Difference between revisions of "A new teams guide to defenses"

Revision as of 14:50, 10 June 2020

Before I get into what it takes to establish a Wild Space presence in Star Sonata, I must stress what a team needs to be prior to committing to an attempt at getting into Wild Space.

A team needs to have or be willing to obtain knowledge of the game, its members must willingly coordinate and cooperate with each other, and the team as a whole needs to have leadership willing to push a direction at the expense of other choices.

Without those three points, any team intending to make a presence in Wild Space will either fail spectacularly or its members will lose interest.

Why does a team want to reach Wild Space anyways? Why can’t they base their entire operations in Earthforce and go raiding elsewhere? What benefits does having a Wild Space presence bring to the table? These things and the steps to making a Wild Space presence a reality are covered in this guide.

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Why go to Wild Space

For starters, the benefits of establishing a Wild Space presence can be summed up by three phrases:

Expense Efficiency, Team Visibility, and Massive Income.

Expense Efficiency is pretty easy to understand. The cost to outsource a project is usually greater than building it in house, since the outsourcing involves a separate third party who will charge for their materials, labor, and overhead being used to create your product.

The charge can vary, but since they are using their resources and won’t be able to use their construction, the cost can be pretty high for what could be a very cheap build. An example is Module Commodities, which frequently run run for 10 billion credits per when the actual build is under half. Having to buy these things adds up fast. Ideally you want to produce them.

Team Visibility is likewise simple to understand. An invisible team without any obvious presence in the game is a team that has a hard time recruiting new members, finding allies, and disregarding propaganda. Considering having a Wild Space presence is a very important aspect of a team, not having one can be a death blow to morale as insults and pressure add up.

Wild Space, if developed, is a massive source of wealth for a team. The raw credit production of a series of galaxies is easily double, if not triple, the very best raw credit income sources available elsewhere in the game, and is normally an automatic process. Eventually your members have to sleep, go to school or go to work, and having this income perpetuates your team’s ability to progress upward in the game.

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Character Preparations

With that philosophy out of the way, let’s get down to the nitty gritty. What should a team do to prepare for Wild Space?

Each account by default has five character slots, and between those five characters, there are 150 maximum total base slots, 250 total bot slots, and 250 total permanent drone slots.

Each character can have a maximum of 50 of each.

Ideally every member should have a primary character and at least two alternative characters that are capable of deploying stations, drones, and trade bots. The two alternative characters do not have to be full power level, so getting them to Tech 20 and leaving them there is completely acceptable.

The primary character should have a dedicated super hauler and a secondary heavy hauling ship with an engine. The super hauler is generally a Thatch or a Singularity Sphere set up to tractor its way across the universe. It is highly recommended to shell out for Brake items (eg. Singularity Brake) and the team is very wise to invest in these items for its members.

Members should also have a dedicated fast scout ship for the purpose of scouting during universe reset times. Speed Demons may skip this as their combat ship is generally a capable scout.

Station, Drone, and Trade Bots slots are determined by Station Management, Station Research, Drone Deployment, Drone Research, Remote Control, and Bot Research skills.

The slot formula is: (SM+SR)x2 = Station Slots Stations on their tooltip will tell you how many slots they use, but for most stations, the roman numeral on them is the slots they take up.

(DD+DR)x2 = Drone Slots Permanent drones follow the same slot usage concept as stations, though there is no obvious way to check without knowing the tech of the drone corresponding to the slots being used.

(RC+BR)x2 = Trade Bot slots Unlike combat bots which are limited by an anti-swarm mechanic, all trade bots (with except of tech 0 ships who then use tech 1 ship slots) use up their tech level in slots.

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Stations:

Higher tech stations are more powerful and can be equipped with higher tech base gear and base items.

A brief overview for both is as followed:

Base Gear is the gear stations use, like Shields, Energies, and Overloaders. By default stations are not equipped with an Overloader, Exterminator, and any weapon beyond the base laser weapon.

Base items are non-combat items. They are generally restricted to the base category in the station’s inventory, like factories, resource extractors, and station extensions. Station kits are also put in this category though obviously they can’t be used while inside another station.

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Pulse Guns and Mag Cannons:

All stations naturally come with a laser. The laser is ethereal, does low damage (high damage to a player, but low to another station), and station bound. You can unequip it, though.

Mag Cannons are long range projectile weapons with decently high damage, but comparatively low total DPS. They are ineffective against bases.

Pulse Guns deal extreme damage but have extremely low range.

There are specialty station weapons like the Station Big Cannon (a Mag Cannon), the Primal Fury (a Pulse Gun), and the Vervaardiger 'Berhinger IV' EX-Z (a Laser), but they are specialty items and not 100% needed.

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Base Overloaders:

Base Overloaders work exactly like Ship Overloaders, and this is a brief breakdown of their stats:

Adonis OL: Designed for offensive bases and trades potential HPS for more of it. Nice blend of stats and works well with crit augmenters. Argonaut OL: Designed for super sustained, if below average, HPS. Good for low tech healers. Ambrosia OL: Rate of Fire boost including a minor Transference boost. Good for general purpose DPS or HPS. Andaman OL: Minor damage boost, rate of fire reduction (canceling them both out) and a significant Range boot. Achilles OL: Big Transference boost, some rate of fire penalty. Designed for HPS bases. Annihilator OL: Big Rate of Fire Boost along with a minor amount of extra Range. If you can use this for DPS bases, use it.

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Exterminators:

Exterminators are not a must have for bases, but drastically cut down on the time Core Dumps, a general term for damaging station parasites, exist on your bases. They cost a lot of Promethium to build, but the time reduction is worth it because Core Dumps reduce the station’s damage and recovery while they are on the station, as well as last an hour if left unchecked by an exterminator.

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Overchargers:

Overchargers are a kind of power up ability item that stays on until the station leaves combat. The three types are named (shortened) Plasma, Volatile, and Harmonic, corresponding to extra damage, extra range (for projectile weapons), and extra healing. They are not 100% needed in small scale fights, but they can swing a battle in your favor. Overchargers take a huge amount of energy to start up which may affect lower end stations.

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Station Kits:

Higher tech stations are generally more powerful than lower tech stations until Demented and Adamantium Stations start being fielded, then lower tech Dem and Ada kits outgun higher tech lower quality stations.

The generalization is this:

Normal Stations are 4 augs. Demented Stations are 5 augs. Adamantium Stations are 6 augs.

Normal stations include Station Kits, Fortified Kits, Laconia Kits, Paxian Spacebases, Faranji Stations, Bule Stations, and Vazaha Pulse Stations.

Demented stations include Demented Kits and Kikale Mzungu Kituos.

Adamantium stations include Adamantium Kits, Twisted Kits, and UrQa Kasa kits (Bana Kits).

Most of these stations are not usable for the average team by virtue of being hard to obtain in sufficient quantities needed to support a team presence in Wild Space. Instead, teams should focus on mass produce-able station kits.

These mass produced stations are: Laconia, Demented, and Adamantium Stations.

Laconia stations are generally used for cheap defenses, since they are the most powerful type of 4-aug stations. Laconia stations are often used for interior defense and early perimeter defense for smaller teams. They should ultimately be considered expendable, but Laconia stations will generally shut down PvB.

Demented stations are a mid power station. They can be used for both interior and exterior defense, as they require significant firepower to knock down. Demented stations with Y and Z gear are equivalent to the same tech Adamantium stations with X gear/Adamantium gear.

Adamantium stations are the top of the line power stations and a significant threat on the battlefield. They usually represent a team’s relative power. A team with Adamantium stations are generally left alone.

A general note is that a higher tech, but lower tier station, can outgun an equivalent lower tech, higher tier station, but the higher tier stations offer greater flexibility so while each component may be stronger, the combined sum of the parts means higher tier stations (Demented, Adamantium) are prefered over mass quantities of the lower end stations.

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Obtaining the material to build stations:

This is a big kicker. It’s one thing to have a Wild Space presence. It’s a whole other beast to get there. But it doesn’t have to be expensive. The goal is budget building here. And that means cutting corners while still being pretty big and intimidating, for the small fry your new team is.

A practical list of stuff needed to build these things, assuming no one bothers to trade credits for them in the first place:

Metals - Oh boy do you need a lot of metals. Might as well buy Steel Girders and crack them open.

Titanium Sheets - More metals (also some silicon and nuclear waste).

Laconia Sheets - More metals (I’m sensing a pattern in the Force), and either Laconia or Enriched Nuclear Material, which may be extracted in Wild Space, or created from Nuclear Waste + Promethium.

Dementium - As of right now the Dementium Blueprint is classified as a Tech 20 Blueprint, but with some rather basic diplomacy, most teams will be willing to offer deals and such to have them built. Dementium Fragments start dropping in DF250+ DGs. Dementium itself starts dropping in DF300 DGs.

Adamantium Sheets - 10 Adamantium and a Stabilized Plasma Fusion Core. Lemme explain the Core. For P2p players, there is a mission in Serengeti Blockade that wants a kill of the UrQa Queen, Anaconda, Copper Blob, and Mad Scientist, as well as a Platinum Bar, to unlock the ‘Core’ mission. Having this mission active causes Unstabilized Plasma Fusion Cores to drop from The Serengeti, Omega Battlestations, and about half of the Tech 20 bosses.

1 Unstable Core + 1 Honorary Diploma + 1 Gold Bar = 1 Stabilized Core.

1 Stabilized Core + 5 Laconia Sheets + 10 Adamantium + Metals = 1 Adamantium Sheet.

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Station Augmenter Setups:

The augmenter setups for stations are generally a coveted team secret for whatever team the station happens to be owned by.

Sneaky players are able use an Armada Base Scanner to scan stations of other teams, though keep in mind the scanner counts as a hostile move even if it doesn’t put a base alarm message into the team’s team chat. All stations that can see and shoot you will try to kill you, but this can be a very effective way to find out what setups are being used. Just use a relatively unknown character or a character that lacks drones and bases, like a Merchant Fleet Master, to conduct this ‘research’ into base augmenter setups.

Offensive stations come in two to three primary types, and their augmenter setups reflect it. The first type is the damage, or DPS, station. The second type is the heal, or HPS, station. The third type is the Superlaser station. A fourth type, using a Depot kit, can also be found, but for a lower end team Depot kits are probably not going to be used.

For a new team that is just trying to make their way into Wild Space with a limited budget, it is recommended to go cheap and be ready to give up territory as needed, but have enough defenses to ward away people thinking you are an easy target.

This guide was written in a DPS meta, which means DPS bases and strategies are favored over HPS bases and strategies. HPS bases are certainly worth their weight in gold, but not at the expense of DPS bases. There is no winning strategy that favors more HPS than DPS at the moment.

These are some real player used station aug setups, oriented towards newer teams who are budget building. As such, these setups are not intended for full endgame T20 Ada kits, but rather for Dem T20, Lac T20, Ada T18/Bana, Dem T18, Laconia T18, Ada T16, and Dem T16 stations.

DPS setups:

2 Range, 3 Damage, 1 Cara This setup is a long range Pulse Gun setup, recommended for T18 Adamantium Stations. It is supposed to use Achilles Pulse Guns and will have between 9000 and 9500 range with them after factoring in the Overcharger.

2 Range, 2 Damage, 1 Firing, 1 Zebra/Monkey This is another long range Pulse Gun setup, for those that don’t like Subspace Base augs. Intended for Adamantium Stations.

2 Tiger, 2 Bear, 1 Leopard, 1 Monkey This is a cheap close range Pulse Gun kit setup for destroying bases while retaining some defenses. It is intended for Adamantium Stations.

2 Tiger, Assault, 2 Range, Monkey This is a slightly downgraded version of the 2 Lion, Assault Z, 2 Range, Zebra setup. It is a long range pulse setup, though the two range augs can be destroyed on site to equip damage augs for close range battle. It is cheaper to blow augs than blowing the whole galaxy.

2 Range, 2 Damage, 1 Cara This is a slightly downgraded version from the above setup and intended to be used for Dem T18 stations.

4 Damage, 1 Cara This is meant to be a massive close range DPS build for destroying players and demolishing bases that are trying to get up close. It can be used to help support longer range pulse kits. It may use a Mag Cannon to help apply pressure at range.

Tiger, Leopard, Range, Monkey This is meant to be a multi-purpose mid range DPS setup for Laconia kits.

HPS setups:

2 Elephant, 2 Assault, Technician HPS setups rarely need a range aug because they’re generally close to other defense bases. This particular setup for example has 4000 range with Achilles Shield Transference, which can be doubled to 8000 with the specific Overcharger.

2 Damage, 2 Assault, 2 Dhatri This setup is not 100% stable with an Achilles Shield Transference with Achilles X gear, but provides massive HPS at relatively low costs. It is intended to be used with an Argonaut OL. Prioritize Achilles Y and Z or drop down to Andaman Shield Transference.

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Superlasers:

Superlasers are special kind of Base Laser that impart a +Transference Resist effect on its target, making it harder for the target’s allies to heal it. They are not particularly useful in very small battles with limited HPS, because more DPS will nullify the benefit of the Superlaser easily.

On medium to large battlefields, a Superlaser is very useful for cutting down healing to the target.

Generally speaking, a Superlaser base is a typical DPS base with all of its primary DPS weapons unequipped and the Superlaser equipped.

Superlasers all require Infinite Knowledge skill to equip.

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Permanent Drones:

Permanent Drones, or Perma Drones, are Drones with a lifespan of ‘Unlimited’. They are much stronger than typical Temporary Drones a player (Engineer) will deploy and are intended to support Player Squads in defense of their stations.

Perma Drones are generally equal to players, except they have much higher shield banks because they are almost always static, either unattached in one place, or attached to a planet or moon on a set orbital path.

Perma Drones hold no candle to stations. Expect them to die very fast to a station’s pulse gun stream.

For the most part, Perma Drones used in defense come in three different types:

1. Offensive Drones: These drones do damage to enemy players.

2. Healing Drones: These drones heal allied players.

3. Grem Drones: These drones disrupt enemy player movement with grems.

Perma Drones normally come unaugged and may be augged by players. Teammates can aug other teammates’ drones.

Because this guide is aimed at newer players, advanced perma drone setups, namely those of Warpastic and Nihilite Drones, are skipped in favor of explaining how the team’s drone strategy would work.

A newer team would deploy normal station drones (eg Adonis Drone, Ambrosia Drone) initially to help secure a location from AI. The team may also deploy minor DPS drones as well. It is recommended to not waste augmenters augging them. Instead, the team should be prioritizing Y and Z station gear, Industrial Drones, and Fusion Extractors.

Industrial Drones are Adonis-Annihilator Platform, Defender, and Assault Drones. Platforms are stationary DPS drones with a laser and a pulse gun. Defenders are stationary healing drones. Assault Drones are short ranged (half that of the equivalent Platform) Mobile drones.

A mixture of Ambrosia, Andaman, Achilles, and Annihilator Platforms would be ideal to help defend the galaxy, with an emphasis on the higher tech Defenders.

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Trade Bots:

Generally, the slot layout means the first three characters of an account are building characters and the remaining two are Merchant Fleet Masters for very good trade bots. Accounts should still strive to maximize trade bot usage on all five characters, but priority should be given to Merchant Fleet Masters over Non-MFMs.

Ideally a team should be looking to have mostly hauling bot characters mixed with a splattering of specialized bots for Industrial Commodity transport, feeding/fueling bots, and mining bots.

Industrial Freighters such as the Leviathan, Behemoth, and Dark Frieghter are commonly used for hauling. Aug them for capacity, speed, and thrust.

Light Fighters such as Space Blue Prototypes and Helgas for mining. Speed is priority here for augs.

Light Fighters such as Hotrods and Zebucarts for Industrial Commodity transport. Thrust and Turning is priority here for augs.