User blog:ManiacMika/Combat Ships - Pros & Cons

https://board.en.ogame.gameforge.com/index.php?thread/814724-combat-ships-advantages-and-disadvantages/

By Grimm Jan 30th 2020

It's been a while since I thought about making a tutorial-esque type of thread involving ships (and also defences which I will do in another thread). I won't put here all the details most people already know about like their price and stats. I will just do a quick summary on how each ship is or can be used.

So, without further ado, let's get straight to it:

Light Fighter



 * BEST against: Reaper
 * GOOD against: Battleship, Battlecruiser, Bomber, Destroyer
 * BAD against: Cruiser, Deathstar


 * Against Defences:
 * GOOD against: Gauss Cannon, Plasma Turret
 * BAD against: Heavy Laser, Ion Cannon, Large Shield Dome


 * It's a ship that is mostly used as fodder to protect the bigger and more expensive ships from shots of the enemy big ships, but even on their own, they are a nightmare against any type of ship that doesn't have Rapid Fire against it. Cruisers are their worst enemy because of that very fact.
 * They are also bad against Deathstars and the Large Shield Dome because they cannot damage either in any way. This however can be countered by changing the firing order of ships so that the heavy ships can damage the Deathstar's or Dome's shields and this will allow the Light Fighter to damage their hulls, and in this scenario, they are particularly deadly due to their large numbers.
 * Against defensive structures, they should be avoided if huge number of Heavy Lasers and Ion Cannons are present since in the Heavy Laser's case, it can take them out pretty easily with a single shot, and in the Ion Cannon's case, it takes too many to get past it's shields and the Ion while not as good as the Heavy Laser, does still have the potential to destroy a Light Fighter in one-shot. Their use can also be extented on expeditions, where so far, it's the most profitable ship to use when it comes to fighting Aliens and Pirates.
 * One of it's shortcomings that is often overlooked is that they are one of the slowest fighting ships in the game.

Heavy Fighter



 * BEST against: Small Cargo
 * GOOD against: Cruiser, Bomber, Destroyer, Reaper
 * BAD against: Deathstar


 * Against Defences:
 * GOOD against: Gauss Cannon, Plasma Turret
 * BAD against: Nothing in particular.


 * The same reason used for the Light Fighter can pretty much apply to the Heavy Fighter. However, the Heavy Fighter has a slightly higher deuterium consumption/price ratio and is just not as good as the Light Fighter against the majority of ships aside from Cruisers. The Heavy Fighter however, aside from the obvious Deathstar, doesn't appear to have a "natural" enemy that can profit from it, which sometimes can be a pain to deal with. They are also very fast, faster than it's "rival", the Light Fighter.
 * They are the best ship to use to fight against Small Cargos and this could be something to consider because Small Cargos are sometimes used as fodder in place of Light Fighters because nothing has Rapid Fire against them aside from Battlecruisers and Heavy Fighters themselves. It can also be considered to replace Light Fighters when dealing with defences that have a high number of Heavy Lasers since Heavy Fighters can withstand their firepower much better than Light Fighters can and they also take much less shots to take out an Ion Cannon's shields and they can damage the Large Shield Dome unlike the Light Fighter.

Cruiser



 * BEST against: Light Fighter
 * GOOD against: Bomber
 * BAD against: Battleship, Battlecruiser, Deathstar


 * Against Defences:
 * GOOD against: Rocket Launcher
 * BAD against: Gauss Cannon, Plasma Turret


 * A very good all-rounder ship that is needed in pretty much any fleet because of their huge effectiveness against the widely used Light Fighters and also because they are the fastest ship in the game. They also have high-rapid fire against Rocket Launchers but if a defence has too many Gauss Cannons and/or Plasma Turrets, it starts to become very descouraging to use them.. It handles itself well against most ships but it's helpless against Battleships and Battlecruisers, and also Deathstars because of it's shields. However if the Weapon Technology of the attacker using Cruisers is 3 or more levels above the Defender's Shielding Technology, Cruisers can damage Deathstars, at which point they become very effective against them.

Battleship



 * BEST against: Cruiser, Pathfinder
 * GOOD against: Bomber, Destroyer, Deathstar
 * BAD against: Light Fighter, Battlecruiser, Reaper


 * Against Defences:
 * GOOD against: Nothing in particular
 * BAD against: Plasma Turret


 * The starter of the heavy-ships. One of the most cost-effective ships in the game, so much so that despite not having Rapid Fire against Cruisers, due to their low-cost and high attack power, they actually just edge out the Battlecruiser in the task of hunting down Cruisers. Even to this day, they can still be stated to be the backbone of most fleets, they can sometimes even be used as a Destroyer replacement to hunt down Deathstars due to their much higher speed. Should be avoided using against defences with high numbers of Plasma Turrets since those can one-shot Battleships with relative ease. Light Fighters and Battlecruisers are very bad matchups for them, but Reapers are their worst enemy by far.

Battlecruiser



 * BEST against: Large Cargo
 * GOOD against: Small Cargo, Cruiser, Battleship
 * BAD against: Light Fighter, Destroyer, Reaper


 * Against Defences:
 * GOOD against: Nothing in particular
 * BAD against: Plasma Turret


 * Probably most fleeters favourite ship. It's very versatile with it's Rapid Fire figures against a large number of ships, and very fast, and it consumes very little deuterium as well. It's the best ship to use to "Cargo Slap", namely Large Cargos as it's the only ship outside of the Deathstar with Rapid Fire against it. Just like any heavy ship that has no Rapid Fire against the Light Fighter, it fares badly against them, however, Destroyers and Reapers are it's biggest enemies. Should be avoided using against defences.

Bomber



 * BEST against: Nothing
 * GOOD against: Nothing in particular
 * BAD against: Light Fighter, Heavy Fighter, Cruiser, Battleship, Destroyer, Reaper


 * Against Defences:
 * GOOD against: Rocket Launcher, Light Laser, Heavy Laser, Ion Cannon, Gauss Cannon
 * BAD against: Plasma Turret


 * Nothing much to say here. The ship you have to build the least, or not build at all. It's only good against defences but even so, with high number of Plasma Turrets, they still suffer considerable losses. They are the best ship in Defence to Debris Universes. (lol).

Destroyer



 * BEST against: Deathstar
 * GOOD against: Battlecruiser
 * BAD against: Light Fighter, Heavy Fighter, Battleship, Reaper


 * Against Defences:
 * GOOD against: Light Laser, Gauss Cannon, Plasma Turret
 * BAD against: Nothing in particular


 * It's the go-to ship when it comes to taking down the mammoth Deathstar. It's by a considerable margin the best ship against them due to their destructive power and also very low Rapid Fire value from the Deathstar of 5, and they are also very good in dealing with Battlecruisers, they are of no use against anything else though and they are ridiculously slow, the slowest combat ship in the game alongside the Bomber. They can also be used to crack those larger defences since they are tough enough to withstand even the hits of a Plasma Turret and they have Rapid Fire against the Light Laser. Light Fighters and Reapers are it's worst enemy.

Reaper



 * BEST against: Battleship, Battlecruiser, Bomber, Destroyer
 * GOOD against: Deathstar
 * BAD against: Light Fighter, Heavy Fighter


 * Against Defences:
 * GOOD against: Gauss Cannon, Plasma Turret
 * BAD against: Nothing in particular.


 * The new king of the warships. It is the best ship in dealing with any type of heavy-ship. And it's also good against Deathstars, although Battleships and Destroyers do a better job at it. In contrast however... Reapers are the worst choice against fodder because the lack of Rapid Fire in combination with it's high price tag. They can be used against against large defences in the same way that Destroyers are, however, they don't have any Rapid Fire against any defensive structure and they are also the only ship in the game that trigger Rapid Fire from a defensive structure, the Ion Cannon. They are not that fast but they aren't particularly slow either, they manage to be faster than the Destroyer, Bomber and at the end game with high Hyperspace Technology, also Light Fighters. They have huge cargo bays which can help in farming a few profitable planets without the need of cargos and they can also assure you don't have all of your Debris Field stolen because they can acquire part of it (25% in the General class) right after battle if they survive.
 * You only have 3 ways of getting Reapers:
 * You choose the General class and build them in the Shipyard.
 * You use a Destroyer to find them in expeditions.
 * You ask someone of the General class or who found them in Expeditions to sell them for you in the marketplace.

Deathstar



 * BEST against: Any ship that cannot damage it's shields.
 * GOOD against: Battlecruiser, Bomber
 * BAD against: Battleship, Destroyer, Reaper


 * Against Defences:
 * GOOD against: Any defensive structure that cannot damage it's shields.
 * BAD against: Plasma Turret


 * The ship that most people use to bash on anything without getting any losses due to it's ridiculously high shields and hull. It's most commonly used to fleetsave your fleet to drastically reduce deuterium costs or to bash a defence. It's rarely used to hunt down fleet because it's way too slow, so slow that it's borderline useless in that aspect, much more so in slow fleet speed Universes. The Deathstar is pretty much a do-everything type of ship due to it's Rapid Fire figures against anything but the Plasma Turret and the Shield Domes, and also because of it's non-existent deuterium consumption and large cargo bay, but again, because of how slow they are, they are most effective on the defensive, in particular behind defensive structures where it's very effective against other attacking Deathstars. It's also the only ship to use to destroy someone's moon.
 * The Destroyer is it's worst enemy on the fleet side of things.

Pathfinder



 * BEST against: Nothing
 * GOOD against: Nothing in particular
 * BAD against: Battleship, Battlecruiser, Bomber, Destroyer, Reaper, Deathstar


 * Against Defences:
 * GOOD against: Nothing in particular
 * BAD against: Everything


 * You only need this ship on expeditions to get the expedition bonus and also to get the Debris Field on slot 16 after a fight with Pirates or Aliens. That's basically it. It's way too expensive to use in a fleet, don't let those Rapid Fire figures fool you. In theory, at the very late-game where the Hyperspace Drive is closer to the Impulse Drive, the Pathfinder becomes faster than even the Cruiser, but that's nothing to brag about considering it has no use in a fleet.