Cargo Warships

from GalCiv2 Forums
Over my last several games I have been experimenting with arming Cargo hulls. Withh 55 points of space, they are the heaviest ships till you get heavy hulls. I've found there are a few plus and minus'...
(+)Largest ship for the first half of the game with 2-3 times the firepower
(+)Able to upgrade any cargo hull, including Colony ships and constructors, into warships at a moments notice.
(+)Nearly invulernable when placed near Military Starbases with buffs
and on the other side...
(-)1 hit point means they can be a paper tiger
This is the most serious drawback i've found so far. On several occasions i've lost a ship even though it's defenses out weighed my enemies attack rating.

I was just wondering if anyone else had tried this strategy, and what experences you've had.
12,069 views 21 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I personally don't feel it's worth it. That ship loses one hit point and it's all over. To be honest, I'd much rather use small fleets of ships rather than going with cargo hulls.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
They tend to be slightly expensive.
When putting in a fleet, it gets targeted first.

I had upgraded one of my sensor ships to give it a single gun (had to dispatch an AI colony ship). When i fleeted it later with a couple of small hulls, it was the destroyed with the enemy ship during combat. net result, a very "blind" fleet. oops. none of the small ships recieved any damage
Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
that (-) for only 1 hit point shoudl be more like 5 (-)s. Why? cause that super 250 bc cargo warship is gonna be the first to die in a fight. By the time you actually get strong enough weapons for a one hit kills, you might as well just use medium or large hulls.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I tried this once -- Worked well on the offense, but if you're not the one doing the attacking you're pooched as one hit will take them down -- even with defenses, a lucky hit will burn one with it's 1 hp

I used them once as starbase killers for enemy resource starbases. Sent groups of four with heavy weapons loas, kill the enemy starbase, convert to a cheap constructor with no drives and take over the base. One to put the base down, one for battlestations, and one for some defenses and one of the attack modules to provide some basic defenses. Ended up hamstringing their entire empire one turn into a war, Four of the six resources they had were economy resources, as soon as they lost the bonuses they were running into the red.

Im sure there are other uses, but this is the one time that I was able to effectively use them after I had medium hulls. I just cringe at the thought of investing so much to buy tons of weapons only to end up getting ganked by a 1 offense tiny hull.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
They are usefull if they have the sensors and engines to never get attacked or cought by suprise. I like to equip my sensor ships with one laser just so they can pop unarmed enemies. Currently on the slightly cheap tactic list, cause they AI never sees it coming or learns.
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I'll make these if the AI starts rushing me with colony ships near the beginning of the game. Sometimes I'll bag 10 or more colony ships in a few turns. They are good for this because you can get a quick ship with good sensors that can take out all the unarmed colony ships and constructors. You end up angering the AI players, but then they do brain-dead things like rushing with troop transports next. Bang bang, those fall too. I always call these cheesy ships "Armed Busdriver" and design them as duct-tape and bailing wire type ships. Very ugly but get the job done.

--Brad
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I just like playing the early game with a few Cargo Warships hanging around. I like to role play a bit, so look at them as command style ships, with nice sensors and lots of weapons. I don't make more than 6 generally and protect them with fighters. I just think of them as early generation warships, easily destroyed as the technology to make large hulls that are much stronger doesn't exist yet. Later I phase them out.
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I always arm my coloy ships, so when im racing someone to a high class planet, i just blow them up and take it.
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
They have their uses as mentioned, especially for attacking other unarmed cargo ships. Don't forget, you can put cargo, troop or colony modules on larger non cargo hulls. These are the "real" armed merchant warships. I put a colony module on a large hull ship before, and outfited it with a respectable amount of weapontry and defenses, it held its own in battle.
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I use them with lots of engines to quickly take out unarmed enemies, never armed ships. I named my armed cargo ships Q-Ships. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q-Ship Auxiliary cruiser would be another good term. Link

Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I did this once. I put a trade module on a medium hull, then loaded it with defenses and one harpoon missile launcher. The enemy seemed to learn pretty quickly to leave my merchants alone.

Don't know why it didn't occur to me to make armed constructors. I'll start doing that too.
Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Doesn't it use the ship up when your transport/constructor/tradeship gets to its destination??

It seems like a waste of money to build a constructor for instance on a medium hull that will cost far more when it will have a very short lifespan.
Reply #13 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
@chrisdcaldwell

For constructors and transports, yes.

Freighters do not really get used up - they can be seen as the tiny little ships running along the trade routes. They make use of all the stuff you give them, except maybe upgraded engines. I always at least put upgraded sensors on them because they allow me to see stuff further out from their route.
Reply #14 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Transports do have a very short lifespan. Either because they hit their target planet or get mauled by the enemy. It depends on how dangerous the galaxy is. I have found armed transports very effictive with certain tactics. By putting reasonable armament on my transports I was able to free some of my ships from escort duty and place them in seek-and-destroy/combat raider roles. This effectively helped me spread my fleet out. (Think of it as an armoured personel carrier and it makes sence.)

I would send in the main battle ships first to clear the area of the major threats. The transports would come in behind. If anything slipped thorough or was jutst a single ship that I had ignored then it was in for a fight if it messed with a transport. Also, should it happen to kill the transport, it would mostly likely be wounded and not be able to just obliterate the other transports in flight.

They also make good decoys. Load one up with firepower and defense, toss in one trooper, and let it float around. Many times an unescorted transport looks very inviting. The computer can go for it and get bit. Then, on the edge of their range, have some ships ready to pounce. It is quite fun. It also serves as a better warning for a surprise attack as opposed to loosing a planet or a starbase.
Reply #15 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I build a scout class cargo hull ship - all engines and sensors and spread them over the entire map. The AI has never complained about these unarmed watchers and they'll pretty easy to keep alive if war breaks out.

However freighters I arm with a laser or two - gives them a fighting chance against raiders etc.

Later, with the Adv Troop Mod I'll build my own fast APC type troop carrier. This armed (and armoured) carrier (with only 500 troops, but I build lots of 'em) changes my tactics somewhat from a "control the skies" fleet based doctrine to a smaller (and cheaper), more reactionary, targeted force capable of rapid response & invasion. Any aggression from the AI (whether martial or influential) results in a rapid planetry invasion (or 2) and then peace rather than an expensive, attritional, ship destruction war.
Reply #16 from Stardock Forums Top
I don't make more than 6 generally and protect them with fighters

How are you able to protect them since they are the first thing targeted (as they are armed and very easy to kill) in battle?
Reply #17 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Has anyone tried making a cargo hull warship and putting it in a fleet that is blockading a planet? It always seems like my ships HP goes up like mad after picking off all the single ships in orbit before orbital fleet managers are made. Do the cargo hulls gain HP with experience? If so, they could be useful once they got a few bonus HP
Reply #18 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
They do indeed gain HP with experience. Unfortunately HP gain is as a % so it has to get a lot of exp before it even goes up to 2HP (100% increase).

The only place I have really used armed utility hulls is against the Dread Lords. Add some stolen weapons and engine tech and you can destroy their dreadnaughts pretty easily by packing a few together. It helps that the DLs weren't putting their ships in fleets.

-C
Reply #19 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I use them with lots of engines to quickly take out unarmed enemies, never armed ships. I named my armed cargo ships Q-Ships. Link Auxiliary cruiser would be another good term. Link



Learn somethin new every day. Thanks BladeVenom!

As for the cargo-warships I usually build 4 or 5 of these early in the game for sensor ships. Later in the game I when I go to war I will upgrade thier engines to the latest and greatest and send them deep into enemy territory and use thier speed to kill anything that is unarmed. I can nail starbases before they get upgraded, destroy thier trade routes (this can sometimes backfire as this will piss off the AI that the route was going to), kill all thier constructors and nab those troopships before they can form up with thier escorts. I usally couple this with a few super fast heavier ships that I send behind the lines with the cargo warships to pick off escorts or lone ships as they are produced. Not to mention I get some really awesome intel (despite having the Eye of the Universe you still have to put a sensor on them to see the numbers and sizes, well unless you are doing some really neat espoinage but I always forget to do that ).

They are useful in thier place but they will never take the place of any ship o'th line.

Felk the Ihaveasmartlookingadmiralshat
Reply #20 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Well, after the fight I had yesterday I know I'm not using Cargo for my attack ship any day.


I built a Large Hull ship, call it GTD-Hecade (FS2 stuff), has around 60 Missle attack.


It got in the fight with a defender with 1 armor in shield. Guess what is the result of the first round (I attacked first): 0


Eh, see even with a dice roll of 60 against 1 and it can still come out zero?
Reply #21 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I use them as fodder... I pack as much defence on the ship as I can and then escort it with two or three fighters... the fighters always survive and gain exp. which makes them more and more deadly... Also with a little extra firepower it totally changes the nature of a battle... If you're defence technology is high enough these ships are almost untouchable and relatively cheap for a first time "capital" ship...