The Birdmen Guide to the Galaxy


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     /(_W_)\                    C h a p t e r   6                 /(_W_)\
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   / \/MvM\/ \   E L I M I N A T I N G   O T H E R   R A C E S  / \/MvM\/ \
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                       Some of them just won't cooperate!


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<======   6.1 Dealing with Lokis   ==========================================>
<============================================================================>

* In host v3.22.020 the Birdmen are immune to Loki's and since host version
3.22.021 the immunity of the Birdmen against Loki's is host configurable.
This section gives you some tips if you're not immune

* Loki's aren't that heavy, they're just annoying. A Loki can carry 4 tubes
and two beams, but the hull weighs only 101 kT. Use a Deth Specula or a
Resolute with high tech torps to intercept and destroy a Loki in mid-space.
Because your ships have cloaking devices they will attack before all other
ships without cloaking device. This is the so called 'Cloaked Intercept'. Take
note: the word is very misleading, because you're not cloaked at all.
* The trick is to spot Loki's before you start spying on a planet. If you do
fly to a planet protected by the 10 LY radius Tachyon (20 LY diameter) wave
of a Loki you will be decloaked. If you decloak orbiting a planet the results
can be devastating for you...
So don't fly to the planet directly, but warp to a location 5 - 9.9 LY from a
planet. If you don't get decloaked it's safe to fly to the planet. (Beware of
planet-hopping Loki's.) If you do get decloaked it's time to move on. By
careful probing you'll know how many Loki's there are, and where they are...
* If you find a Loki in this way, be almost sure that the mission for this
ship in the next turn will be Lay Mines. If you flee you will be decloaked
and more vulnerable. Remember that Decloaking happens before and after
Movement. [1]
* If you receive a Loki from an other player remember that this ship will 
decloak all your cloaking ships. The tachyon device can not be deactivated.
The only way to deactivate is to leave the Loki without fuel.
[However, in older host versions even Loki's without fuel will decloak you.
This is a very annoying bug, but it will be fixed. A player can tow a fuelless
Loki with a battleship. The Loki will always decloak you, and when you try to
destroy it by Cloaked Intercept, your interceptor will be fried by the
battleship.]

* An example of the message you'll receive when one of your ships gets
decloaked by a Loki:

    +---------------------------------------+
    | (-s0025)<<< Cloak Failure Report >>>  |
    |                                       |
    | From: BSC Cyborg Tracker              |
    | ID # 25                               |
    | We have been detected                 |
    | by a Loki class ship.                 |
    | They found us with a                  |
    | tachyon field. Our cloaking           |
    | device has failed                     |
    | Loki Ship ID# 136                     |
    | Name: V'Karr                          |
    | Race: Lizard                          |
    |                                       |
    |                                       |
    |                                       |
    +---------------------------------------+



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<======   6.2 Dealing with Glory Devices   ==================================>
<============================================================================>

* When you're flying in Fascist territory (or any other race with Glory
Devices) you will lose ships. So it goes without saying that the ships you
will use to scout such an secured empire are cheap ships: the Swift Heart
Class Scout.
Each exploding Scout will send you its last greeting by sending this message:

    +---------------------------------------+
    | (e0296)<<< DISTRESS CALL! >>>         |
    |                                       |
    | BSC Fascists Spy                      |
    | SWIFT HEART CLASS SCOUT               |
    | ID # 296                              |
    | Glory Device!                         |
    | We have been hit by                   |
    | Level 6 shockwave!                    |
    | At: ( 2595 , 1527 )                   |
    | Damage is at 100%                     |
    |                                       |
    |                                       |
    |                                       |
    +---------------------------------------+

* A Swift Heart with 2 X-ray lasers and a Transwarp Drive costs 

    22 Duranium, 25 Tritanium, 40 Molybdenum and 364 MegaCredits. 

The cheapest ship with a Glory Device - the D19 with X-ray lasers and 2
Transwarp drives costs

    64 Duranium, 66 Tritanium, 135 Molybdenum and 794 MegaCredits.

Or the Fascist player could cut the costs by using low tech engines and thus
decreasing the mobility of their Glory Devices. With no weapons and Warp-1 drives:

	34 Duranium, 63 Tritanium, 65 Molybdenum and 182 MegaCredits

This is still more costly in minerals than the Swift Heart, but you will need
an adequate money supply.

The Fascist player will continue to build Glory Devices to protect his empire.
You will be sending him new Scouts to spy on his planets. It's a match, but
you're winning because your costs are lower. In many cases the Fascist player
doesn't have enough Glory Devices to cover all his planets, so you won't have
to sacrifice one ship for every planet.
The Fascist player has just two advantages: his supply lines are shorter. This
is easy to overcome: make sure you've got enough new Scouts on their way to
his territory. The second advantage is that he gets all the Priority Build
Points under host.exe, both for blowing up his own ships as for destroying
your Scout.
* The shockwave of a Glory Device will also damage the ships of your enemy.
His cloaking ships will be forced out of cloak... nice target eh?
* Supplies will repair your ships (at 5 units per % damage) so take some extra
with you to repair between glory-device explosion and combat, just in case he
had two of them present (or a new one just flew in). Another good tactic is to
load a Dark Wing with supplies and move in cloaked. The glory device will
trigger and damage your hull, but the damage will be repaired, you will stay
cloaked and the glory device is gone.

* Now, we can use these basic elements to make a one-two punch.  For example,
move in a Dark Wing with 110 supplies (enough for 40 torps, and enough to
repair the Glory Device Damage).  A Glory Device will explode, but you'll
repair yourself. His other ships will be damaged (10% or 20% of normal mine
damage, but he may have supplies too).  Now your ship will attack. 
Alternatively, throwing Swifties at his starbases will usually set off a glory
device, and frequently take out a Neutronic carrier or SDSF.  Finally, if you
ever do get a good ship in to his starbases, simply sit there with your
primary enemy set: when the mission of his starbase is set to 'Refuel' he may
build glory ships but you'll take them out before he can set their FC.
* If you are more cautious, you can throw Swifties at him, then follow with
cruisers. After blowing up two GD ships, he'll probably build something else,
giving you a chance to slip in.
* There are certain problems : glory devices do not damage his planets, but
they do damage yours.  Keep him away!  Be offensive, as always.  Glory
Devices will knock your shields out even if you do use supplies to repair.[8]



<============================================================================>
<======   6.3 Notes on the Federation   =====================================>
<============================================================================>

* The Feds tend to stock large amounts of unarmed battleship hulls on their
starbases to be refitted later. Nevertheless their default 70% mining rate
they will build twice or three times the number of hulls as you. If you don't
destroy those empty hulls the Feds will outnumber you soon! So you'd better
find those hull before they find you. Needless to say those unarmed hulls
without beams, tubes, torps and fighters are easy to destroy.
* The Feds have lots of money, so they have enough MC for lots of mines. But
on the other hand it's the perfect race to steal MC from.
* They have a low mining rate, so they tend to be low on minerals. Disrupt
their freighter lines and destroy their alchemy ships since the Feds rely
more on them than other races.
* Carriers in Fed hands are very dangerous since they get 3 bays more than the
original ship design. Stay away from them, even if you have acquired a
craaier of equivalent size. Since the Feds can use even damaged weapons in
combat, their big ships are especially difficult to kill. A big Fed carrier
needs more then two destroyed Dark Wings to be killed. Avoid such battles or
plan them at least very carfully! [11]
* Also see section 6.1 'Dealing with Lokis'. 



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<======   6.4 Dealing with the Lizards   ====================================>
<============================================================================>

* The Lizard Ground Attack is unstoppable, even by you. Once his cloakers are
there, the only defence you've got is laying minefields. You could of course
try to get some Glory Devices from the Fascists - the ships won't bite you.
* The Lizards have a great economy: huge income of minerals and megacredits.
You'd better don't rely on T-Rex's having low tech beams/torps... he has
enough cash and minerals to equip every ship with high tech ship parts.
* Your Dark Wing has more tubes, but the Lizard ships take 150 % damage by
default before exploding. You'd better use a battle simulator to check out
the best configuration, your ship ratio might be 1:1, you'll need one Dark
Wing for every T-Rex. The Dark Wing has a slight advantage over a Lizard
T-Rex.
* The best defence is the counter-attack. Keep his ships in his own territory.
Keep his Lokis bound to his own planets. Don't let him even try to get to
your planets. Instead, try to mess up his economy. You can't stop him, but he
can't stop you.
* Don't try to hunt down those Reptile and Saurian scouts - unless they
conquer a planet, they can't refuel on an enemy planet as you can. Protect
your freighters, or use them as bait.
* You can do the Lizards great harm if you can destroy all HISSing ships
orbiting his cash planets. When all the HISSing ships are gone, the high tax
will immediately cause the natives to riot. This makes the planet worthless
for at least a couple of turns: no income. Such a planet will likely be
protected by a Loki to decloak all evil-minded ships - time for a suicide
attack by some Deth Specula's. You could of course try to destroy the planet
with Resolutes/Dark Wings, but it may be a starbase. If the 'Cloaked ships
attack PE' setting is YES, fly in with your mission set to Super Spy, your PE
to Lizard, and your FC set to 'bum'....
* Also see section 6.1 'Dealing with Lokis'. 


<============================================================================>
<======   6.5 Dealing with the Privateers  ==================================>
<============================================================================>

* Most important is the host setting 'Rob Cloaked Ships'. If it is 'yes'
you're situation is far worse than when it was 'no'. If the Privateer can't
rob cloaked ships, you will be able to attack his planets and recloak the
next turn - he can't rob your ships. If the Privateer can rob cloaked ships,
they will set their ships on your planets to rob at random. If you try to
scout their territory, you will encounter decloaked ships on Privateer
starbases that will rob you when you try to fly away - when the starbase is
set to Force Surrender you will lose the scout in the same turn. An HomeWorld
can be very dangerous: it will have Lady Royale's and Alchemy ships in orbit,
and they will rob you blind. 
When you're departing from your planets, do it at warp 9 and set your waypoint
in mid-space and your mission to beam up fuel. This will make sure that you
will leave the orbit of the planet because will have fuel and you will break
tow. Of course you've dropped your fuel on the planet. Have your ship FCs to
match your planetary FCs when beaming up fuel. (Watch out for a Privateer
ground attacks - don't do this on planets with only 1 clan: you're asking for
trouble then!)
* You ships are superior to their ships. You're probably the best race to
terminate the Privateers. Use Deth Specula's, Resolutes and Dark Wings and
kill everything in sight.
* When fighting the Privs, do what you always do: stay cloaked. If you've
build any freighters (for planet-hopping) they will be an easy target for the
Privs. Get rid of your freighters and use Fearless Wings/Resolutes as
transports.
* Lay moving minefields. Lay huge minefields, scoop the mines up again (with
another ship) and lay the minefields again on another place.



<============================================================================>
<======   6.6 Dealing with the Cyborg   =====================================>
<============================================================================>

* While Biocides and Annihilations are the backbone of the empire of the
Cyborg, the Fireclouds are the veins. To set up a stable connection between
two Starbases the Cyborg need three Fireclouds: One on every starbase and one
doing the chunneling.
It's easy to take out his transport system. Use Resolutes and eliminate all
Fireclouds. An attacking Cyborg player will in most cases try to chunnel his
fleet to you. When you've destroyed any incoming Firecloud, he has to fly to
you just like any other player. (And his heavy Cubes will need huge amounts of
fuel..:-)
This holds true for any player opposing the Cyborg. A FireCloud is bad news
and should be shot on first sight. If you leave it alone, next turn there may
be several brothers which can spread around and beam in cubes all across your
empire. Next thing you're dead.
* The Cyborgs tend to spread out over the entire cluster - their empire doesn't
have to be aligned. Such an empire is hard to exterminate: finding all his
planets and starbases can be a real pain. Try to get some ships (Resolutes)
chunneled to the other end of the galaxy, to his outposts. Then cut off his
means of communication (i.e. destroy all FireClouds) and mess up his economy/
planets.
* Be aware of the Chunnel facilities of the Cyborg! A Cyborg player can fly
one single FireCloud to your territory by flying it > 300 LY outside the map,
i.e. the ship will remain outside your range and you will not detect it until
it is to late. When the FireCloud runs out of fuel, a second Firecloud is
simply chunneled in to refuel the first one... When the Cyborg player sets
his foot on your less heavily defended backyard planets/starbases you won't
be able to kick him out again. He will just chunnel in more reinforcements.
To prevent such a disaster, just put a picket ship outside the map, say at a
150 LY distance. A Resolute will do great: it cloaks so the Cyborg won't see
it coming and won't chunnel in a fleet to destroy it, the ship doesn't use
fuel to cloak so it doesn't need to be refuelled and the ship itself is
capable enough of dealing with one single FireCloud.



<============================================================================>
<======   6.7 Dealing with the Crystal People   =============================>
<============================================================================>

* Most often someone will have taken out the crystal people early in the game,
since they are a relatively weak race. But once they've become established
they can mean bad news. Their webmines make great anti-cloak weapons, if they
can afford them.
* This holds true especially in PHost where they can form minefield alliances
with other races and lay overlapping minefields in different race-identities,
so the draining of fuel goes way faster.
* Use high tech beams to sweep away his fields before he can tow\capture your
cloakers.
* They rely heavily on molybdenum, so you could try to beam up that mineral if
you want to annoy them and have nothing better to do after a SuperSpy.
* Never ever let them get a cloaking ship!

* The Crystals are probably the most dangerous enemy since their Web
minefields render your cloaking advantage nearly useless. So generally stay
away from them. Especially do not send Swift Hearts to them as scouts since
you are going to lose them and in the end it will be like giving them
cloaking scouts.
The odds of hitting a web mine are ten times higher than the odds of hitting
a regular mine when running cloaked. It is therefore very likely that you hit
a web mine and with a Swift Heart this means that you lose not only 50 kT of
fuel but also your cloaking capability since you are damaged far beyond the
damage limit for cloaking even if the Swift Heart was full with supplies. Now
you have to move away quickly because you will be losing 25 kT of fuel
every turn in the web minefield, and because you're decloaked you are also
vulnerable to intercepts. 
But any good Crystalline player will increase the number and size of his
web minefields drastically as soon as you have entered his web. Therefore you
will start your turn in a big web minefield even if you set your ship on
minesweeping (which cost you 25 kT fuel) and you will hit another web mine
when trying to move out (which will cost you 50 kT fuel). Together with the
50 kT fuel you lost the previous turn and the fuel you burned for moving (and
cloaking) you probably have exhausted your 170 kT fuel tank completely and
your Swift Heart is history.
* If you really want to Scout on the Crystals then send in Resolutes with good
beams (for sweeping those webmines) filled with supplies (to repair
web minehit damage to stay cloaked) and lots of fuel (to compensate for the
web fuel drain). Do not put any torpedo launchers on these Resolutes because
you still might lose some of them to the Crystals and you absolutely do not
want a cloaking minelayer in their hands!
* Beware of the Crystal Thunder! If the Engine Shield Bonus is 50%, the
Thunder will easily kill a Dark Wing equipped with the best weapon
technology. Do not make the mistake to consider the Thunder to be equivalent
to your 3 bay Valiant Wind (Both ships can hold 80 fighters and have roughly
the same number of beams) because the Thunder with its 8 fighterbays has
nearly the same offensive firepower as a Virgo!
If you have obtained non-cloaking ships from other races (especially
battleships or heavy carriers with good beams) then send them to the
Crystalline front. You cannot cloak effectively against the Crystals anyhow,
but you should be cloaked on all other fronts. Make sure that you bring
sufficient fuel to them and try to sweep the webmines with them long and
intensively until the Crystals (hopefully) run out of resources to maintain
their web minefields.
* The weak point of the Crystals is their economy. With the exception of his
ability to withstand all climates but zero degree worlds, he is in exactly
the same economic situation as you. But the webmines and the fighters for the
Thunders are very expensive. So if you manage to knock out his money
generating planets or to steal his cash, you might break the Crystalline
economy.
* If you can get control over the Crystalline minefields by changing the
friendly code of the controlling planets (see section
3.4) your task will be
much, much more easier. [11]



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<======   6.8 Dealing with the Empire   =====================================>
<============================================================================>

* The Empire is a fighter-race, and has only one type of torpedo ship: The
Super Star Frigate. Once you've eliminated all SSFs your ships won't get hit
by mines any more.
Use Deth Specula's or Resolutes with Mark 4 torps or higher and Heavy Blasters
or higher: you will easily capture the SSF.
* The Empire starbases tend to build 5 free fighters every turn. (Host
configurable). The bases will get stronger every turn they exist, so you'd
better take them out soon, before they've got the full 60 fighters. Use a
Resolute or a Dark Wing.
* When you see a H-Ross Class Light Carrier or a Moscow Class Star Escort
flying around, don't forget they're worthless in a battle. The Empire player
will use them to transport fighters from his stocked starbases to his ships in
the front-line.
So if you see such a fully loaded light carrier departing from a starbase,
take out the starbase because it's low on fighters and don't forget to
destroy the carrier and the fighters it is carrying before the fighters are
used in a much more dangerous ship like a Super Star Cruiser or a Gorbie.
* When you're beaming up minerals from Empire planets, beam up Molybdenum. The
mineral balance of the Empire is not as good as yours, and they tend to use
far more Molybdenum (for ships and fighters!) than Tritanium or Duranium.



<============================================================================>
<======   6.9 Dealing with the Robots   =====================================>
<============================================================================>

* The Robots are a fighter-race, and they only have one type of torpedo ship:
the Cat's Paw. Those Cat's Paws are extremely dangerous as they tend to lay
*huge* minefields. Save your ships and take them out with your Dark Wings and
Resolutes.
* Use Resolutes with high tech beams as minesweepers deep inside enemy
territory. Merlins and Dark Wings are the better choice: they take less
damage from a minehit, and the Merlin has more cargospace for supplies to
repair itself after a minehit. (Remember to put the FC to 'NAL' - No
ALchemy.)
* The Robots will keep a couple of Q-Tankers on starbases to build fighters.
Eliminate the source of his fighters by capturing those Q-tankers. The
fighters of those capture Q-tankers make a perfect use to you as starbase
fighters!
* When you're beaming up minerals from Robotic planets, beam up Duranium. The
mineral balance of the Robots is the worst in the whole game, and they tend to
use far more Duranium than Tritanium or Molybdenum.
* Be careful not to surrender one of your ships to a Robotic starbase - when
it will get back to you it will do enormous damage by laying *huge* minefields
in your territory.
* Read carefully the section about the Minefield Universal Code. It will help
you a lot against their minefields.
* Never ever let them get a cloaking ship!



<============================================================================>
<======   6.10 Notes on the Rebels   ========================================>
<============================================================================>

* The Rebels are also a fighter-building race, therefore you should knock out
their fighter factories, especially their Gemini's.
* The Rebels have the best hyperjumping ship (the Falcon) which you could also
use nicely to expand your economy. Try to intercept and capture them when
they hyperjump into your area. (They have only 27 crew on board.) If you can
guess where they will be jumping to in the future, try to move a cloaker
there. [11]



<============================================================================>
<======   6.11 Dealing with the Colonies    =================================>
<============================================================================>

* Since they can sweep mines with their fighters over long distances (100 LY
by default) very efficiently, it is usually absolutely useless to lay mines
if large colonial carriers are nearby. Don't waste your torpedo's and scoop up
all your minefields near the Colonies with the 'msc' FC in order not to lose
them.
* The Colonies rely a lot on their ability to build cheap fighters in space.
Without them it is very costly for them to maintain a fleet of Virgos. So try
to find their fighter factories orbiting their production planets (often with
Bovinoid native population) far away from the front lines. Typically the
Colonies use Geminis and nearly empty Virgos for fighter building. Those
ships can be destroyed easily if you can find them with your cloaked scouts.
* Since the Virgo is a ship with eight engines, the Colonies can often not
afford to put Transwarp drives on it, especially at the beginning of the
game. Typically they will tow their low-powered Virgos with Cobols into
battle. Try to intercept the Cobols with Resolutes. If you can take them out,
the Colonial fleet will lose their fuel generators, minelayers and the
mobility of their Virgos all at once. [11]


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