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MASTER OF ORION 3
BOOK OF ARMAMENTS

V0.82 04/15/03 Revamped DF weapon tables and analysis

Copyright 2003 Mario Laubacher (Alastair)
Send comments, feedback, additions or corrections to alastair412@yahoo.com,
mentioning the FAQ's name in the subject header.
Flames or comments on the quality of MOO3 will go straight to /dev/null.

"ARTHUR: Consult the Book of Armaments!
BROTHER MAYNARD: Armaments, Chapter Two, verses Nine to Twenty-one.
SECOND BROTHER: And Saint Attila raised the hand grenade up on high, saying,
'O Lord, bless this thy hand grenade that with it thou mayest blow thine
enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.' And the Lord did grin, and the people did
feast upon the lambs and sloths and carp and anchovies and orangutans and
breakfast cereals and fruit bats and large chu--
MAYNARD: Skip a bit, Brother." -- Monty Python's Holy Grail

Contents
========
1 Introduction and Legal Notice
2 Revision History
3 Design Guidelines
3.A When to redesign
3.B Specialized vs. Combined Arms
3.C Point Defense
3.D Comparing Weapon Types
3.E Missiles and Racks
3.F Defense
3.G Electronics
3.H Speed
3.I Ship types and TFs
3.J Target Saturation
4 Hull Table
5 Defense Tables
6 Direct Fire Tables
7 Fighter Tables
8 Missile Tables
9 Electronics
10 Misc techs
11 Credits and Thanks
12 Hosting Information

/=================================\
================== Ý 1 Introduction and Legal Notice Ý =======================
\=================================/

This FAQ covers Master Of Orion 3's ship design and weaponry.

This FAQ is copyrighted by Alastair (Mario Laubacher), and may not be published
without my consent. If you wish to maintain a copy of this document on your
site, please send me an e-mail at alastair412@yahoo.com.
This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal,
private use. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public
display without written permission is strictly prohibited, and a violation of
copyright.

Master of Orion 3 (MOO3) is copyrighted and trademarked by Quicksilver and
Infogrames.

Acronyms used:
The following will appear in the FAQ quite often:
TF Taskforce
IF Indirect Fire weapons (Missiles)
DF Direct Fire weapons
LR / LRS Long Range Ships
SR / SRS Short Range Ships
Hulls acronyms
LC Light Cruiser
CR Cruiser
BC Battle Cruiser
BS Battleship
DN Dreadnought
SDN Super Dreadnought



/====================\
==================== Ý 2 Version History Ý ==================================
\====================/

03/21/03 v0.5 Working version (not published).
03/24/03 v0.6 Initial Release.
03/25/03 v0.7 DF weapon analysis done, added Ch. 7and 9, acronyms and some
other fixes here and there.
03/26/03 v0.72 Corrections and fixes on armor, PD and fighters
04/14/03 v0.8 Added missiles, included data patch corrections, drives,
new section delving into target saturation (3.J) and more.
04/15/03 v0.82 Revamped DF weapon tables and analysis, fixed some data,
included additional insight on missile payload and a reader
submission on cloaking / detection.

/======================\
==================== Ý 3 Design Guidelines Ý ===============================
\======================/

--------------( 3.A When to redesign )----------------------------------------
----------------------
With a wealth of techs and weaponry available, the timing for redesign is
quite important. Several options are available, but in general terms, I
recommend redesigning in the following situations:
- New warp drive: Speed is crucial. The faster your ships travel down those
jump lanes, the better your ability to keep the initiative or to react to AI
actions. Further, newer drives take up less space per speed units (this also
applies to system drives, BTW).
- New hull type: what's the use of getting that shiny Leviathan hull if you
don't use it? Superior hull space packs more firepower - use it to your
advantage. I don't necessarily redesign other hulls at that point, though.
- New weaponry: I don't prioritize that part myself. There are a few weapon
techs which almost beg for a full redesign, though, mainly Lightning fields.

Normally, I obsolete old types within 3 turns of a full redesign. Your mileage
may vary, though.

Finally, I scrap obsolete reserves as soon as a sizeable reserve of a superior
design is available, which means between 10 and 20 turns of introducing the
new designs.

In relationship with Antaran expeditions, note that launching one will pull
the required amount of ships from your reserves, apparently at random
(excluding transports, colony and outpost). To have better control on what
gets sent out, scrap what you don't need or put it into active taskforces.

On the matter of transports, you'll have noticed that MOO3 has a tendency to
overdo transport building. This is a recognized bug adressed in the upcomming
patch. In the meantime, make sure you obsolete any transports as soon as you
have suitable reserves.

--------------( 3.B Specialized vs. Combined Arms )---------------------------
-----------------------------------
When building cruiser and bigger hulls, you tend to get enough space to
seriously consider whether you want a "pure" design per ship type or rather
"mixed" weaponry.

Obviously, a "pure" design will pack more damage for the weapon type of
your choice. However, this comes at the cost of versability both in offense
and defense. We'll comment briefly on the pros and cons of each weapon group
a bit later on, but my personal preference goes to "mixed" designs. Whatever
your choice, though, keep in mind that combined arms brings a huge advantage
in being able to confront any situations. If you go for "pure" ship designs,
try at least to mix your ship types when assembling a new TF, even in the main
body.

--------------( 3.C Point Defense )-------------------------------------------
-------------------
Currently, before the code patch gets released, PD is broken. You can't count
on PD weaponry to protect your fleet against incoming missiles, which can lead
to severe losses.

However, there is a workaround: it appears that as long as your ships have any
missiles left, the PD weapons will do their job. Hence make sure to equip all
your ships with one single rack of Nuclear warheads (PD mount does fine). Some
people recommend always putting 20 of them. This is not necessary in all
situations, though, as you can waste valuable space doing so. Your PD weapons
will fire as long as the rack isn't empty - so if you're quite ahead in the
tech race, 8-12 missiles will do nicely. This is related to the duration of
your battles: if most fights end within 3 minutes, chances are you won't be
able to deplete even 8 missiles.

Zhaneel also mentions that the PD bug can be completely offset by issuing
a patrol command (without the missile racks). I haven't verified this myself,
also note that for my taste, it limits my actions too much.

In terms of equipment, my preference goes to a combination of PD-mounted
phaser beams coupled with a second series of light-mount phaser beams. While
damage is equal, the light mount exchanges range for rate of fire. In practice
though, I find it an advantage to be able to fire a few shots at incoming
missiles from farther away, diminishing the amount of work the PDs have to
perform to shoot down what's left.

After analyzing the weapon tables, I would recommed replacing phasers with
disruptor cannons once you have all improvements researched for it. See
the analysis in the DF weapon tables for a rundown.

For fighter protection, the most efficient PD weapon by far are lightning
fields. If they aren't on your tech tree, your scientific spies and your
diplomats should work overtime to get it - it's just too invaluable to miss.

Quicksilver posted a first (unnumbered) data patch. One of the huge changes in
there affects missiles and the PD bug. While missile damage has been cut in
half, the rate of fire has been vastly increased. Which means that you'll
shoot your missile complement out pretty quick - and so does your opponent.
In terms of PD workaround, be aware that your PD racks will empty much faster
now than before, so if you stick to PD racks, favor 20 missiles over 8-12 :)


--------------( 3.D Comparing Weapon Types )----------------------------------
----------------------------
As you will have noticed, MOO3 offers three weapon types: direct fire,
fighters and missiles. Here's a rapid rundown of the pros and cons of each
type:

Direct fire
Pros:
- unlimited firepower
- vast choice of mounts
- Good damage
- Lots of modifications
Cons:
- Maximal range / damage requires a lot of space
- The truly damaging mounts have a very low rate of fire
- Can't be used to bombard planets

Fighters
Pros:
- Unlimited supply
- Virtually unlimited range
- Deep scouting
- Expendable targets for enemy missiles and fighters
Cons:
- Need to lose a complete squadron before a new one is generated
- Low speed
- "Fish school" flight AI

Missiles
Pros:
- Best damage / weight ratio (only pre-data patch!)
- Speed
Cons:
- Grouped targetting wastes a whole volley in overkill
- Limited supply

This quick comparison explains my preference for mixed designs. At the very
least, both my carriers and IF have at least one spinal-type beam weapon so
they aren't useless once their last volley has been fired or their fighter
complement is out fighting planetside while a SR TF approaches your ships.

To maximize the weaponry effect for fighters and missiles, when fighting near
armed planets, I always select each TF and target the planet every 5 seconds
to make sure all my indirect weaponry is in flight and ready to react to
enemy TFs popping up midway. Usually, the first or second volley wipes out
planetary bases, leaving the rest available to re-acquire whatever target lies
in-between.

The benefits of using lots of fighters in any fleet can't be stressed enough.
They provide deep recon by forcing enemy ships to uncloack when firing,
and plenty of distraction for fighters and especially missiles.
When a 1000-damage warhead blows up a 30-HP fighter, that's 970 damage gone to
waste. Of course, this works both ways. Note that normally, though, with
decent cloaking and ECM on your TFs, the AI seems incapable of targetting your
main fleets, giving the human player a distinct advantage. To maximize this,
use the launch method described above as soon as you have a target.

The data patch has changed missiles: half damage, but a much quicker rate of
fire. In practice, this means you'll apply much more damage in a shorter
timeframe. This also means your IF ships will end up as sitting ducks within
one and two minutes of combat, and if you still got serious opposition at that
time, too bad: your fleet's efficiency is severely hampered.
Now more than ever, I am comforted in my mixed design approach.