Hangar Defense: The other white meat...

**Gambit7** · 03-02-2008, 09:19 AM

In my reflections on this game while I cant actually play it online (no decent internet right now), I remember how uber hangar defense actually is. In my last game (which lasted 5+ hrs) with Acreo, I actually took my entire fleet and sweeped the map leaving my home turf totally vulnerable to npc attacks.

My flanks all held with simply hangar defense with beam defense backups. Fully upgraded they (along with turrets) can put a serious hurting on anything that attacks. Especially pirate raiders, who arent too brite with their tactics.

Another interesting thing to do with this is to throw out a the tac. structure that slows down ships trying to jump out-system. What happens is, any scout lvl ship that tries to run through your system is effectively obliterated by the hangar defense before they can escape. Obviously the same for small squadrons. This is MUCH better then trying to chase down scouts with just frigs., because fighters/bombers are much faster.

This totally cuts off intel for your enemies while you run around with your main fleet. For all your enemies know, your main fleet could still be sitting at home.

So what basically happens is, you have an iron curtain of upgraded Hangar Defense (upgrade those tac. slots and pump out 2 or more ideally... keep 2:1 ratio fighter:bomber) with some beam defense and an upgraded gravity well. Your enemies will NEVER know what you're doing and what you've got because they'll never be able to get into your turf. Set your "iron curtain" constructors on "assisted construction" (make sure you have that ability also) so you can respond quickly with build orders if you get overwhelmed (i.e. more hangar defense and more beam defense). Basically you'll spend more money and resources to pump stuff out almost instantaneously (if you've got the money).

The coup-de-gras of this is leaving a support cruiser stationed at all these outposts. Advent have one that gives major buffs to fighters/bombers, as well as uber-shielding (ala Guardian cruiser). You can also use supporting cap. ships if you'd like and add their fighter/bombers to the mix, or even cheap drone carriers. Having frig factories at these locations is also nice to supplement defense and quickly bring back support units that have been lost.

Anyways, just another strat. to play with. As usual, it's more of a turtle strat. But if you can get it done early in the game you can really frustrate your opponents and not have to waste money parring off pirates... because they'll die trying to beat your outer defenses. Just make sure you dont out-grow your perimeter. (i.e. set up shop and then expand beyond it). It's okay to do, but you must look at it as a possible write-off later in the game unless you intend to layer your defenses through mutiple star systems (a bit pricey).

**Ainselie** · 03-02-2008, 10:39 AM

Very interesting write up. Does anyone remember how long it takes for a scout to move across a system for an typical gravity well?

Assuming TEC Hangar v. Vasari Scout and no jump inhibitors, with 100% fighter construction, you need 4 hangars to destroy a scout in about 30 seconds.

**Acreo Aeneas** · 03-02-2008, 11:35 AM

It takes about 1-2 minutes for a scout to move across a typical gravity well.

If you have bomber bombs upgraded to level 2 or 3, they can intercept and destroy 1-2 scouts before they even have a chance to jump...if you have at least 6 bomber squadrons (3 hangers).

They're great for defending far reaching colonies that might not see much more than a few small pirate raiders or the occasional frigate or scout. Otherwise, they best in conjunction with some sort of screen force (be it some frigates stationed there or some gauss platforms).

**Gambit7** · 03-02-2008, 11:54 AM

I was taking them out with 2 hangar defenses and 1 jump inhibitor I believe. Of course, they were fully upgraded - so more fighters and more damage if I remember correctly. I might've had a support cruiser in there also.

Another method is to use drone cruisers, but that takes a hit on your fleet cap. of course. I'd need to play with it some more to get specifics. Regardless, having the fighters/bombers do the dirty work is preffered to frigs. IMO... UNLESS, you've got frigs that steal antimatter (like Advent do), basically preventing the scout from jumping (yet another strat I need to try).

Big problem with this game is they purposely left it vague so we'd have to find out on our own - which I actually like. You can experiment till the cows come home and you'd still not be able to put a definitive answer on any stats or strats.

**Acreo Aeneas** · 03-02-2008, 12:19 PM

It's more realistic that way. I thought of some fleet strategies I've wanted to try out as well as adapted some from the Honor Harrington series of novels I wanted to see if they work or not.

Plus I relate more to the Manties than I do with the Sollies.

**DaBrit** · 03-02-2008, 02:09 PM

I too have found hangar defenses + stationary defenses to be a great method of defense. I was playing a game just last night which was an 8-way FFA with locked teams that was going fairly well for me (it was a huge map with 11 stars, after about 2 or 3 hours I had just about finished colonizing a second star when SINS crashed on me :\) -- I had a pretty large fleet that I was using to move around the map with, and kept a smaller fleet along with about 5 or 6 hangar and a whole bunch of stationary defenses at strategic points. They very effectively made short work of anything that my opponents sent at me.

**NorCalRoach** · 03-03-2008, 02:37 AM

Soooo...what's an effective counter to this strategy?

**DaBrit** · 03-03-2008, 10:24 AM

The TEC LRM frigate has a longer range than any of the stationary defenses, so a wing of those could be effective at taking them down. If the hangar defenses are separate from the stationary defenses, a couple of thought out waypoints could allow a group of ships to get near to them. You could also bring along a lot of anti-strike craft frigates. I think that if there is an enemy fleet at the planet in question it makes life a LOT more difficult, but I would say focus on the fleet first, outside of the stationary defense range, and keep your anti-strikecraft frigates busy dealing with the flies. Once you've taken the teeth out of the enemy fleet, move on to the defenses.

**Steeler** · 03-03-2008, 10:44 AM

Yes, the surest way to lose a "fair" fight in someone else's gravity well is to let your fleet wander into static defense range. Remember that the deeper you are into the well, the slower your retreat will be. Neutralize the enemy fleet first, using flak or other anti-fighter resources to mind the hangar defense squadrons, and then cut a path to the hangars when you have space superiority.

**Gambit7** · 03-03-2008, 11:16 AM

Originally Posted by NorCalRoach

Soooo...what's an effective counter to this strategy?

Well... for scouting, there really is none unless you micromanage. Send more then 1 scout at a time into the grav. well or perhaps pair them up with a frigate escort and MAYBE at least 1 will survive (if the scout has to wait for the frigate to jump though it might be tough), if the defenses concentrate on the frigate though it should work. Other stuff that would help a bit is abilities that give you advanced intel, like seeing fleet movements 2+ jumps away... to make up for the lack of intel.

Obviously, pouring a small fleet into an area bristling with hangar defense and beams is the best way to deal with it... but you gotta be methodical and micromanage as the above posts say. If the planet has support cruisers there along with the hangars and beams then you've gotta make sure you take them out also, probably before everything else... that means you need to have a big enough fleet to take a pounding for a while.

**Steeler** · 03-03-2008, 01:16 PM

If the gravity well has overlapping repair stations as well, then the only way to crack that nut is with a primary invasion fleet.

**DaBrit** · 03-03-2008, 01:31 PM

Alternatively, you could attempt to bypass the planet altogether, though you would probably lose a few ships to the hangars. Maybe you could take your main fleet, along with a secondary fleet of cheap frigs, and send the frigs at the defenses while the rest of your fleet tries to get deeper into the hopefully less well defended enemy space. I know I try to amass defenses at strategic points, while leaving my back planets relatively undefended. I figure that as soon as someone makes this strategy work, I'll stop doing that, but I've never seen anybody even try it.

**Steeler** · 03-03-2008, 01:40 PM

Well, if you're up against someone with a both an assault fleet and a strong and mobile defensive fleet, trying to bypass his initial defenses will put you deep in his home turf with a long fighting retreat back to your undefended planets if he's able to launch a counterstrike. In general, you should avoid taking losses unless they net you a return gain. Why waste ships trying to bypass a planet when you can simply assault it?

**Acreo Aeneas** · 03-04-2008, 05:58 PM

You could always try a distract and assault maneuver. Where you task a small force to attack one of their nearby planets (sizable enough to warrant serious attention) and then bring in some high-end pounders to knock out their defenses.

That way, you'd only really have to deal with defenses.

**BeSiege82** · 03-08-2008, 02:23 PM

Well, since no one has said this yet, you can use the TEC's long range planetary bombardment weapon. Using this weapon can cause any of the construction structures and maybe the repair bases to go off line.

This is just something I was wondering about, but does the advent have the largest fighter defense bay capacity?