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ESCORT SHIPS
If you have 50-550 escort ships with at least 5 sensors and 1 weapon slot, they will contribute to the speed and stealth of ships of the line and capitol ships.
Scouts - Sensor bonus to other Escorts, requires 15 sensors, 1 weapon slot, 40 ships.
Corvettes - Engine and Stealth bonus to other Escorts, requires 15 sensors, 1 weapon slot, minimum 25 ships.
Frigates
Escort Carriers
Advantages
1.Escort ships are fast and stealthy, making them very difficult to target successfully. They are also very cheap, and you can buy a lot of firepower for relatively little investment. As a result, they are the most economical way to take planets, as you can build swarms of them and spread them over many planets for efficient conquering.
2. You can build a large number of very evasive escort ships for low cost, and these can be used to provide 'evasive cover' for more expensive ships, confounding enemy targeting, especially when they use standard targeting orders. They might end up being ignored if the enemy uses class-targeting orders, e.g., target capitol ships.
3. If you design your escort ships according to the minimum criteria for class bonuses (see above and below), they will STILL provide a limited evasive cover to your more expensive ships of the line and capitol ships.
Disadvantages
1. Escort ships have very poor hull, shields and sensors. As a result, they die easily in minefields, and it doesn't take many hits to kill one. The poor sensors means their firepower is very inaccurate against other evasive ships.
2. The main use of escort ships (as evasive cover) is very easily neutralised by specifying a targeting order such as 'Target Capitol Ships'.
3. It is the general opinion in the game that sensors are 'over-powered', and evasive fleets are easily either ignored or rapidly destroyed. Evasive fleets may still form a support role, but it is extremely risky to invest a large quantity of resources in an evasion fleet.
Speed Bonus to SOTL and Capships
1. Imparts a speed bonus to Ships of the Line and Capital Ships, used when calculating evasion.
2. Size of the bonus is the average speed of the qualifying escort ships, plus 0.05% for each escort ship after the first 50, up to 550 escort ships.
3. To qualify for giving the bonus, the escort ship must have a minimum of 5 sensors, and 1 weapon slot.
4. The ships receiving the bonus have their speed set to the bonus amount, with a maximum increase of 30% for SOTL and 20% for capitol ships, over their existing speed.
5. If the bonus amount is smaller than the existing speed of the ship then no bonus is applied.
Stealth Bonus to SOTL and capships
1. Imparts a stealth bonus to Ships of the Line and Capital Ships, used when calculating evasion.
2. Size of the bonus is the average stealth of the qualifying escort ships, plus 0.05% for each escort ship after the first 50, up to 550 escort ships.
3. To qualify for giving the bonus, the escort ship must have a minimum of 5 sensors, and 1 weapon slot.
4. The ships receiving the bonus have their stealth set to the bonus amount, with a maximum increase of 30% for SOTL and 20% for capitol ships, over their existing stealth.
5. If the bonus amount is smaller than the existing stealth of the ship, then no bonus is applied.
6. If the ship receiving the bonus has no stealth (0 stealth), then it receives a flat amount of 20% of the bonus value.
Illustration
1. Lets say you have a corvette with speed 70 which otherwise meet the requirements (5 sensors and 1 weapon slot).
2. If you have 50 of these corvettes, then the 'bonus amount' is 70 speed. If you have 550 of these corvettes then the 'bonus amount' is 87.5 speed.
3. Assuming a 'bonus amount' of 70 speed, if you have a destroyer with 50 speed, it will have an effective evasion based on a speed of 65 (Max increase is 30% for SOTL).
4. If your destroyer had a speed of 60 to begin with, its evasion would be calculated on a speed of 70 (the bonus amount), since this is within the 30% allowed increase.
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