Blind Phalanx hits

[Ike 1]

I saw Andr007's topic on FSing to invisible DFs, and thought I would share my insights on hitting people who FS from moons to DFs. I worked with Beowulf on four of his five HoFs (three of which were ADV 20+) that utilized this tactic, so I have a good behind-the-scenes knowledge of the tactics and defenses.

 

Beowulf's hits, with which I assisted, were against Kavish, maxx, coadic, and Hellsing.

 

There are four stages:

 

1. Figure out when your mark FSs.

2. Figure out where your mark FSs.

3. Figure out at what speed your mark's ships FS.

4. Figure out when your mark's fleet will return.

 

The first stage is to determine a window for when your mark FSs. Most people are creatures of habit and fairly regularly FS the same ships, from the same place, to the same place, at the same time, and for the same duration. To determine the window, use any or all of the following:

 

A. Probe - send espionage probes to determine if the fleet is there or not.

B. Phalanx - phalanx planets to see when ships arrive. Many people send ships from their colonies back to their home world before fleetsaving.

C. Attack - send an attack, feint or real, to determine if the mark is online (moves fleet, etc.) or to get a PM.

D. Monitor - Watch times on Galaxy View.

 

If you do several of these methods for a few days, you can get a pretty good idea about when your mark will leave on any given day. Then attempt to get a 5 minute window (anything less than 15 minutes is OK, but the bigger the window the more time you spend watching DFs and the more likely the windows will overlap).

 

In the second stage, you need to figure out to what your mark FSs. You need to get a rough idea of when your mark returns (use the same techniques as in stage 1), and also figure out roughly how much deuterium the mark uses and how long the mark's fleet is gone.

 

A. Determine tech levels and fleet size/composition - probe the fleet to determine type and number of ships and technology levels (Combustion/Impulse/Hyperspace Drive).

B. Use o-calc or similar to determine if your mark FSs in the same SS or outside by plugging in number of ships and possible speeds and destinations until you get a rough match.

 

In the third stage, you must determine where there are visible and invisible DFs, either in the same SS, or in adjacent SSs. It is rare for people to FS more than a couple of SSs away.

 

A. After the mark's fleet is away, send a single recycler at 10% to the DF of every inhabited planet. If there is already a DF you don't need to do this, but note the size of all visible DFs. There is always the possibility that someone else will recycle a large DF, but people rarely bother with <1K DFs.

B. Send 2-3 probes to attack any planet that has an invisible DF. (Note: once a planet/moon is attacked regardless of whether or not there were any casualties there will be a DF -- visible or invisible -- until the following Sunday at midnight). If there are any invisible DFs around planets without defenses, you may be out of luck if your mark sends to that DF. A single probe rarely creates a visible DF, so use a couple.

C. Calculate the time (using o-calc) the mark's fleet will take to each planet within the SS and to reach each adjacent SS for each speed (10%-100%).

D. Add the possible one-way travel time to the departure window to figure out when the mark's fleet could reach any of the now-visible DFs.

E. If the mark FSs within the SS, you can simply watch the SS from the Galaxy View and refresh every 2-5 seconds during each window until a DF disappears.

F. If the mark might FS out of the SS, you probably need a second person to watch either the higher or lower SSs.

G. When a DF disappears, click a stopwatch. Then hit "attack" and send 2-3 more probes to the planet to create a new DF. Continue to watch until the end of the window. Use the stopwatch to determine when the DF disappeared, and then verify that the time was within a window for the given DF. If so, and no other DFs disappear within the window, you should know where and when the mark's fleet left, arrived, and will return.

 

The final stage is relatively straightforward. Simply add the one-way time to the time the DF disappeared to get the return time. If the mark sends decoy fleets (usually a recycler before/after the main fleet to pick up the DF and throw off the calculation), you may be able to figure this out by probing prior to the fleet's departure. You will see the number of recyclers and deuterium drop and you may be able to figure out the possible length and destination of those recyclers' flight times based on the deuterium used.

 

General notes and defenses.

 

Most people who send decoys send them to arrive outside of the window and you can therefore disregard those disappearances. If you use decoys, they should arrive within a minute of the actual fleet so that the attacker will not have time to recreate the DF before the main fleet arrives.

 

You should always be online when your fleets return. This reduces the attacker's window to attack.

 

If possible, always send to invisible DFs around banned or inactive players without defenses. This will prevent an attacker from creating a DF.

 

If someone is repeatedly probing you when you are planning to go offline, wait for a probe, send a recycler to your intended destination at the intended speed and send your fleet and res to your planet/DF at 10%, wait for another probe to come in, recall your fleet, and then resend it. This will screw up the attacker's window. It is probably best to wait at least 5 minutes after the second probe so that you are sure that they are no longer watching. Verify that you left the exact same amount of res after each launch.

 

It is best to try this early in the week when there are the fewest DFs available. It is also a good idea to check for invisible DFs prior to the mark launching the fleet and then again afterward. If a new DF suddenly shows up, it could give you a good indication of where the mark's fleet is going.

[gintukas 0]

good post.

 

there is one guy close to me with nice fleet will need to try to get him, just a problem, that he is on same time zone, and I like to sleep at night time

[Guest gogoblender]

Great reference quality post Ike

Pinned

 

gogo

[Firefly 0]

Great work Ike, its nice to pick up some new tactics, or at least how to aviod the tactics.

[dicknail 0]

Great post, Ike! Thanks a lot!

 

*teh n00b is learning*

 

-dn

[gogoblender 3,070]

It is a great guide ^^

And Ike's formatting with it goes good with the new ogame skin in this section.

 

gogo

[Yaga 1]

This post has from its beginning been a part of my Ogame bible

[myles 2]

Good read. Most of this stuff is new and very useful for me.

[Beowulf 0]

Seems to be a flurry of activity here suddenly

 

This is a good guide..it was last time I read it too, but I guess I never wrote anything

 

Reminds me of the good times, Ike

 

Also, I'll take this opportunity to express my love for the new varying skins..I've gotta say that's pretty awesome. Consistently great work from you FDM folks

[dicknail 0]

Hi, guys!

 

I know I'm really unexperienced, but I'm kinda really up to make a blind phalanx. And probably I will need to do something like that, but I'll probably need some help. (though my ego says I should prove that I am so goos and do it alone... nah never trusted it)

 

It is on a guy in uni24. We are at war with his alliance, but he has bigger fleet than any of us (fortunately it's an ACS uni), and two gated moons. I am now observing his fs-ing habbits, 'cause he just made the second jg, and trying to organize ppl in the two galaxies to hit him wherever he fs.

 

And somebody just hit one of our guys, so his (the enemy's) reaction was:

Originally posted by mavu24

but but, this was the fleet that was supposed to come for me, I was dreaming of that debris field... I'm sad now

Good hit.

And I wish you the worst Slouchy SMURF.

 

I really want to shut his mouth for a while. (

 

Thanks and sorry for bothering you,

-dn

[Epox 2]

yeah the guide is nicce, but all those coloure makes my eyes go crazy hehe

[trd 0]

have a look at these tools here http://www.halo-online.hr/ for help with phalanxes

 

if using excel on own computer, use the "time" function. search for help on syntax, easy to use, but hard to find.