Space Master, Direct Weapons and Missiles

Player Questions
1

My first question is: can I use SpaceMaster to look at NPR AI races? Because when I Googled it, it said that I could toggle another race in the race window to see their ships and units.

My second question is: are direct-fire weapons useless? Because I have an AI enemy that launches size-12 missiles from far away, with a lot of decoys, and infinite size-1 missiles when I get close. It’s impossible to get into range to attack with lasers, no matter how much PD I put on my ships. The size-12 missiles move at 32 km/s, and the size-1 missiles move at 77 km/s. My maximum tracking speed with turrets is 25 km/s. My X-ray lasers have a range of 384,000 km.

The principal problem is the infinite-size 1 missiles; the size 12 I can overcome with enough Gauss turrets. My tech is 40km range with 4 shots per Gauss.

2

  1. Since Google has embraced AI its answers on most things Aurora should be treated as suspect. I recommend always going to the official wiki first for answers or here. If you are being hit early in the game you are likely being attacked by a certain spoiler race. These aren’t NPRs in the traditional sense.

  2. If the missiles are closing at 32 km/s how far out are you detecting them? Since checks are happening at 5 second intervals your detection range to build bonus vs missiles matters a lot. To gain the full tracking bonus for the 45 second tech you’d need to be detecting the missiles at a range of around 1.44 million km. Personally I prefer Gauss for my PD needs rather than lasers since you get more bites at the apple per HS.

Addendum:

The size 1 missiles are probably just Anti Missile Missiles or Decoys, I wouldn’t pay them much mind when it comes to your attack. Even if they are warheads your ships should have enough armor to be able to deal with them.

3

I can’t speak to seeing NPC races. As far as I know you cannot peek at them even in SpaceMaster mode.

Regarding missile defense:

No, direct-fire weapons are not useless overall, just like missiles aren’t useless overall. That missile-spewing enemy will run out of missiles eventually and then your direct fire weapons will make their missiles (that are already gone) look useless.

You are likely running into small anti-missile missiles that do 1 damage per hit. Because they are small AMMs, they are likely to be very susceptible to electronic counter-measures. If you research a few levels of Missile Jammers and equip your ship with them, you’ll probably find that the AMMs don’t hit nearly as often as they currently do and aren’t much of a threat.

Another approach is to use some amount of shields on your ship, and move in range, tank a few volleys, and then move back to recharge your shields

A third approach is to build ships with heavier armor, ignore the AMMs and charge straight in.

A fourth approach is to use a tiny (say 50 ton) fighter with a small active sensor tuned for detecting missiles (smallest resolution possible) and put that out in front of your main fleet, so you can see the incoming missiles for longer. You get a bonus to to-hit chance the longer you track a missile. That bonus is capped at a certain duration, like 45s for one level of the tech, and can be raised with additional research.

4

I use Gauss as PD: 40,000 km range and 4 shots per Gauss. The size-1 missiles are more dangerous than the size-12 missiles. They launch so many that the text goes off the screen, and I can’t even tell how many they are launching. The lasers are anti-ship weapons.

I can detect the missiles to get the 24% tracking bonus. The problem is the size-1 missiles: they launch them at close range, so the detection bonus is useless, and they launch an enormous amount of them.

I can detect the missile to get the 24% bonus for tracking. The problem is the size 1 missiles; they launch them at close range when I approach to attack with the lasers, so the bonus for detecting them is useless, and they launch an enormous number.

5

The problem is the size-1 missiles. I can deal with the size-12 missiles, but the issue is the absurd number of size-1 missiles. I can’t even see the number because the text goes off the screen, and they launch them at close range, so the only way to defend against them is with Gauss. I also have level 4 missile, direct-fire, and sensor jammer tech.

I have 8 layers of armor plus a shield, and still I get shredded by the hundreds or even thousands of missiles they shoot per volley. For example, the size 12 missiles are shot in volleys of 130 to 150 per attack. The size 1 i cant tell because there are too many.

6

Are the Size 12 missiles acting as busses for the Size 1 missiles? I might consider a fighter screen if you can make 32km/s interceptors.

Can you share your fire control layout and ship design?

7

Ok, approaches 5, 6, 7, and 8:

  1. Fire your own anti-ship missiles at the enemy, which will force them to use their anti-missile missiles to attack your missiles, instead of attacking you with them.
  2. Use decoy launchers on your own ship to absorb lots of the incoming missiles.
  3. Make super fast fighter, as fast as you can. Fly it into range, get missiles launched at you, fly out of range before the missiles can get to you. Repeat.
  4. It’s possible you’re just not bringing enough ships to the fight, and no amount of better design is going to (or should be expected to) overcome a big numerical disadvantage.

Can you share your fleet composition, ship design, and the enemy’s fleet size/tonnage?

8

Angelica Mortis class Destroyer 19,996 tons 619 Crew 5,059.2 BP TCS 400 TH 2,400 EM 1,590
6001 km/s Armour 5-65 Shields 53-331 HTK 126 Sensors 18/18/0/0 DCR 21-10 PPV 128.81
Maint Life 1.21 Years MSP 1,794 AFR 282% IFR 3.9% 1YR 1,260 5YR 18,895 Max Repair 1,200 MSP
Magazine 721 / 0
Lord-Captain Control Rating 3 BRG AUX CIC
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months CDE 40% Morale Check Required

Magnetic Fusion Drive EP2400.00 (1) Power 2400 Fuel Use 11.55% Signature 2400 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 78 billion km (150 days at full power)
Theta S53 / R331 Shields (1) Recharge 331 seconds (0.2 per second)

30cm C6 Soft X-ray Laser (8) Range 384,000km TS 6,250 km/s Power 24-6 ROF 20
Twin Gauss Cannon R400-85.00 Turret (1x8) Range 40,000km TS 25000 km/s Power 0-0 ROF 5
Direct Fire Control R384-TS6250 (1) Range 384,000 km TS 6,250 km/s ECCM-3
Direct Fire Control R40-TS25000 (SW) (1) Range 40,320 km TS 25,000 km/s ECCM-3
Tokamak Fusion Reactor R49 (1) Total Power Output 49.1 Exp 5%

Size 6.00 Missile Launcher (30.0% Reduction) (20) Missile Size: 6 ROF 590
Missile Fire Control FC133-R100 (2) Range 133.3m km RES 100 ECCM-3
Condor Anti-Ship Missile (120) Speed 45,500 km/s Range 130.2m km WH 9 Size 6 TH: 6,825 / 13,650 / 27,300

Active Search Sensor AS32-R1 (1) GPS 180 Range 32.1m km MCR 2.9m km RES 1 ECCM-3
Active Search Sensor AS149-R100 (1) GPS 18000 Range 149.1m km RES 100 ECCM-3
Thermal Sensor TH1.0-18.0 (1) Sensitivity 18 Detect 1000: 33.5m km
EM Sensor EM1.0-18.0 (1) Sensitivity 18 Detect 1000: 33.5m km

Electronic Warfare Jammers: Sensor 4 Fire Control 4 Missile 4

Missile to hit values are target speeds in km/s for 100% / 50% / 25% chance to hit

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Warship for auto-assignment purposes.

This is my basic design. I’ve changed it a few times. In one iteration, I used only Gauss PD; another time, I used AMMs, and neither was enough to overcome the size-1 missile spam. The most effective strategy that worked was using box launchers—around 200 per ship. With that many, I was able to destroy 9 out of the 12 enemy ships. Though I don’t like using that strategy because it feels cheesy.

And this is my command variant with the jump drive.

Angelica Mortis Command class Destroyer 20,000 tons 555 Crew 5,315.4 BP TCS 400 TH 2,400 EM 1,590
6000 km/s JR 6-50 Armour 4-65 Shields 53-331 HTK 96 Sensors 45/45/0/0 DCR 22-11 PPV 61
Maint Life 1.12 Years MSP 2,051 AFR 259% IFR 3.6% 1YR 1,645 5YR 24,675 Max Repair 1,300 MSP
Magazine 721 / 0
Lord-Captain Control Rating 4 BRG AUX CIC FLG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months CDE 40% Morale Check Required

J120000(6-50) Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 120000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 6
Magnetic Fusion Drive EP2400.00 (1) Power 2400 Fuel Use 11.55% Signature 2400 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 77.9 billion km (150 days at full power)
Theta S53 / R331 Shields (1) Recharge 331 seconds (0.2 per second)

Quad Gauss Cannon R400-85.00 Turret (1x16) Range 40,000km TS 25000 km/s Power 0-0 ROF 5
Direct Fire Control R40-TS25000 (SW) (1) Range 40,320 km TS 25,000 km/s ECCM-3

Size 6.00 Missile Launcher (30.0% Reduction) (20) Missile Size: 6 ROF 590
Missile Fire Control FC133-R100 (2) Range 133.3m km RES 100 ECCM-3
Condor Anti-Ship Missile (120) Speed 45,500 km/s Range 130.2m km WH 9 Size 6 TH: 6,825 / 13,650 / 27,300

Active Search Sensor AS45-R1 (1) GPS 360 Range 45.4m km MCR 4.1m km RES 1 ECCM-3
Active Search Sensor AS210-R100 (1) GPS 36000 Range 210.8m km RES 100 ECCM-3
EM Sensor EM2.50-45.00 (1) Sensitivity 45 Detect 1000: 53m km
Thermal Sensor TH2.50-45.00 (1) Sensitivity 45 Detect 1000: 53m km

Electronic Warfare Jammers: Sensor 4 Fire Control 4 Missile 4

Missile to hit values are target speeds in km/s for 100% / 50% / 25% chance to hit

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Warship for auto-assignment purposes

I changed the weapons and defenses of these ships around a few times to see what worked, and the only time I won easily was by using missile spam with box launchers.

9

It might seem like a lot of missiles, but its certainly not infinite. They will eventually run out if you force them to fire faster than they produce them.

10

I will start by saying everyone does ship design differently and there’s nothing outright wrong with your design. The following is my opinions based on my play style. But since you asked for advice on how to defeat this specific challenge.

Your ship is going pretty slow for that level of tech. I’d shoot for at least 8km/s, if not 10 or more. That will make it harder for missiles to hit you, and let you close with the enemy much faster. You’re probably not using much engine boost based on that speed and based on the fact that you have 78B km of range with only 1m liters of fuel. I typically aim for 20 to 30B km of range, and use tankers to refuel if my fleet needs to go further. That means you can go faster and/or have more room for weapons/armor.

The design is pretty heavy on armament and light on armor/shields. I’d personally suggest more like 8 layers of armor and 150 or so points of shield for a ship that size and purpose.

Considering you’re going up against a missile using enemy, you don’t have much missile defense. I’d add at least a one more gauss cannon, maybe 2 more. You could reduce the number of big lasers to offset the mass required.

11

Also, you didn’t say how many of that ship you’re bringing to the party, and how much tonnage the enemy has…

12

I use 10 ships: 2 command ships and 8 regular ships. The enemy has 12 ships of various tonnages, ranging from 10,000 to 26,000 tons.

And I’m not using engine boost, though I’ll try making them faster and see if that works better.

Here is the new design. Let’s see how it goes.

Angelica Mortis class Destroyer 19,999 tons 613 Crew 5,393.6 BP TCS 400 TH 3,600 EM 3,390
9000 km/s Armour 7-65 Shields 113-423 HTK 116 Sensors 18/18/0/0 DCR 21-10 PPV 111.62
Maint Life 1.03 Years MSP 1,913 AFR 282% IFR 3.9% 1YR 1,817 5YR 27,249 Max Repair 1,800 MSP
Magazine 721 / 0
Lord-Captain Control Rating 3 BRG AUX CIC
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months CDE 40% Morale Check Required

Magnetic Fusion Drive EP3600.00 (1) Power 3600.0 Fuel Use 31.82% Signature 3600.00 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 1,080,000 Litres Range 30.5 billion km (39 days at full power)
Theta S113 / R423 Shields (1) Recharge 423 seconds (0.3 per second)

30cm C6 Soft X-ray Laser (5) Range 384,000km TS 9,000 km/s Power 24-6 ROF 20
Twin Gauss Cannon R400-85.00 Turret (2x8) Range 40,000km TS 25000 km/s Power 0-0 ROF 5
Direct Fire Control R384-TS6250 (1) Range 384,000 km TS 6,250 km/s ECCM-3
Direct Fire Control R40-TS25000 (SW) (1) Range 40,320 km TS 25,000 km/s ECCM-3
Tokamak Fusion Reactor R31 (1) Total Power Output 30.7 Exp 5%

Size 6.00 Missile Launcher (30.0% Reduction) (20) Missile Size: 6 ROF 590
Missile Fire Control FC133-R100 (2) Range 133.3m km RES 100 ECCM-3
Condor Anti-Ship Missile (120) Speed 45,500 km/s Range 130.2m km WH 9 Size 6 TH: 6,825 / 13,650 / 27,300

Active Search Sensor AS32-R1 (1) GPS 180 Range 32.1m km MCR 2.9m km RES 1 ECCM-3
Active Search Sensor AS149-R100 (1) GPS 18000 Range 149.1m km RES 100 ECCM-3
Thermal Sensor TH1.0-18.0 (1) Sensitivity 18 Detect 1000: 33.5m km
EM Sensor EM1.0-18.0 (1) Sensitivity 18 Detect 1000: 33.5m km

Electronic Warfare Jammers: Sensor 4 Fire Control 4 Missile 4

Missile to hit values are target speeds in km/s for 100% / 50% / 25% chance to hit

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Warship for auto-assignment purposes

13

If you’ve encountered a race, you can see it in the Intelligence window, that might be what you’re thinking of. I don’t think you can do that before you’ve made contact, even with spacemaster.

14

You can search the NPR designs in the database, if you are really curious of them, using a program like DB Browser.
The information about a NPR class in the Intelligence window it is partial, unless you haven’t captured one ship of that class (or have succeeded in gathering enoigh info about it using ELINT sensors, or from interrogation of prisoners)… nothing of simple. :slight_smile:

15

If you have missile jammer 4, I am surprised that many of the size-1 are hitting you. They are unlikely to have ECCM.

16

I’d also recommend you launch your first volley of anti-ship missiles at the enemy right before they would normally start firing their anti-missile missiles (AMMs) at you. That should suck up 3 to 5 volleys of their AMMs, buying you time to get closer to them before you start getting attacked with the AMMs.

17

They launch 440 missiles every 10 to 15 seconds. The sheer number of missiles at close range is the issue. xD

I’m using this NPR for design testing. I can win easily if I use 200 box launchers per ship and simply overwhelm their PD with a single salvo.

18

How many of the 440 missiles are actually hitting you? With missile jammer 4 installed on your ships, it shouldn’t be that high a percentage.

19

I think this has already been fixed, but I have to say - I see 1 SW Gauss DFC and 2 Gauss turrets.

20

Another thing to check… you can limit how many shots per incoming missile your gauss turrets will take. It’s under the BFC Fire Concentration (Attacks per Inbound) area of the Ship Combat controls, under Point Defense.

By default this is set to 3 shots per missile. This helps avoid wasting MSP from firing lots more shots than needed to defeat incoming fire. However, if your gauss have a relatively low chance of hitting (due to high speed of incoming missiles for AMMS, for example), you might need to bump that up. Try setting it to “Shots Per Target: Unlimited” and see if that helps.