Best way to use Advent Super weapons?

Or should they just be skipped all together?

from Sins Forums

Hi yall, I normally play single player against AI (giant maps, multiple stars, a mix of all AI's, takes a while...) I have come to the conclusion that in an online game the Advent Super weapon would be next to useless. (just a guess, don't really play MP) So, my question is, is there a more effective way to utilize the cannon in SP, or should I just stick with my current strategy of clearing out a star system, locking down at the star/2 planets deep, and expand/rinse n repeat with a few planets (6 or so) just hitting places as I attack them/a little before I attack. (I know..it takes a while to get there..but you can track its progress and plan accordingly.)

strategy
5,704 views 10 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

Honestly, the only time i even build them, is to troll...

 

Or use it to boost your attack in culture as advent loyalists

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

Repeated/alternating shots at a homeworld, say every 3 minutes (with 2 guns or more), will eventually kill the homeworld and their entire empire (or all surrounding planets), if they don't have any culture protecting them.  But it takes about 20 minutes since allegiance change is capped at: 
-0.07%/sec.

Super weapon summary.

Star Control: Origins
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting ViaRed, reply 1
Honestly, the only time i even build them, is to troll...

 

Or use it to boost your attack in culture as advent loyalists

 

 

Is it worthless... absoluty worthless.

 

 

For the price of that DE... you could have had a better fleet.

 

The Kostura is awesome... the Novalith is devastating... the Deliverance engine is... worthless.

Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting ARESIV, reply 3
Is it worthless... absoluty worthless.

Simply not true... 

And the DE DOES give you a "better fleet".  25% better.  As well as the potential to destroy their ENTIRE empire...

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting SageWon, reply 5
As well as the potential to destroy their ENTIRE empire...

The remote fleet bonus is nice but unless you're playing against an idiot, empire destruction (or anything better than marginal economic damage, really) is highly unlikely. 

At a point in the game where a player is even considering using a DE to break a stalemate, your target can probably muster the resources to throw down a couple of culture centers in that 20+ minute span before planets start dropping...

But sure, if you're just screwing around with Normal AI's or new players, yeah, it can be a fun diversion.

Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Sakhari, reply 6
to throw down a couple of culture centers in that 20+ minute span before planets start dropping...

Like I said, the "potential".  But a "couple" culture centers won't cut it either!  If they're used correctly, you'll need more.  But I'm not going to argue anymore.  Test it for yourself.

Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting SageWon, reply 8
Like I said, the "potential".  But a "couple" culture centers won't cut it either!  If they're used correctly, you'll need more.  But I'm not going to argue anymore.  Test it for yourself.

*shrug* I 'have' tested it.  I would love for culture to be more effective and I've played quite a few games with the intention of making it work (I 'want' to believe you!  Honest!) but if the opponent was paying any attention, they easily had enough culture to negate whatever I threw at their homeworld.  I'm genuinely surprised if the culture-line changes color at all when I shoot at the heart of another empire.  Seriously, more often than not (in my situations, at least), it doesn't have any visible effect. 

Also, correct me if I'm misreading it, but in the thread you linked on Superweapons in general, your last post said it would take the power of ~2-3 culture centers to negate a shot from the DE.  Considering the cost of the DE, that counter doesn't strike me as being too prohibitive.

My experience just hasn't shown this to be very effective and this is against fairly casual-playing friends and the AI.  I can't imagine more competitive players on ICO are unable to effectively deal with this in a 20-minute time frame.

Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top

In a vacuum the damage buff is pretty good-the main problem is it's not nearly good enough to justify going that deep into the notoriously sparse harmony tree rather then just building hostility temples.

Reply #10 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting SageWon, reply 8

Quoting Sakhari, reply 6to throw down a couple of culture centers in that 20+ minute span before planets start dropping...

Like I said, the "potential".  But a "couple" culture centers won't cut it either!  If they're used correctly, you'll need more.  But I'm not going to argue anymore.  Test it for yourself.

 

I am sorry, but I have bad news for you.

 

Situation in a game 4 weeks ago:

 

I was TEC Loyalists.... lost all my planets but one.... that was only accessable via one phase lane. Had it fully fortified and upgraded. They attacked me with full force and took heavy losses. As they had more people to worry about they tried to use Deliverance engine on me....

 

FOUR OF THEM

 

Guess what? I scuttled 3 trade ports and built culture centers..... problem permanently solved. The Vasari was many times more dangerous.... he could jump in from another vector, avoiding the starbases. Although not for ever... thanks to Auxilary Goverment...

 

Funny enough, I did actually end up in the winning team.... as it was an FFA and nobody felt rich enough to loose half its fleet simple for killing me. So when I generously offered them an alliance, they accepted^^.