Hyperspace Artillary

posted on November 10th, 2008, 12:42 am

Does anyone actually use the Dominion's Hyperspace Artillary? I tried and think it would be better to attack with a Mandril Class! It never fires at anything unless they are less than 10 grid squares away.

posted on November 10th, 2008, 2:38 am

You know, what about an enemy base?

posted on November 10th, 2008, 3:14 am

Sent it to one, it still didn't do any good until afterward. By then all that was left was an already damaged Mining station that survived the attack. I put it close to the enemy base (almost at the Outposts weapon range) and when I clicked, it just started moving closer.

posted on November 10th, 2008, 5:00 am

I prefer to lay ambushes with it. Try sending a few enemy ships in to the attack far forward, and start recalling them (so as they aren't blown up... yet... given the enormous health of FO ships), and thereby drawing in the enemy fleet. Take your hyperspace artillery and attack relatively far ahead of the oncoming ships.... aaaaaaand goodbye enemy fleet (and your 1-4 surviving cruddy boats too). Works for me in long games, when you have time to strategize and stuff... not so good if you just want to win all out via cheap ships/strong attack strats. 

[Tyler]

posted on November 10th, 2008, 5:10 am

Last edited by Tyler on November 10th, 2008, 5:17 am, edited 1 time in total.

I tried the Dominion's big Sensor Station (the one that researches it's own weapon) then fired in the empty space (the area covered by the scan), that didn't work. Then I tried putting it right outside their base, and it was still out of range. So I just got 30 Dominion Ships and 2 captured enemy ships (1 Monsoon, 1 Canaveral) with level2 weapon upgrades and level1 shield upgrade and attacked the base that way, getting all ships to focus only on the Starbase, Defence Platforms, Shipsyards & Research stations (in that order) 1 station at at a time.

posted on November 10th, 2008, 6:25 am

Well I never had a problem with it, concerning range. Though IMO it doesnt do enough damage to stations as it is so I never used it like that. Its fun to use against enemies mining freighters or ships though - it is also considrably harder to get him to keep those ships in place when the timer starts

posted on November 10th, 2008, 7:19 am

Aginst the Ai  I have had fairly good results  with the Hyper space artillery.  Allthough you have to have  at least preferably three  at the same time.  I link the ships in to a fleet  along with  several  escort ships  and  a constructor vessel.  I build a ship  yard  near the target just  out of weponds range.  Then I attack  a target  of high value  . Base stations , Ship yards  and Tech stations  or any heavly defended targets like mining facilities  . After the Hyper Space Artillery's have  deliver their weponds strike . I send them back to the  repair yard I built .While traveling back to the ship yard  they  are recharging their special energy. Since  the yard is  near  to the target  I am attacking I que the  ship yard to  dump the HSA back out to re attack the next tatget  in close range to the original target 's  location while the ship yard dumps more ships  in to the batttle  fray.

posted on November 10th, 2008, 7:36 am

the artillery does now deal constant damage (it dealt less damage to vessels which are not exactly in the center of the artillery) and deals double damage to stations (although its normal damage decreased a bit). we are currently thinking about adding an extra effekt to vessels directly in the core of the explosion, no instant gip but perhaps system shutdown

posted on November 10th, 2008, 9:43 am

with the current settings it strikes me as useless and gimmicky;

[Anonymous]

posted on November 10th, 2008, 11:42 am

Last edited by Anonymous on November 11th, 2008, 6:02 am, edited 1 time in total.

with the current settings it strikes me as useless and gimmicky;

Well against stations it is. But against freighters its good. Also against well bunkered enemy - so against turrets. As I said its gr8 vs ships but few people on the net are easily tricked to not move their ships when a giant counter appears all of the sudden

the artillery does now deal constant damage (it dealt less damage to vessels which are not exactly in the center of the artillery) and deals double damage to stations (although its normal damage decreased a bit). we are currently thinking about adding an extra effekt to vessels directly in the core of the explosion, no instant gip but perhaps system shutdown

Thats good and its how it should be. I would agree with the system shutdown too

posted on November 10th, 2008, 1:48 pm

hmm; before I would invest my money into this one big thing that is slow, easily attackable and slow, I would build more stuff.
I mean I don't build that stuff to kill freighters If I could do the same with Bugs. Ok turrets might be a valid point; Can't say much about it

posted on November 10th, 2008, 10:03 pm

I think a lot of players  are missing the true purpose of the Hyper Space Artilery.Using  HSA aginst  mining ships can be over kill and a tactical waste  of  tactical assets.  Properly used it is Tactically used  to soften up large hardened targets .  It is a Area Munition.To  use a analogy  .  Useing  HSA's vessels alone with out support is like using a sledge hammer aginst a Fireant pile. Yeah you do a lot of damage to the mound  by its use .Yet you get stung because you dont have any protection aginst being swarmed by attackers . Using it alone  with out  escort/ support vessels  is asking for  the ship to be destroyed .HSA high priority targets should include  Shipyards, Tech stations  and  Base Stations  targets. The reason for shipyards is with out shipyards fleets cannot repair  damaged ships or produce more  ships to enter the battle .  No fully functial ships  it is  easier to put them out of action. Tech / science stations with out  special weponds    opposing fleets are easier to decimate . The  primary reasons for knocking out  Base stations are  obvious  with out them  you opponent can not  replace construction ships that are being  destroyed . No construction ships  you cannot  construct  base stations ,additional  ship Yards  or other stations  or repair ships or construction ships. BY  winning  the Attrition Battle  you will win if you stations and yards stay  relatiavely undamaged and  functioning your  ship Yards  are able  to  keep replacing your lost ships .       

posted on November 11th, 2008, 6:15 am

Well it is something I would normally use either, but when the game is long I might choose to build it. About the mining colonies, I disagree with u2. Its easier to decimate them with the HSA than with ships, because the enemy wont know where the HSA and so wont be able to counter and thus making it less risky than attacking with ships. Of course my theory falls out of the water when that said player has sensors around his minings, but not everyone does.
Its primary purpose IMO is to be an anti-bunker weapon and a bit of a demoralising thing for the opposition. He builds turrets but then with 1 strike they are fucked (or at least severely damaged).
Of course I agree with you that it would be better if it would be able to be used against bigger stations, but that IMO is just a waste of your time and resources since it only gets shields around half way down for the 1st yard. It doesnt do anything meaningful to the bigger stuff either, so if you use it for that purpose it really is a waste.

BTW: Yesterday when Optec mentioned about the special effect in the center of the strike I was thinking what they could do to make the HSA even more special and I had an idea. It would be great, not only for the HSA, but also for other special units if they exploded really violently when destroyed. The thing is filled with these special torpedoes that make rifts in the space, I think it should make a bigger bang when destroyed - maybe a special animation. That would really make it cool and realistic in my mind. It should also do more damage to ships when destroyed.
Something similar could also be done with freighters that are carrying Dilithium, since Dil is volatile they should be destroyed more violently as well. Tell me what u think folks

[Optec]

posted on November 11th, 2008, 6:42 am

Last edited by Optec on November 11th, 2008, 2:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

as a first balancing change the range of the artillery has been increased by about 25 percent, an small additional extra effect will probably be added.

//edit:
The Artillery has been updated. its tooltip will now read:
Fires the hyperspace artillery at the selected coordinates, leaving nothing but destruction behind. Units in the center of the explosion will suffer additional direct hulldamage for 10 seconds. Deals double damage to buildings. Hits cloaked vessels

posted on November 11th, 2008, 6:50 pm

Great, but we I cant judge untill I get the full version U know that