That first war, when should you pull the trigger

[Esurnir]

So, I want to play a fanatic purger empire, I have my first alien met, and first target, the game is barely started, techs are trudging along and I want to murderize the other empire with the minimum ammount of loss possible.

So a few question :
1) When would you declare war formally (before you're ready to kill the stations ? After?)
2) Would you colonize a few planet first?
3) What tech level would be required, what ship composition would you use for your invading fleet, armour / deflectors yes or no? gun for the weapon techs ? Any torpedo ? Destroyers?
4)How much deficit do you allow yourself to fall into from going over fleet limit, or do you wait until the war is declared to go into deficit?
5) Any cheap tactic ? Do you use ftl trap at all to control engagements?

Ideally I want to avoid losing 3/4 of my fleet on the guys station and/or his fleet.

What would you do if your first neighbour is an advanced start?

 

[MechaThumper]

1) Depends on the situation. If they are lacking in ships or pushing a frontier outpost and I'm currently building up I'll declare and keep their fleet killed until I'm ready. No penalties for keeping a war going on.
2) If I'm playing with a no cluster start I usually start with a few planets but I've been meaning to look into what's best.
3) 30+ Corvettes is my only requirement. Usually I can push for level 1 deflectors and level 2 weapons but it's not critical. Level 2 weapons are kind of lack luster compared to their cost in the beginning, I'd rather have another corvette than upgrade to T2.
4) Not enough to get the penalties.
5) You obviously want some way to engage their fleet separately. So leaving a planet defenseless or splitting up fleets to draw them in work. What's a defense station and how do you get one?
6) Avoid that neighbor. Or block them with outposts and planets so they cant expand until i can take them out.

I dont really play on hard/impossible so not sure what tactics there are for those.

 

[niallmcfc]

Personally...
1) As soon as your fleet hits ~1.5k so you can take out the spaceport with no worries. Of course if you know which weapons they're using you could afford a 1:1. For instance, if you know they're missile-based, slap on loads of PD. Laser based, high shields, Kinetic based high armour. You get the idea
2) Colonise ASAP. Find as many 15+ planets are grab them. Try to expand your borders, but fleet cap is the big thing early on
3) You *need* to be at least at the level your target's at- if they have destroyers and you don't you'll be crushed.
4) As much as you can stomach. Capacity overload is useful, getting a load of energy buildings early on and having a massive surplus will prepare you for the high-maintenance ships later
5) Declare, sit back, let them leave their space then smash them. Once their fleet's crushed, go straight for capital bombardment- you want to capture their home planet before they have time to regroup. And don't bother with defence stations. Those minerals are better spent on fleets and the +10 happiness building Fanatic Xenophobes get.

And yep, avoid advanced neighbours. Even fanatic purgers can get non-aggression pacts early on, so try to grab one of those with them. Rival their rivals and hold off on purging until you can hold your own against them.

 

[The Founder]

1) When would you declare war formally (before you're ready to kill the stations ? After?)
2) Would you colonize a few planet first?
3) What tech level would be required, what ship composition would you use for your invading fleet, armour / deflectors yes or no? gun for the weapon techs ? Any torpedo ? Destroyers?
4)How much deficit do you allow yourself to fall into from going over fleet limit, or do you wait until the war is declared to go into deficit?
5) Any cheap tactic ? Do you use ftl trap at all to control engagements?

1) Keep in mind that being the person declaring the war means you suffer a -10% happiness penalty. And Xenophobes are not exactly a anti-Dibergence build. So I would only declare if I am certain I will win. Ideally get the other side to declare.
Also you should be declaring with someone else. But that is kind of hard to pull off as Xenophobe.

2) Definitely! As Xenophobes your pops are your strenght. Only pops on planets give resources and border extrusion (wich gives more resources via mining). Not to mention that you will need the fleetcap from that to actually win.

3. Kinitics are relatively powerfull. For the Fleet combat it depends on what the enemy fields.
Against the stations you want large armor skipping energy weapons. Shields without regeneration might not mater. Destroyers are the kind of ships you prepare with in peacetime. But can not replace during wartime (this early in the game).

4) Being in deficit puts you doubly over the edge.
On the one hand, you already have to win fast (Offensive War penalty). On the other, you will also loose most combat and rebuilding power if you ever run out of resources. Resource loss will turn the tide of a war.

5) FTL trap next to a spaceport is one of my favourite maneuvers. However the small gun of the platforms are quite limited.


Overall keep in mind that with 1.4 early rushes no longer work. You need 30 Corvettes to even have a chance to kill a T1 Port. And you would still take around 50% losses.

 

[niallmcfc]

1) Keep in mind that being the person declaring the war means you suffer a -10% happiness penalty. And Xenophobes are not exactly a anti-Dibergence build. So I would only declare if I am certain I will win. Ideally get the other side to declare.
Also you should be declaring with someone else. But that is kind of hard to pull off as Xenophobe.

Just to nitpick here, as a militarist he'll actually get +5% happiness when declaring war (+10% if fanatic). Pacifists lose happiness for declaring war. And xenophobic/ militarist is surprisingly good for anti-divergence, with Symbol to Unity (+10% happiness) and Virtual Combat Arena (+5% happiness, -5% ethics divergence)

 

[The Founder]

Just to nitpick here, as a militarist he'll actually get +5% happiness when declaring war (+10% if fanatic).

Asuming we talk about 1.4, it is +10% for either Militarist. Wich is added to the -10% "Offensive War" penalty.
So no penalty for offensive wars, and a bonus in defensive ones only.

Yes the +15% is nice at keeping happy. But not exactly a lot of Ethics divergence in the end. Especially if you have to use Sectors.
I am really waiting for that Faction/Ethos rework right now. It should make most combinations a lot more viable.

 

[Diezy]

1) As soon as we 2.5k+ fleet and have starports around every world, and everyone shows up as Inferior, we are good to go!

2) Getting planets peacefully first is better, mostly to get bigger fleet size, and more space/resources. As soon as New Worlds is finished resarching you should have enough minerals to build a Colony Ship. Get all the minerals you can, invade primitives for more space too! If they're the same habitability as you, you can resettle one of your own there and just purge the rest. Have some extra Corvettes ready to crush Space Pirates' hopes and dreams by the time the first colony is finished.

3) Corvettes with Shields, perhaps Destroyers if they come up! As soon as the 3k doomfleet is ready, you can crush an enemy Starport and whatever comes to protect it. As for weapons, equip Kinetic or Lazers, the Small kind, to have better chance to destroy their puny Corvettes.

4) With Tier 2 Power Plants and Solar Panel/Power Hub technology one can sustain a ridiculously immense doomfleet!

As for deficit, usually the plan is not to run out during the next 2-3 years. [Current Resources]-[Deficit x30] should be a positive number. The REAL fleet spam would happen when you acquire Engineering Bay technology, but that's around mid-game.

If you meet a Trader enclave, good for you, we can get even more ridiculous and throw them the extra minerals for more energy to handle an even bigger fleet!
Be wary that when declaring war, your unhappy peasants will produce a little bit fewer energy credits.

5) Overwhelm them, if they got friends, overwhelm them too! Bombard/invade, move on. Later on, with bigger/stronger armies, you won't even have to bomb them.

Try not encounter other empires, operate in secret, kill them in their sleep before they all meet up. Cleanse Planets war demands, colonize over them!

Some diplomatic games are helpful as well, but later on they start using more wasteful weaponry like Carriers, Rockets and Torpedoes, and you'll tend to win battles before such slow weapons will even touch your fleet, and there should be very few things out there that can stop you! ^_^