Let's Play: Star Wars Empire at War

[Darkevilme]

This Darkstar must not be fought piecemeal, He must be crushed utterly for his trespass so deep within our domain. Withdraw and regroup with the Star fist and main fleet, then bring the full might of the imperial navy down upon him.
Pragmatically though we cannot afford to waste ships in a futile last stand with our resource situation as is. We will lose the system whether they stay or go so I call for their retreat.
And Glad to have you Aboard Captain Raesene.

[Vehrec]

A large, fighter heavy force, with a lot of corvetees and frigates. We'll need every carrier and anti-fighter rig we can get in the reprisal fleet. I'll have the crews cut short the current maintenance cycle as much as it pains me to do so, we'll need all our birds in the air and not down for 'routine preventative maintenance.' It looks like the enemy have sent at least 16 squadrons to ASVS. If only Moff Stuart would join the fleet, surely we would then be invincible.

As one of our founding worlds, we cannot allow it to fall into the hands of the enemy for long, no matter the cost. That it will fall is almost assured given the size of the enemy force, the only question is do we retreat and preserve our forces or do we hold on til the last man and the last blaster bolt? I say the tactical sense of what to do and the political sense are at odds here. As we are controlled by politicians, I forsee our forces being forced to make a stand. Then again, this is the Rationalist empire. We may yet make the tactical sacrifice.

This blood-cult must pay in their own currency. It is too bad that we currently lack the capability for a deep reprisal raid on their shipyards to wreck some extensive destruction and chaos.

[Crossroads Inc.]

((The sad thing is for all we know the battle has already taken places and our forces where forced to fight... Hopefully we are able to pull off a stratgeic evacuation of as many resources as possible.

[Force Lord]

I'll show Darkstar who's boss! Where is my ship?!

[Admiral Drason]

I vote in favor of a strategic withdrawl of our current naval assests. We must strike from streangth not weakness. Perhaps we can even return with the full might of the fleet before those bastard cultists destroy our forces on the ground. Do we even know what kind of ground assests we currently have on ASVS?

[Vehrec]

two stormtrooper platoons, one ATST unit.

[Force Lord]

Space forces are one Peacemaker, a Strike Cruiser, a Guardian, two Acclamators and two Victories. I don't know the space station's level.

Just how defensible is ASVS? Can we retain it with the forces we currently have, or is the planet doomed?

[Darth Onasi]

Depends on the station's level. A level 4-5 can dish out enough upgrades to make even a fleet like that formidable.
A level 4-5 will also continually call in a garrison of 1 Victory + fighters as needed. If the system has a Golan defense platform it'll be even easier.

[Starglider]

The station is level 4. However those flattened enemy capships are carriers that can spit out an enormous quantity of Y-Wings plus a few B-Wings. If the enemy heavy cruiser survives it can make the planet effectively uninhabitable - ASVS has theatre shielding around the main populated area only.

[Force Lord]

Depends on the station's level. A level 4-5 can dish out enough upgrades to make even a fleet like that formidable.
A level 4-5 will also continually call in a garrison of 1 Victory + fighters as needed. If the system has a Golan defense platform it'll be even easier.

I thought Level 4-5 stations could call Acclamators along with Tartans and TIEs, not Victories. Did the mod change things?

[Darth Onasi]

Depends on the station's level. A level 4-5 can dish out enough upgrades to make even a fleet like that formidable.
A level 4-5 will also continually call in a garrison of 1 Victory + fighters as needed. If the system has a Golan defense platform it'll be even easier.

I thought Level 4-5 stations could call Acclamators along with Tartans and TIEs, not Victories. Did the mod change things?

Yeah I'm speaking with the mod in mind. Actually I'm not sure if it's 4-5 or just 5. But they definitely call a Victory at some point.
But hey, I've played other mods where the stations call in two ISDs

[Vehrec]

The station is level 4. However those flattened enemy capships are carriers that can spit out an enormous quantity of Y-Wings plus a few B-Wings. If the enemy heavy cruiser survives it can make the planet effectively uninhabitable - ASVS has theatre shielding around the main populated area only.

If you are going to fight this out then, you have your primary target, don't you? We can't let that cruiser cripple our planet and bring ruination to our army.

[Crossroads Inc.]

I wonder.. They dont have any interdictors... We should be able to leave at any time... Perhaps.. just perhaps.. We stay and fight JUST long enough to take our thier cruisor, then run like hell...

[RogueIce]

I wonder.. They dont have any interdictors... We should be able to leave at any time... Perhaps.. just perhaps.. We stay and fight JUST long enough to take our thier cruisor, then run like hell...

The fighter advantage they have though is horrible. They already have four flights of Y-wings, and at least three of the ships are carriers. Plus, that damn Starfleet Jedi squadron (aka Red Squadron). We don't have the figthers to compete, not when they're getting engaged by the X- and A-wings themselves.

I suppose the AI could fuck it up, but the cruisers will be hit bad by the fighters, before they can get in range of the enemy cruiser. I think if we were going to do this, it'd have to be hold the ships back by the station and let it support. The enemy cruisers have to come in to engage at some point.

I think it might be better to just pull out. If Starglider's clicking skills are good enough, move the fleet before the enemy even gets there. At least that way you can fight it out with the station, maybe doing some damage (though probably not much), but at least it's better than the station blowing up when you retreat the fleet in tactical mode.

Of course, I am but a mere ground pounder, so...

[Thanas]

And this is why I advocated for the fleet to be stationed one world away from the frontline.

The problem is that the AI is absolutely retarded when grouping your fleet in such a situation - several times I have had the most valuable and vulnerable ships stationed in the front, where they were promptly killed by the fighter swarm.

Oh no, my poor VSD Dominant.

[Force Lord]

I thought Darth Yoshi was dead!

[Samuel]

I thought Darth Yoshi was dead!

The fell Gods look after their followers. Lets see how well they work once all of their followers are dead!

Also, don't upgrades from spacebattles stay with your forces? If so, stay, fight and grab as many as possible before dying.

Yeah I'm speaking with the mod in mind. Actually I'm not sure if it's 4-5 or just 5. But they definitely call a Victory at some point.
But hey, I've played other mods where the stations call in two ISDs

Can you list all the good mods for this that make it less craptacular?

[Lord Relvenous]

Oh no, my poor VSD Dominant.

Come comrade, let us make a good accounting of our Victory ships. We shall make them curse our names for years to come.

Also, don't upgrades from spacebattles stay with your forces? If so, stay, fight and grab as many as possible before dying.

If not for your presence at this battle, I would accuse you of discarding your subordinates lives callously. However, as I can clearly see the INS Star Fist to port of my ship, I respect your bravery and mettle.

(Maybe I'm having too much fun with playing the heroic martyr. )

Really though, if there is some benefit to staying and fighting (Samuel's upgrade question) then I say we remain in orbit, destroy the heavy cruiser, and jump to hyperspace with as many ships as we can. Hopefully this will keep ASVS habitable, while retaining a portion of the fleet stationed there.

[Chris OFarrell]

Okay.

Question the first, is there ANY chance of nearby fleets getting to ASVS to reinforce the defenses before the enemy arrives?

Question the second, if we withdraw, will we have enough time to load up the ground troops, sabotage all surface to space defenses and get out in good order before the enemy fleet arrives?

Question the third. If we pull back and regroup with a larger fleet, how long will it take before we can turn around and attack, with overwhelming force? *Assuming* That this isn't simply phase one of a multi-prong attack on our Empire. I can see Darkstar launching raids against other core planets, of a minor size that their garrisons can defeat, but ONLY if the garrisons are there, simply to pin those forces in place...given the lack of heavy orbital defenses on our core planets...

This is going to be nasty.

[Darth Onasi]

Can you list all the good mods for this that make it less craptacular?

Pretty much just z3r0x's, the one Starglider is using.
I've also played with Absolute Corruption. Less balanced but adds a crapton of fun ships.

The rest is really down to personal tweaking, like I gave the Death Star II the original Death Star model in the XML, because the idea that the Empire would field the station incomplete as it was in ROTJ is unbelievably retarded.

[Darth Yoshi]

*blinks* I...live? *ahem*

Praise be to the Blood God! I warned you heathens of my return, and with a High Prophet leading this battle, the Blood God shall feast well today! Submit, and perhaps your souls shall be spared, for your lives are already forfeit! Blood for the Blood God!

[Thanas]

Wait a second, shouldn't my ship be with the rest of the fleet over Dantooine? If not, I demand a court martial for whoever decided to split the forces.

[The Yosemite Bear]

just remember stay away from the planet "Deliverance" Trust us on that one....

[Vehrec]

Okay.

Question the first, is there ANY chance of nearby fleets getting to ASVS to reinforce the defenses before the enemy arrives?

Question the second, if we withdraw, will we have enough time to load up the ground troops, sabotage all surface to space defenses and get out in good order before the enemy fleet arrives?

Question the third. If we pull back and regroup with a larger fleet, how long will it take before we can turn around and attack, with overwhelming force? *Assuming* That this isn't simply phase one of a multi-prong attack on our Empire. I can see Darkstar launching raids against other core planets, of a minor size that their garrisons can defeat, but ONLY if the garrisons are there, simply to pin those forces in place...given the lack of heavy orbital defenses on our core planets...

This is going to be nasty.

Question: How much defense does the Turtle Moff consider to be enough defense?

[RogueIce]

Questions of my own:

I've been told FoC let you place ground defensive installations at your pleasure, rather than randomly scattered. Is there truth to this? And if so, what are the limits? For example, is it possible to have the power generator for the shield projector (IIRC there is one at ASVS) under the shield?

If so, I would think you could wage a last stand with the ground forces. A couple platoons of stormtroopers and one of AT-STs is easy enough to replace (compared to capital ships). And, with the defenses in place, you could force the enemy invasion to be much more expensive than it otherwise might be. All the structures are going to be destroyed anyway, as memory serves, but you can cost them ground forces with a clever enough ground defense. Mostly, hiding in your theater shield and forcing the enemy to come to you.

Although this depends on what kind of ground force they wind up bringing. But with space superiority they're going to take the planet regardless (unless they do something stupid, like send only C-3PO and R2-D2 to attack). Still, if it costs them more than a couple trooper units and a light armor unit, you'll have come out on top, relatively. And leave them that much more weakened for the inevitable counter-attack.

And thus is my recommendation:

1) Evacuate the defense fleet. It can't win, and sending it in after the heavy cruiser risks having ships destroyed due to the fighter imbalance. Even if you're successful, the cost may not be worth it, especially since we know it'll respawn anyway.
1.A) Preferably, you can move the defense fleet away before the battle begins. This will allow your space station to fight, rather than be scuttled when you retreat the ships. Then I would recommend you send in what fighters and capital ships may spawn to try and take out at least one enemy capital ship.

2) Plan a defense of the ground. Fight defensively, rather than go on the attack. Use the cover of the shield to protect yourself from bombing runs and turbolaser bombardments. You know the enemy has to destroy your base to win, so let them come to you. Take as many of the bastards as you can.

In short, barring a minor miracle, it is not believed that the ASVS system can be held at this time. Thus, my recommendation is to conserve the major assets while leaving those that are capable of inflicting more-than proportionate damage to the enemy, weakening them for the counter-assault that will be launched. While the loss of brave soldiers is regrettable and I do not make such recommendation lightly, their sacrifice will not be in vain, and will allow the liberation of the system to proceed with, it is hoped, fewer casualities than otherwise.

Major RogueIce, Imperial Army