Optimimal Fleet Compostion Needed 1.4

[Baronh2o]

I know this question probably gets asked pretty frequently, however I couldn't find the information that I needed.

Essentially what I'm looking for is a fleet composition guide for 1.4. I've found other guides but they are a bit dated and not exactly as useful due to game changes for balancing that have occurred.

To be clear I'm not looking for anything gamey here, I would like to roll with a versatile fleet where every ship type is represented. The ideal ratio for these ship types would be much appreciated. Also within each ship type a break down of specific ship type builds would be awesome.

I'm looking for something like this (only updated for 1.4): https://www.reddit.com/r/Stellaris/...ittle_fleet_guide_for_anyone/#bottom-comments

Thanks in advance for whoever takes this question on, it's a big ask! (unless there is some website out there that has essentially the linked build guide updated for 1.4)

 

[CocoCincinnati]

I can't speak to what's optimal but I can say what I'm doing in my current game.

I have about 2/3 to 3/4 of my corvettes with 2 plasma/1 disruptor. Then I have the remaining 1/4 to 1/3 with Torps and missiles. I know missiles are pretty worthless right now but I still like the idea of torpedo boats so I do it for RP reasons. Plus I like to believe, whether right or wrong, that having some missiles being thrown around pulls PD fire away from my fighters and bombers.

1/2 of my destroyers have 2 M Plasma and 2 S Plasma. 1/4 of them have PD and lasers. 1/4 of them have 1 L autocannon and 1 M autocannon.

For my capital ships I mix it up quite a bit which I know is not really optimal but for me it's certainly more fun. I have at least 1 or 2 escort carrier cruisers since they are the only thing that can carry PD that rushes forward instead of hanging back. I also usually have a few missile cruisers with Torps hanging around, again I know this is not optimal, it is for RP reasons. The rest are a mixture of M and L plasma.

I haven't got battleships in this game yet but when I do I will have at least 1 or 2 fleet carriers and the rest will be 1 XL lance, 2 L KA and 2 M Plasma. This design is supposed to be somewhat optimal, from reading these boards anyway.

As for utility slots, Shields with max capacitors are supposed to be they way to go. I still put afterburners on my corvettes though, I just like it.

 

[Grubsnik]

For 1.4 the wargame consists of counter and counter-counters. Simple Mass driver corvettes are unstoppable until you get high armour cruisers. Cruisers can be defeated by long range Battleships. Those Battleships are in turn vulnerable to torpedo corvettes. Torpedo corvettes can be countered by PD-destroyers. PD-destroyers are vulnerable to non-pd destroyers (since everything but corvettes have a preference for attacking their own ship-size (battleships even more so))

So for any given fleet encounter, you really need to know what your opponent is fielding, so you can counter it. Cheap corvette spam while going way past the fleet cap works when you are fielding corvettes alone, once you mix it up with more expensive ships, it gets a lot less attractive. So from there the war game opens up and you have to consider more angles.

 

[Antediluvian Monster]

Never have more than two types of ship in the fleet as this tends to mean one vulnerable type gets focused on more than usual. A good recipe is a core of lance, kinetic artillery and plasma armed battleships with a screen of corvettes (e.g. plasma and rail gun). As I remember from testing few months back with mixed fleet compositions this wins against all cruiser and cruiser-corvette fleets since the cruisers get distracted by the rushing corvette screen. I can't remember how well it dealt with all corvette fleet, but IIRC those had surprisingly poor performance against big ship fleet (ineffective focusing?).

Cruisers are also quite effective (IIRC when pitted against all corvette fleet an all cruiser fleet is actually quite a bit more effective than all destroyer fleet due to resilience) both alone and in combination with corvettes. However they do lose against the previous battleship fleet unless they can circlejerk them to block the XL weapons (which is what the corvette screen is there for).

 

[FrosT37]

If you want a balanced fleet, just use 25% fleet capacity per ship type, which translates into a ratio 1 battleship : 2 cruisers : 4 destroyers : 8 corvettes.

You also want to balance each ship type so they can fight two other ship types. I use this general setup:

Corvettes: 1x railgun, 1x torpedoes (serve as cannon fodder but can also take out enemy capital ships with the torpedoes)
Destroyer: 1x medium railgun, 1x small railgun, 1x small missiles, 2x point-defense (main protection for the fleet against missiles and carrier wings)
Cruiser: 1x kinetic artillery, 1x medium disruptor, 1x medium railgun, 1x medium autocannon, 1x flak battery
Battleship: 1x tachyon lance, 2x kinetic artillery, 2x large plasma cannons

For production, I make groups of 4 planets with fleet academies and assembly yards (one per planet for each ship type). One of these planets get a rally point.

 

[scaper12123]

It really depends on your preference. For me It's a 1 to 2 ratio of battleships and cruisers to destroyers and corvettes. I know a lot of people say corvettes are useless for how easily they're slaughtered but they pull attention away from the battleships and they're very cheap and quick to construct.

 

[Antediluvian Monster]

If you want a balanced fleet, just use 25% fleet capacity per ship type, which translates into a ratio 1 battleship : 2 cruisers : 4 destroyers : 8 corvettes.

I tested the fleet you described (15/30/60/120 ratio) against fleet with the same designs but just the battleships and corvettes (45/120 ratio). First the mixed fleet lost it's battleships, then it's cruisers, then the destroyers. At this point the more uniform fleet had half of it's corvettes and two thirds of it's battleships remaining. Then followed a long grind against the corvettes during which all the BBs and few additional corvettes were lost but the uniform fleet won in the end. Since the corvettes were the only dangerous part of the mixed fleet it is tempting to conclude that all other types should have been replaced by even more corvettes. Similarily the battleships could have taken the corvettes teeth out by fitting flak on some of the battleships (which you should do anyway).

 

[melkor88]

I normally stick with 10/15/30/50 - So I guess I should lower the Battleships, and increase Corvettes then?

 

[Antediluvian Monster]

I normally stick with 10/15/30/50 - So I guess I should lower the Battleships, and increase Corvettes then?

Point was: stick to 1 or 2 hull types in a fleet. It's not going to be optimal fleet otherwise because it's inviting focused damage. I'm also pretty sure the battleship-corvette fleet in the test would have mopped the floor against the mixed fleet's torpedo corvettes (or even fleet of nothing but torpedo corvettes) had some of the battleships had flak (the use of torpedo corvettes as screen for the battleship fleet is also dubious).

Basically I just picked the designs he described to show that even in somewhat adverse condition (pd vs. no pd in fight with torpedos) a uniform fleet with reasonable designs will beat a mixed fleet. Hull point wise the score was about 360 to 180 by the time the mixed fleet was down to nothing but corvettes.