A change to fleet management suggestion

[djlowbridge]

I posted this a few days on steam and wanted to see what other thought of the idea.

I've been playing Stellaris for a while now, mostly on my other account. I love the game. I can't imagine playing anything else for a long time.

However, the one element I don't like is the fleet management. It seems, during war time, all you need to do is get all your ships together, defeat the enemy fleet and then just bombard their planets until you get 100% warscore.

Once their main fleet has been wiped out, there is normally no threat.

I've done this several times and won all my wars without trouble.

This isn't very fun and because of the power system, it makes defence structures pretty obsolete very quickly and wars very mundane.

Therefore, I was playing with some ideas and came up with this idea about minimising the fleets, but adding in variety to make fleet management a little more challenging and wars more tactical.

First off, I would base fleet sizes not on the 1000 cap as it is at the moment, but on a progressive scale based on admiral skill, traits and technology.

This is how I worked it:

Base Levels:

No admirals = 16 fleet size.
1 star admiral = 32 fleet size
2 star admiral = 48 fleet size
3 star admiral = 64 fleet size
4 star admiral = 80 fleet size
5 star admiral = 96 fleet size

Technology:

Logistics: +8 fleet size
Advanced logistics: +8 fleet size
Super logistics: +8 fleet size.

Admiral Traits:

Quartermaster: +10% fleet size
Legend: +5% fleet size
Tyrant: -5% fleet size
Unorganised: -10% fleet size

Therefore, fleets would be smaller, but more numerous. Adding a new fleet management dimension.

This system can offer balance. The maximum fleet size for a level one admiral is 84 while the minimum for a level 5 admiral is 81. Therefore, every admiral has a chance in battle should the conditions be right.

This system would make wars more challenging as one battle doesn't decide a war. You would need to consider fleet placement, movement and long term strategy to effectively win. It would also make a nice RPG element, controlling the careers of your admirals.

I would also propose that ships take twice as long build, so losses aren't so easy to replace.

Had some feedback, here is my response to that.

And how we will purchase admirals?

How would this be changed? Admirals can be bought now for a small amount of influence. The challenge will be whether you have admirals, governors, generals or scientists. Though as you discover more technologies more leaders can be recruited.

How we will level them?

Admirals currently level up via combat, which is fair enough. Though traits can be gained just by having them scout systems. So there is no reason why the traits can't be added into the algorithm there.

In my current game, all my Admirals are recruited at level two. With technology, the starting level could be increased to level four and there is no reason why level five admirals couldn't be spawned with the correct species makeup, technology, etc.

How you will avoid to stack several fleets in megablob? Ban more then one fleet inside system? But that will kill hyperlines completely.

You don't need to avoid it. Players and the AI are free to move their fleets whereever; however, those that do megablob leave their borders open to those who operate multiple fleets in a nation to destroy economy and bombard planets. This is part of the additional strategy options you will have.

In addition to the worry for hyperlanes, these would be negatively affected as defence platforms become more effective and players may need to fight their way into a system. Considering that chasing down hyperlane users is a pain and I've spent many an hour chasing them across the galaxy just for them to be a system a head of me.

But wormhole users might need to build more than one station in certain high traffic systems to stop bottlenecking - but they would also gain speed as larger fleets take longer to move.

Warp users would not be affected as far as I can see.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Pavane]

The 1000 point fleet capacity has been removed. Otherwise there would be no way to defeat Leviathans, which is the problem with your suggestion.

 

[Rubido]

So, another Doomstack thread? If you want answers about your ideas, just read the forum.

 

[UncleGamer]

I love this idea and have proposed looking at this more than once. I would however limit the size further.

Base Levels:

No admirals = 8 fleet size.
1 star admiral = 16 fleet size
2 star admiral = 24 fleet size
3 star admiral = 36 fleet size
4 star admiral = 54 fleet size
5 star admiral = 81 fleet size

Smaller fleets for sure in my opinion would be more fun and strategic. I would also limit multiple fleets in same system. First there needs to be a single clear leader. This means you cannot have multiples of the same rank at the top.

1 star can have two fleets, this means an un commanded and his fleet

2 star can have two fleets, his and either a 1 star or a none commanded

3 star can have three fleets, he can have dual 1 star, single 2 star, 2 none commanded in any combination up to three

4 star can three fleets with single 3 star, dual 2 star, triple single star or none command, in any combination of the mentioned.

5 Star can 4 fleets with a single 4 star, dual 3 star, triple 2 star, 4 single star or non command and in any combination

Allow a perk for admirals above 3 stars to get that allows one additional fleet controlled at two levels or lower below to his fleet control cap.

Now then fleets above the sizes can be commanded bu at penalties.

For every 10% above fleet limit for command the upkeep cost of the entire fleet goes up 5%. For anything above 50% of the fleet limit the combat speed and firepower is reduced by 10% for every 10% above. For more fleets in system than the limit the combat speed, evasion and firepower will be reduced by 10% for each fleet over the limit.

The idea here is that commanders have limits to what they can coordinate. Once you exceed the limit the commander cannot effectively coordinate firepower or movement of the combined forces.

 

[SectorsAreOkay]

Yeah, the problem isn't going to be solved by annoying users with arbitrary limitations on fleet size. The underlying issue is that there's no value in having your fleets be anywhere other than in one place. If static defenses were stronger, if there was more value in defending more of your territory or your conquered territory (or attacking a larger swath of your enemies territory), then you naturally would *not* put everything in one fleet. The problem would solve itself. This solution is just asking people to have 10 fleets all go to one place instead of one fleet of the same strength. Micro pain with no gain.