Hi guys,
thanks for your input. You wrote something that was along my own thinking after I had a looong stare at the advantages screen (a really poor substitute to actually playing some Campaign games).
Being the Birds a very effective early aggression race, I found NTP a great addition to their natural inclinations - that is totally in line with the character, so to speak.
As a (fighters-based) foe, you build three-four starbases, start to develop an economy, push some big nasty carriers towards your city limits plus a single warp-1 as a brawny homeworld defender, load 60 fighters on the starbase for good measure, and WHAM! the turn after the carrier has been towed away by a sacrificial ship, your homeworld is gone, the defending fighters never even being launched. Thas is a blow that nearly nobody can recover from (except the same, old Borg which can have shiny new HWs everywhere he/she desirers).
BUT, this can actually be accomplished with what Birds actually have already. I did it several times (once or twice it even worked out). Just add an x-ray Dark Wing to the same attack, and you don't need the prevent the fighters from launching - just exhaust them with sheer, undetected, brute force.
Besides, this is a one-trick pony. You could even pull it up against your other neighbour, if your economy starts very strong and at least one of the two foes on either side is sleeping good dreams via diplomatic prowess from your side, or is just a slow starter.
But even in this very fortunate scenario, you would be left with a huge territory to defend with your own flimsy ships, and no way to gain much more power towards the endgame, even considering the excellent economic advantages you could activate (paying the price in terms of Campaign resources, be it dutily noted), i.e., Enlighten Research Ship and Starbase Money Transfers. You just cannot build one thousand Dark Wings, regardless of how much money you do have - the ship limit negates that approach.
On the other side, Cloning After Ship Limit could actually be a game changer. I remember once having captured a Falcon Class Escort in a standard game, and cloning it just in five or six copies before ship limit hit - well, those handful of HYP ships allowed me to expand in such a way (and transport money everywhere it was needed in just 2 turns) that I managed to build up a good military and lots of stocked-up starbases very far from home, keeping an invading Borg at bay enough time to complete an alliance with another player - that would have not been possible without those puny HYPpers.
I can't imagine what would be an intermediate-to-endgame period in which EVERY special ship you manage to capture, steal, exchange or buy can actually be reproduced (nearly) at will. The worst of the (big) carriers is a better ship from a military standpoint than every ship Birds can build, because it can take starbases without ship loss - so much for the NTP need.
So, it looks like the first question has found a response already: ship cloning after limit is definitely the best choice. |
Show Media Item - To the experienced Bird leaders - a question on Campaign...
