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| - Freighter Fleet Adds 5 Freighters to your stock. Freighters are used to transport goods (food mostly) between your Colonies. Early in the game (or in a Mineral Rich Galaxy) these are vital to the success of your colonies not starving. Freighter Fleets do not take up any command points and can not be commanded. they are not affected by Hyperspace Flux or Hyperspace Beast. They are blocked by an un-friendly ship in a system. This can lead to starvation when you are producing a lot more food then needed. Colony Ship Not to be confused with the In-system Colony Base (which is just above Freighter Fleet in the build menu) Colony Ships settle planets in distant systems. it's possible to settle planets in the same system as they were made, but the aforementioned Colony Base is much more efficient for that kind of expansion. Colony Ships are Defenseless and destroyed at the end of an unsuccessful combat regardless of how the combat was started. Outpost Ship Creates Outposts in a distant system in much the same way a colony ship creates a colony. Outpost Ships are Defenseless and destroyed at the end of an unsuccessful combat regardless of how the combat was started. Transport Ship Carries Marines to other systems to either reinforce your own troops, or to invade an enemies' planet. this is the only way to take a planet with it's population and buildings intact, unless you have the telepathic trait. Transport Ships are Defenseless and destroyed at the end of an unsuccessful combat regardless of how the combat was started. Frigate The Smallest and fastest to build combat ships, They keep well though the game as scouts. though the Destroyer will be more useful then them quickly in attack and defense duties. Destroyer The second combat ship to be built, they are however, only really useful in the early game, as soon Cruisers and Battleships will be built and they will not have the build speed of the Frigates, nor the heavy weapons of the other classes. They make a slight rebound in the late game when build speed of Frigates and Destroyers can be the same on an advanced planet. Cruisers Possibly the most built combat ship, Cruisers easily make up what they lack in power in sheer numbers. Whereas the a Fleet of Frigates could be destroyed by planetary defenses, the same number of Cruisers could take and hold the system for quite some time without back up. In the late game they do get weaker as they can not be built one a turn like the Destroyers. Battleship The last of the default four classes, and not requiring any advanced technology to build, the Battleship will be the backbone of your fleet long after you can build Titans and even Doomstars. In the early game they outgun the other ships easily making just a handful of these capable of taking out empires. In the late game they take the place of the Cruisers, going from leaders to the fleet's infantry. Take too long to start building a few of these and you will be swept away even on the lowest difficulties.In the late game they could still be leading fleets of lesser ships, or defending your colonies. Titans the Largest ship you will likely build will be a Titan, not only becuase making Doomstars requires an even more advanced tech, but becuase by the time you get the ability to build Doomstars you will likely be doomed, or have won. Titans, appearing late in the game, have their place as the Battleship's replacement for the rest of the game. They are also more cost effective by far then Doomstars. In a fleet action between a few Doomstars and a few Titans the winner is will always be the master of the Titan fleet, becuase should they have destroyed only one doomstar, then they have set their enemy back more turns then it would take to overwhelm the same sized force with Titans and Battleships. Doomstar The Absolute largest ship you can build, and also surprisingly not really worth it. if you can build a fleet of Titans instead, do so. the only real use of the Doomstar is if you wanted to Tie the Guardian at the Orion system in a one on one fight. Otherwise they are much more expensive then titans and have only enough extra room for another weapon slot or two. The AI in the extremly late game will build nothing but Doomstars, and you can win by fielding a much more effective mixed fleet of Titans and Battleships or even for the sheer humor factor, about 20 Frigates to a Doomstar will assure you will win in away. Building a Doomstar is not recomended so much for practical purposes then as an ego boost. The Guardian A Special non-playable ship in orbit around the Orion System, it is of Titan class but could easly out match any Titan you can build. be smart about it and send in a mixed fleet early of Battleships and Cruisers and you can win the day with a bit of luck and the proper tech. Or hold out for your own Titans, and send a few of those to just smash it. either way, expect losses, as the Guardian never goes down without taking at least one other ship with it.
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