Battle Guide

The following presents as briefly and neatly as possible the different ship and basic strategy in AE.

Fleet Composition

~ Ship 's description~

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===========Unshielded===========
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* Fighters *

I cannot emphasize how important they are. Basically, the fact that they have the best armor/attack per credit ratio make them the best ship in AE.

They can kill all other unshielded unit very efficiently.
They absorb damage more efficiently than any other.

* Bombers & Heavy Bombers *

They are an offensive weapon. Having some may come in handy. This is the kind of ship we always lack in coordinated attack. They are very vulnerable to fighters

They are able to kill unsupported cruiser/HC efficiently which make them quite valuable.

* Corvettes & Destroyers *

They have two different use. They are quite vulnerable to fighters

Used alone, they are a good and fast striking force, able to kill recyclers or other weak fleet efficiently.

Used in a fleet, they 'll enable you to spread the damage and save your capital ship in a big strike.

* Frigate *

Frigate are weak. But they are fast and are able to carry fighters. They can be use as a fast striking force to dump fighters where needed. Ultimately, they can be used to spread the damage.

* Ion Units : Bombers and Frigate *

Theorically, they could be used to kill the heavy shielded unit. But they are way too expensive, and way too vulnnerable to fighters wave. They are not worth building.

* Scout *

Their use is obvious. Don't build use them in battle.

In war time, put them on empty astros to make them hard to spot.
In peace time, they may be safer on friendly astros though.

* Outpost *

No comment.

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It seems obvious at that point that fighter is vital. You need to carry as many as you want.
Other shielded unit are secondary. But they are handy nonetheless as you 'll see in this guide.

Anyway, you need to carry as many fighters as you can
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=======Carriers - Fleet Carriers=========
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The only remaining question is what to build. Carriers or Fleet Carriers ?
Once again, it depends.

Carriers are faster.
FCs are able to carry a bit more fighter ( cost wise ) and are stronger.

Whatever happen, you don't want your carriers to be involved in the battle. So the speed factor is fundamental and carriers seems to be the best choice.

If you choose FCs though, make sure to have at least some Carriers to make your fighters drop.

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========Cruiser - Heavy Cruiser=========
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Those ship are the first shielded units, able to hit nearly all other ship and defense.
They will be the main ship you have in your fleet.

In the past, cruiser was said to be the best ship. HC were only good to kill Levi. Now that far too many players rely on fighters only and that the shield of the capital ship has been increased, HCs are now the stars of AE

Cruiser still are the best ship to take down everything up to BS.
HCs are the ship to kill the other capital ship. They are also very handy to shield rape fighter shield and take bases.

You 'll still need Cruiser to absorb the damage and make some of the strike, but you cannot afford not to have HCs.

As always, if Cruiser/HC still are very important ship ( third to half of your fleet should be composed of Cruisers/HCs ), it 's very hard to choose between Cruisers and HCs. HCs only may be a solution, but I know for sure I 'll have cruisers in my fleet too.

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==========Capital Ship=========
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They are slow, they are weak...
The only advantage of the capital ship is their shield. Used accordingly, they could be awesome though.

But you shouldn't make too many of those.

* BattleShip *

Their Shield can resist to everything up to Destroyers. Thus, they can shieldraid such fleet.
They can also shield rape very weakly defended bases ( Nothing - 10 ion )

* DreadNaught *

Their Shield can resist to every unshielded. Thus, they can shieldraid such fleet.
They can also shield rape weakly defended bases ( 10 Ion - 10 Photon )

* Titan *

Their Shield can resist to everything up to Cruisers. Provided the fleet isn't too big, they can shield raid such fleet
They can also shield rape low defended bases ( 10 Photon - 10 Disruptor )

* Leviathan *

Their Shield can resist to everything up to Cruisers. Provided the fleet isn't too big, they can shield raid such fleet.
They can also shield rape average bases ( 10 Disruptor - ~ 5 Ring )

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~ Different fleet~

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=========Defensive fleet========
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( taken from the according guide )

If you don't have any fleet over your bases, your TR can be plundered, and your base 's only defended by your turrets... You don't want that, and need some ship to keep the family safe.

Every unshielded unit can be efficiently destroy with a fighter wave. It 's useless to put any unshielded unit that 's not a fighter... Shielded unit will be taken down with a positive ratio once the unshielded unit have been waved... It 's useless to put any of them.

So Fighters only ? It 's a very good idea. You need to adapt the number to your turrets. If you have too many of them, they will be shield raped by HCs and will only be a source of debris for your enemy.

250 Fighters per set of Ion Turrets
500 Fighters per set of Photon Turrets
1000 Fighters per set of Disruptor Turrets
5000 Fighters per set of Planetary Ring

is an accurate estimation of the optimal number of fighters in a fighter shield.

You can also put some Cruisers in your defensive fleet. In what purpose ? Well, exactly the same that Ion Turrets are useful to lower the efficiency of the fighter shield. A proportion of fighter will aim at your cruiser and many power will be lost in the cruiser 's shield.


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=========Offensive fleet ========
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The real point of this part of the guide. What is the best offensive fleet ?

There are a few important things in a fleet :

- The fighters and enough to carry them

We have allready saw that you need a LOT of them. You always need MORE than your enemy. You can't have too many fighters...

- The offensive ability. Bombers and Heavy Bombers

They are handy, especially when you coordinate with other jedi to take donw a big fleet

- The damage absorbtion ability : Corvette and Destroyers

You just enough so that some survive. And you want some to use in solo operation ( recyclers killings, stealing/keeping/liberating occupations, .... )

- Your fleet : Cruisers and Heavy Cruisers

From this point I will consider 3/4 HCs 1/4 Cruisers, cost wise. They are your fleet.

- The recycling ability

Basically, you want enough recyclers to recycle your debris in one tick

- A few Capital Ship

If you can afford/have the tech, then you can bring a few captial ship. But don't carry them everywhere, only bring them when they are needed...

The flowing is completely unjustified, but it 's a wise fleet composition. Balanced and powerful. not vulnerable, and adaptable :

200 Fighters
10 Corvettes
10 Destroyers
10 HBs
5 Cruiser
10 HCs
20 Recyclers
2 Carriers

Build your fleet with that ratio ( or something close ) and you 'll have a very decent fleet for sure.
Obviously you can change the cruiser/HCs ratio, the Corvettes-Destroyers / HBs - Bombers ratio, add recyclers, add some capital ship... but try to keep close to this which is I believe close to the optimal fleet

Also remember that each fleet need to be adapted to each situation. You 'll never attack with everything that is in this fleet. Depending on what you face, you 'll only use some of this ship.

So, I come to the second part of this guide :

Strategy

~ Defense ~

The main point is to make the enemies' attack as unprofitable as you can.

* The enemy is about to attack your base *

First, if the enemy has an overwhelming force, get every ship but your fighter on a safe spot.
Put the location on the board so that the other Jedi can prepare to counter attack.
Put fighters in fast production

If the enemy lands directly on your base with weak ship ( unshielded except fighters / carriers or the sweat recyclers ), attack as soon as he lands with your fighter shield. You 'll make way more damage this way, especially if you have CCs.

Prepare to counter attack...

* The enemy is recycling YOUR debris *

That 's the more important part.

First, dump the fighters you have wisely fast produce before the base was attacked as soon as they are produced.

If you/the Jedi can muster enough fleet to take him down immediately, then that 's obviously what need to be done.
If not...

You surely have corvette in your fleet right ? Maybe even carriers loaded with fighters.
Well they need to be dumped at the enemies recyclers.

Send them on a close astros, then send them on your astro.

Make sure they land at 29:58 or so. Just before the tick. If the enemy wants to save his debris, he 'll have to wait another hour to pick the debris...

Continue to resist until the enemy is down / the debris has been recycled

* The enemy is occupying you *

The situation is less critical. The Jedi may have the fleet to liberate you, so make sure they know about the situation. In the meantime :

- Build CCs
- If the enemy has unshielded unit guarding your base, fast produce fighters and dump them on his fleet. Make sure you are online when they are produced.
- If the enemies has only Cruisers/HCs and higher, fast produce HBs and dump them on the enemy; Make sure you are online when they are produced.
- If the enemy has capital Ship... Gather a force able to take it down, and come back

Another method is to build a capital ship yourself and shieldrape the occupation fleet but it 's kinda slow... A guy once tried to permanently occupy me with Titan. Unfortunately, a Levi was about to be built

~ Attack ~

Bring your fleet to a close a astro. Never head directly to your target.

* Bases *

There are many diferents situation you may face. Here are the classics :
- If you do have a ship that is able to attack the base alone without being destroyed, proceed...

- If the base has other unshielded unit. Whatever you decide to do, try to wave enough fighters to take them all down. ( remember than the damage are spread equally among unshielded unit, and you 'll be able to calculate the numbers of fighters optimal )

- If the base has too many fighters and relatively weak turrets, then it 's a good idea to shield rape the base with HCs. The question is what too many fighters means. Well more than :

500 Fighters per set of Ion Turrets
1000 Fighters per set of Photon Turrets
2000 Fighters per set of Disruptor Turrets
15000 Fighters per set of Planetary Ring

is too much

- If you can afford to wave enough fighters to take the fighter shield down, do it. Then Attack the turrets with HC/Cruiser/destroyers/corvette/fighters.

- If you don't have enough fighters to wave the shield, attack with HC/Cruiser/Fighters. Don't attack if you have less fighter than your enemy.

- If you face a situation that isn't described here, PM about it so I can complete this guide.

* Fleet *

The following is the ideal way to kill a fleet.

- Wave 10% more fighters than the numbers of fighters theorically needed to kill all the unshielded.
- If you have Bombers/Heavy Bombers and the enemy have cruiser/HCs, you may want to dump them as well.

Notice at this point that you can wave all the fighter/bomber in a single strike. You can also separate the strike. Note that if you can kill all the unshielded first with your fighters, then send your BB/HBs, it 'll enable you not to waste Bombers' power on the unshielded

- Now is the time to make the big strike. Be sure to have an overwhelming force ( enough to kill the enemy in one strike ). If the enemy has strong capital ship ( Titan/Levi ) you 'll need to add HCs. Put the rest of your Cruisers, and as many Fighters/Corvette/Destroyers to spread the damage as you can. You should get a very good ratio...

In theory, it 's very easy... Provided you have enough fleet

~ Debris and Pillage ~

You obviously need to minimize the flight of your fleet from its original spot to his arrival, next to your target. Put your fleet on a Jump Gate close to your target. Try to land at ~ x:15

Proceed in the attack, then send your recyclers on the debris pile just before the tick. Hopefully, you 'll take all the debris in one tick.

If not, then you 'll have to protect your recyclers. Don't leave your recyclers alone, and never get off line with your recycler on enemy territory.

In order to protect your recycler from fighters waves, put fighters / corvettes / destroyers / frigate / cruisers / carriers with your recyclers.

Collect the debris...

Then you need to know if you 'll keep the occupation or not. It depends on the situation.
It 's often wise to keep only a corvette to keep the occupation until the player get back online.
You can leave a stronger fleet if you want to keep the occupation and get the daily pillage, it 's just a bit more risky... depending on the situation, it may be worth it.