Anchorages or trade: How should we be balancing our naval cap to trade value and protection?

[Secret Master]

I've been trying it both ways, and I'm not sure what is the most efficient use of my limited slots on starbases and planets.

You can run anchorages on your starbases to get naval cap, and you can run fortresses to get naval cap from soldier POPs. But I also need to collect trade and protect trade using starbase modules. And on planets, I can run dozens of other buildings that might help me either build more ships or generate more trade or produce synthetic resources. And I can build civilian industries to create consumer goods, but if I grab more trade, I can get plenty of consumer goods from trade.

So, I'm not really sure what in the Hell I should be doing with my starbases and building slots.

 

[EdGreyfox]

A lot depends on how trade resources are spread around your empire. I've had good results by building up one starbase with 5-6 trade hubs to cover all the nearby systems and letting my other starbases serve as my anchorages. This method also cuts down on the number of systems you need to worry about patrolling. It actually makes deciding which systems to build up your star bases in a bit more important/strategic, since you really only want to build trade bases in systems that have enough nearby trade value to make it worth the effort.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the AI usually doesn't build up very big fleets, so until the late game you really don't need a lot of anchorages. The bonus's you get from the fleet cap techs is usually plenty unless you want to fight wars on 3-4 fronts at the same time. And in the late game you have access to a megastructure that provides a big boost to your fleet and starbase capacity.

 

[Zenopath]

I've been trying it both ways, and I'm not sure what is the most efficient use of my limited slots on starbases and planets.

You can run anchorages on your starbases to get naval cap, and you can run fortresses to get naval cap from soldier POPs. But I also need to collect trade and protect trade using starbase modules. And on planets, I can run dozens of other buildings that might help me either build more ships or generate more trade or produce synthetic resources. And I can build civilian industries to create consumer goods, but if I grab more trade, I can get plenty of consumer goods from trade.

So, I'm not really sure what in the Hell I should be doing with my starbases and building slots.

The TLDR answer is you need to get Trade Protection (TP) to be higher than Current Piracy (CP).
If you have a bunch of stations with hangers, and not much trade, and you TP is higher than Max Piracy (MP) which is the highest value CP can go, then you are done.

If not, then you can use Pirate Suppression to drop CP below MP. Each corvette permantly stationed in a system drops CP under its MP by 10 points.

Or you can send patrols, and just watch that CP never gets higher than TP in the time between each sweep of the patrol.

If you want more detail, here goes:
Suppose you have a system like this:
Trade Route Value: 100+
Max Piracy: 100
Piracy Effect (PE): 10
Current Piracy (CP): 100
Trade Protection (TP): 90

The PE is what actually cuases losses to trade value. PE = CP - TP, so if you do nothing, you lose 10 trade.

Any value of CP generates a chance of pirates spawning, but with 1 corvette permenantly stationed in the system CP would be 10 points lower than MP, so 90. And since that is your TP, you would get PE of 0 and your trade would be safe.

If you parked 10 corvettes in system, the CP would drop to 0 and no trade would be harmed and no pirates would be spawned. This would make your TP worthless.

What the game wants you to do is use patrols to temporarily drop CP below TP with each swing. CP goes down gradually while corvettes are in system, then grows again. How fast it goes down depends on number of corvettes and how long they stay in system. How fast it goes up depends on MP. If you manage it right, you can keep a large number of systems under your TP value using few fleets. The game rewards you with exp for your admiral by doing it this way.

Or you can place corvettes in every system that needs it, at MP/10 per system, and not worry about TP or pirate spawns at all.

Hope that helps.

 

[Secret Master]

A lot depends on how trade resources are spread around your empire. I've had good results by building up one starbase with 5-6 trade hubs to cover all the nearby systems and letting my other starbases serve as my anchorages. This method also cuts down on the number of systems you need to worry about patrolling. It actually makes deciding which systems to build up your star bases in a bit more important/strategic, since you really only want to build trade bases in systems that have enough nearby trade value to make it worth the effort.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the AI usually doesn't build up very big fleets, so until the late game you really don't need a lot of anchorages. The bonus's you get from the fleet cap techs is usually plenty unless you want to fight wars on 3-4 fronts at the same time. And in the late game you have access to a megastructure that provides a big boost to your fleet and starbase capacity.

See, I feel like fortresses are a waste of a building slot on most planets. But I like deep space blacksites in most inhabited systems, so that means fewer starbases in optimum positions to cover trade, so I need more slots for trade and protection.

Are there civics or techs that increase the value or output of soldiers.

 

[Badesumofu]

I usually reach a point in my empire's development where naval capacity starts to become my main constraint. Once you really get the soap industry up and running you can pump a lot of ships out. At that point I find soldiers to be a reasonably useful job to boost naval cap. Have to do the numbers on it at some point whether they'd be better off just producing alloys and energy to pay the increased upkeep of going over the cap.

Early game when AI empires have oddly strong fleets I often jam a chokepoint up with a bastion and try have it also provide some trade protection. As thing progress, I suspect anchorages become the best way to protect trade - they provide 6 (or 7.2 with Supremacy) naval cap which equates to 72 mobile piracy suppression. Those corvettes can also be used to do other useful things like destroying enemy spaceships.

It's also worth noting that depending how your trade network is set up, a bastion with 6 hangar bays isn't always going to be enough to suppress piracy even within its own suppression range.