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Posted by: Keran

« on: January 16, 2018, 11:31:38 PM »

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How do you guys generally use bombers? I'm typically keeping them back until the fighters/ships are all engaged and then send them in a swarm to overwhelm as it seems the shields die quicker to my ships than bombers (and then switch ships to other ships once shields are down/damaged enough to have bombers finish off)

I tried out the medium/smaller ships Maldrood starts with I'm currently in love with the Neutron Star Bulk Cruiser (cruiser right?). Three squadrons (I know, just normal not so good TIEs but I'll take it) and not bad damage at all for their price and pop cap. Very curious about how having this AND the Strike Cruiser will work as they seem to fulfill similar roles ( I could be wrong as I need to play with the Strike Cruiser; only seen it in videos)

Took a shine to the Providence when I saw it's four bomber squadrons as well.

VSDs and Crimsons are what I expect and are good in their roles.

I'm unsure of the Dreadnought/Carrack/Procursator. I'm not entirely sold on why I would choose a Procursator over a VSD when they cost the same and the VSD can get a couple squadrons of fighters. The Dreadnought...might be useful as a lower cost attack vessel for some extra firepower but unsure on it's value yet. As for the Carrack I think it may be useful to have a few of those in a fleet for their ion cannons but then wouldn't a bigger ship be just as cost effective? Unless bigger ships get an accuracy penalty versus small ships but I don't think that's a thing.

Starting to see the benefit of diversifying the fleet set ups with smaller/medium ships.

(Lastly, my god, the TIE Raptor. I sent 6 TIEs after four of them and they got absolutely shredded and I'm like well....not doing that again).

Posted by: Keran

« on: January 16, 2018, 03:22:29 PM »

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Quote from: Slornie on January 16, 2018, 01:03:22 PM

Um, yeah. I'm meant to be working on that, aren't I? I take it we can't Valve-time the release so I have longer to rewrite the manual?
Since the demo we've updated the hero text to make it clearer when they provide bonuses. Most bonuses don't stack but I believe the game applies whichever is highest for each bonus category available in battle.
Yep, multiple structures of the same type on a planet give a build-time reduction. This is a feature from the base game.

Nooooo!! I'm looking forward to the manual almost more than the actual release right now.

Oh excellent, thanks! I never knew.

Good grief. I can't say I ever remembered or thought to do that in the base game as I thought the garrison bonuses were worth more. Still learning after all these years.

Quote from: Lord Xizer on January 16, 2018, 02:03:30 PM

Multiple factories of the same type vastly decrease build time for units from them. You can halve or quarter production time on those worlds.

Mass produce the pod walkers(pirate walkers)

I'm still in awe of their range and that they make a decent artillery platform.

Posted by: Lord Xizer

« on: January 16, 2018, 02:03:30 PM »

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Multiple factories of the same type vastly decrease build time for units from them. You can halve or quarter production time on those worlds.

Mass produce the pod walkers(pirate walkers)

Posted by: Ordo

« on: January 16, 2018, 01:33:06 PM »

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I personally do not use Dreadnoughts and Carracks as GM. If I want smaller ship I use Neutron and if I want a dps frigate, then definitely Procursator.

Posted by: Slornie

« on: January 16, 2018, 01:03:22 PM »

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Quote from: Corey on January 15, 2018, 05:00:59 AM

There've been a fair amount of changes, both to the planned roster and just general changes. Too many to list here but the manual will be out before the actual download, with all the information on who gets what.

Um, yeah. I'm meant to be working on that, aren't I? I take it we can't Valve-time the release so I have longer to rewrite the manual?

Quote from: Keran on January 15, 2018, 04:57:34 PM

Do they? I'll have to try them out then. Their tooltips didn't say so I couldn't be sure. Do bonuses stack with other Leader bonuses?

Since the demo we've updated the hero text to make it clearer when they provide bonuses. Most bonuses don't stack but I believe the game applies whichever is highest for each bonus category available in battle.

Quote from: Keran on January 15, 2018, 04:57:34 PM

Oh, do multiple factories of the same type per planet give bonuses? I usually default to a barracks/light for garrison purposes and then specialize one or two planets for heavier factories elsewhere.

Yep, multiple structures of the same type on a planet give a build-time reduction. This is a feature from the base game.

Posted by: Keran

« on: January 15, 2018, 04:57:34 PM »

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Quote from: Bucman55 on January 15, 2018, 02:35:52 AM

1. ISD IIs don't seem exceptionally powerful to me, though I play on normal. You probably shouldn't touch skirmish in the demo, it hasn't been updated.

2. I dislike the Allegiance, not because of the art assets or anything, I just find large cruisers without fighters to be distasteful.

3. The Secutor is supposed to be a 2.2km carrier. It has similar firepower to an ISD I, and carries a ton of fighters.

Maldrood's anti-fighter ships are the IPV and Crusader Gunship. IPVs are always available while the Crusader must be bought at a planet with a pirate base which can be constructed on any planet Tavira is orbiting.

Bring Kosh and Tavira into battle. They have good fleet bonuses that significantly increase the speed and durability of your ships.

You should invest in Providences. They have torpedoes for days and carry a decent number of bomber squadrons. Arquitens should be escorts, not focusing on fighters but flying in formation with larger ships.

As of now Maldrood no longer gets the Gladiator, they recieved the Strike Cruiser instead. According to a recent Monday Night Modding stream, they're going to have TIE Avengers (but that might be pushed back to 2.3).

1.) I think being on Easy I was left alone/fended off what the AI did throw at me so I was able to get a fair number in my fleets.

2.) I really love the larger cruisers but from what I'm hearing I can see how on higher difficulties it might not be the most effective (especially with NR fighters)

Ah! IPV that's the patrol one I love. I was wondering what was with the pirate base thing I saw (I skipped it in favor of Golans)

Do they? I'll have to try them out then. Their tooltips didn't say so I couldn't be sure. Do bonuses stack with other Leader bonuses?

I never considered the Providence because it seemed like it would be easily outclassed (and I think I was reasoning the Escort Carrier would be a viable Carrier alternative) but I'm beginning to see how they could be useful if kept screened.

RIP my beautiful Gladiators. Will have to see how Strike Cruisers play out. Is that stream recorded somewhere (Corey's Twitch channel?)?

Quote from: Lord Xizer on January 15, 2018, 03:42:37 AM

I use Providence class and Crimson Command Victory Star Destroyers in swarm tactics.
I usually build fleets of 15 Providence class cruisers early and swarm larger ships with bombers and torps.

My usual play style is to use Maldrood like the Soviets. Mass construct light mech factories to your north to produce ATRTs quickly with T16s, take Antemeridian for it's two heroes, on your two southernmost planets mass built heavy and ATAT factories, on all your protected(second line) planets, build three mining facilities and above all your initial planets build trade stations. Then push quickly south to take Kashyyyk and Commenor to gain two more heroes and mass build ATAT factories.

Once these objectives are done you can cheaply and quickly amass huge disposable armies and fleets to expand. I recommend taking out Zsinj first as absorbing his empire massively increases your industrial capacity while securing your rear. At this point build two Bellators as fleet anchors and begin Steamrolling your armada and armies over your remaining enemies.

Will have to try the swarm as the Crimson Command ships seemed powerful (and fast) for their size. I usually ignored Providence for thinking they were outclassed/Escort Carrier would be better but will try.

Do you mean the AT-PTs? I didn't think Maldrood got RTs. Thought it was the Pirate Walker and the PT. (I could very well be mistaken). Trade Stations? Odd, I only saw the frigate shipyards. I may have missed it in my haste to defend them with Golans.

Oh, do multiple factories of the same type per planet give bonuses? I usually default to a barracks/light for garrison purposes and then specialize one or two planets for heavier factories elsewhere.

Quote from: Corey on January 15, 2018, 05:00:59 AM

Other people have covered a fair bit of the strategy angle at least as far as the demo goes, so I'll just add a few things:

There was an oversight with the demo where some damage adjustments got skipped for the New Republic. Basically, we started some of our balance/pace/projectile changes by reducing the number of preojectiles by half or more, and proportionally increasing the damage of the individual projectiles. With the New Republic, their turbolasers got the count reduction, but not the damage increase. This was later addressed for the full build.

There've been a fair amount of changes, both to the planned roster and just general changes. Too many to list here but the manual will be out before the actual download, with all the information on who gets what.

Oh thanks! I knew something just felt off with the New Republic ships (though damn they can take a beating).

Can't wait to read and see the changes! It will be tough to pick between Maldrood and the Imperial Remnant when the full version is released. Very curious about how they play differently from each other.

Quote from: Ordo on January 15, 2018, 12:35:31 PM

You should definitely take a look at Neutron cruisers. They pack quite a big punch and carry 2 TIE squadrons for relatively modest price. I personally use Secutors + Crimsons + Neutrons + one ISD for planetary bombardment and some ipv's for fighter contingency.

Hmm, that sounds like fun. I think being on Easy and getting so many Capital ships so fast didn't let me try out the medium ship tier enough to see what they do. That and I was so used to the EaW's comparison chart per ship it spoiled me.

Should the rest of that line (Procursaetor, Carrack, and Dreadnought) just be used as screening vessels then? I'm not positive where they fit better than a Victory or Crimson might (aside from cheaper).

(Sorry for long post/clutter. Didn't want to spam individual post replies in the thread. Unless that's less of an eye strain for people)

Posted by: Ordo

« on: January 15, 2018, 12:35:31 PM »

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You should definitely take a look at Neutron cruisers. They pack quite a big punch and carry 2 TIE squadrons for relatively modest price. I personally use Secutors + Crimsons + Neutrons + one ISD for planetary bombardment and some ipv's for fighter contingency.

Posted by: Corey

« on: January 15, 2018, 05:00:59 AM »

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Other people have covered a fair bit of the strategy angle at least as far as the demo goes, so I'll just add a few things:

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The New Republic Nebula doesn't seem like it can take one on without dying (the description says it should be able to so maybe I'm confused). Then again,that's just my results from a skirmish match. (A lot of NR ships feel weak but maybe that's because I'm playing on Easy?)

There was an oversight with the demo where some damage adjustments got skipped for the New Republic. Basically, we started some of our balance/pace/projectile changes by reducing the number of preojectiles by half or more, and proportionally increasing the damage of the individual projectiles. With the New Republic, their turbolasers got the count reduction, but not the damage increase. This was later addressed for the full build.

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Edit: Oh! One more question. Have there been any changes to Greater Maldrood since the demo came out? I know the playthrough on Corey's channel was a little over a year ago now and that's not a short amount of time. Unless it's just too much to list until release of course.

There've been a fair amount of changes, both to the planned roster and just general changes. Too many to list here but the manual will be out before the actual download, with all the information on who gets what.

Posted by: Lord Xizer

« on: January 15, 2018, 03:42:37 AM »

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I use Providence class and Crimson Command Victory Star Destroyers in swarm tactics.
I usually build fleets of 15 Providence class cruisers early and swarm larger ships with bombers and torps. Once I have enough income/level two shipyards I pause game and mass build Crimson Command VSDs on every world that can build them.(unit build lock only works on number in existence so if you have enough credits to fill all build slots while paused you can build tons of them) to construct 72 CC VSDs and put Treuten Teradoc as the armada leader, they are frighteningly powerful en masse and faster than ISDs and the battle cruisers.

My usual play style is to use Maldrood like the Soviets. Mass construct light mech factories to your north to produce ATRTs quickly with T16s, take Antemeridian for it's two heroes, on your two southernmost planets mass built heavy and ATAT factories, on all your protected(second line) planets, build three mining facilities and above all your initial planets build trade stations. Then push quickly south to take Kashyyyk and Commenor to gain two more heroes and mass build ATAT factories.

Once these objectives are done you can cheaply and quickly amass huge disposable armies and fleets to expand. I recommend taking out Zsinj first as absorbing his empire massively increases your industrial capacity while securing your rear. At this point build two Bellators as fleet anchors and begin Steamrolling your armada and armies over your remaining enemies.

Posted by: Bucman55

« on: January 15, 2018, 02:35:52 AM »

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1. ISD IIs don't seem exceptionally powerful to me, though I play on normal. You probably shouldn't touch skirmish in the demo, it hasn't been updated.

2. I dislike the Allegiance, not because of the art assets or anything, I just find large cruisers without fighters to be distasteful.

3. The Secutor is supposed to be a 2.2km carrier. It has similar firepower to an ISD I, and carries a ton of fighters.

Maldrood's anti-fighter ships are the IPV and Crusader Gunship. IPVs are always available while the Crusader must be bought at a planet with a pirate base which can be constructed on any planet Tavira is orbiting.

Bring Kosh and Tavira into battle. They have good fleet bonuses that significantly increase the speed and durability of your ships.

You should invest in Providences. They have torpedoes for days and carry a decent number of bomber squadrons. Arquitens should be escorts, not focusing on fighters but flying in formation with larger ships.

As of now Maldrood no longer gets the Gladiator, they recieved the Strike Cruiser instead. According to a recent Monday Night Modding stream, they're going to have TIE Avengers (but that might be pushed back to 2.3).

Posted by: Keran

« on: January 15, 2018, 01:57:22 AM »

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Lots of random thoughts inbound. I recently picked up playing EaW again (played so much years ago, this game was a big part of my childhood) and this mod with it's 2.2 demo. Since the Imperial Remnant isn't in GC I heard that Greater Maldrood was an Imperial-like faction so I decided to try them out. Man, they are certainly interesting (and great fun; at least until I can try IR on release).

Admitting first that I played on Easy to get back into things and because I wished to try it out without fear of giant stacks of doom raining upon me.

And before I get started I just wanted to say what a fantastic job you all have done with this mod. Seriously, great work. The ship to ship battles actually feel like what I would expect from ships of their size. The new weapon effects are just positively gorgeous. Whoever was responsible for the Bellator did a really fantastic job. I've not gotten one yet but damn does it look like an absolutely beautiful monster of a ship.

Ships

Also, Gladiators. I love the Gladiators. I'm typically bringing four into a battle and it gives me so many bomber squadrons to use

1.) The Imperial 2 Star Destroyer...it's supposed to be that powerful correct? I've been using them as a staple of my fleet and they feel...very unfair at times. The amount of damage they put out and what they can take feels very powerful.

-The New Republic Nebula doesn't seem like it can take one on without dying (the description says it should be able to so maybe I'm confused). Then again, that's just my results from a skirmish match. (A lot of NR ships feel weak but maybe that's because I'm playing on Easy?)

2.) The Allegiance. What a beautiful, beautiful ship. Once I found it I loved it almost more than the Imperial 2 SD. It's really good. Can't wait to get my hands on the Bellator though.

3.) Is the Secutor supposed to be a lower cost Allegiance? Or something in between Star Destroyers and the lesser ships. It feels like it can take an absolute beating. Used them as leads/artillery for me SD2 fleets until I got my hands on the Allegiance class.

I'm honestly not sure what to do with the rest of their roster of ships. The Procursaetor, the Victory SD, Crimson Victory, Neutron Bulk Star Cruiser, and the smaller/medium ships (Sorry, I don't know the roster. Just know that I'm neglecting these ones for sure aside from any I've mentioned before). It felt like these wouldn't be good anti-starfighter ships, and I felt like I needed ships larger than these to fend off the AI ships. Although, I saw a Crimson Victory in one of Corey's videos and I can see the appeal of maybe having those as a raiding fleet. With the AI using larger ships though it seems like a very risky proposition to use these smaller/medium ships.

Tips/Thoughts?

I'm curious to what you Maldrood players use as anti-fighter options? I know in Era One I struggled a bit until I found that Gladiators and some Artiquens (err, spelling?) seemed to do well enough against them. Once I hit Era 2 though the Patrol Ship (err, the small pirate one) came in and they are absolutely amazing at destroying fighter swarms if you have enough of them (like just 4 on the field).

Typically SD2s, Gladiators, Allegiance have been making up my fleets. Along with Artiquens and Patrol Craft for anti-starfigher. Occasional Secutor thrown in with maybe a Victory and definitely an Interdictor once I could afford to get one for my fleets.

I managed to get Antimeridian Sector early which let Admiral Larm lead my main battle fleet while Getteles was on my production planet, and grabbed Kashyyk and that other one to secure my territory up to right before New Alderaan. Eventually caught Zsinj with just Trigit when I noticed him alone. Been makng my way slowly through the core now after I grabbed Commenor and Kuat and Tssos Beacon. Coruscant next. Had to get rid of Hapes in my Core push because I was very tired of the Transitory Mists attacks. Did get up to Mon Cal too to protect that route.

Haven't actually used Lavira at all. Left her and bolstered her fleet to possibly defend their start planet if need be. Kosh seems to be just another SD2 so not sure if he really has a use.

Defending Roche Asteriods was very key as this seemed the main avenue of attack for both New Republic and Zsinj. Oddly, they AI never really bothered my only slightly less defended planets north of the Asteroids.

What do you guys usually do in your Greater Maldrood plays? Anything specific or just based on how it plays out? Does this GC go beyond Era 2 for the Demo? And are the space battles more balanced damage/shield wise (I get the feeling Easy may have spoiled that for me as I've won battles I was sure I should've lost but I can't be sure what that does to settings).

Any specific tips going to higher difficulties?

(I know that was a lot but I'm really enjoying this, and it is nice to have a community I can engage with about the mod. Thinking of a New Republic play next).

Edit: Oh! One more question. Have there been any changes to Greater Maldrood since the demo came out? I know the playthrough on Corey's channel was a little over a year ago now and that's not a short amount of time. Unless it's just too much to list until release of course.