I have read a lot about people being upset about having to kill a multitude of weak fleets while trying to conquer the enemy. Many people have gone so far as to suggest overall fleet caps but that seems overly harsh and really against the way the AI plays and certainly goes against how i want to play.



So my idea is this, If the enemy's ship/fleet you are attacking is somewhere around 25-40% military power compared to your fleet, your fleet can continue to attack that turn after beating them. That way the player won't have to take 10 turns for their all powerful fleet to kill 10 separate pathetic enemy fleets, just the one.



I recognize the drawbacks of this, 1- It could greatly expedite the conquering of an enemy, but i say to this that if your military outclasses theirs by this much they kind of have it coming, and 2- You could potentially just break your mega fleet up into smaller sections to take out the enemy fleets faster, however that does run the risk of losing ships that you shouldn't have to lose.



Lore wise i would just say that the reason your fleet can attack these weak enemies more than once a turn is because they are such a minimal threat that they don't require refueling or significant repair after the combat.



Disclaimer: i did my best to see if this had been suggested before and i didn't see it anywhere, i apologize if it has been.

/#/endless-space/forum/28-game-design/thread/12102-fleets-movement-points-in-combat.



Another type of point for the same problem, if you would like to discuss.

Self Bump To Increase Awareness

There are many variations of this idea, I am sure Nosferatiel will appear soon to merge. The *problem* is that it is painful to grind through many small fleets with your one big fleet. This is one possible solution. Another solution suggested is to use movement points as attack points, if you can move 40 dots per turn then you can attack 40 times (or some divisor). The game has implemented one solution which is invisible and hard to predict; sometimes small defending fleets get automatically merged.

davea wrote:
The game has implemented one solution which is invisible and hard to predict; sometimes small defending fleets get automatically merged.

I did see that happening in my last game, which is definitely better than it was, but does it do this for human players too?



Also, I do like the idea of using movement points, i'd be good with either decision really.

NewHorizon wrote:
I did see that happening in my last game, which is definitely better than it was, but does it do this for human players too?

I've had it happen.



I am a supporter of the movement points idea.

NewHorizon wrote:
I did see that happening in my last game, which is definitely better than it was, but does it do this for human players too?

I believe it does, but I haven't yet figured out how it decides to do this.



I attacked a pair of scouts once (separate fleets) and they were merged.



Later I attacked two fleets: one of 6 ships (of 7) and a lone colony ship. They were not merged and I blew up an undefended colony ship.

I believe that both ideas have merit(attack more based on enemy fleet strength and attack more based on movement points). However i give the edge to this idea, that you can attack more than once a turn if your fleet is a certain amount stronger than the enemies. The reason i vote for this one is because it is less of a change on the way the game plays. This idea will curb the use of decoy fleets by making it possible to blow up an unlimited number of them per turn and it will allow you to destroy scouts and colonizers without burning your one attack per turn, and it will allow you to destroy old un retrofitted fleets that are standing in your way without using up your only attack that turn. Once you face a real fleet this idea ceases and you will have to use your attack point for that turn.



Now the attacking with fleet movement points idea will accomplish the previous tasks i set out in the first paragraph, however it does have a big possible exploit. Basically this, say you are besieging an enemies system with your mighty fleets, lets say 10 fleets of 10k MP. Now all game you have been fighting your enemy, he is almost exclusively using lasers since everyone loves a good laser, and your defense reflects that, you've stacked shields with just a hint of chaff to take out the odd missile. Well unbeknownst to you, your enemy has gotten wise and one system over has retrofitted a full fleet with state of the art kinetic weapons.... and he knows you have no or very little kinetic defense. So, one turn later your unbeatable fleet of 10, 10k stacks are about to capture his system when in comes his new kinetic fleet designed just to kill you. Lets say its sitting at 12k power with a solid amount of defense to counter what he knows you have been rocking.... well look he's got 10 movement points left after he hits the system.... time for battle. A few minutes later his one fleet has managed to demolish all 10 of yours this turn and there wasn't a thing you could do about it. His fleet was only a little better than yours in the numbers, but in practice his hit yours just right so now you are down 10 fleets and severely out gunned.



Now currently he could only kill one of your fleets a turn, giving you a chance to send in reinforcements or something, but with him attacking with movement points it'd be one slaughter after another.

That's why you never don't have all of the defenses (And usually weapons too), that's foolish, but the problem still lies in exploiting your deficiency in a defensive type.

Igncom1 wrote:
That's why you never don't have all of the defenses (And usually weapons too), that's foolish, but the problem still lies in exploiting your deficiency in a defensive type.

Lol yah, i know its a bit extreme an example, but it gets the point out there.