Ship vs Ship

Overview

This page will discuss various tactical considerations when pitting two or more ships against each other.

Usually ships with 3 or fewer fighter bays are not considered combat vessels. The Evil Empire's Super Star Destroyer for instance is better used in conjunction with a beefier ship (its Imperial Assault ability is much more valuable than the ship per se), and can only effectively fight ships with a few beams. Additionally, 1- or 2-bay carriers like the Iron Slave Class Baseship are seldom built, simply because they are not powerful at all.

The outcome of combat between two ships depends on the abilities of the ships involved, and the combination used. A cheap combination of ships can take out an expensive ship, and a race that trades cheap ships to kill expensive ships can often lose more ships, but win the war in the end by bleeding dry their opponent.

Most Powerful Ships

By consensus, the most powerful ships in the game, all things considered, are the following:

1. Gorbie (Evil Empire, Carrier)
2. Biocide (Cyborg, Carrier) Biocide 67.3% vs Virgo 27.3%
3. Golem (Robots, Carrier)
4. Rush (Rebels, Carrier)
5. Virgo (Colonies, Carrier)
6. Automa (Robots, Carrier)/ Crystal Thunder (Crystals, Carrier)
7. Annihilation (Cyborg, Torp)
8. Nova (Feds, Torp)
9. Darkwing (Birdmen, Torp)
10. Instrumentality (Robots, Carrier)
11. Victorious (Fascists, Torp)/ Diamond Flame (Crystals, Torp)
12. T-Rex (Lizards, Torp; with Liz crew is better then a Vict/Diamond Fl)
13. Missouri (Feds, Torp)

However, don't underestimate ship combinations. The Feds, Lizards and Crystals in particular have reasonably strong, cheap ships, that while unable to go toe-to-toe against the heavy hitters can still win an economic war against the far more expensive, larger ships. A Diplomacy or a Missouri followed by a Kittyhawk is most of the time much stronger then 2 of the same kind (a Missouri followed by a Kittyhawk with Scotty Bonus are superior to a Rush, while you need 3-4 Missouris or 3-4 Kittyhawks or 2 Novas for a similar result). If you fight with a Thor on the right and with a Kittyhawk on the left, that combination is slight superior to a Rush. Mixing T-Rexes and Madonnzilas works better than either individually. A Diamond Flame followed by a Crystal Thunder is really strong, aswell.

Notes

• That why this is awesome strategy game, with diplomacy and luck.
• Most races don't have more than few battleships that they need to build, and freighters as needed.
• Small ships can be good scouts or money runners.
• While Colonies don't need medium or smaller freighters at all because they have the Cobol.

See The VGA Planets Nu ship list.

Good medium-sized ships are (in no particular order): Ill Wind Class Battlecruiser, Super Star Carrier, Lizard Class Cruiser, Emerald Class Cruiser, Resolute Class Battlecruiser. The Empire's Super Star Cruiser is bad, if it has high-level beams agaist torp race. But it's a tech 9 hull.

But like the Fascist coldpain 4 beam and 2 tube should not be ignored. Cos they come in cloak, and pillage. Same goes Birdmen ships, and they steal your fuel and beam up all money.

The Evil Empire's Super Star Destroyer is widely overrated. Though it's Imperial Assault ability it incredibly powerful, it is difficult to use, as the SSD is a relatively weak carrier with only 3 bays. Though it cannot be attacked by planets, it is easily destroyed by enemy ships, and most enemy planets worth taking will have defending ships in orbit that will destroy the SSD. Therefore, it is most easily used in attacking frontier planets, though they would usually be captured just as easily by a direct battle. The SSD really shines toward the end of a game when most of an enemy's ships were either destroyed or occupied in space battles; an Evil Empire player could then safely move their SSDs into orbit for Imperial Assault. It would also be possible to perform an Imperial Assault early or in the middle of a game if you are allied with a cloaking race; just reach the orbit with 0 fuel. Planets can't attack a SSD and ships can't attack ships without fuel. Since force a surrender of the starbase comes before movement, you won't loose your SSD in that turn. Next turn a cloaked ship in the same orbit has to transfer fuel to the SSD, so you can start an Imperial Assault.