Okay, Gaitori have the very lowest threat value of any race. Obviously, Gaitori stuff sucks. But I'd REALLY like to be able to use them against other races and win. See, in a Gaitori VS Gaitori game on Scratching Post, I noticed an interesting thing with my gunships: They are better at subduing those outposts and Bunker Stations than ANYONE. Why? Because they shoot yellow stuff that's hard to dodge and (apparently) does a lot of damage. And as I watched my gunships pause just out of range of the bunker station and subdue it with a single salvo of the stuff that dreams are made of, the evil thought occured to me that this could be applied to ships as well. And it worked REALLY well, just so long as I was... fighting other Gaitori. All six races can pound the one race with the single coolest long-range projectile.
So I came up with a potential killer tactic. And I don't even know if it'll work despite having tried it because my plan went all wrong as I shall soon relate. What I decided to do in a Gait VS Human game was the following:
-build nothing but gunships. All gunships after the first follow the first one built which in turn is the command unit. It follows the HVD.
-Approach my opponent.
-At an appropriate moment, target the Human HVD and hit 'controll'.
-The gunships arrange themselves with beautiful precision and attack at long range with the sort of artfull savagery that brought a tear to my eye the first time, smashing the Human HVD into oblivion and wounding its escorts.
-Meanwhile, MY HVD is hyperspacing behind the Human fleet, and it joins the attack from the other side, picking off the weakened ships and reducing my opponent to space dust.
Well, that's what SHOULD have happened. I'm sure anyone more experienced in Ares than I knows what REALLY happened. My gunships moved right up to the HVD which was, of course, accompanied by an escort of equal points-value and were subsequently decimated :frown:.
So, I have a question for everyone: Is there a way to get ships to move towards a target and attack it with the longest-range weapons they have while YOU move in (or in other words behave in the manner I outlined)?

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Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for the Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the shadows lie.

-The Lord of the Rings

Definatly. Just target your escort, click on speical orders, and click on the fire1/2/special button to make that ship fire that weapon

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~(^..^)

I've always wanted to try that, but unfortunantly the AI isn't especially good at handling hit and run attacks. I don't think ordering a group leader to fire will have all the other units fire, but I'm not sure, either way. The bigger problem is that its hard to get ships to withdraw from an encounter, so if your gunships get within a certain distance of the enemy, the AI would rather try and engage them, rather than make the jump out.

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Pax - Drew Harry
sagitar@earthlink.net
(url="http://"http://www.axis.n3.net/")Ares Axis - axis.n3.net(/url)

"...they say that every five minutes someone dies in a car accident, but how often are there seven hundred and sixty one armless and legless corpses in one hangar?" - Terminal 2, Where are monsters in dreams, Marathon Infinity

When you attach ships to a lead ship, they only follow that ship - they aren't actually duplicating what the leader does, firing when he fires, or using any kind of special 'protect this ship' AI instructions - they just go wherever the leader is going, and otherwise act like unattached ships do.

Also, it doesn't matter what you are targeting when you order a ship to fire a homing weapon - the missile will lock on to whatever is in range. You can't specifically target missiles.

You can, however, line up your gunships so they all fire at the same time. Go into hyperspace with all the gunships following you. Imagine a line from left to right going through your opponent. You should be moving straight up or straight down towards it, a little to the side of the enemy. When your personal ship touches the line, let go of the hyperspace key. Your HVD will land at a safe distance, but your gunships will come out behind you, in the straight line they were following you with, all in range of your opponent, and they'll all fire exactly at the same time towards the same ship. It's beautiful to see...

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Replicant
www.axis.n3.net

I noticed that gatori gunships do a running attack a little. Then they close like the idiots they are. Getting a station is probably your best tactic.

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Commander-in-Chief of the Nijayias Interstellar Navy.

This tactic of using all those gunships doesn't work well for me. So I build a gunship and make a solo running attack. Meanwhile, all my other gunships are at my base and if I need them I send them in.. Of course I have to stay alive for that long...

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HotSpice(better known as Avenger on GR)

I lost to a complete NEWBIE one time when I was Gaitori! :eek:

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"Mess with the best, die like the rest!"

Super Vegitto, oh yeh!

Lotta luck with gatori.

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Commander-in-Chief of the Nijayias Interstellar Navy.

I have more experience playing as Gaitori then any other race so I can give all of you some help. First of all, it is imposible to beat any other race using the Gaitori if they realy know what they are doing. However, not everyone does so these tactics aply to when you are facing less experianced players.

The tactic or depositing your gunships in a line is valid, and so is the use of a single gunships or hit and run attacks. But, this is the most affective tactic I have found or dealing with Humans or Ishimans:

When playing Rock and Rock (this is the only level I have used them in) immediately build another Destroyer. Then build all the gunships you can. If the enemy builds a assualt transport attack just about immediatly but if not wait until they make the first move. When attacking, advance towards the enemy at the same speed as your gunships. When your gunships engage, make sure that they go infront and you stay in back. Attack with your destroyer only at long range and do not use your pellet gun (it sucks energy fast) attack ships in this order :

ships that are attacking you
ships that have low shields
carriers
destroyers
gunships
cruisers
fighters

Conserve the shields of your destoyer and hyper away if they get to low. If you have to retreat or your ship gets destroyed tell your surviving forces to follow you and regroup somewhere to prepare for a second attack. As always, if you can not destroy or at least seriously maul you apponant in the first battle you probably will not win.

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I actualy tried a special tactic with gatori gunships - I circled the enemy fleet with my gunship (both HVD's gone) and my other ones following, everyone firing all the while. If I remember correctly, I won the match. I call this the "Indian (I'm sick of being PC, it has the same acronym as wintel) Attack" manuver. Has anyone seen one of those movies or cartoons where they attack a wagon train? Just circle shooting.

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Commander-in-Chief of the Nijayias Interstellar Navy.