Saturday, December 24, 2011

Astro Empires Turrets

To study the cost-effectiveness of turrets in Astro Empires, a copy of the table as of 24 DEC 2011 :

Barracks
Help protect your bases, the cheapest defense.
5Laser44

-1Laser 1
Laser Turrets
Small defenses, good against small units.
10Laser88
-1-1Laser 1
Missile Turrets
Small defenses, good against small and medium units.
20Missiles1616
-1-1Missiles 1
Plasma Turrets
Average defenses, good against medium units.
100Plasma2424
-2-1Plasma 1 + Armour 6
Ion Turrets
Average defenses, good against medium units.
256Ion32322-3-1Ion 1 + Armour 10 + Shielding 2
Photon Turrets
Big defenses, good against large units.
1,024Photon64646-4-1Photon 1 + Armour 14 + Shielding 6
Disruptor Turrets
Biggest turrets, good against large units.
4,096Disruptor2562568-8-1Disruptor 1 + Armour 18 + Shielding 8
Deflection Shields
Strong shields that increase bases protection.
4,096Ion251216-8-1Ion 6 + Shielding 10
Planetary Shield
Planetary shields that increase bases protection.
25,000Ion4204820-16-1Ion 10 + Shielding 14
Planetary Ring
Planetary defensive ring.
50,000Photon2048102412-24
Photon 10 + Armour 22 + Shielding 12


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Each cost of a layer of the turret is buying 5 sets of that weapon for that cost total.  The power in this table is baseline before the actual tech bonus is applied.  The Armor value in this table is baseline before tech bonus is applied.

Start Game Turrets

 1) Barracks cost for 5 of them, 5 credits.  They do not use any energy at all.  base power is 4, the base armor is 4.  equal to 2 fighters or 1 corvette.  power per credit is 4*5/5= 4 (before tech bonus)

Overall buying a barracks is spending the price of 1 fighter, gets you the power and armor of 10 fighters that don't produce debris when they die.  A layer of Barracks does nothing to stop a trade route plunder.  So if mister farm guy sees a barracks and 1 fighter protecting a trade route.... drop 12 fighters, take the base for pillage, plunder the route, bring in the recyclers to clean up the 20 credits or so of debris. 

2) Laser Turret cost 10 credits for 5 of them. Uses 1 energy.  base power is 8.  Bites a little harder than a barracks.  Sort of like a poodle bites harder than a teacup Chihuahua.

3) Missile Turrets cost 20 credits for 5 of them. Uses 1 energy base power 16.  Now this one actually has a bite to it.  If you have a guy flying frigates and brandishing a brace of Missile turrets, you got a hard target for the early game.  Generally, the better players skip using Barracks and Laser in favor of Missile right out of the gate.

4) Plasma Turrets.  With normal techs, has maybe twice the power, and 1.5 times the armor of a missile turret.  at FIVE times the cost.  Long story short, Plasma turrets SUCK. They also use 2 energy.  So for the same energy, half the credits, you get equal power and 1.5 times the armor by simply getting 2 missile turrets instead.

Middle Game Turrets

5) Ion turrets have twice the power and armor of Missile turrets, and 1 other really important thing... they have SHIELDS (albeit weak ones)  Ion turrets are the early game "piss off noob" to fighter droppers.  They do use 3 energy, so energy tech to make those plants put out more than 3 at a time really important.

6) Photon Turrets  Once you got these, Missile turrets are obsolete and you be scrapping them.3 layers Ions and 2 layers photon and the average player just moves on to finding something easier to hit.  Until everyone else starts using end game defenses.


7) Disruptor Turrets.  When Ions aren't enough to deter the noob, Dizzies make the ouch hurt more; to the point that some noobs lose the entire fleet.



8) Deflection shield.  These are the "piss off noob" to mid-game frigate spec players.  Paired with disruptors, frigates just have a really bad day with this, early on.  Later on when the frigate player masses 150k Frigate fleets, not so much anymore.

End Game Turrets

9) Planetary Rings.  The best turret in the game.  Does not use area at all.  A set of these in the mid-game  to early late game is a "piss off noob"


10) Planetary Shields.  Better than D-Shields. 

Special Mention :

Command Centers

Technically these are NOT turrets, but they are an enhancement on your base to make it more favorable to have a fleet fight over your base.   Each CC gives your fleet and turrets a +5% attack power.  Useful when you are fighting in orbit over your own bases.

Totally a waste of time on a base no one ever goes to.

Command Centers should be considered optional and should be figured in with the exact conditions that base is dealing with.











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