From: leonard@mimsy.umd.edu (Leonard Dickens) Newsgroups: alt.games.xtrek Subject: Team play with starbases Date: 3 Feb 92 14:05:11 GMT I have been borg basing it a bit on rwd4 lately, often against a remarkably lack of clue. (151 kills == someone has no clue) I have noticed both friendly and enemy play that reveals that people have not pondered enough what is going on. Here are a few tips for people to use when playing with a starbase in the game. First, a few tips for the enemy: o Don't ogg the enemy base without coordination The base is more powerful than you. You will die. And unless he is near to your home planet, he will be FULLY repaired before you get back to give him another kill. UNLESS you coordinate with at least two other people on your team, forget it. o Avoid the enemy base, unless there is a reason not to. The way to kill bases is to lure them too far away from their home planet, then to ogg like crazy. The way to lure them forward is simply to avoid them... you are faster than they are. They cannot kill you unless you ask for it by going to them. And there is almost always something better for you to be doing than trying to ogg bases. Scout bomb. Take a planet that is just off the base's screen. Ogg enemies with kills that are not lurking near the base. IMO, the only time you should go near an enemy base is to ogg it or an important enemy planet-taker (who admittedly are often found near bases...) Now some tips for my pals: o Use a base to free scout chasers As soon as a side is down to about two or three planets with the typical 30 or so armies on them after the initial bombing surge, it is time to enter a base. Bases can pick up as many as 25 armies, and need no kills to do so. Armies in a base are far safer than armies on planets, and do not need players constantly guarding them. This frees up those players that would otherwise be fruitlessly chasing AS and scouts to do other things. Thus, anytime your base has indicated he is more or less full of armies, do NOT bother to pursue scouts. Get kills and take planets, content in the knowledge that with those scouts in your rear lines bombing the occasional army or two, you have a numerical advantage over the other enemy ships. o Use your base to conceal army movement Netrek is *not* a game about ships, but planets and armies. Clueless and/or angry people may be content to dogfight aimlessly, but persons of clue only dogfight with a purpose, and they often do other things. They scout bomb, for one, which has been previously stressed on this newsgroup. But they also watch enemy players beam up armies, and then announce that fact to their team, and then try to ogg the carrier. This trait is even more pronounced in a borg game; every pig borg, and also apparently all sunborgs have the capability to report to their rider exactly who has picked up armies and how many. Regardless of whether you are cloaked or in range. Therefore, you *will* be ogged... Unless you Use Your Starbase. The server does NOT (to my knowledge) report the PF_BEAM flags for people beaming from/to bases. And of course you cannot see the number of armies in an enemy base even with a borg. Thus, it is usually far better to get your armies from a base than from a planet. (Of course if the base is nowhere near a planet with armies, go ahead and grab them.) There have been numerous occasions over the weekend where I have approached a planet with armies on it at the same time as one of my side's planet takers, only to have them take the armies and get ogged. Summary: don't make life easy for the enemy. Get armies from your base preferentially. Also, a *real* useful thing to do when you have one kill and feel generous is ferry armies to your base. Yet another positive action that earns no DI. (People with 2+ kills should be taking planets.) Seems like a good tactic might to be to (obviously) pick up armies, drop them on your base, and then wait for oggers to come and give you additional kills. (Use a BB for this.) o Use your base to refit/refuel/repair -- smartly Your base is exactly like your home planet -- you refuel, refit and repair much faster there than just sitting around. (I believe that you actually repair there even faster than on a repair planet -- any gurus out there to confirm/deny this?) So, when you are hurt or out of fuel, consider your base just as you might consider a planet. But remember: unlike a planet, a base can die. Especially if you blow up on him/her. Therefore, if battle is hot or looks to get hot nearby, do NOT dock. Go somewhere else. Flash if you need help; a base can help you even without docking; see below. o Your base can help you take planets -- even if you only have one kill Often people with one kill try to get a second before moving into planet-taking mode. This is not always necessary -- if the planet you are targeting is next to your base and not to near the enemy homeworld. Go to your base, possibly get into an AS, and quickly ferry armies from the base to the planet. (Tell the base what you are doing, of course.) The base can pressor you to the planet and tractor you back to speed the process... you can even take agris this way. Remember: to take a planet it is only necessary to get armies there faster than it pops. o Your base can save your ass Bases have big tractors and pressors. Good bases use them. Your base can sometimes pressor or tractor you out of the way of a torp stream. Be prepared for this. Your base can also tractor you entirely out of a battle, if you are too injured to fly fast -- but this is unlikely unless he/she *knows* you are injured. Signal to your base if you need help, by flashing your shields up and down three or five times. Bases can also det for you, since they can absorb lots of damage. (They take 600 internal, and have 500 shields.) If the base values you, he may decide to tractor you in and protect you even in a pitched battle. (Hint: I personally will do all sorts of things for my side's planet takers while basing.) A base is great cover to take a planet behind. Or even near. Enemies tend to avoid bases unless they are explicitly trying to attack them. o You can save your base's ass Bases will inevitably take a big ogg or two, often far from their home planet. You will know this because (a) they will give a distress call showing substantial damage, and (b) the enemy will mass to try and annihilate them. Now, if your base is carrying precious armies, or you need it for other reasons, try to help it live. Here are some useful things to do. Get between the oggers and the base, and try to kill them before they get there. Or, put yourself in a position to tow the base. (That is, about 1/2 screen away from the base in the direction of the home planet. Be prepared to accelerate when you notice the pull of the tractor.) Or, get between the base and the oggers in a BB or AS (ideally) and det enemy torps that may hit the base. This last tactic I have very rarely seen but it is ever so helpful to a base. Kill-ratio? I *am* talking about team play here... -Wreck