Can you fool them with corvettes?

from Stardock Forums
Somebody else brought this up, and it really made me think...

Can you fool the AI into thinking you're a military powerhouse with just corvettes?

At cost 50, maintenance 1, and attack value of 3.......there's really no better way of inflating your military rating that I can see other than AMMissles (which I think were recently nerfed in determining Military rating).

Of course, if you have a military based around nothing but corvettes...you are screwed if a random event ever forces a war on you. Has anybody tried bluffing the AI with a corvette reliant army yet??
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Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

Bluffing the AI is the only thing corvettes are good at - oh, and early colonizer warfare on large+ maps.

But yes, it works.

~SDC~
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
Once when the Drengin were making threats and showing a *huge* military on the graph, I looked at their fleet on the trade panel: One battle cruiser and about two dozen colony ships.

~SDC~
Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
In my last game it appeared that transports were boosting my military rating significantly. I hadn't been trying to build up my military at all, but I was building transports because they're cheap and useful to pick off any minor civs which pop up, but I had very nearly the highest strength military.
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
@ Freddybear: Did anybody else have any offensive ships yet? A military strength of 5 is huge by comparision when everybody else just has a defender or nothing at all.

@MojoJojoUK: Was the UN resolution passed where transports get a boost to their attack rating? That would explain your observation. Otherwise, sounds weird...
:notsure:
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
It sometimes takes a turn or two for the graph to readjust after you build new ships. Keep in mind also that Axes do little to boost your Military rating on the graph (they have an attack of 2 only, and attack rating is what counts). Of course, your Axe can crush their Cruiser...but on the graph a Cruiser is worth like 2.5 Axes.
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
Corvettes are great for that. To pay for them build some starfighters and sell them for 5bc/x turns depending on your diplomacy level. I usualy rush to diplomatic translators, and then depending on how things are panning out, corvette tech, or the speed trade good.

~SDC~
Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
With the latest patches, Starfighters rule for bluffing the AI: 50 build cost, 1 maintenance, 3 attack. Best attack/maintenance ratio till you get to anti-matter missiles. If you want to go defensive the best method is to never be attacked, and the cheapest most effective way to ensure that is to build lots of starfighters. I've won games I never would have won otherwise because of starfighters followed by anti-matter missiles.

The algorithm that determines military power desperately needs to be reworked, as it is defensive ships are likely to get you attacked as they don't project the image of strength needed to keep the AI off your back (unless you ruin your economy building large numbers of them).

Any algorithm that determines military strength has to take attack, defense, -and- hitpoints of the various ships into account or it's going to cause some really bizarre game situations, like my army of starfighters bluffing an AI that has overlords into thinking they are less powerful then me, when one ship of their could destroy every ship I own.

I would consider this cheese, but the fact is that the game is the problem here, not my response to it. I refuse to get attacked because the computer can't figure out that a battlehammer is stronger than 2 starfighters. :/
Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top
I couldn't agree more that the military strength determination needs a desparate fix. I posted a thread on the other section of the forum under "Suggestion Re: Rebalancing the military game" regarding this topic.

If anything needs fixing very soon, it's this.
Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top
Hey, don't dis Corvettes. In one game, I crushed the Yor with the following strategy:

Well, first off, I looked at the graph and noticed I was 2nd to the Yor in Military. Every one of my planets(16) was building a constructor, so I hit "Change constructor to corvette production" and devoted all resources into military production. Three turns later, I had about 30 corvettes. Then I built about 10 transports, and conquered the Yor. It was funny.
Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top
Because starbases give a straight + bonus and not a +% bonus to attack and defense, they actually work best with ships that aren't the most powerful available. I admit that Corvettes can be useful when combined with this tactic...but having starbases around isn't free anymore ;)

At any rate, it is silly to scare the AI away with just the most basic unit in the game. You do run the risk of getting a random event that forces you into war...but other than that it's very possible to not have to fire a shot or research the better military techs all game just by bluffing the AI with cheap ships.