Empires Of Planets 4
The
Empire of the Killocats
Race
Attributes
- Normal Happiness
- Great Growth Rate
- Average mining rate
- Narrow farming range (few hospitable planets)
- Territorial nature allows only 10 cities
per planet
- Low income (very few cities)
- Depend on enemy prisoners as slave workers
in their factories, camps and mines
- Large planetary populations get unhappy
- Good ground combat
- Great fighters: very fast, very long range
Special
Racial Abilities
- Wide area reconnaissance: All Killocat carriers that
have a wing of at least 250 Drahltor Class Hunter fighters (fighter type
1) docked can use this wing to scan a wide area around the carrier for
enemy ships and minefields. The wing will disperse and its fighters will
fly out from the carrier into all directions using their on board long
range scanners. This increases the effective scanning range of the carrier
to 500 lys and does not produce any additional scanner noise (and the ship
internal scanners do not need to be switched on). Since the fighters are
flying in space, the scanning will not be negatively affected if the
carrier itself is parked in orbit of a planet (but the scanning is still
negatively affected for enemy ships that are hiding in the orbit of planets).
Enemy mine fields as well as enemy ships and fighters will not interfere
with the reconnaissance mission of the fighter, they will avoid all
objects by flying around them. Wings flying in open space cannot perform
these scans. Only wings that are docked to a carrier are able to mount the
special scanning instruments needed for the wide area scan. When a fighter
wing is on a long range mission, it will be considered to be away from the
carrier for the duration of the turn and cannot engage in any combat
activities. If the carrier that is sending the wing on the long range
mission is destroyed, the wing will return to the remains of the carrier
or the fleet the carrier was part of only after combat and will be found
there in the next turn.
- Long range mine
sweeping: All
Killocat carriers that have a wing of at least 250 Drahltor Class Hunter
fighters (fighter type 1) docked can use this wing to sweep one minefield
at any point up to 150 lys away from the ship. If the fighter wing
encounters any enemy minefield on the way to its minesweeping destination,
it will sweep this minefield instead and return immediately afterwards to
its carrier without proceeding to its original destination. Since all
minesweeping missions (by the type 1 fighters) are flown before the
special missions of the other fighter types, this minesweeping can clear
the way for other special fighter missions during the same turn. Wings
flying in open space cannot sweep mines. Only wings that are docked to a
carrier are able to mount the necessary minesweeping devices. When a
fighter wing is on a long range mission, it will be considered to be away
from the carrier for the duration of the turn and cannot engage in any
combat activities. If the carrier that is sending the wing on the long range
mission is destroyed, the wing will return to the remains of the carrier
or the fleet the carrier was part of only after combat and will be found
there in the next turn.
- Long range
Barbitic mine dropping: All Killocat carriers that have a wing of at least 250 Pakthor
Class Bomber fighters (fighter type 2) docked can use this wing to lay a
Barbitic minefield at any point up to 150 lys
away from the ship. Since each of the bomber fighters can carry the
equivalent of 2 ship size ord units to newly laid minefield, this mission
will use 500 ord units and produce a minefield of the corresponding size.
If the fighter wing encounters an enemy Laser mine field on the way to its
minelaying destination, it will abort the mission and return immediately
to its carrier without laying any mines. Wings flying in open space cannot
lay mines. Only wings that are docked to a carrier are able to transport
ord from the carrier to form a new minefield. When a fighter wing is on a
long range mission, it will be considered to be away from the carrier for
the duration of the turn and cannot engage in any combat activities. If
the carrier that is sending the wing on the long range mission is
destroyed, the wing will return to the remains of the carrier or the fleet
the carrier was part of only after combat and will be found there in the
next turn.
- Long range Laser
mine dropping:
All Killocat carriers that have a wing of at least 250 Pakthor Class
Bomber fighters (fighter type 2) docked can use this wing to lay a Laser
minefield at any point up to 150 lys away from
the ship. Since each of the bomber fighters can carry the equivalent of 2
ord units to newly laid minefield, this mission will use 500 ord units and
produce a minefield of the corresponding size. If the fighter wing encounters
an enemy Laser mine field on the way to its minelaying destination, it
will abort the mission and return immediately to its carrier without
laying any mines. Wings flying in open space cannot lay mines. Only wings
that are docked to a carrier are able to transport ord from the carrier to
form a new minefield. When a fighter wing is on a long range mission, it
will be considered to be away from the carrier for the duration of the
turn and cannot engage in any combat activities. If the carrier that is sending
the wing on the long range mission is destroyed, the wing will return to
the remains of the carrier or the fleet the carrier was part of only after
combat and will be found there in the next turn.
- Long range
probing: All
Killocat carriers that have a wing of at least 250 Strakhor Class Cloaker
fighters (fighter type 3) docked can use this wing to patrol intensively a
limited area (with a radius of 50 lys) up to 150
lys away from the ship. The cloaking fighters will fly a very dense search
pattern in the target zone that will allow them to scout all planets and
bases and gives them also a good chance to detect cloaked ships and even
cloaked bases. The scanning will be affected negatively neither if the
carrier itself is parked in orbit of a planet nor if enemy ships are
hiding in the orbit of planets, since the fighters will actually visit all
planets in the target area. If the fighter wing encounters an enemy Laser
mine field on the way to its search area, it will abort the mission and
return immediately to its carrier without gathering data. Wings flying in
open space cannot perform these scans. Only wings that are docked to a
carrier are able to mount the special tachyon scanning instruments needed
for the probing. When a fighter wing is on a long range mission, it will
be considered to be away from the carrier for the duration of the turn and
cannot engage in any combat activities. If the carrier that is sending the
wing on the long range mission is destroyed, the wing will return to the
remains of the carrier or the fleet the carrier was part of only after
combat and will be found there in the next turn.
- Long range combat
troop drop:
All Killocat carriers that have a wing of at least 250 Strakhor Class
Cloaker fighters (fighter type 3) docked can use this wing to move combat
troops to a planet up to 150 lys away from the
ship. Since each of the cloaking fighters can carry 2 Killocat troopers,
this mission will take 500 troopers from the ship passengers and drop them
on the target planet. If the fighter wing encounters an enemy Laser mine
field on the way to its drop area, it will abort the mission and return
immediately to its carrier with the troops. Wings flying in open space
cannot transport any cargo. Only wings that are docked to a carrier are
able to load ground combat units. When a fighter wing is on a long range
mission, it will be considered to be away from the carrier for the
duration of the turn and cannot engage in any combat activities. If the
carrier that is sending the wing on the long range mission is destroyed,
the wing will return to the remains of the carrier or the fleet the
carrier was part of only after combat and will be found there in the next
turn.
Unique Units
- <None>
Unique Fighters
- Drahltor Class
Hunter: Can
fire its missile only against other fighters.
- Pakthor Class
Bomber: Equipped
with a torpedo that arcs through shields, but works only against capital
ships and ground targets.
- Strakhor Class
Cloaker: Forms
stealth fighter wings.
Missing Base Buildings
- Under City
- Terraformer
Restricted Base Buildings
- City
Special
Base Buildings
- Labor Camp (prisoners produce supplies and
10 megacredits per camp)
- Labor Mine (prisoners dig for metals and
produce 10 megacredits per mine)
- Drahltor Hunter Factory (uses 1 kt
tritanium and 120 megacredits to produce one Drahltor fighter; if the
factory is filled with 100 enemy prisoners, it uses just 60 MCs to produce
one Drahltor fighter)
- Pakthor Bomber Factory (uses 1 kt duranium
and 130 megacredits to produce one Pakthor fighter; if the factory is
filled with 100 enemy prisoners, it uses just 65 MCs to produce one
Pakthor fighter
- Strakhor Cloaker Factory (uses 1 kt
molybdenum and 125 megacredits to produce one Strakhor fighter; if the
factory is filled with 100 enemy prisoners, it uses just 62 MCs to produce
one Strakhor fighter).
Ship
Attributes
- Specialized ships: most ships are good for
only one purpose
- The lack of good all purpose ships
requires effective fleets to consist of many different ship types
- No battleships, strongest (non-carrier)
ships are relatively small cruisers
- Even the larger ships can carry only few
large weapons of a limited size
- All ships are vulnerable in close combat
- No ships with hyperjump engines
- No cloakers
- Warships have limited cargo space,
freighters are needed to haul cargo around
- Caracal Class Refinery Ship can make fuel
from metals.
- Cougar Class Alchemy Ship can produce
metals from supply units
- Ocelot Factory Ship can turn natives into
med, food, supplies and money.
Ship
Special Devices
- Alchemy Forge: When on, it grabs supply units
from junk pods and resupply pods belonging to anyone, plus supplies from
planets and bases that you own and converts the supplies to metals. Twelve
supply units yield 1 duranium, 1 tritanium, and 1 molybdenum. Control
switches on the ship can limit the process to just one metal type if you
wish.
- Boarding Laser: Only used when you are
transporting your colonists, troops, crew, or high guard to an enemy ship
as a hostile boarding action. The boarding laser helps your troops take
over the enemy ship. It cuts holes in the enemy ship doing between 5% and
300% hull damage to the target depending on the size of the target ship.
It kills up to 10% of the enemy crew, 40% of the enemy colonists, and 10%
of the enemy troops. You need to beam over 1 of your guys for every 5
enemies you want to take out. There are 200 movement phases and combat
will not start until phase 50 so during the first one quarter of movement
you have time to fly past an enemy ship, transport over a boarding party, rip
the enemy ship up with the boarding laser and get away back out to deep
space. Starting at 23 LY you can fly to the transfer target enemy ship,
transfer over your attackers and be back out into deep space at around 24
LY before the first combat begins. The
- DTMS-N fuel Converter: The device when on will
convert 10 supply units into 1 kt of fuel. It can also convert 1 duranium,
1 tritanium or 1 molybdenum into 1 fuel unit. The converter only uses
metals and supplies that are in the ship's cargo hold. It will stop
processing when the ship's fuel tank is full. If the ship uses the command
code "BDF" all but 60 kt of fuel will be beamed
down to the planet below.
- Gravity Well Generator: Has a range of 50 LY. Any hyperdrive
ship within the 50 LY range of a gravity well ship can not hyperjump. The
device will cause passing hyperjumping ships to drop back into normal
space. The device requires 10 KT of fuel to run. If owned by a Killocat
race, the device will also block all travel through jump gates or
wormholes by all non-Killocat races in its vicinity (if the sending or the
receiving jump gate or wormhole is in the 50 lys range of the device, the
jump gate or wormhole cannot be used). The device has no effect on warp
chunnel jumps.
- Mobile Fighter Factory: Builds fighters in space using
just cash. The device will add fighters to any wing docked with the ship
that does not have the full number that can fit in the fighter bay. If the
ship has any empty fighter bays new wings will be formed and the bays will
be filled with new fighters
- Mobile Ord Factory: Turn supplies into Ord. One
supply will yield 10 ord units.
- Mobile Repair Plant: Duranium is converted to
repair units. One kt of Duranium yields 100 repair units. The only limit
as to the amounts produced is the size of the repair holds.
- Reticulian Med Lab: Turns natives into food and
med and supplies and cash. Nine natives of any type will yield 1 food, 1
supply, 1 med, and 3 mc. The ship takes the natives from the planet under
the ship at the end of movement. The device will not take natives from a
base.
- Show Lounge: The device produces 0.1mc per
crew member up to a maximum of 50mc when the base is in deep space and a
maximum of 1000mc when the ship is over a base with a population of over 1
million colonists. The device can make additional money from colonists on
bases under the ship at a rate of 100mc per million colonists on the bases
under the ship. The device will increase the happiness of the colonists on
bases under the ship by 3 points. The device works on all bases under the
ship, including ones that you do not own. If more than one show lounge
ship is operating in an area the income from the base under the ship is
reduced to a limit of 250mc, for two ships, 166mc for three ship, 125mc
for four ships, and 100mc for five ships. A single show lounge ship over a
planet with a base with 50 million colonists will produce 5000mc a turn
just from the base alone, plus up to 1000mc more from the crew on the
ship. A pair of show lounge ships over a base will only produce a total
sum of 500mc, that is under 10% of what a single ship would have made over
a planet with 50 million colonists. Any two show lounge ships within 15 LY
will interfere with one another.
Ship
Super Weapons
- World Crusher Missile: Has a range of 200LY. Uses 300
ord when fired. Can be fired as long as you have ordnance to arm it. To
use it turn it on and target an enemy base or planet within 200 LY of your
ship. The missile has a 33% chance of hitting each base on the target
planet. When a base is hit it is completely destroyed. The surface of the
planet will be covered with the remains of the base. A shield will protect
the base from being harmed. The world crusher firing takes place after
movement and combat. The world crusher missile targeting system produces
120 units of sensor image noise when used. If the exotic tech Transphased
World Crusher is used the weapon can be fired through enemy base
shields.
Playing
As
Playing the Killocats in
combat can be compared to the carrier warfare in the Pacific during the Second
World War. They have powerful fighters that can attack over long ranges away
from their carriers and can wreck havoc on most enemy ships if they arrive in
sufficiently large numbers. However their carriers (in fact all their ships)
are very vulnerable if they get caught without their fighter cover or at close
range.
So scan for your enemies
and try to hit where and when they are not expecting it. If possible (and
sufficient) try to attack just with your fighters (and possibly the World
Crusher Missile) from a distance and keep your fragile ships out of danger or
– if it you really have to combine all firepower in one place –
fight with your ships and all fighters simultaneously. When confronted with a
strong enemy fleet, it is often better to run and to try to counterattack at a
different place where the enemy is weaker. Keep moving to avoid getting caught
by superior enemy forces.
Keep in mind that most of
your ships are specialized and perform certain tasks much better than other
ships. Therefore it is often necessary to build Killocat fleets consisting of
many different ship classes and to let them operate under close coordination.
Your weak areas are your
planets and bases, which cannot run away from an enemy. If a strong enemy fleet
invades your territory and threatens your planets, you are in trouble. Since
you will often be lacking the kind of firepower to confront a strong fleet in a
direct close-up battle, you should try to harass and to slow an incoming fleet
as soon as you spot it. Hit them with long range fighter attacks, throw plenty
of minefields in their way (and blow them up when the enemy fleet travels
through them) and try to counterattack important enemy holdings, so that they might
be forced to divert forces to protect their own planets.
In general terms it is for
you much better to try to bring the fight to the enemy territory instead of
fighting where your own planets are endangered. With the mobile fighter
factories on the Lynx and the abilities of the Ocelot you have good means to
support a fighting fleet even far away from your own resource bases, and you
have also a good freighter armada to supply your war fleets.
Try to protect important
locations in your home area with your Pumas that are equipped with Gravity Well
Generators. You really do not want enemies to hyperjump into places where you
cannot prevent them from destroying your population and your sources of income.
The supply of minerals
should not be a major problem for you. Your need for minerals is average and
you have both the Cougar Alchemy ship to make minerals and the Caracal Refinery
to produce fuel if needed. Note that you can use your planetary fighter
factories to use also minerals in the construction of your fighters which lets
you save part of the money needed for your fighter wings. Your fighter
factories will produce even more efficiently, if you can find enemy prisoners
and force them to work in the factories.
Be careful that you produce
enough food and that you ship it to the planets where your colonists live in
environments that are too hostile to allow farming.
Your bottleneck resource is
typically money, because you can build only a small number of cities (which are
the most important source of money in the game) and because you will need a lot
of money to purchase all the fighters (and later the exotic tech to protect
them from advanced weapons). Therefore it would be excellent to obtain money
generating ships from your allies or trading partners.
Your economy depends
considerably on slave labor. Try to capture as many enemy prisoners as possible
and employ them in your labor camps, labor mines and fighter factories. Since
the Killocats are a warrior race that has never developed good business and
production skills on its own, you will not be able to afford the expensive
fighter wings for your fleet without the help of numerous enemy slave workers.
Your only other money
generating asset (apart from the Reticulian Med Lab on the Ocelot, which you
should not use on your own planets) is the Show Lounge on your Wildcat
Starbase. Try to build one as soon as possible in orbit of your highly
populated worlds.
Because you can build only
10 cities per planet, you have to expand rapidly to many planets. Since only a
quarter of all planets have a suitable climate for you (and you lack any terraformers),
you will have to spread out over a large territory fast or otherwise you will
not be able to generate enough income. In other words: you must play
aggressively and proactively in order to succeed with the Killocats.
Playing
Against
Most of the Killocat firepower is in their
fighters. Therefore it is a good idea to fight the Killocats when they have no
fighters around:
ˇ
Try
to keep their fighters busy on special missions. The Killocats can do a lot
with their fighters, but they cannot do everything with them at the same time.
If you can force them to send a good number of their wings onto special
missions, all these wings will not be available to fight against you during the
same turn. This may very well be the decisive factor in a battle.
ˇ
Try
to lure their fighters away, for example by offering dispersed secondary
targets to them, or by laying many minefields that tempt their fighters to
sweep them.
ˇ
Try
to destroy their fighters. Glory Devices or Nemesis torpedoes work best for
this, but fitting your ships with anti-fighter weapons (like sand casters) and
large fighter complements (if you have access to decent fighters) helps also.
Go after their capital ships and bases. Without carriers to rearm and
refuel the fighters and to send them on special missions, the Killocat wings
loose most of their usefulness quickly. If you have fast ships you can just
intercept the Killocat capital ships, otherwise try to surround them with
minefields (webs are of course best for this), so that they cannot run away from
your forces.
The Killocat ships fight
poorly at close range. They have relatively thin armor, weak shields, very few
large weapons (and only the lighter versions), few small weapons and –
especially the non-carriers – low masses. In general terms the Killocats
have a navy with a much worse price – combat performance ratio at close
range than most other races. Therefore it is for many opponents a good strategy
to seek the direct confrontation with the Killocat capital ships, especially if
you have taken care of their fighters.
Go after their planets and
bases. If they decide to defend their planets, then you should be able to force
them into a short range battle, in which their ships perform a lot worse than
the ships of most other races. If they decide not to defend their highly
populated worlds, you should be able to destroy their taxpayers and income
generating structures and to liberate the prisoners that are forced to work for
them as slaves. Without this income and production they will not be able to
afford more fighters (and to pay for the exotic tech to protect them from
advanced weapons), which will render their carriers useless sooner or later.
Blow up their Wildcat
starbases (or at least disrupt their Show Lounges by moving ships also equipped
with Show Lounges into their vicinity). This will decrease their income
significantly.
Go after their freighters
and cargo pods. The Killocats have to supply many of their planets constantly
with food, since they have a small farming range and lack any terraformers.
Disrupt this flow of food and Killocats will not only loose part of their
population and income, but they will usually also be forced to divert some of
their warships and fighters to protect their merchant fleet.
Natural
Enemies
- The Stormers: Their Victorious Class can
carry a Nemesis Torpedo super weapon which can destroy all the fighters in
a fleet in a single shot! The Stormers Nefarius and Saber Classes are
equipped with Glory Devices that can take out with their explosion all
fighters within a 10ly radius. The Stormers have also very good fighters.
- The Birdmen: The Birdmen can approach unseen
and force the Killocat fleet into close combat with the powerful Bird
ships. The Killocats have also few defenses against the spying powers of
the Birds.
- The Lizards: The Lizards have very fast
strong ships that can hunt down and destroy the Killocat capital ships.
They are also very good to ground assault the spread-out Killocat planets
(the Killocats have to spread out their cities over many worlds, since
they can have only a few cities per planet).
- The Colonies Of
Man: The
Colonies have great fighters and their superbly armed Virgo Class Carriers
are very hard to stop since they are not only much stronger than the
Killocat ships but also can fly through the Killocat minefields.