Topics

1

AI War / Sprite Question

« on: April 23, 2013, 03:21:32 PM »

I am asking regarding the Flagship. I was playing today and noticed it doesn't have a mk3 version. It just uses the mk2 skin. Decided I would try to give it its own image, at least  to make it a tiny bit different looking. Minor ocd and all. Only problem was I couldn't seem to find the folder or  buy image to replace, perchance am I just missing it/being blind? Or does it not have one yet?

2

AI War / AI Ship Hoarding

« on: November 30, 2012, 10:56:12 AM »

I decided after a short break to start up AI war again. The game in question was one with CPA waves active. Noticed that the waves would refuse to attack several of my worlds. They would just sit at threat until several more waves piled up and they would overwhelm any logical defenses I would have installed on the world. I was unable to find a effective way of clearing out these giant threat pileups.

Made  a choice of ending the game and turning CPA off for a more normal game thinking it a fluke.  Game went along normally until I got my whipping boy up.  Again the AI refused to advance until their numbers were extremely in their favor. I used a world past the whipping boy to add a ingress point allowing them to not warp right into whipping boy. Insult to injury at times a wave, which had jumped right into the whipping boy, would just abandon its attack and retreat en mass. 

Eventually these waves would clog around worlds I had defended with no way for me to move them short of warheads. At first I used riot and other tractor craft to pull chunks of the wave into my worlds but their numbers got so high, they just instantly killed anything I sent out to fight them. Have just a light turret layer on the home world right now and a wave of 2.2k ships just sitting outside of it.

I rather dislike this new flow.  I used to imagine the AI being bloodthirsty with these ships as it always had more to throw at you and break you. Now they seem skittish and fearful for their lives. Saw that there was a change to make turret firepower no longer be considered 1/10. Think I might need to figure out new defenses measures. 

Anyone else have any thought or advice on this?

3

AI War / CPA: strength and longevity.

« on: October 05, 2012, 12:36:19 PM »

After the change to CPA they indeed grew more dangerous. But the leap of 2k ships every time ( in my 10/10 games) it sends one is a quite a bit up front and weakens it later on. The waves will keep growing until it runs out of ships and sends much smaller groups. This makes one wave really hard as the most reserves it has are used, but then it gets easier to survive as it no longer has that backlog to call on. At least that is how I have seen the CPA pan out.

Would it be more effective/fair to lessen the jumps in CPA numbers? But in return cause the AI to deploy replacement forces equal to the amount it is no longer increasing the CPA by, instead of 2k increase every time it sends, maybe 1-1.5k, but it deploys extra forces at a staggered pace to its remaining barracks to bolster its reserves for the next one. For example a 4k CPA is changed to a 3k, but it reinvigorates its storage with 700-1k ships, placed in barracks over time.

The number and mark of the Space craft it reloads for further CPA rounds could have a modified increase as time goes on. This would prevent the AI from swarming silly numbers in its CPA replenishment later on in game, while still allowing it to build up some strength for further actions.

A player could destroy barracks to cause damage, concentrating where those Barracks replacements are sent, making it more dangerous to destroy them as they are filled with so many space craft. But allowing them to destroy large chunks of CPA before it is sent out as well. As a counter the AI would construct more barracks, costing it a portion of the ships it would place in them to get a fresh structure, then filling it as normal.

 So the CPA starts normal and is in easier incremental increase. But later instead of petering out as barracks are depleted, the AI continues getting fresh space craft in stock and the waves stay relatively more powerful, barring player intervention to thin the herd.

In short instead of a sprinter we get a marathon runner.

4

After Action Reports / That commander is still hacking.

« on: September 28, 2012, 07:35:22 AM »

Once more I challenge the commander and his hacking companion. The last round I met my end to raid engines. Lets see if I can do better.

Expansions: Zenith Remnant
Size: 80 Planet, Simple Hubs.
AI Types: Star Fleet Commander, Backdoor Hacker, 10/10
Ship Choice: Grenade Launcher
Seed: 832668268
Ships Available: All
Game Options: Normal, Normal, Full Fog of War
AI options: Human Marauders 5, Human Resistance 5, Human Colony Rebellion 5, Zenith-Trader/Miners/Dyson/Devourer all 5, Broken Golems Moderate
AI Modifiers: Schizo
AI Plot: Avenger x2, Astro Trains



00:01- I unlock my normal harvesters and grav turrets. Area mines and spire star ships follow. First wave of the AI includes Tanks and Snipers. Second has Polarizers and shield bearers. I discover the dyson world. I leave the scout on it to cause its spawn to clear worlds for me. The fleet hits Ifirev, this will be a bait planet leading to the home world/whipping boy. I expect alot of damage to come towards my home system in the coming hours. Fortification is underway to compensate.

The defense plan is as follows. I will have 1 warp gate, the bait planet, and a exo-wormhole allowing attacks on the home world. The Bulk of my defenses will be layed down heavily on the obvious vital portion of my empire. The three entry portals into the system proper are mined with nearly the entire cap of the Area mines and many normal ones. Layered grav/tractor turrets will hopefully break up some of the masses clamoring for my demise. Large numbers of spider turrets will also eventually be deployed to engine stall many before they ever get to me.

Honestly I expect this sort of defense approach to be unsustainable as time goes on. That is what the eventual golem or two will be for. I can take some AiP hits for them, and a Z-gen or two will be sure to fall into my hands to power them.

00:30- Heavy investments into the safety of my homeworld are going well. Scouts continue to fly forth to try and feed me fresh information. Scouts mk2, HBC mk1 are both unlocked. Desire for better scouting and HBC are always good investment.

The general plan for external worlds I wish to keep a hold of will involve warp jammers or gate raiding. Using the warp jammers will stop about 70 or so AiP from not having to gate raid.  Worlds of lesser importance will be sacrificed by having neither. They will buy time and cause large amounts of dispersion to enemy wave numbers.  A meager wave spawns to test the defenses. 3/4s of them die before they get halfway to the homeworld.

The mine wall is complete. I have spent all but 10 of area and normal mines around three wormholes on the home world. Raid Star ships tears the warp gate apart on Ticnobang, I will save up for a second and send them at a Data Center I have found. Scout examination of the worlds neighboring the dyson world reveal the extent of its damage. Those gatlings are going to town on the AI forces nearby.

The AI sends a wave at the Bait Planet. Per what will become normal it will die. Wave funnels to homeworld and in turn is scrapped. Most of my turrets never even fired a shot and 500 some ships died. Only ones to actually see combat were the long range missile and sniper turrets. This looks well for a decent defense. I send out a few raid star ships to destroy the DC. The job gets done. They don't make it out again but that is alright.

Hour 1-
Unlocks: Harvester mk2/3(Crystal,Metal), Grav Turrets mk1, Spire Star Ship mk1, Area Mines, Scout mk2, HBC mk1
AiP:25 Planets:2
AI Ships: Tank, Sniper, Polarizers, Shield Bearers.

Map Key: P1-Barracks, P5-Adv Factory, p7- Desired Planets p8-Co-Processors, p9-DC, p0-Golems



01:01- My forces blow up a barracks near the start of the hour sending 543 mk3 ships to attack me. A wave for 241 ships follows half a minute after. They both hit at relativity the same time. First 300 ships through the wormhole decided to snack on 20 area mines and became ash. Rest pushed forward through my endless fields of mines, all while being pelted on by long range missile turrets. Once they got into firing range of the bulk of my turrets and fleet ships they ceased existing. Re-builder and Engineer teams head to Ifirev to restore it.

A 332 ship wave is announced to the homeworld. All its defenses are rebuilt so the wave should hopefully die en-mass. It does exactly as it says on the tin. The wave dies right at the wormhole. My fleet is deployed to and takes Fimas. I encounter a weird situation where many ships just enter its system after I colonize and destroy it. Afterwards they are no longer threat or attacking ships? They then just move off to other systems. This was not a wave, maybe special forces being late to the party?

01:30- I rebuild the command station and unlock Spider Turrets. I place a few on all worlds to cause all sorts of trouble. I also unlock Zenith Star ships. Raid starships hit another DC and barracks throwing 545 ships at me. A wave happens right after for double trouble. Dyson gatlings meet the barracks spawn and begin tearing ships apart. They still make it to the homeworld were they are finally destroyed.

The Z-trader finally gets around to my world and I place a few goodies. Z-gen, Radar Jammer mk2, and 2 Orbital Mass Drivers. Another wave tries to get through the gauntlet of my homeworld. 500 ships and they died within feet of the entrance.

Map Key: P1-Barracks, P5-Adv Factory, p7- Desired Planets p8-Co-Processors, p9-DC, p0-Golems



Hour 2-
Unlocks: Harvester mk2/3(Crystal,Metal), Grav Turrets mk1, Spire Star Ship mk1, Area Mines, Scout mk2, HBC mk1, Spider Turret, Zenith Star Ship mk1
AiP:25 Planets:3
AI Ships: Tank, Sniper, Polarizers, Shield Bearers.

5

AI War / Cost/Benefit Ratio?

« on: September 23, 2012, 11:43:06 AM »

Lately I have been curious about a two things we have the choice to research. I wonder as too how often they are used and how much their knowledge cost/nature effects this. They are the Transport mk2 and mobile repair station. They both cost 4k knowledge. I have never had the desire to even unlock them. Not once.

These days its mostly because for that exact same price of knowledge I could instead get mk2/3 Engineers. The third mark has teleport. That is 78 teleporting, 12 repair rate, construction units, that are cloaked and an entire cap of mk2 I can leave to help speed building. Over a slightly quick multi-repair platform that can, if you use them in one group, all repair 120 ships at a repair rate 1.

The Transport thankfully has double the health of the normal transport, So can be used at longer distances through more hostile situations. Longer jumps though mitigated by deep strike. Does its regen cost resources to heal the ships inside? If not I could see that being useful. The ability to get stuff to where I send it easier is nice and all but still little desire to ever research it. The mk1 transports usually cover me on shuffling ships around reliably. Even through threatening situations, just need to send a few transports that are empty in first and leave there to be shot at while those that carry the fleet go past almost un-molested.

Anyone else have thoughts to these two, or use them often to show their worth?

6

After Action Reports / That Commander is a Hacker.

« on: September 21, 2012, 03:48:06 PM »

This game is one I am playing to relax from the madness that is my other No warning/CPA game. I use only the Zenith Remnant expansion, as this game also serves to follow adding one expansion per game to get a good feel for how much each expansion effects the total game. I picked the Starfleet commander because I desired more star ship pain, and the back door hacker because I was curious to see what it did to CPA waves.

Expansions: Zenith Remnant
Size: 80 Planet, Lattice
AI Types: Starfleet Commander, Backdoor Hacker 10/10
Ship Choice: Zenith Paralyzers
Seed: 1588850036
Ships Available: All
Game Options: Normal, Normal, Full Fog of War
AI options: Human Marauders 5, Human Resistance 5, Human Colony Rebellion 5, Zenith-Traders/Miners/Dyson/Devourer all 5, golems moderate.
AI Modifiers: Schizo, CPA waves
AI Plot: Avenger x2, Astro Trains.



First Hour

00:01- I unlock my normal start up items. The harvesters and Grav turrets. I have heard good things about the two extra kinds of mines so I grab them both. We will see how effective they can be. I fully enclose the Exo wormhole in a wide variety of the mines and place token groups around the other entrances to the home world. The first wave approachs and gets destroyed by all the mines. Wish I had used them more before, they seem to work well.

When the wave of the starfleet commander hits me I forget they are mk2 starships. I end up losing everything other then the Colonies and Cryopods due to siege fire. My scouts find the dyson. I leave them there to get the gatling spawns to clear the planet. There is also a DC/Z-gen on the same planet. Good stuff. I will need to claim a world neighboring this one so I can defend that z-gen. I research Zenith and Spire Star ships, 1k each for good amount of firepower is a pretty good deal.

00:30- I begin the attack on Ipral, it is a good resource planet and is located right next to the dyson world. I learn that ion cannons are not immune to paralysis. Silly machines get stun locked by my Zenith ships. I break the Command station, but end up losing 60% of my fleet to win this planet.

The dysons are growing restless, scouts show they are destroying worlds next to the dyson planet. I am okay with this. A large wave of 500 ships hits me. I experiment with engine killing riots and tractor ones. Take out their engines use the tractors to pull them far from the fight and leave them there. It actually works pretty well.

The wave beat me up pretty good. I kill a distribution node to give me a resource boost to refleet. My forces colonize Ipral and begin placing its defenses. Spider Turrets are unlocked to give me a greater ability to cripple engines. Engineer mk2 are also deployed to assist. The raid starships finaly get the DC killed but are slain by Gatlings before they can make good their retreat.

Hour 1-
Unlocks: Harvester C/M mk2, Grav Turrets mk1, Area Mines, Emp Mines, Zenith/Spire Starship mk1, Spider Turrets, Engineer mk2
AiP:21 Planets:2
AI Ships: Teleport Raiders, Eyebot, Ether jets.

01:01-Despite sending several dozen ships to destroy the com center of the dyson planet I can't seem to destroy it before the gatlings who are all over it destroy the fleet. I send 150 ships in two transports and finally get the command center. I hadn't noticed there was a barracks on the planet so I now have 400 ships coming at me.

On top of that a wave anounces right as the Command Center explodes. Both attack Ipral, the fleet is sent in transports to fight the wave. Mines and spider turrets weaken the barracks spawn, but the normal wave is full of Teleport raiders who jump right to the command center and begin laying into it. The barracks ships are too crippled and broken to get far. Especially with Dysons hounding them. The fleet arrives in time to destroy most of the Raiders and slowly grind the Barrack spawn to dust.

The riots are used to "remove" 300 of the ships from the fighting, tilting the battle to my favor. I still end up losing the command station. Those sneaky eyebots got right up next to it and gibbed it. A new wave anounces. 861 ships. When it arrives I find they are all fighters. My fleet pounds on them all the way to the homeworld. The riots engine stoping many. Not really a impresive threat, I end them at the homeworld.

I get the defenses on the Dyson planet up to full. Combined with the Dyson patrols I should be able to hold onto that z-gen for awhile. I take Majovin. It has only 1 metal deposit. But it connects my home world to the dyson sphere. A 1k wave appears and heads for my lines. Actually feels threatening without having big hitters such as Golems/Spire craft/Champions. Suddenly another wave for 1.5k anounces. This will not be pretty.

01:30- I unlock paralyzers, fighters, bombers mk2. My extensive mine opperation in conjunction with the Dyson gatlings kill nearly 500 ships before they even enter one of my systems. The first wave through the exo wormhole is the larger of the two waves. It eats so many Area mines its not even funny. I kill nearly all of the fighters before the battle ever joins between my fleet and the wave. Area mines rock.

The other wave cuts through my two spare worlds and destroys all on them before fading out due to gatling support. I send colony pods and rebuilding teams to both to get them back up to par quickly. With the fleet hunting any stragglers from the waves.

I had the need to refleet a bit, the fighting having destroyed sizable parts of the fleet. Scouting during the down time reveals 1 ARS, 1 ADV factory, and a cursed golem to the south so far. A 865 ship wave is anounced. It is not the starfleet commander. Guess its the backdoor hacker. Another wave is then also announced on the way through the Exo-wormhole.

The wave that came through the exo wormhole was not very successfull. Mines got most of them, then the fleet moved in and locked down the rest. The other wave bounced to a different world and got consumed by gatlings with little damage to the command station. Further scouting reveals a few things here and there. Merc Parasites and leeches work on neighboring planets to collect ships I can't build yet. At the end of the hour I am holding steady.

Hour 2-
Unlocks: Harvester C/M mk2, Grav Turrets mk1, Area Mines, Emp Mines, Zenith/Spire Starship mk1, Spider Turrets, Engineer mk2, Paralyzer mk2, Figher mk2, Bomber mk2
AiP:62 Planets:3
AI Ships: Teleport Raiders, Eyebot, Ether jets.

Map Key: p1- Barracks, p3-Co-Processors, p5-Golems, p7-DC, p8-Adv Factory, p9-ARS


Note: Are Zenith Paralyzers supposed to have such low health?

7

AI War / Weird Threat Build Up

« on: September 21, 2012, 07:17:30 AM »

I started a new game to mess around with some stuff and within the first 11 minutes my threat is going haywire. It eventually peaks at 1k or so and then slowly trickles into my world. I haven't even been off my homeworld with anything other then my scouts at this point so I am slightly confused. Save is below. Is it the dark spire or one of the other settings causing it?

8

After Action Reports / I will never see it coming.

« on: September 09, 2012, 04:43:07 AM »

I have decided I want to try something very painfull. I will boot up a new game and give myself several advantages. Then I turn on CPA waves and No wave warning. Then I add in all sorts of nasty to fight with in addition. Lets see how long it takes me to die.

I hold no hope of actually winning this. I just want to see how long I last when I can't even get warning of my impending death. A few things I have going for me is my champion and all it entitles me to, the easy versions of the golems(botnet not included, its on hard 5 for atleast one Exo source) and the spire craft. With the 1/2 Enemy waves on I might be able to live. Now for the other side of the coin.

There is such fun as Hybrids, and advanced hybrids. Everywhere. Wandering Neinzul "friends" who wish to drop their kids off on my planets for babysitting. Spire Civilian leaders giving me a 10 AiP every hour until I silence a few of them, oh and I get to kill both Avengers should I somehow not get glassed between now and then. To top it all off I also have the CSG up. Isn't life grand. Oh and the Astro trains, silly little things. The only way I see of surviving for any length of time is to rush and get a few golems and hope they can hold everything together while I try not to be overwhelmed..

Any advice for this sort of nonsense or just hold on and pray for a good ending?

Expansions: All
Size: 50 Planet, Realistic Hubs
AI Types: Vanilla x2 10/10
Ship Choice: Zenith Rail Clusters + Champion
Seed: 108574262
Ships Available: All
Game Options: Normal, Normal, Full Fog of War
AI options: Human Marauders 5, Human Resistance 5, Human Colony Rebellion 5, Zenith-Trader/Miners/Dyson/Devourer all 5,Spire craft easy, golems easy, Botnet Hard 5(For great Exo Fun). Neinzul Wardens,Enclaves 5, Fallen Spire 5, Spire Civilian Leaders
AI Modifiers: Schizo, 1/2 Enemy waves, No Wave warning, CPA Waves
AI Plot: Avenger x2(I will need to kill these to consider a win.), Hybridsx2 7, advanced hybrid 7 Astro Trains.



Will post more in a hour or less. Depending on how fast it mauls me.

9

AI War Strategy Discussion / CPA, Barracks Hunting and more?

« on: September 06, 2012, 11:45:06 AM »

My current game is ongoing and I have been hit with some devastating CPA waves. My last wave was 8k. The next one that is currently ticking is 10k. My barracks hunting has killed many thousands of ships from their slumber. I am wondering if anyone else has any good tactics to deal with the strong CPA waves? Or is the barracks hunting about the most one can do?

10

AI War / Flagship Efficiency

« on: September 02, 2012, 10:46:33 AM »

After the updates took the Spire/Zenith Star ships from the Flag ship line and then the 10k energy cost for combat star ships, how useful overall is investing in Flag Ships? Their damage boost to nearby ships is not the highest and their combat ability is okay but not awesome. While both of those things are nice to have is the Flag Ship a little underwhelming now? Or is there a good reason to have them around and put knowledge behind them to increase the mark you possess?

11

After Action Reports / To Derail a Train with a Tank

« on: August 24, 2012, 12:11:24 PM »

This is my first try at a proper battle against a 10/10 difficulty. I really hope it doesn't smash my head. Absorbed as much information as I could before starting this to help my chances of not losing. Also decided to just start simple. Also the Train Master was as close to a Vanilla type ai I could get with just Base game.

Diff 10/10, Tank and Train Master
Single HW, Game Version 5.063
Realistic 50 planet, Complex ship types, no CSG
Schizo, 1/2 waves, Avenger and Astro trains.
No expansions (wanted to try a game without all the special "toys" I love, well except one)
Ship of choice, Tasty Parasite.
0 AIP Auto-progress.

Hour 0-1
Starting out I favor a strong economy. So I got mkIII Resource collectors. Both crystal and metal. Then explored my surroundings. Two of the bordering worlds are mk4. Good start. I build up for a hour pushing the attack wave off easy before my fleet starts its first attack. Right against the mk4s. First push the parasites started their grisly work. I eventually got beat back but I brought a few new ships with me. Repair and rearm and right back in my fleet goes. Eventually I have enough forces to neuter them both.
Unlocks(Metal,crystal Extractor mk2/mk3, Grav Turrets)

Hour 1.5-2?
I then look at my other few border worlds. One has a fortress. So Unlocked goes the bomber mkIIs. My fleet gathers and pares down all the neighbors as much as I can while fending off waves and scout. I see a variety of targets. I decide to claim a ARS world. Left most p1. I get armor ships. I also spot a nearby mk4 factory. Very good start so far, even with poor ARS craft. My fleet cleanses many planets to try and get my scouts out further, and allow highways to and fro. Eventually getting me the entire left side mostly explored and most worlds close to mine ruined.
Unlocks(Metal,crystal Extractor mk2/mk3, Grav Turrets, Bomber Mk2)

Hour 3
Take second world little while later. No strategic importance now, but for awhile was one of my whipping boys along with the ARS world. Decided to purge all the data centers I could after this. Lost a lot of raider star ships, even with them inside transports. But I killed all 4 of the DCs I could find so far. Heavy wave beaks the secondary whipping boy around 3 hours in. My fleet responds by rushing there in transports, and controls the situation. I learn to love transports and make heavy use of them at about this point and onwards. I also start using a hefty number of mercenary ships as resources pile up with no super weapon projects to fund.
Unlocks(Metal,crystal Extractor mk2/mk3, Grav Turrets, Bomber Mk2, HBC mk1, Spire/Zenith Starships mk1)

Hour 4
sees me moving north and claiming the right p1, another ARS world. Teleporting Battle Stations, behind the lines hunters for my forward defenses.. My scouts also uncover the first of the AI home worlds. I leave it alone till I find the other. Throughout this my Parasites have reclaimed me quite a large following. Among them many mk3-4s. Love the little guys.
Unlocks(Metal,crystal Extractor mk2/mk3, Grav Turrets, Bomber Mk2, HBC mk1, Spire/Zenith Starships mk1, Fortress mk1)

Hour 5+
I am slowly exploring the right side of map. Not making as much progress as I want due to large waves crushing my defences. Schizo doesn't seem to be stoping them from sending 500+ of the same ship type. Need heftier scouts. I unlock mk2 scouts and engineer mk2s for extra support at home. Also my parasites have claimed me 9 mk3 engineers. I also start my knowledge raiding around here. Got it up to High response. Those raid Starships are sneaky. but grav turrets stop them at my wormholes and my fleet gibs them. Even with this though one made it through and burned my now defunct southern world. No big loss just a lot of energy brownouts. Also realized I had unlocked Basic turrets mk2 sometime earlier.
Unlocks(Metal,crystal Extractor mk2/mk3, Grav Turrets, Bomber Mk2, HBC mk1, Spire/Zenith Starships mk1, Fortress mk1, Scouts mk2, Engineers mk2, mk2 Basic Turret)

Present
I have 4.5k knowledge my lines are holding and I am just waiting on scout information. My AIP is at 71. A tad bit high. Any thoughts? Also I hate Astro Trains. They keep zaping my turret farms. Tried to maul them with fleet but only got one of them to early red and a few others to yellow. I will probably knowledge raid once or twice more. And I will maybe will take one of the p8 planets for another ARS. Or another stepping stone on the right front for the second ai core that I bet hides there.
 

12

Mods & Modding / Parasite Mk2 Remade

« on: October 13, 2011, 11:04:10 AM »

The current parasite mk2 bothered me so I replaced it with a image that is a mish mash, I didn't directly make anything newish just combined bits and bobs from the mk1/3 and smoothed it out in a few places. Dunno if it is better but I find it looks nicer then the chopped off head of a warbird starship and its what I have been using. Any comments/dislike for the new design? In the zip is the 1-3 image replacement, color mask and two renamed image 1 to be placed in research and buy respectively.

13

AI War Strategy Discussion / Gravity how I hate you..

« on: October 13, 2011, 07:42:05 AM »

Got a question regarding what one does against gravity impairing problems. My current game has ai's using extensive amounts of Spire gravity drains. They have really been mucking up most of my tactics in regards to killing eyes/sniping fortresses and the like. It has become a real pain trying to push past them. Any specific tactic that would help me move "quicker" in stomping these out would be welcome.

14

AI War / Spire Stealth battleship

« on: October 10, 2011, 10:01:00 AM »

Recently playing a high ship cap game and I picked the stealth battleship. All well and good until I noticed I only got 5 of them.. As opposed to the enhanced cap of any other ship cap I could have picked. Is this intentional? I know the ship in question can be pretty strong unit but hey, that is a pretty low ship count..

15

AI War / Mercs

« on: September 23, 2011, 11:42:21 AM »

I would like to know a number of things with the mercenary ships you can make. How much exactly of a larger cap do they possess, and how often do players actually use them?  I only use them sparingly at best. Most times when everything else I can build is capped out. Also what was the thought/idea/design point on including them in the game, just curious on my part.