Overview
A task force (TF) is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity.The Concept for this is simple but once you understand the Fleet logic in the game it becomes more versatile and efficient. By using a Task force structure and keeping your subbordinates contained within their specific roles the power they project becomes much more lethal for less resource cost and will open up the use of cheaper faction fitted pre player warf and shipyard use with end game result.You fit and build around a specific task instead of all around-er builds to tackle anything. Your fleet becomes a living working unit able to counter anything the xenon will ever throw at you.*** UPDATE 7/2/21 *** Took a bit for me to get back into this now with TER avail. Most is still legitimate if anything my fleets are now extra OP. I have a small Faction fit 4x Behemoth 1x Colossus plus intercept and supply holding back Company Regard Gate. I lost 3 fighters in 3 days time. — SF (security forces) These guys are more important now as there are places that Khk likes to harass almost constant. I’ve been using 4x Cerberus and 4x Minotaur Sentinels Flaks for turrets and Boson Lance for mains per. I haven’t seen the Cerberus deploy drones but the Khk get melted anyways. Corvettes would make the Ideal SF just because they respond faster but not a priority. — Patrol Command With Khk i have got some limited use out of this. In large areas I have alot of Miners and trade ships they do nice additional threat reduction paired with SF”s. — Boarding. Mostly the same but the ability to mass send marines back to ships is a godsend. I did find Heavy swarm missiles in my starter Gorgon was perfect for fire forget removal of Ship turrets and engines. Also does enough damage to lower shields and hull. This is paired with 5x Demeter vans until i have about 90 Veterans to cap a rattlesnake then you have a perfect boarding ship. I will test some Boarding Fleets for automation — I will either add an industry guide or create one separate soon (this playthru im getting a good feel for whats changed) I will give this one hint. Not suprising but if you set Strategic cheap solar plants near both TER entrances you will farm both REP and money pretty nice. The Sol System has a lot of wares thats saturated but energy is in more demand. Near the Southern TER map Just out of Sol system the Sunlight is 133% and another station in Getsu Fune is all thats needed to kickstart that areas rep. The further from Earth in Sol the lower the Sunlight in sector. Making a Solar plant viable which is kinda cool.
The Task Force
A task force (TF) is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity.
The Concept for this is simple but once you understand the Fleet logic in the game it becomes more versatile and efficient. By using a Task force structure and keeping your subbordinates contained within their specific roles the power they project becomes much more lethal for less resource cost and will open up the use of cheaper faction fitted pre player warf and shipyard use with end game result.
You fit and build around a specific task instead of all arounder builds to tackle anything. Your fleet becomes a living working unit able to counter anything the xenon will ever throw at you.
In Game Fleet Roles Explained
lets break down the in game fleet roles (attack, Defend, intercept, trade for commander, and Supply fleet):
Attack = Any entity set to attack for commander will only engage a target that the commander is attacking.
Defend = Any entity set to Defend for commander will only engage a target that has attacked the Commander. will not attack otherwise.
Intercept = Any entity Set to Intercept will engage all S and M Enemy within the Commanders Radar range and disengage if they exit it. If the commander is on the move they will run interference and disengage or kill the threats (sometimes they get stupid and fight it out rareish) * Im not sure if a modified radar range will extend intercept range if so that makes that mod an amazing add for a Carrier.
Trade = Any entity set to trade for commander will restock the commander (used to supply fleet supply ships so they can stay in sector) this will keep your fleet running with no losses if the fleet is setup for the task.
Supply Fleet = This will supply and repair all ships under it parrent commander. (Supply ships only)
Specific roles i use with an example fleet to guard a gate and able to catch 95% of what comes thru (it uses all of the above). When you order the Comander to do something its subs will go to work doing their jobs
think of the commander as the brain and all the subs as tenticles or arms of that brain.
Example Fleets and how to use game mechanics
TF Riposte – Basic Gate guard Early game
Colossus Sentinel – Only all rounder I make in case it hits the fan. L turrets Plas and M turrets Flack this is your commander
Attack Arm: no fighters here because they will take losses if fighting xenon Ks and Stations. we want to hit hard and absolute.
4 x Behemoth van or oddy van all with plasma fastest engine avail. Rattlesnakes later for speed when you can do elite fleets
Defence Arm: (these guys are there to only respond to threats to commander.
4 x Behemoth Sent all plasma no need for vanguard speed it stays close to commander so sentinel tank.
10x Torp fighters (option)
Intercept Arm: Only job is to clear all S and M in range then re dock or repair
10 x Perseus Van they get a bolt and a ion these guys are fastest they catch your fast movers and kill its shields fast
10 x Nodan Sent i give these guys 2 shards they are fast and they have high manuver ties up fighters for ares if they dont shred em
10 x Ares/eclipse armed for fighter killing but give 2-3 plas slowest but if the first two sets of fighters are still on a target they will kill
**Update Aug 3rd 2020** Ive found Pegasus Van x5 with mass drivers will pull things out of warp really nice for your other ships to pounce. I wanted to use those fast missles forthis but its buggy.
Main mistake with S or M is using them for attack or defend they will take losses. Second mistake is using only slow beefy fighters. if you tier them by speed you get fast fighters that will catch almost anything medium fighters to back up the 1st wave and areas slow knockout punch for resilient M ships or when a furball of S and M jump in. also they spread a little so they cover more of the field when changing targets * id love to keep 5 pegassus vans with disruptor missles to pull ships out of warp but i dont think thats working right.
Supply ship: fleet resupply Monitor in groups work really well but for cheap i use (you could also make dedicated supply fleets )
1 x Nomad Sent holds alot parts later i use 3 x monitors for raptor fleets
4 x Cormarants as trade ships they are somewhat beefy not too slow has more teeth (feels like military supply)
Example of how this plays out at the gate: OOS (in sector you just need mor destroyers for those nasty ks)
commander is set to protect 40km in front of gate.
2 ks jump in with multiple S M subordinates
immediately your cv starts launching fighters they arrive before all the enemy gets through the gate and melt fighters fast.
meanwhile your attack destroyers are headed into the fray with commander slower but behind
enemy fighters are toast and yours are returning to cv and repairing if needed.
1st k is getting focus fired by attack arm.
2nd k slips past unchallenged and pings the commander drawing the attention to defense arm
behemoths are already in range and immediately attack
torp fighters launch and nuke the attacker
if 1st k still up comander gets closer if takes a hit all behemoths go in and torps.
this example is a basic gate gaurd setup geting what would seem like a pretty lopsided attack on it but handling it like a machine.
another senario is stupid fast fighters and miners comming in gate to get to traders or your pickle factory with only a dock up. Your pure interceptors will catch them most the time. also the pesky miners.
If i plan to take a sector from Xenon i block its gates with gate gaurd fleets then i have a dedicated 10 Attack Destroyer with Carrier intercept / supply support kill stations and capitals. I can que up targets and they will do it repair as needed and that sector is cut off from the response Ks that will jump in.
you could in theory build a bomber wing with several supply ships to cover missile restock launch bombers from a sector away by individually selecting them after attack they will leave to sector with sup ships to rearm repair
M ships make great escorts for Universal Traders 2 minnator sentinels and 2 osprey drone ships set to defend it they are ok in intercept role but then you have the M pad to deal with on carrier. I use em as heavy hitting interceptors on the raptor it has a good amount of pads.
i usually name fleets based on capabilities
TF Buckler, TF Riposte, TF Parry = Cheaper Gate plugs
DG Hammer, DG mallet, DG mace = These are offensive destroyer groups with like 10 destroyers and a small cv can gaurd gates
BG Hellfire, BG Storm = Bomber Groups
QRF Dragon, QRF Knight = Quick reaction Force fast corrvetts and similar speed fighters no support just ment to react to un expected and travel several sectors fast then leave after clearing incursion. Like those S M ships attacking a station you are building and sector owner is asleep at the wheel. They clear gates faster if you select all the ships and either fly to, attack, or attack all in range.
adding TF for example groups them in list and the name after lets you keep in mind oh yeah TF Ragnarok is holding back Family kitt
Example Beginner Fleets
SF – Security Forces
QRF – Quick Reaction Forces
My first wing – Basically what ever i can afford early on
I use these early Fleets all the way up to the end. Especially the QRF as they become a security force that also has the temporary role of QRF.
SF – Security Force
SF Taurus, SF Scorpio
Example: 8 x Nemesis Sentinels Plasma with flak turrets
All set to attack with the lead ship. They are set to patrol 40km around a station. I do not assign them to the station as then they try to poorly protect traders and miners. Instead set to default protect position they keep those loose Xenon S,Ms at bay without loses. in early game you dont have the funds to lock down the gates with raptor fleets mabye not even the rep for capitals. So these guys prevent the loose xenon fighters from harrassing stations or any area of interest like a roid field.
They dont need to be fast sorta tanky hard hitting light duty no supply so monitor your plots for Xenon capitals you will be dealing with them in person till you can get gate guards up.
QRF – Quick Reaction Force
QRF Basilisk, QRF Dragon
Example: 12 x Dragon Raiders Combat mk4 Plasma with flaks
Same simple all set to attack for comand/lead ship. These guys need to be fast so i use raiders. I also have them by default spread through out my empire like if i have 4 QRFs i have each at positions gaurding positions of interest like my cluster of stations at Nopelios Fortune and company regard. When something on map in lets say inanamus zura has 20 s, m fighters harrasing the trade station I can select the QRF closest and tell them to attack area. Alternatively you can target the one K with an attack command then area attack. After they are done they will return to thier default behavior of protect position. They will also arrive on target faster if you select all the ships since they wont wait to group up at every gate but then they will be spread more initially when they arrive.
Fast hard hitting. These guys like security forces are fairly light duty and dont have a sluggish logistics trail. They work well for those minor few ships that escape your gate camp fleets.
You can use any of the ships to fill these roles even novas. Early on they are good temporary stop gaps for issues you are not ready to put a Task force in for.
if you want to get fancy you can attach some fast light fighters set to intercept to your SF and QRF but i dont think its really needed and i like to personally keep it simple for these guys.
My First WIng
These could be 5-10 x Novas with mk 1 bolt and mk 1 plasma
Early on when you have one destroyer you nabbed via piracy or the derelict oddy in faulty logic you may need some fighters for swarms of s, m that may overwhelm you while farming rep in ZYA areas or taking on the Ks one by one harrasing Inanumus Zura. I keep them docked to protect them then manually select when my anti fighter turrets are overwhelmed. and attack area around my Behemoth. then have em dock. they have saved me more than once when my engines were taken out and my turrets were going down. Keeping defense drones is also good if you need something to distract with. they are easily replaced and better than repair drones if you keep a crew on your destroyers. I phase these out as the game progresses as my qrfs can be wherever im at in no time and i have TF bottling in the xenon.
AVAST! Ye Scallywag, Unhand your coin purse! (First Boarding OP)
This is my first setup and i usually try to aim for getting this set up after i have a good spread of auto miners making me income and some personal crystal mining in Faulty logic.
Personal ship i fly
1 x M ship that has some good burst damage for taking out elements on big ships Police
scanner for sure Marines on board you can use a fighter too but has less marines
4 – 5 x M Transports No frills cheap just have marines on board
These guys wont see combat
(Optional) 3-4 Novas mk 1 ions and mk 1 bolters
They are completely unnessasary but can be used to harrass target keep shields down
and cause enemy crew to jump ship without destroying target
Ok so you best bet is to stage all these ships in nopileos fortune as there is alot of traffic and the perfect ambush site. I zoom out to see most area using object list i usually drop some satelites so i can monitor the entire area around gates. This will show me all ships passing through. Ideally a sca behemoth is a good 1st target low crew easy to disable good sale of parts and hull.
You will lose alot of marines because they are all below 1 star but you should have more than target to overwhelm the defenders. those that survive you keep for next op.
1st Scan target – Its not a hostile action.
2nd if a good target – based on low marine count (info screen will show now) then disable engines. and if you can manage it personally take out its turrets and drones.
3rd its disabled prepare for op – they are repairing so keep an eye on engines and turret repairs also laser towers or defense drones. You want to take all your ships (the transports and optional novas) and have them set to defend you. this will make them part of your op when you tell it to go. BE SURE THEY HAVE NO ORDERS LIKE WAIT FOR SIGNAL, ATTACK ETC,
4th keep monitoring repairs and set up op screen– Now you want to target the victim and press f (not on map) and select “board” because you took out the turrets you can feel free to choose the most dangerous options it wont effect the fight on board and makes it run smoother. Use the slider to select all you marines then go!
5th The dance – One you let the op start your marines will not launch till hull and shield is down i think its 75% if you chose the riskiest option. you want to keep the laser towers dead so they dont pop your marines pods also turrets. if you put flak or bolts on your transports they will help take down the hull also your novas will be working on disabling and lowering hull. You can always monitor the op by selecting board from menu again.
6th My Marines launched hull is low why wont they start to board? – The main reason i found is one of my transports decided to do an attack command before board command so check to see if there is a qued command. if you delete the attack or wait for signal it will launch. Basically all pods need to launch and land on the target. If a pod dies in transit it wont stop it but thats like 5 marines. in the rare event you have a pod thats hung up on another ship or glitch stuck you best bet is try to ram it out of stuck or last resort shoot it so op can start.
Those optional novas 1 -2 set to attack the target will keep shields down and cause crew to jump ship but shouldnt be damaging enough to kill hulll. you just want to slap it around the whole op to cause crew to jump ship making your marines take less casualties and op end faster
You will lose a bunch of marines.
another good target investment is a L sized frieghter if you have enough marines for it those things hold enough marines alone for your future ops. call it USS Paris Island or USS Devildog lol. its good to have so you can load all your experienced marines back on board without fussing with multiple transports. its also beefy enough to take some hits when you get that suprise turret fire.
Use the experience you gain doing this easier op for when that FRF rattlesnake shows up you will need like 100 marines cause its got alot of veteran marines on board. also you will be better at popping turrets and it has a bunch.
once you have a Rattlesnake you can use its 92 possible marines to take on almost anything even with newb marines. But have a l frieghter for that and you are set. Manually kill all turrets engines and launch pods. Profffffiiittts.
Dont forget to sell all the components separate.
if you are lucky the cap ship might have mk 3 thrusters down grade for millions sell its main batteries for millions sell all its stuff and you can make a good chunk off one op.
Lastly my target notes
L miners – not good targets you will lose rep they arent worth much dont have expensive add ons blow up easy when in hull Just not worth the effort
L Frieghters and construction ships– outside of repurposed baracks ship they are meh dont sell that great can hold alot of marines so you will need alot. i guess if you want them for your empire then ok
Destroyers – The hull sells for scraps the real money is in the main guns and all the options also no rep hit if you hunt sca Selling all those mines and mk 2 towers ads up or build a pirated fleet. I usually sell and reinvest in my stations.
I will add a good automated fleet for this once i test some setups. (a basic select the enemy scan then board and they will do all the work while you kick back with some space rum like a pirate lord)