Jump to content

How to use a Sensor Phalanx


Recommended Posts

I have accumulated a fair bit of knowledge over the last year, some of it through trial and error, some through reading the OOF, some of it the hard way -- as in losing fleets hard. I thought, since I have a bit more free time than before :woot: that I would try to share some of that knowledge before it all drifts off into my brain's /null.

 

Range:

 

Range equals Level squared minus 1. So a level 1 can only see the solar system in which your moon is located, while a level 10 can see your system and 99 systems in both directions. This is one reason to keep moons from the very outer edges of the galaxy, as you could stunt the range of your phalanx if it runs off the end of the board.

 

Costs:

 

Level 1 costs 20,000 metal, 40,000 crystal, and 20,000 deuterium to build. Each additional level doubles the price. It costs 5,000 deuterium per scan. You cannot "refresh" the view with your browser's refresh button, you must scan again and pay an additional 5,000 deuterium. When you run a scan a new browser window will open with the scan in it.

 

Visibility:

 

You can only use a sensor phalanx against planets. You cannot use it on moons or DF. You can see fleets going to or coming from moons by scanning the planet the fleet is going to/from. However, you will have to manually calculate the return time to a moon.

 

Outbound fleets show up in light green and you can mouse-over the word "fleets" to reveal what ships and how many of each. Returning fleets show up in blue and you cannot tell what ships are in the fleet. If you can still see the outbound fleet, you can match it up and determine the ship composition from the outbound fleet. Be careful to read the report carefully in order to determine which planet the fleet is going to and from. If it says "a fleet from Planet A coming from Planet B, return to planet." It means that the fleet originated on Planet A and is now returning from Planet B.

 

Attacking fleets from other planets will indicate that they are attacking and indicate the number and types of ships and the name of the attacking player. The "send message" icon does not work. You will need to calculate the return time to the attacking planet.

 

If the player recalls a transport, harvest, attack, or espionage mission, you will still see the fleet coming back, although you will no longer see the composition of the fleet. If the player recalls a deployment, you will no longer see the fleet on your phalanx.

 

Using a Phalanx:

 

A very important thing to know: the time in the phalanx screen tends to lag . . . badly. The longer you have it up the less accurate the time. If you move the screen around, it can skew the time a great deal. The best thing to do is phalanx someone to determine if there is anything interesting. If there is, close the window, bring up the system clock, phalanx again, and hit <Alt><Prt Scrn> and then go to your image software or word processor and hit <Ctrl><v> to paste an image of the screen. Then you can get a pretty good idea of the actual time. If sending a probe will not alert the target, send a probe, do a phalanx that shows the probe, and then do the screen shot. Then you can match up the system time when the probe hits from the messages screen, subtract the time remaining on the screen shot, and add the time on the fleet you are interested in to get the system time that it will land.

 

If you see a fleet (especially one returning) that you want to hit, calculate the system time for its return. Add 3 seconds -- anything shorter and you risk missing the target due to system lag, anything longer and you risk giving the target an opportunity to FS. Determine the amount of time it will take your fleet to get to the target. Determine at what system time you need to send in order to get your fleet to the target 3 seconds behind the target fleet. Exactly 5 minutes before you need to launch, launch the slowest ship in the fleet you wish to send at the speed you plan to send your entire fleet -- I usually use my system clock and a reduced-size oGame window to time the launch. Do another phalanx and verfiy that your ship is exactly 4 minutes and fifty-seven seconds ahead of the target fleet. Recall the test fleet. If the time was correct then you know you have the right launch time. If not, adjust accordingly and launch another ship four minutes prior to your new target launch time. Once you have the right time to launch on your system clock you can

launch your entire attack fleet.

 

If you have the liberty of launching at less than 100%, it is often a good idea to do so. You save fuel and make it more difficult for someone to time your return. Just calculate when your fleet returns and make sure you will be around when it gets back. :drinks: If you are doing follow-ups, follow the same procedure as you did with your main fleet. If I have the time, I try to get my follow-ups as closely bunched as possible by sending each fleet at a different speed. This requires that I practice each one, but once you have one fleet timed properly, you can check in your fleet screen to verify that the other fleets are timed properly without doing another phalanx.

 

Hitting a deploy is tricky, as the person can just recall if they are online before their fleet arrives. Sometimes it is worth the chance. If you see someone who regularly deploy FSs, you might want to see if there is any activity on their main before the fleet arrives, which would give you an indication about whether or not they are usually online when their fleet arrives. If they are not, go for their next deploy FS.

 

Calculating times:

 

If you can see both the outbound and returning fleet, the one-way time is the return time minus time the outbound fleet reaches its destination. The launch time is the turnaround time minus the one-way time.

 

If you want to know the return time on an attacking fleet, note the current remaining time and the ships sent. Find out the attacker's engine levels. Use o-calc to determine the possible one-way times based on the different speeds. If there was a * or number by the target planet, use that to estimate the approximate launch time based on the possible one-way transit times. When you think you have the right one-way speed, add it to the impact time.

 

Because of the proceeding, if I am sending at less than 100%, I often calculate the launch time for a 100% attack, send my fleet at reduced speed, and then send a probe to arrive a minute or so before a fleet traveling at 100% would have been launched. This will likely throw off people's calculations.

 

What to Phalanx:

 

I generally look for activity on planets, preferably a number rather than a star. If someone recently pinged a planet and is now attacking it, you'll likely see the attacking fleet. If someone sent their fleets off and then went offline, you'll see that. If you regularly phalanx the surrounding planets you'll get a good idea about people's normal activity and may get good at predicting what they will send and when.

 

If you see a fleet returning from a DF and it appears that it is taking longer to return than if it was sent at 100%, write the coordinates down and phalanx again a while after the fleet is scheduled to return. As a general rule people send recs at full speed because time is usually of the essense in trying to grab a DF. If they send a fleet to a DF very slowly, it is quite possibly a FS. If they do that once, they'll probably do it again.

 

If there is an (I) planet with lots of resources and strong defenses, any activity on it may indicate someone probed and will soon attack. Or you could randomly phalanx such planets in the hopes of catching a large fleet heading toward it.

 

- - - - -

 

Well, that is all that I can think of at the moment. Just be careful that you don't get carried away, as you can burn through a LOT of deuterium if you are not careful. :woot:

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...
Please Sign In or Sign Up