS in game, then some max-cloak Galleons with best (preferably pen) scaner available.
when facing highly-cloaked intruders,
- lots of cheap Scout or FF ships with 200+ LY scan range or
- fleets of (Tachion FF + SFX).

For the answer to be more specific, post a situation and we can give you more specific answer.

BR, Iztok

[Updated on: Fri, 16 December 2011 15:41]

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Re: Whats the best scanning ship?

Sat, 17 December 2011 13:22

Eagle of Fire

Lt. Commander

Messages: 809
Registered: December 2008
Location: GMT -5

I rarely build big scores of scouts as long range scanning apparatus. High tech scanners cost too much to produce en masse and I usually restrict them to high res designs which I can defend better (and which hopefully can withstand a minefield hit!). Planet scanners are more than often sufficient enough in usual situations... Then later on I use SFX as scouts as needed. The goal here is to mix two job types on a same vessel to save on design slots: I'm going to build a score of SFX during the course of a game anyways and they do have a dedicated scanner slot... Best of both worlds.

My SFX having dedicated scanners have the added advantage that my fleets hardly ever miss a cloaked fleet nearby. Plus, other players don't seem to remember that SFX can also be used as scanners so they do fall more often for the "I hope he didn't see me!" scheme which would not be possible if they would spot a scout design right away.

The disadvantage is that you cannot replace those SFX with new scanners often because of their cost. What I usually do to (try to) circumvent this is to build the first few with FM or another early engine available then switch to a new model when high warp engines get available, adding either the best scanner if I'm facing cloaked ships or the most res efficient scanner at the time. That usually mean the InterSpace or a high scoop engine plus the best scanner I have.

One would think that it is really an hindrance to have an SFX with FM for so long since the offense ships will gradually improve their warp rating with time and tech... But since the whole point of an SFX is to carry and produce fuel, mixed with the fact the FM is the most fuel efficient engine in the whole game, this is really hardly a problem. And if I really need a dedicated scout in the mean time I can always take a temporary design spot for a scout design or incorporate scanners to another design I'm going to produce anyways. Like terror ships. Twisted Evil

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Re: Whats the best scanning ship?

Sat, 17 December 2011 14:14

m.a@stars

Commander

Messages: 2765
Registered: October 2004
Location: Third star to the left

Scanning also depends on what kind of intel you're after. Rolling Eyes

Offensive? Defensive? Ship designs? Shipping routes? Intruders? Cloaked marauders? Enemy scouts? Opportunity targets? New colonies? Pirate

So many Stars, so few Missiles!

In space no one can hear you scheme! Deal

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Re: Whats the best scanning ship?

Sat, 17 December 2011 15:10

nmid

Commander

Messages: 1608
Registered: January 2011
Location: GMT +5.5

oh I forgot... in certain cases, the best scanning ship is a ship that has no scanners.

Plain old chaff.

You just 'ping' the enemy planet to get the latest ship count in orbit+ship designs+base design. Post 2440, the 10 odd resources each year, each enemy planet are worth it.

I know my minefields.. but I'm a chaff sweeper.
I used to curse when I got stuck in traffic... till I realised I AM traffic.

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Re: Whats the best scanning ship?

Sun, 18 December 2011 04:45

Braindead

Officer Cadet 2nd Year

Messages: 238
Registered: April 2005
Location: Ohio

There is no such thing as the best scout design. You can have the best design for a specific purpose. Here are a few:

* cheapest to build (minerals, resources)
* longest range (pen and non-pen)
* best at detecting cloaked ships
* with most cloaking
* fastest
* with most fuel
* hardest to kill
* multi-functional (for example, scan and lay mines)

First you need to decide why you need those scouts, then you can decide what is best for your purpose.

-braindead

Mess with the best, die like the rest!

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