Newby help please.

Gratuitous Forum Gratuitous Space Battles
1

It seems this game doesn’t give enough help for a beginner to be successful at this game.

Is having more Shields, Armor, Weapons and ect. better?

For example having 4 Lasers means I do 4x as much damage?

Which weapons penetrates enemy shields or armor?

Which are better against which?

2

You may want to look at some recent discussion threads with beginners guides such as:
viewtopic.php?f=19&t=4648
viewtopic.php?f=19&t=4637
viewtopic.php?f=19&t=4579

3

Here is a reasonably effective cruiser design to get started with. It’s the cruiser I used in the SAC-32 challenge.

hull = Tribe Utopia Cruiser hull
0 = csr_tribe_howitzer,
1 = csr_tribe_howitzer,
2 = csr_tribe_howitzer,
3 = csr_tribe_howitzer,
4 = cruiser crew II,
5 = cruiser reinforced power II,
6 = cruiser_pulselaser,
7 = cruiser_pulselaser,
8 = crsr_tribe_enhanced_repair,
9 = cruiser_engine V,
10 = cruiser_engine V,
11 = cruiser_engine V,
12 = cruiser_engine V,
13 = csr_tribe_howitzer,
14 = csr_tribe_howitzer,
image

4

First of, i would strongly recommend reading the manual that came with the game. It has a wealth of knowledge in it, far more than what i am about to tell you.
Answering your questions in order

  • Depends on the situation. This game has a huge variety and it would take to long to cover all situation.
    follick has a powerfull design for the Tribe, if you do not have this expansion pack you can try this federation cruiser design.

Using the Federation Eagle Cruiser hull
Turrets
1 x Guidance Scrambler Beam [this turret will shoot incoming missiles and try to fry their guidance system]
2 x Cruiser Laser [A short range Shield buster]
2 x Megaton Missile Launcher [Good against both shield and armor, these hurt if they hit]
2 x Cruiser Beam Laser [Long range armor cutter, not so good against shields]

Modules
1 x Crew Module III [someone gotta operate all those guns]
2 x Ultraheavy Armor [this ship is slow as a tank, so you might as well armor it like one]
2 x Fast Recharge Shields [these shields recover quickly from taking a hit]
2 x Reflective Shield [these shields can bounce more powerful shots]
1 x Nanobot Repair System [if something breaks, these guys fix it]
2 x Power Generator III [takes alot of power to make all this work]
1 x Cruiser Engine III [this will get the battle wagon to the fight - eventually]

  • As you see here i have more than one of some weapons. Each weapon can deal damage to the enemy. So if you have 4 laser modules on your ship you will do 4 times the damage as only having one laser module

  • To understand which weapon does more damage to shield or armor look at the stats of each weapon on the ship building page.
    The penetration rating indicates how much shield or armor it would take to block the shot.
    So a laser that has a rating of 5 for shield penetration will bounce harmlessly of a shield with a rating of 10.
    However a beam with a shield penetration of 11 will deal damage to that shield with a rating of 10

  • Each race has their own strengths and weaknesses, You should choose one to match your style (From Slow moving Tanks to rapid strike)
    There are threads discussing the different races playing styles out here in the forums. follick has been kind enough to provide you links to other threads - I would suggest you have a look at them.

5

Thanks for the help guys.

The links are very helpful. Sadly i don’t own the expansions.

I will try your build darkstar076. Also your advice is very helpful.