Colony pods on Needle jets

[airdrik]

I read in another post that someone managed to stick a probe team on a needle jet and wanted to try it for myself. I couln't get the probe equipment on, but everything else fit.

So now regular slow colony pods, transports and supply crawlers are a thing of the past (except for triggering unity pods) as you can stick all of these on a needle jet or 'copter (haven't tried grav ships yet) and have the ability to fly units and supplies and colonise areas all over the world in just a couple turns.

[Lefty Scaevola]

IIRC troop transport modules on air frames are limited to one passenger?

I commonly use copter-colonies for cross water colonies.

Supply modules would not be very useful on copter or jet frames because of fueling requreiments, and a gravship one cost 3x a fusion/rover one.

[SPasmofiT]

I regularily use only needlejet colonies for my new bases as soon as I get air power... much, much faster...

the downside is that I can't move beyond 19 squares from another of my bases, but sicne my teritorry tends to be rather smalll, ot works!

[Method]

i do often put colony pods formers supplies on gravships (if i make it that far)because of the unlimited fuel. but formers and supplies on choppers and jets wouldn't work so hot.

[John Paul Jones]

One reason i can think of for building air-supplies would be airllift food to starving bases (often happens when you build a new base with the planetary transit SP or when 'climactic variance causes crop failure')

[airdrik]

Supply pods on air units is rather nice because the cost more than supply crawlers (and faster), so when you have cities that have already built everything (like as is the situation in the game I am currently playing, I have a number of cities that are max size w/out hab. dome that don't have anything to build, and since I am playing a builder strat, it doen't do me much good to build units) You just have some of your 'bored' cities building supply needle jets and send them arround to your variouse other cities and disband them. Pays for just about anything you are trying to build.

[Ned]

Airdirk, When you disband a supply unit in a base building other than an SP or a Prototype, do you get the full mineral value?

Also, if you want to Pod Boom and don't yet have mag tubes, an Air Pod might just be the trick for getting the pod to the target city in one move.

A fusion speeder supply unit costs the same as a fission infrantry crawler. How does the cost of a fusion speeder pod compare to the cost of a fission infrantry pod?

Ned

[airdrik]

Originally posted by Ned
Airdirk, When you disband a supply unit in a base building other than an SP or a Prototype, do you get the full mineral value?

I don't know, I would guess they would, though that would need more testing.

Also, if you want to Pod Boom and don't yet have mag tubes, an Air Pod might just be the trick for getting the pod to the target city in one move.

A fusion speeder supply unit costs the same as a fission infrantry crawler. How does the cost of a fusion speeder pod compare to the cost of a fission infrantry pod?

Ned

I don't know what the costs are for the infantry and speeders, but for fission air units it's 99, and for fusion it's 45. (I believe I got the reactors right)

[WhiteElephants]

No, you don't get the full mineral value for a crawler or disbanded unit. Only when a crawler is used for a project or a prototype.

I gave the ole' colony pod needlejet a try last night and it was undgodly expensive. I did this before fussion, so the price probably goes down after that. I could see using it then for colonizing across water if I didn't have a transport handy, but otherwise it was just too much -- near 100 minerals.

[Daniel Senz]

Originally posted by SPasmofiT
I regularily use only needlejet colonies for my new bases as soon as I get air power... much, much faster...

isn't that a *bit* expensive? a needlejet-colonizer with fission reaktor costs 140 minerals, much more than a couple of them including naval transport of even a colo-pod on rover chassis...

[LoD]

And that's exactly why it pays to wait for Fusion and MMI. Fusion Chopper CPs are a blessing whenever you need a base at agiven location, fast - e.g. and air transit node, or a beachhead.

BTW, chopper and needlejet transports are very inefficient and costly. They have very, very poor range - only 5-8 for NJs. A road network makes a much better job.
A good replacement for air transport are infantry drop pod transport. They are extremely cheap (3 mineral rows) and can dislocate units anywhere in the drop range. The only downside of them is the fact, that both the transport and the unit loose all their movement points after the drop. However, that's only a minor con compaired to the advantages.

[The Mad Monk]

I have used needlejet supplies for rapid SP building, and for getting needed food to starving colonies quickly. I have used both needlejet and chopper coloniy pods for the speed and ease of placement (put a half dozen on a carrier, and send them to some far-off spot--voila! instant, fully-colonied jungle, uranium flats, etc.). At least until drop pdos and the space elevator do their thing...

Flying transports have too many restrictions to be of much real use.

[buster]

As a note on colony jets - you can build a base on turn two making effective range (before fusion) 19 squares.

Very handy if one wants to get some island.

[johndmuller]

Air Colony Pods are more "reasonable" with Fusion and can be quicker than other methods for building/augmenting bases overseas. I've tried the Air Cargo modules and as someone said above, they have lousey range, but they can help with sending units to new colonies. You can use the new bases turns to rush build facilities and avoid the extra charges for rushing units.

I don't think that you can either found or augment sea bases with other than sea colony pods. I don't know if chopper formers can work sea tiles never having tried them at all, but if they are doable and affordable, a group of them might be good to do quick terraforming jobs in difficult to reach places. I do like Grav formers very much when they finally are available as they can do both land and sea and have a decent movement; if you have locusts, they can guard the grav formers.

[airdrik]

As soon as you get grav ships, everything (exept transporters and ground troops) should be on grav ships. After all needle jets, copters and grav ships all cost the same amount, and with singularity reactors arround the corner, I supped up a grav ship with the best armor, gun, and a couple extras for a little over 200 rows (which is a tone less then the 400 w/quantum chamber).

Put formers on a grav ship and you can build whatever you need wherever you need it. Add a colony pod and you can colonize any other piece of land that hasn't already been claimed in just a few turns. Fission air supply ships are nice because the add 99 to any SP or prototype, or 45 to anything else. Really nice when you have a few bases that can't build anything else (and you aren't at war with anyone, or if you are, but the war is half-way around the world, and you have plenty of bases supplying it).

[Aredhran]

Except for the fact that by the time Gravships are available, the game is essentially over (or academic)

[Misotu]

Well, I reckon that anyone who is getting to the point of putting a load of stuff on gravships needs a challenge rather than a coast to victory

Take a look here.

Lots of newbies signing up all the time, and players of all abilities from newbie to expert. Try it - you'll like it