Zen and the art of strategic combat

Strategic combat is by no means a science since we never see the battles nor do we know how they are fought since combat speeds of all ships is 0! Thus it is an art, and therefore open to interpretation. Most moo2 players abhor the thought of strategic combat but where there is art there is beauty.

Why play strategic? Well there are 4 reasons that come to mind immediately. First of all it is different, providing a change from the same old moo we have been at for years. Secondly it removes the seemingly endless battles that some games are plagued with from turn 12 to turn 157, sitting through 40 combats takes more will power and devotion than most can muster. Thirdly it opens new strategies to be tried out on unsuspecting victims, since we don’t really know what effect picks like +50 ship defence have in strategic combat. I do know I have lost a battleship to an AI frigate before! The last and possibly most important aspect of strategic combat is that it makes the AI competitive since all ship design is based on technologies achieved, and removes our ability to exploit AI ship designs.

What now? In the moo2 community I likely have the most strategic combat experience. And I still feel pretty clueless about what works and what does not. 80% of the moo2 crowd flatly refuse to play strategic, so nobody really has a handle on it. –20 ship defence seems to be a really bad choice in strategic combat, unless of course u enjoy replenishing your fleet. Other than that standard races seem to be the best bet, however I have not attempted any ‘blitz races’ to date.

Turn 1. When we start in an average tech game we have 2 frigates (not scouts) and a colony ship. If u click on fleet and scan the ships u may notice the frigates do not include extended fuel tanks but the colony ship does. To scout without risking the demise of said colony ship it is best to build outpost ships, which also include extended fuel tanks, and are considerably more expendable than colony ships.

Missing technologies. Several technologies are not available in strategic combat. Among the missing are battle pods, dauntless guidance, emissions guidance, warp interdictors and tractor beams. The lack of interdictors means u need to be able to defend all your systems, or be prepared to lose some. One centralised fleet roaming about does not seem the best tactic in strategic.

Refits. All ships refit automatically the moment u research, capture or spy a technology that applies to ship design. Just because you obtain a new tech does not mean the computer will install it though.

Bases. Planetary bases are VERY strong compared to what u may be accustomed to. Battle stations are particularly tough. I have never encountered a star fortress in strategic, I would not expect they fall easily.

Monsters are weaker than u may expect, 2 tritanium battle ships is normally sufficient to take out a monster.

Battles. Expect to lose ships (and lots of them), don’t quit because u lost a few ships, that is the nature of strategic just build a bunch more and fling them at the enemy!