what is the borg counter to spam. mainly excel II spam?

posted on May 17th, 2010, 6:09 am

just like the title says: what is the borg counter to spam. mainly excel II spam?

because if your enemy gets about say 20 excel II's, then borg ships stand no chance against those quantum torps. borg ships just drop like flies.

posted on May 17th, 2010, 6:20 am

Tried outfitting them with torpedo modules to reduce damage taken from torps and maybe throw in an order to chaos? If its a sphere I guess some defense tank with torps regen and prime module plus diamond. Other than that I have no idea how to counter spam like that without some escape power, shame the sphere and cubes dont have transwarp as a last-ditch escape power isnt it, might want to propose it

posted on May 17th, 2010, 6:35 am

Yeah, Fight torp with torp.  Though...

If you allow someone to mass together almost 2 dozen excel II's...

... kiiiinda askin' for it.

posted on May 17th, 2010, 6:53 am

Aye, I hate to say it, but if someone manages to reach a critical mass of good ships like that ... there's really very little you CAN do.

  It's like someone saying:  How do I stop Borg Cube spam?

  ..."uh .... I dunno?  Build shit and hope they blow up?"

  If you're playing a human player, hopefully you can PREVENT them from doing that or be preparing for the spam by building a ships that counters them like lots of B'rels, lots of Vutpa, something like that.

posted on May 17th, 2010, 7:33 am

several tactical cubes could do the job with double torpedo power and double beams should make short work of the excelsior, if your ally is free, try get some help if klingon ally, those klingon ships with the polaran field, several of them could potentially work well especially if your looking to use those 20 excels against the player who used them against you. but it would depend on how the situation evolved.

posted on May 17th, 2010, 7:39 am

those klingon ships with the polaran field, several of them could potentially work well

  The Polaron Field from the Qaw'duj is considered an exploit right now.  Optec has come forward and said that there was an error in the coding and that it is FAR more effective than intended right now.

  Course ... if you're playing the AI, use it all you want until it's fixed

posted on May 17th, 2010, 9:36 am

lol .

even against the ai my fleets of ships get wittled away far too easily then expected, i dont play fast paced, i play the speed the AIs do. that polaron field is annoying when the AI use it against my ships.

posted on May 17th, 2010, 4:56 pm

that polaron field is annoying when the AI use it against my ships.

  That's cause it's broken .

  Broken things are often annoying when used against you .


  Against the AI I really don't know what to tell you.  The AI cheats so there are different tactical things you must do to compensate for the fact that they can build regardless of resources and because they can replace their losses faster than you can.

  Against the AI, a battle of attrition never works.  Again, small ships generally do you no good because they die and their resources are lost forever.  Larger ships will last longer and retain their resource to power value better .

posted on May 18th, 2010, 7:05 am

actually you'd be surprised if you given the AI a chance to expand, i have fought 3 major engagements against a massive AI fleet and lasted a good deal of time just sending more ships into battle from both ends. it was fun, even other ai fleets joined the fight . two other times i wasnt prepared for how big they had gotten and became a hit'n'run tactic before i was defeated then it became a battle of attrition again.

spend long enough around the computer and you understand how it behaves, i really need to get a life .

i wouldnt last long against other players on this game and that is being optimistic!, i havent figured out the fastest strategy yet and reading it up wont make much difference because thats someone elses style.

[1337 64M3R]

posted on May 18th, 2010, 6:25 pm

Last edited by 1337 64M3R on May 18th, 2010, 8:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Here is one thing to do.

- 3 Assimilators. (1 with maxed out torp mods, the other two with maxed out assim mods)
- 4 Spheres (1 with maxed out beam and a regen, 1 with maxed out prime and a torp, one with maxed out regen, and the other maxed out prime and a regen)
- 2 Diamonds (Both with maxed out OTC mods)
- 4 Dodecs (2 with maxed out viniculum, the other 2 with a torp and regen)
- 3 S Cubes (2 torp, 1 beam)
- 5 Probes

That should pretty much do it. It may seem like a spam, but it is pretty much a universally good counter against fleets, give or take a few extra S Cubes. Once you add an ult cube (2 Armor, 1 beam, 1 regen, 2 torp) you can then just bulldozer over peoples bases.

posted on May 18th, 2010, 7:16 pm

- 4 Spheres (1 with maxed out beam and a regen, 1 with maxed out prime and a torp, one with maxed out regen, and the other maxed out prime and a regen)

sphere's are nearly always best built with 3 regen 1 prime. that will allow them to be tanks. a new tactic allowed by the dode is to go 3 regen 1 holding beam, the holding beam will grant energy for regen and will allow dodes to target the sphere with its energy restore spw.

- 4 Dodecs (2 with maxed out relay, the other 2 with a torp and regen)

there's no such thing as maxed out relay. you can only install 1 relay module, and then the dode becomes useful only as a turret. the other module u install will decide which dode turret you build. intercept gives offense boost, regen gives defence boost, vinculum gives an advanced cloak detect ping.

most offense dodes are built with 2 intercept (what you have called torp) modules, as these disable subsystems. in online play some people frown upon this as it disables ships so easy in the early game.

you could also try 2 vinculum modules for recharging special energy, especially for ships with holding beam.

- 3 S Cubes (2 torp, 1 beam)

once you start building spheres you will rarely go back to building scubes, by the time of spheres your ai friends will easily destroy scubes before they can retreat, and if a scube has any module other than regen it will take ages to repair even if you escape with it.

- 5 Probes

again these are early game borg ships and even then most people wont build that many probes. they just dont cut it after early game.

Once you add an ult cube (2 Armor, 1 beam, 1 regen, 2 torp) you can then just bulldozer over peoples bases.

actually the commonly accepted strongest cube is 2 armour 3 torp 1 regen. beam isnt too useful.

[Tyler]

posted on May 18th, 2010, 7:25 pm

Last edited by Tyler on May 18th, 2010, 7:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Beam modules are best when your enemy likes to primarily use beam weapons or large numbers of weaker ships. Base-killers like the Cube aren't likely to be wasted on level-1 ships.

posted on May 18th, 2010, 8:10 pm

there's no such thing as maxed out relay. you can only install 1 relay module, and then the dode becomes useful only as a turret. the other module u install will decide which dode turret you build. intercept gives offense boost, regen gives defence boost, vinculum gives an advanced cloak detect ping.

I was thinking of the module that improves ships with holding beams.

[Canny]

posted on May 18th, 2010, 8:32 pm

Last edited by Canny on May 18th, 2010, 8:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

you would be surprised by how much damage a pile of level 1 ships can do if ignored over a short period of time, i always have two cube with the standard aggressive load out, torp max and reg, the third cube is a special ability tank instead of torp max, route 1 pt to nanite. keep some scouts nearby to ping detect. within minutes the enemy base is gone. i usually have two cubes focus on big stations with firepower and the third cube attacking ships or turrets to minimize damage against the cubes. highly effective and long term resource gain could be potentially high, but on the other hand if the enemy is base defensive, no matter how many ships or how tank like they are, they could all be wiped out in moments.

posted on May 18th, 2010, 8:36 pm

I know what weaklings can do if ignored, but the still doesn't mean they're likely to send a Cube to do what Assimilators and Spheres can do.

Not many people would be foolish enough to ignore a large fleet attacking a base anyway, regardless of what it's made of.