The planet defenses.

[Strongbad]

So you need 63 dreadnaughts or 234 battleships. Seriously devs?

[zarkwizard]

So you need 63 dreadnaughts or 234 battleships. Seriously devs?

Ok that's funny.. As you level up in skills you need a lot less ships. Home worlds are designed to eliminate grunt rushing, something which we saw a lot of in beta. If you have rank 8 skills you might need 15 dreads to take a regular home world size planet. If you get up to planet killers it's a whole other world of damage.

We saw fleets of 800 Cruisers taking out home worlds and capturing them. In the later game things start moving REALLY fast. The universe is young. Right now it's about building your empire to withstand the test of time.

[banjankri]

So you need 63 dreadnaughts or 234 battleships. Seriously devs?

My calculations suggest much lower - what am I doing wrong?

Assuming a fleet of Cruisers (attack value of 11) vs. a 400 Mu population world (defence value 7200, or 14400 in combat.)

Assuming that there are no orbital defences, just the planet.

And assuming that the planet will kill one cruiser each round (which is how it works, I think?)

It should be possible to take a 400 Mu planet with 51 cruisers. The attacking fleet will be reduced to 6 cruisers at the end of the battle.

Note that 50 won't do it. 51 is the magic number.

Are my calculations completely off the mark? I wrote a dumb little script, output follows:

51 ships with an attack value of 561 attacking unit with defence 14400.
50 ships with an attack value of 550 attacking unit with defence 13839.
49 ships with an attack value of 539 attacking unit with defence 13289.
48 ships with an attack value of 528 attacking unit with defence 12750.
47 ships with an attack value of 517 attacking unit with defence 12222.
46 ships with an attack value of 506 attacking unit with defence 11705.
45 ships with an attack value of 495 attacking unit with defence 11199.
44 ships with an attack value of 484 attacking unit with defence 10704.
43 ships with an attack value of 473 attacking unit with defence 10220.
42 ships with an attack value of 462 attacking unit with defence 9747.
41 ships with an attack value of 451 attacking unit with defence 9285.
40 ships with an attack value of 440 attacking unit with defence 8834.
39 ships with an attack value of 429 attacking unit with defence 8394.
38 ships with an attack value of 418 attacking unit with defence 7965.
37 ships with an attack value of 407 attacking unit with defence 7547.
36 ships with an attack value of 396 attacking unit with defence 7140.
35 ships with an attack value of 385 attacking unit with defence 6744.
34 ships with an attack value of 374 attacking unit with defence 6359.
33 ships with an attack value of 363 attacking unit with defence 5985.
32 ships with an attack value of 352 attacking unit with defence 5622.
31 ships with an attack value of 341 attacking unit with defence 5270.
30 ships with an attack value of 330 attacking unit with defence 4929.
29 ships with an attack value of 319 attacking unit with defence 4599.
28 ships with an attack value of 308 attacking unit with defence 4280.
27 ships with an attack value of 297 attacking unit with defence 3972.
26 ships with an attack value of 286 attacking unit with defence 3675.
25 ships with an attack value of 275 attacking unit with defence 3389.
24 ships with an attack value of 264 attacking unit with defence 3114.
23 ships with an attack value of 253 attacking unit with defence 2850.
22 ships with an attack value of 242 attacking unit with defence 2597.
21 ships with an attack value of 231 attacking unit with defence 2355.
20 ships with an attack value of 220 attacking unit with defence 2124.
19 ships with an attack value of 209 attacking unit with defence 1904.
18 ships with an attack value of 198 attacking unit with defence 1695.
17 ships with an attack value of 187 attacking unit with defence 1497.
16 ships with an attack value of 176 attacking unit with defence 1310.
15 ships with an attack value of 165 attacking unit with defence 1134.
14 ships with an attack value of 154 attacking unit with defence 969.
13 ships with an attack value of 143 attacking unit with defence 815.
12 ships with an attack value of 132 attacking unit with defence 672.
11 ships with an attack value of 121 attacking unit with defence 540.
10 ships with an attack value of 110 attacking unit with defence 419.
9 ships with an attack value of 99 attacking unit with defence 309.
8 ships with an attack value of 88 attacking unit with defence 210.
7 ships with an attack value of 77 attacking unit with defence 122.
6 ships with an attack value of 66 attacking unit with defence 45.
Defender destroyed!
 6 attack ships remaining.

[Royce]

And assuming that the planet will kill one cruiser each round (which is how it works, I think?)

No, the planet's attack value will be spread across multiple attacking ships until it has all been used up. So many cruisers would die every round. You need capital ships with high defense to take on a colony, though I think sending smaller ones in as well to draw fire might help depending on how target priority is set.

[banjankri]

No, the planet's attack value will be spread across multiple attacking ships until it has all been used up. So many cruisers would die every round. You need capital ships with high defense to take on a colony, though I think sending smaller ones in as well to draw fire might help depending on how target priority is set.

This makes more sense, but where is this written? In the combat overview it says specifically that

Combat takes place in a series of rounds, during which each ship choses a target before all ships attack simultaneously.

It doesn't say anything about "unused attack points will be allocated to remaining ships." Though I like this idea.

[Royce]

This makes more sense, but where is this written? In the combat overview it says specifically that

It doesn't say anything about "unused attack points will be allocated to remaining ships." Though I like this idea.

Yes I only found out from the forum here. It's been mentioned a few times, including in this thread: http://www.zarksoft.com/cms/showthre...-Combat-System

[banjankri]

Yes I only found out from the forum here. It's been mentioned a few times, including in this thread: http://www.zarksoft.com/cms/showthre...-Combat-System

That's a good thread. I like the part where the devs casually contradict a big part of what their tutorial says about combat...

Revised my script, the magic number is 561 cruisers.

561 ships, atk: 6171 def: 10098 vs planet, atk: 2800 def 14400.
155 ships destroyed.  405 ships remaining.
405 ships, atk: 4459 def: 7298 vs planet, atk: 2800 def 8229.
155 ships destroyed.  249 ships remaining.
249 ships, atk: 2748 def: 4498 vs planet, atk: 2800 def 3769.
155 ships destroyed.  94 ships remaining.
94 ships, atk: 1037 def: 1698 vs planet, atk: 2800 def 1020.
Defender destroyed!
94 attack ships remaining.

[catswift]

I would LOVE to know if this proves out to be accurate in game. Maybe someone can test it before I waste my 600+ cruisers on it

That's a good thread. I like the part where the devs casually contradict a big part of what their tutorial says about combat...

Revised my script, the magic number is 561 cruisers.

561 ships, atk: 6171 def: 10098 vs planet, atk: 2800 def 14400.
155 ships destroyed.  405 ships remaining.
405 ships, atk: 4459 def: 7298 vs planet, atk: 2800 def 8229.
155 ships destroyed.  249 ships remaining.
249 ships, atk: 2748 def: 4498 vs planet, atk: 2800 def 3769.
155 ships destroyed.  94 ships remaining.
94 ships, atk: 1037 def: 1698 vs planet, atk: 2800 def 1020.
Defender destroyed!
94 attack ships remaining.