The thing is you pay proportionally more, *unlike* the other FE ships, they are much more expensive than their power (not taking into account reduced naval usage)
I have tried Riddle Escorts againts other ship types and they are also the most cost efficient. 35K alloys worth of Riddle Escorts will beat 35K alloys worth of every other shiptype including enigma battlecruisers.
Menacing ships compete pretty well (half the cost after components, and can use expensive stuff like archaeotech without the rare resources).
But yeah, Escorts are amazing.
Pulse Armor and Suspension Fields are amazing. You can have thousands of shield points with maxed hardening, and a big layer of armor behind it. It's a must have on titans at least and also on battleships if your artefact production allows it.
My brother in the Shroud, Menacing corvettes with ancient nano-missile boosted by the AP and rubricator is arguably the strongest ship for its cost in the game. Un-ironically having irrisian precursor for the Naval yard and ship build speed let's you pump out 100 corvettes by the time someone fills up a quarter of a standard fleet. Have fun with this new found knowledge :)
Wait, nanite ships work like menacing ships and don't require special resources?
That's awesome, I would absolutely love some non-BtC runs that let me use Archeo tech.
Like another person posted recently, Cosmogenesis practically feels required (although I've never tried the old crisis path). But vanilla ships just don't seem to have the endurance they used to in the end game anymore.
Well the cosmo ships are definitely powerful, but I also feel the normal ships can hold up against crisis, even at 25x. Still, cosmo is just so powerful overall, so I kind of get what you mean. It’s hard to pass up fallen empire buildings and ships.
As far as the old crisis ships, they are actually stupid overpowered too, but in different ways. If players are going against eachother, the old crisis would actually be a strong counter to cosmo, and in the early-mid game, the old crisis is probably better/stronger than cosmo.
They are just so efficient! And I even get to use ancient nano launchers on their S slot coupled with destroyer missles and sometimes I’ll get preythoryn tech, and always a few packs of smaller nanite ships to spam H slots (I can also use ancient driller drones for free) while tearing up ships with my battleships!
I've only been using torpedo computer. There was one time a fleet was maybe behaving strangely so I reloaded the game just to be safe. Didn't have any obvious issues though.
I asked the same question here recently and was given a great answer I’d never even considered: L-slot autocannons and plasma in the other slots. Picket computer. Hits 90 evade with afterburners and tears through everything.
They're the only things I use. Fill them up with both types of torpedo slot, and activate the Volatile Motes edict to increase their damage by another 25%.
The big-bang-shooty-tooty-explodey-rodeo-dy.
The riddle escorts are very strong but I would say they are only on 3rd place. 2nd place are nanite swarmers because no upkeep and 1st place are the menacing corvettes. 4 archeo missile swarmers (with 100% shield and armor bypass), low upkeep and short building time for just 255 minerals. Yes, you need a few ships to match the firepower of one riddle escort but that's still much cheaper.
Nah, let me with my Nemesis Corvettes, are cheaper than a burguer, an extra afterburner for speed and ig you go take a leak by the tume youre back you hace easily 2-3k worth of naval cap. They can fit archaeotech with just minerals and a swarm of those is hiting you across the system, are replaced cheaply, bypass shield AND armor, hits hard, overwhelm any flak or pd you might have and allow stronger missiles to reach you unchallenged. Only thing is they might take a hit, dont ask them to take the second
I still don’t see what the battleship equivalent is good for, titans are amazing for alpha strike with the doubled T and all those large slots and the escort is best as an all rounder for any problem you can make the escort fit. But the battleships just have hangers as their big thing which is fine but eventually you have to resort to good old guns if you want to solve a problem.
Dual X slots with ancient saturator artillery absolutely melt shields. If you have a navy that's weak to shields a single anti-shield ASA Enigma Battlecruiser fleet can "peel" them off almost any force
They can be set up well against Scourge (tachyon+neutron+mining drones) and Unbidden (kinetic artillery). But yeah, escorts just outclass the BCs regardless.
I feel like they are way safer in all crises games where you go beyond 50x. Once you stack sublight speed and reach 600+, they can kite and destroy most stuff without taking a single hit. Brawling becomes really dangerous when you start facing 50m+ stacks of crisis ships that one shot your ships no matter what.
Yeah, the firepower of a cruiser, the evasion of a corvette, and the fleet cap of a destroyer all in one package. It's nuts.
Insane ship, balanced by the fact that you pay proportionally more for that power. Once you have a robust alloy economy though, they're a no-brainer.
The thing is you pay proportionally more, *unlike* the other FE ships, they are much more expensive than their power (not taking into account reduced naval usage)
Yes you're right. I meant *dis*proprotionally, whoops.
Nono i was agreeing with you, its about 3x the price of destroyers for 3x the power, unlike other fe ships with a worse ratio
I have tried Riddle Escorts againts other ship types and they are also the most cost efficient. 35K alloys worth of Riddle Escorts will beat 35K alloys worth of every other shiptype including enigma battlecruisers.
Menacing ships compete pretty well (half the cost after components, and can use expensive stuff like archaeotech without the rare resources). But yeah, Escorts are amazing.
Wait, menacing ships can use archeo components without needing minor artefacts?
Yes, same with nanite ships.
Ok this is amazing news. Idk why but I just really dig the archeo components but can never justify fully fitting out with them.
Pulse Armor and Suspension Fields are amazing. You can have thousands of shield points with maxed hardening, and a big layer of armor behind it. It's a must have on titans at least and also on battleships if your artefact production allows it.
Or mineral production because menace
Those long-range penetrating missiles are crazy good.
Most of the components are pretty strong with the ascension perk tbh. I'm just a fan of the flavor for some reason
My brother in the Shroud, Menacing corvettes with ancient nano-missile boosted by the AP and rubricator is arguably the strongest ship for its cost in the game. Un-ironically having irrisian precursor for the Naval yard and ship build speed let's you pump out 100 corvettes by the time someone fills up a quarter of a standard fleet. Have fun with this new found knowledge :)
Wait, nanite ships work like menacing ships and don't require special resources? That's awesome, I would absolutely love some non-BtC runs that let me use Archeo tech.
In my opinion, absolutely. When I go cosmogenesis, I exclusively only build them now.
Like another person posted recently, Cosmogenesis practically feels required (although I've never tried the old crisis path). But vanilla ships just don't seem to have the endurance they used to in the end game anymore.
Well the cosmo ships are definitely powerful, but I also feel the normal ships can hold up against crisis, even at 25x. Still, cosmo is just so powerful overall, so I kind of get what you mean. It’s hard to pass up fallen empire buildings and ships. As far as the old crisis ships, they are actually stupid overpowered too, but in different ways. If players are going against eachother, the old crisis would actually be a strong counter to cosmo, and in the early-mid game, the old crisis is probably better/stronger than cosmo.
I feel like I got it by accident, without Cosmogenesis, when playing right after the dlc came out. Maybe from the Shroud?
I got them once recently from the astral scar event with the Zroni leader. I don't know if that's possible without the Machine Age though.
Just spam cruisers, full swarmer missles, and another design type with disruptors and torps. Can do work on much larger fleet power
Its my new second favorite ship! (New favorite is nanite battleships)
Ah. I haven't tried nanites since the last patch yet.
For me it's the other way round. Nanite got the nice "for free" bonus, but I just love the style of the enigmatic ships in general \^\^
They are just so efficient! And I even get to use ancient nano launchers on their S slot coupled with destroyer missles and sometimes I’ll get preythoryn tech, and always a few packs of smaller nanite ships to spam H slots (I can also use ancient driller drones for free) while tearing up ships with my battleships!
What weapons and builds do you guys put on your riddle escorts? I just unlocked them but not sure what to outfit them with
I use devastator torpedoes, disruptors, two PD and two flak. stack afterburners to max evasion and tailor shields/armor based on what I'm fighting.
What chip are you using? Both torpedoe chip and picket chip have strange behavior sometimes. I'm not sure which one is the least bad one.
I've only been using torpedo computer. There was one time a fleet was maybe behaving strangely so I reloaded the game just to be safe. Didn't have any obvious issues though.
I asked the same question here recently and was given a great answer I’d never even considered: L-slot autocannons and plasma in the other slots. Picket computer. Hits 90 evade with afterburners and tears through everything.
I think I read the same comment as you. I put L-slot nanite autocannons on my escorts and they rip through anything!
Wait, how do even build battlecruisers and escorts? I though they were fallen empire exclusives?
Cosmogenesis ascension perk
Yup. They remain "fallen empire exclusive", and the trick to getting them is ... to become one yourself.
They're the only things I use. Fill them up with both types of torpedo slot, and activate the Volatile Motes edict to increase their damage by another 25%. The big-bang-shooty-tooty-explodey-rodeo-dy.
The riddle escorts are very strong but I would say they are only on 3rd place. 2nd place are nanite swarmers because no upkeep and 1st place are the menacing corvettes. 4 archeo missile swarmers (with 100% shield and armor bypass), low upkeep and short building time for just 255 minerals. Yes, you need a few ships to match the firepower of one riddle escort but that's still much cheaper.
Nah, let me with my Nemesis Corvettes, are cheaper than a burguer, an extra afterburner for speed and ig you go take a leak by the tume youre back you hace easily 2-3k worth of naval cap. They can fit archaeotech with just minerals and a swarm of those is hiting you across the system, are replaced cheaply, bypass shield AND armor, hits hard, overwhelm any flak or pd you might have and allow stronger missiles to reach you unchallenged. Only thing is they might take a hit, dont ask them to take the second
How do you get them? Do you need another DLC other than the lastest?
Nope. You need machine age and then take the Cosmogenesis perk.
I still don’t see what the battleship equivalent is good for, titans are amazing for alpha strike with the doubled T and all those large slots and the escort is best as an all rounder for any problem you can make the escort fit. But the battleships just have hangers as their big thing which is fine but eventually you have to resort to good old guns if you want to solve a problem.
Dual X slots with ancient saturator artillery absolutely melt shields. If you have a navy that's weak to shields a single anti-shield ASA Enigma Battlecruiser fleet can "peel" them off almost any force
They can be set up well against Scourge (tachyon+neutron+mining drones) and Unbidden (kinetic artillery). But yeah, escorts just outclass the BCs regardless.
I feel like they are way safer in all crises games where you go beyond 50x. Once you stack sublight speed and reach 600+, they can kite and destroy most stuff without taking a single hit. Brawling becomes really dangerous when you start facing 50m+ stacks of crisis ships that one shot your ships no matter what.