What kind of fleets do you build? (max 380 supply)

You forgot to mention the tech level you wanted DO we have kodiaks? Cielos? Hoshikos? Carriers?

Research level. There are no tech levels lol.

Pre-Kodiak, but you've got everything else. (Hoshikos, Cielos, Perchiriens with all upgrades)

You know what I meant. (And even for a nitpick, thats pushing an awfully fine line).

In the early game you cant go wrong using your flagship plus about 10 colbalts, and 8 javalis LRM's. I just add (and replace) to it as the game goes along. At 380 points you should be able to field a nice fleet of at least 3 cap ships (i would chose the akkan, and dunov as my next 2 caps). Plus 5 light carriers i would bring the colbalt fleet to 12 and LRM's to 10. That is usually more than enough to do some comp stomping untill you get more ship slots.

I'm not interested in doing the math, but generally I'll throw a few of each ships in. For capships, I like the Sova and dreadnought to add in to my Kol, then add in the two battle cruisers as time / resources allow. I like the Sova carrier, especially as it levels up. I use a few cielo's and hoshiko's to help keep the fleet "in shape", with a larger section of carriers to provide even more fighter support. (Yeah, I like fighters).

Sorry I don't have exact numbers, I'm dealing with a huge number of pirates in my current game, just can't handle the math ATM... doing to much of that in-game adding up slots to figure out what I have room for in the way of new defenses.

You also forgot to add, is this an offensive fleet, or a defensive fleet. Both have very different requirements. An offensive fleet needs to be very mobile, able to dodge or neutralize in some way planetary defenses, whereas a defensive fleet needs to be somewhat mobile, able to respond quickly to a threat, but it needs to hold it's ground and supplement your own planetary defenses.

I would go with one of each of the capital ships, an extra KOL and Sova. I then back these up with 4 flack frigates, 2 robotics cruisers, 2 command cruisers, and fill the rest out with carriers. After they level up a bit those sovas will be carryeing 4 bombers each. I usualy save up cash and level them all up to level 5 before I even send them out to fight.

When I get more ship slots my Ideal fleet is 2 sovas, 2 KOLs, one each of the others. Then 10 flack frigs, 10 heavy cruisers, 5 robotics cruisers, 5 command cruisers, 15 carriers, 10 light frigs, and 5 siege frigs. In the late game I usualy have two fleets that look like this and send out scouts 20 at a time to drop sensors. Nothing the AI has ever sent has even come remotly close to scratching this fleet. I play on the hard setting so I am hoping the next patch will smarten up the hard AI a bit or make another level above the hard setting. No planet or asteroid defences have ever stood up to it so basicaly the late game for me gets VERY tedious. I take a planet then fortify it before moving to the next. I never have to worry about what the AI has on the other side of a jump

Major Stress, so I'm guessing 22 Cobalts, 10 Javelis, 10 Gardas, 5 Perchiriens, 2 Kols, an Akkan and a Dunov should be about right. Or do you think I need to increase the number of flak frigates?

Ron Lugge, I like the Sova as well especially once it levels up enough to carry four squadrons. I've had the Hoshikos and a single Cielo before, but I must've been using the Hoshikos wrong.

Advalary, it's for an offensive fleet. I usually leave a single Sova plus six light carriers (2x fighter, 8x bomber squadrons) in more important planets. So far, they're usually enough to bolster the planetary defenses against pirates and the small raiding groups that the AI insists on sending.

Psyleck, I'll give Hard AI a try. As it is, my 440 supply fleet of 11 cap ships has been rolling over everything it encounters from the Medium AI.

My current fleet composition was the result of one of my mixed fleets getting eliminated when I tried to take over one of the AI's planets. That fleet consisted of the following:

26x Cobalt Light Frigates
14x Javelis LRM Frigates
8x Garda Flak Frigates
4x Perchirien Light Carriers
12x Hoshiko Robotics Cruisers
1x Cielo Command Cruiser
2x Kol Battleships (TDN Karamazov and TDN Proteus, levels 7 and 5 respectively)

Supply cost: 378
Credits: 26,475
Metal: 3,605
Crystal: 1,950

I realize now, that a big failure in this particular fleet composition was the over-abundance of Hoshiko Robotics Cruisers and the lack of supporting Battlecruisers such as the Akkan and Dunov, but I had thought that the AI knew what it was doing when it built 28 of those Hoshikos.

After this force got wiped out, I reloaded a saved game and scuttled most of my frigates save for the Javelis LRM frigates. My new fleet consisted of the following:

14x Javelis LRM Frigates
8x Kol Battleships (TDN Karamazov, TDN Proteus, TDN Krosus, TDN Logonis, TDN Kinesia, TDN Vigilus, TDN Krasev and TDN Achronus - Karamazov at level 7 and all her sister ships at level 5)

Supply cost: 376
Credits: 27,150
Metal: 3,550
Crystal: 2,350

I'd taken five planets while losing at most 1 Javelis, until I finally lost them all and decided to replace with the TDN Lazarus (Marza-class). The current fleet, augmented by TDN Aceron (Akkan-class) and TDN Numenia (Dunov-class), has taken over nine planets without a single loss and now carries 14 fighter squadrons and 7 bomber squadrons.

The only micro-management I do with my current fleet is to focus fire on the greatest threat and angle my fleet to points of least resistance. Previously I had to make sure that the Javelis were safe from getting killed --- not an easy proposition when the AI's bombers start going after them and you have to micro your fighters to intercept. The mixed fleet I had above was even worse, with the Flak frigates seeming to be ineffective.

I would really like to use a mixed fleet, but against the current AI (Medium), I don't see the point. I'm sure this will change when up against a human player, or possibly against the Hard AI. I'm curious though, how much micro-management is involved with your mixed fleets? How do you ensure that the Gardas actually do protect your fleet from the enemy's bombers and fighters without having to switch your attention from attacking the enemy with the rest of your ships?

You are going to need the Garda's as soon as the AI starts building Perchirien's. Otherwise you can kiss your LRM's goodbye, because thats what the AI bombers target 1st. 10 flaks is more than enough to protect your fleet from bomber attacks. Any more will be a waste of ship slots. I build the Akkan, and Dunov 1st just to have their abilitys to compliment the Kols. Plus the extra 2 fighter slots dont hurt. Once i get more ship slots i toss in the Sova, and Marza, and level them up asap. Marza is not that useful in a fight except for its radiation bomb IMO, but i love that raze planet ability

What i do to keep my fleets from scattering is use the aggression settings. I keep everything except fighters, and bombers set to weapon range only. This usually will help keep the fleet from scattering. The fighters, and bombers are set to grav well they will take care of any planetary defenses while your fleet takes care of any forces that jump in. ill just leave my fleet at the edge of the grav well, and let enemy's go to them. When the turrets, and hangers are gone i switch to grav well, and let the fleet go to town. Rinse, and Repeat with each world you take. Sometimes the AI might surprise you, and send in a response fleet. I agree that this does get old, and repetitious in the late game as the AI stops building ships, and starts its bounty spam.

Another thing to keep your ships from scattering is turn off autocasting. Example the Marza's raze planet ability, and use them manually. Otherwise your ships will move to use those abilitys. I think the devs are working on fixing this issue.

That ship list you posted seems like a good list. However i would lose most of the robotics cruisers. I would go with 5 Hoshinko's max. Replace the remaining points with a cap ship (akkan preferably with target ability), or use Cielo's with its focus target ability researched. I am assuming this is a mid game fleet lineup being that you have Cielos, and Robotics cruisers in the mix.

By the late game you should have at least 1 of each type of cap ship in your lineup. Along with a second Kol as well. You should also have some Kodiaks in the lineup.

In the late game i make 2 garrison fleets in addition of my expeditionary fleet for the inevitable "insurgency" that each consist of 5 Kodiaks, 10 colbalts, and 10 LRM's. They stay on standby in a choke point until a world gets a pirate attack that it cant handle by itself with its defenses.

Major Stress, it sounds to me from your post that you don't have your fleet specifically attack a target but instead move them to a certain point where they will engage all enemy forces within range. Did I understand this correctly?

Mostly correct. The AI ships will almost always come after your fleet (and into their doom). Especially if you are attacking one of their worlds. I always set to weapon range only before i jump into a new system. Except for strike craft because the gauss guns cant target them. I leave my fleet at the edge of a gravity well, or move them away from the gauss guns. After that it turns into a big fireworks show at the AI's expense There are occasions where i must move them to attack ships. For example if one of my worlds is being invaded. Then i will have to move them to intercept the siege frigs. Once the siege frigs are gone 9 of 10 times the AI retreats (if i dont have a jump inhibitor). Sometimes the AI will trickle in forces toward my fleets to be taken out 1 at a time at range, and there have been occasions where i had to focus fire (especially if a kol is in the enemy group)

Its best to keep your Flack Frigs on a seperate hot key. If you have everything under one key the flacks will be useless. You want them going after bombers and fighters so let them auto target while you use everything else on condenced fire.

The Hoshiko's is useless as an offensive vehicle -- don't use the offensive ability, and turn of its autocast if you do research it.

Thanks for the responses, all very much appreciated. I'm guessing that something will be done in Beta 3 to increase the costs or required supply for capital ships. I'm curious, how many ships do you guys normally lose when attacking a heavily defended planet with your mixed fleets?

On a somewhat unrelated note, is anyone else bothered by the misuse of the term "Squad" when referring to the fighter and bomber squadrons? Hope this is just a typo they overlooked and not something that will be in the final game.

Fleet/Squad/Group = same thing as far as i am concerned. I refer to groups of fighters as "Wings", but it is a moot point, because they are autonomous, and auto built from carriers, and hangers (least in my battles). I have never lost a capitol ship to the AI. I came close, but retreated it before it blew. This was because of an unexpected light carrier rush from the AI, and i had no Flaks to defend it. Frigates on the other hand are another story. Against a very well defended planet i can guarantee the loss of at least 1/2 my LRM's from bomber attacks before my flaks deal with the problem (bombers primary LRM's). If said planet has cap ships assisting in defense i will also lose some colbalts, and Flaks. I never use Siege frigs when i have capitol ships in my lineups, and if the AI defense has caps i focus fire with my caps to eliminate them.

I've been a long time lurker here. Browsing during downtime at work   

Anyways, this Fleet Composition issue is killing me. An entire fleet of Capital Ships would be uttlerly useless in a real game - versus either a human or a tough AI. The key factor is their movement speed. You can easily out manouver a capital ship fleet with frigates and cruisers to counter attack the undefended systems that the fleet has left behind. Taking into account ship supply costs, you could still have a good defensive fleet to give the cap ships a rough time.

Major Stress - to deal with your losses jump your ships in at different times. If you know what defenses a planet has, adjust your attack to maximize against it. For example, if you know they have a lot of strike craft, jump in your flaks first - perhaps with carrier type ships using fighters. This will occupy the enemy strike craft. Following this jump in long range attack craft (LRMs) and then short range/Capital ships. Finally, jump in your support craft as they are the most vulnerable and of little use at the very start of a skirmish. You basically want to time your short range attack craft to arrive as an enemy's defenders approach you. Generally, you have the element of surprise - take advantage of that

I really look forward to Beta 3, and hope that the AI has learned how to effectively combat a human.

I have no trouble with calling them squadrons, groups or wings, my principal issue is with calling them squads, since "squad" ("section" for commonwealth types) denotes a group of six to twenty soldiers or Marines. I don't think there's a single Navy or Air Force in the world that says "Squad" when referring to a group of aircraft. If the developers wanted to be original, they could've just as well called it "Glipglorp" or something. At least they're consistent though. The cut scenes in CoH kept switching the symbols for the units. In one of them they use a divisional symbol (XX) for Able company and a corps symbol for Easy company (XXX).

Anyway, that was a minor nitpick. I'll see if using your method, I could focus on microing the fighters to counter the AI's bombers and reduce the casualties amongst the LRM frigates. Really looking forward to what changes they've got in Beta 3.

Welcome aboard Drkside! I'll try out your suggestion about splitting off the fleets as well.

I'll jump my caps if they get in trouble which so far has been very rare if ever, but frigates are expendable attrition units. They are supposed to die to make me more money....errrrr... My cause

So I've got a question about system defense post owning each planet in a solar system. What is the best way to organize your forces? I've tried one tactic that seems to work, I think the question is the order of operations:

Goal: Fortify planets/asteroids 1 jump from sun with gauss cannons, hanger defense, repair platforms and some with jump inhibitors (Defensive Outposts), "own" the sun with a large solar defensive fleet, position 3-4 mini-fleets at Defensive Outposts, reorganize and supply a large expeditionary force.

Fleet details:

Solar Defensive Fleet: 2 Sova’s, 1 Kol, 1 Dunnov, 15-20 Cobalts, 6-10 Javs, 5 Gardias, 2 ceilos, 3 Hokos, 1-4 Kodiaks. This is surprisingly effective against most assault fleets that jump in, add a Marza with the missile barrage and the nuclear launch (forget the real name of this skill) to soften up large contingents of cobalts - not many remnants of any assault fleet will even reach the below described Mini-Fleets.

Mini-Fleets: At well fortified defensive outposts, I find that a Kol, Dunnov, or Akkan with a small contingent of Javs (3-6) and Cobalts (6-10) and a Gardia or 2 can handle small-medium engagements that might slip through the solar defense fleet.

Does setting up a defensive stance like this take away the capability of creating a large expeditionary force?

When people are setting up heavy fortifications, what types and amounts of defensive emplacements are people using to effectively defend planets?

I have found that “owning” the sun with a large defensive force is the easiest and most effective way to defend a solar system.

Any thoughts?

Only the cool kind

Hoshikos are the most overpowered attack unit in the game, I use nothing but them...