The Lost Colonies of Man

The Lost Colonies of Man

Race Characteristics

The Lost Colonies of Man as you may or may not know are patterned after the Colonial Warriors in the Television series of the late 70s, Battlestar Galactica. Tim Wisseman used them as the background for this race, and as such the Colonies are considered what is commonly called, a "carrier race" in VGA Planets. If you don't know what a carrier race is, then let me simply say that it is a race whose primary strengths revolve around Carriers, or ships that house fighters.. And those ships are used for fighting.

Since the Colonies are a carrier race, that leads us into their special abilities... the use of fighters. The Colonies use fighters for more than just shooting up other races' ships. They use them for a myriad of other tasks, both in the regular "vanilla" games, as well as in games with certain addons, Like Raceplus (which I won't discuss here), and Starbase Plus (which I also won't discuss here).

So the Colonies main abilities pretty much revolve around their most valuable commodity.. the fighter. Many races value the Colonies friendship for this reason. So lets not bother with getting into the Colonies special abilities. If you want a run-down on all of their special abilities, then you should leave this section and go look at "THE RACES" section of the website, where all of their abilities and characteristics are looked at in detail. I am writing this with the hope that the player is somewhat familiar with their special abilities already.

The main race characteristics that distinguish the Colonies from other races are:

• Build fighters in space:

With 3 kt Tri, 2 kt Mol and 5 kt Supply units for one fighter any Colonial carrier ship will convert this to a new fighter. You don't need 100 megacredits like other races which makes building fighters cheap. You share this ability with the Rebels and the Robots.

• 60 clans can be supported on desert planets (temp 85+).
• Mine Sweeping:

Mines are virtually useless against the Colonies. One Colonial fighter can destroy 20 enemy mines as long as the mines are within 100ly's of the ship.

• Money:

The Lady Royale Class Cruiser is a Gambling ship that produces 1 mc for every clan on board each turn. These ships can be used in a pinch to help produce money early in the game and can be used to produce while on the move later in the game.

• Fuel Production:

The Colonies can produce fuel while on the go. The Cobol Class Cruiser makes 2kt/ly travelled. The Aries class Transport is an Advanced Alchemy ship that will convert minerals directly into Neutronium.

• The Virgo Class Battlestar:

The Virgo is not the biggest carrier in the universe. But coupled with a Cobol and enough fighters it is virtually unstoppable. Only very few ships (like most other heavy carriers Gorbie Class Carrier) can cope with it.

One drawback can be that Colonial ships have few beam weapons. Due to your fighter mine sweeping ability, this is not a huge disadvantage. Except against the Crystals you will need lots of beam weapons. As a Colonial Player this means your Virgo's will probably double as your main web mine sweepers.

Ships

Only the most useful ships will be mentioned here.

• Cygnus Class Destroyer:

This is a small and cheap torpedo ship. It has not much use but in conjunction with a Patriot it is a strong weapon.

• Cobol Class Research Cruiser:

This is the Colonial ace-in-the-hole. This ship gives the Colonies the ability to create fuel out of thin air, or rather the vacuum of space. They are also good cargo transports and mine layers. They also have a Bioscanner.

• Tranquility Class Cruiser:

At first you may look at the Tranquility and say, The Cobol is a better ship with Ramscoop and Bioscanners. The Tranquility has its uses with 380 kt of Cargo space it can lay huge mine fields, as well as carry nearly as much Cargo into a warzone as a Gemini. You won't build a ton of these guys, but a few dedicated mine layers are useful to consider.

• Patriot Class Light Carrier:

Don't laugh at this very tiny ship. The patriot is extremely cheap and with its 6 fighterbays it can definitely be a threat for your enemies. Combine this with a cheap torpedo ship (e.g. the Cygnus) that takes down the shields of your enemy first.

• Gemini Class Transport:

This is the ship you build fighters on! You can build 40 free fighters (costing just minerals and supplies) in one turn. Build some of these to fill your bases with fighters and to arm your Virgos.

• Virgo Class Batlestar:

The backbone of your offensive fleet! With 10 beams and 8 fighterbays and 290 holds it can carry most of what you need into combat without batting an eye. Build these enmasse.

Strategies

Expand fast

Cobol's are excellent early exploration and expansion ships. They can drop fuel on planets ahead of your large frieghters which can get your clans off of your Homeworld and further away more often than your opponents aside from the Rebels and the Borg.

Be offensive

With nearly unlimited fuel, the ability to keep the space 100 ly's from your carrier free of mines, and the ability to build fighters in space the Colonial fleet can survive with nearly no support from home. Use this to your advantage.

Ally with cloaking races

A good tactic to use when you get your hands on a cloaking ship is to move the ship in advance of your main offensive fleet and then start separating out your enemies' main defenders. A common tactic used by Crystals, Feds, and Borg is to lead a carrier in battle with a torpedo ship. If you separate his fleets by towing them apart and taking them out individually you can lose fewer Virgos while decimating his heavy ships.

Build Task Forces

Task forces are important for the Colonies. Not task forces of destroyers, cruisers, and carriers. Rather, task forces consisting of Cobols and Virgos. This is the Colonial backbone. Each Virgo built should have one to two corresponding Cobols. These Cobols stay with the Virgos everywhere they go. It also won't hurt to rotate in a Gemini. Because your Virgo's should be fighting not building fighters. Have one of the Virgos tow the Gemini if necessary.

This task force has an unlimited fuel supply and a big, steady supply of fighters. These task forces can run independently and be used to harass an enemy's rear areas and supply lines without you worrying about having fueling locations. Usually a group of two or three Virgos is good to have. It isn't a bad idea to have one of your Cobols loaded with torpedos too. That way as they travel they can lay mines behind them. This discourages any following cloaked ships from performing a cloaked intercept. The main strengths of the Colonies is their ability to load a bunch of clans, supplies, minerals, fighters, and torpedos onto their ships and then bring destruction to the enemies doorstep, and to continue operating after it has sped through the enemies main battle lines.