Using Fleets and Strategies

I suggest searching this forum for the term "strats".

While stock strats and formations can be greatly improved upon, we don't have the tools to get realistic behaviour. We can't switch from "line ahead" to "line abreast", for example.

Choose a leader that's 1 or 2 slower than your fastest ships, if you want formations to perform properly. And don't use stock arrowhead for any fighting formations.

There's been a lot of strat discussion, so I won't say more at this time.

I prefer not to bring them up in every strat thread. I cannot assume everyone wants a copy, and I cannot claim to have the ultimate solution.

In fact, the Doctrines do contain compromises in order for the AIs to work well. For example, some strats glass planets and some don't, so there's a good chance for planet capping with one type of fleet escorting troop transports; but players aren't safe from glassing if another type shows up.

The consensus appears to be that there's room for improvement in the doctrines, but there's a shortage of suggestions. Still, I think any new player analyzing why I did what I did will learn a thing or two.

It's also a lot easier to answer specific strat questions than try to explain all the general principles. Your search should have provided answers for most situations. Take care to note the age of the threads. Patches may have made some information obsolete.

Fleet handling is pretty much its own issue. The strat chosen for a TF will override the strats of all member ships. The leader determines how the entire TF moves, and thus shouldn't be too fast for the other to keep up unless one wants stragglers. Stock formations are generally too loose, and tend to perform poorly against unformed opposition.

Bummer. I haven't visited
http://wiki.spaceempires.net/index.php/Space_Empires_V
recently. Might be something there along those lines.

I'm just starting to use the "join fleet" command myself to see how it works. I'm guessing ships will default to TF1 when they join, but I haven't verified this.

I don't recommend placing ships with different roles in the same TF. By "role" I don't mean "type". I do put PD and combat ships in to escort others, but I don't put non-fighting ships in combat TFs.

It's likely you'll encounter fleet fragmentation sooner or later: part of a fleet retreats and part remains, so you have to reassemble the fleet. This hassle is just a part of the game we have to live with for now. Retreat settings can reduce this problem, but not eliminate it entirely.

I'm not a big fan of tutorials. A player left to his own will usually come up with systems and methods to handle these situations. Teaching everyone the same system establishes an orthodoxy and stifles innovation.

My friends have often complained when I don't teach them enough tactics & strategies for games. It's because there's a good chance that if I hold their hands they'll never come up with their own solutions, which might be even better than my own. I don't like the idea of playing against a second-rate clone of myself.

It's not always easy to help without indoctrinating, and nobody - student or teacher - should ever stop looking for alternatives.

I should probably type up a similar caveat to distribute with the Doctrines. I intend them to be sound and competent, but at the same time I hope players will come up with innovative tactics.