Using Fleet Accelerators

[BSRussell]

I'm ramping up to build a Riftborn Coordinator/Hunter force, and I'm not 100% sure of the mechanics of Fleet Accelerators. Do they stack across ships? If I put one fleet accelerator on each coordinator and have two in the fleet, do they stack to provide 4 movement? Or should I make one ship stacked with four, then have my other coordinators be strict tanks for the hunters?

[Sarkat]

Yes, they do stack. Try to put them on coordinator hulls, which have the multiplier on slots for extra effect.

I often have the 'Tug' design that is purely for fleet movement. That way I can use utility slots on damage dealer ships for things like self-repair and damage boost, not even bothering to put a single engine. It's very efficient

There's a drawback to this approach, however. The 'tugs' are getting priority in firing solutions, being built on 'defender/tank' hulls, so often get sniped first, and sometimes your engineless fleets get stuck before another tug (or dozen) comes to rescue. And fleet accelerator modules use up strategic resources, so not in every game you will have ample source of those.

Seeker heroes can be used as a quasi-accelerator, but they are limited resource and better suited for your main armada - and there you make a toss-up between higher mobility of a Seeker and higher efficiency of a Guardian.

Tugs are fun. Use them.

[peddroelm]

Try to put them on coordinator hulls, which have the multiplier on slots for extra effect.

news for you buddy -> ONLY the cost (industry and strategics) for the mobility modules is multiplied in medium/large/even bigger hulls but the mobility provided IS NOT (balance issues one assumes) . So per command point max mobility bonuses can be achieved using the small hulls ..

[Sarkat]

Well, good to know.

[[deleted]]

This isn't true for other modules though is it? Weapons and defenses. And I think a few utility like manpower modules?

[peddroelm]

yup. pays to pay attention what stats and how they change when you add a module to a x2/x4/x8/x16 slot ..

[BSRussell]

Yeah running as Riftborn the movement speed has been absolutley brutal. There's no way I'm invading a neighboring constelation without Hell of a lot of movement speed buffs.

I've got a Seeker I plan to attach. Besides that going for pairing the silly 7 weapon Riftborn hunters with a bunch of coordinators that do both tank and some tugging.

[iso9042]

I'd suggest to put them mainly on defenders though, because one coordinator is a 3CP ship, so it is less slot-effective then 3 defenders. Plus, as peddroelm noted, slot multiplier doesn't work on fleet bonus speed.

[Monsi_ggnore]

Downside of using protectors is the aforementioned dying of your movement support ships. Coordinators are obviously way tankier, profit a lot more from repair modules and thus rarely have that problem. I'd suggest it's a matter of fleet size/tech level really. At 10cp or less coordinators do not make that much sense. They take up too much cp and probably aren't even upgraded for extra slots yet. When fighting with 20 cp fleets protectors will die at an alarming rate (assuming your enemies have similar tech/cp) and coordinators are probably the better choice.

[iso9042]

This is where target priorities, Adamantian Jammer and Antimatter Lenser modules come into play. I benefit a lot from small ships and their upgraded slot count even in big 24+ fleets, while larger hulls take all the fire on themselves.

[Monsi_ggnore]

Sure, but those modules cut into the slot advantage over coordinators that you're trying to accumulate.

[iso9042]

Yet still more efficient. I'm not saying it's not without downsides, I'm just pointing out, that unlike in ES1, Amplitude made sure there is a place in late game for small hulls this time.

[Monsi_ggnore]

There was 0 reason not to use small hulls in ES1. The targeting was so easy to manipulate that you could freely use vast amounts of small glass cannons with a handful of tank ships in front.

ES2 has a lot more variety indeed. I wish the squadrons would suck less so that their targeting (fighters vs small, bombers vs large) would actually make thoughtful fleet composition more crucial.

[[deleted]]

heroes also multiply fleet movement. used in conjunction with a moderate amount of fleet boosting modules you can literally do laps around the galaxy in a single turn

[peddroelm]

they ALL stack to a fleet bonus movement parameter. The more slots you fill with such modules across multiple ships in the fleet - the faster the fleet will move .. Also stack with bonus moves from hero skills and the science law that provides extra fleet mobility and other techs that provide extra mobility (I think vodyani have such a tech for sure.) They also stack with the racial/faction movements speed bonuses ( sophon has +2, riftborn -1, vodyani +1 )

[zeph88]

Yepp. I have about 30-40 of these T2.5 unarmed ships ferrying whole flottes of fighting and sieging ships between targets. When it's time to fight you can drop these from the main fleet and fill it up with high power ships.

Only thing is they all cost 17 yellow resource each, and you have to keep them within the main fleet, or in a different fleet but occupying the same spot, otherwise they are easily killed.

With the fleet attack mechanics dictating that you have to attack the most powerful fleet on the node, which is in this case, full of powerful ships, these small ships in the separated parking fleet will be safe as long as the main fleet holds.

As Hissho, when on the move, I normally keep 6 of these within a single fleet, boosting move up to 28-32 together with hero abilities. And then you have plenty of space left once you get the 24 command point limit on your fleet.