Part 1 on planet items can be found here.

Defensive Structures

Autocannon Defense Platform – Rating A
At a tactically efficient bargain price of 1 military orbit slot the ADP offers a structure with identical armour strength and durability to its heavier GDP sibling whilst being cheaper (critically in crystal cost) and only slightly less armour health and hull points.

The armament is comparable to the GDP in DPS albeit at half the pierce. If you need to buy a lot of time, the ADP is a better choice however, its fire will struggle with most cruisers and all but bounce off capital ships and above.

Finally, the ADP special ability is the Flechette Blast and is a strike craft/missile killer. Unfortunately lacking the duration aspect of its larger cousins, the Flak Burst, and Flak Field makes it a little less effective against missiles and the true benefit is versus strike craft where its 45 second cooldown can shut down waves of strike craft when you build enough ADP in proximity.

Gauss Defense Platform – Rating B
I know what I just said, the GDP costs twice the valuable military orbit slots of the ADP so why bother with it? The fact is a small stack of GDPs can shred a low-level capital ship with very little support owing to its high 600 pierce whilst still sporting the toughness to shrug off a decent amount of fire.

The GDP special ability is the Meson Bolt and it’s really something. It deals 150 damage with 1000 pierce on a rather large 80 second cooldown but its real strength lies in a -50 armour strength debuff lasting 150(!) seconds. This is a rare debuff, especially outside of capital ships but beware – the debuff does not stack.

The Meson Bolt also includes an unusual bonus of an extra 1000 pierce and 150 armour damage when the targets shields are down. This is sure to ruin the day of any Pirate Galleon.

Retrofit Bay – Rating A
The RB is more or less an absolute waste of a whopping 3 military orbit slots by offering you the useful Retrofit ability but nothing further until Repair research is complete so be sure not to waste any valuable early resources on them until you can research this ability at tier II.

With the Repair ability researched, the RB changes into a fantastic defensive tool especially on worlds with many military orbit slots where they can be stacked with a garrison to stave off larger attacks.

Whilst only able to repair one target per shot but on a short 6 second cooldown, it has the added benefit of being able to target all varieties of ship, other structures and starbases. The repair amount can also be upgraded at Tier III to repair hull/armour at 45/s for 10 seconds keeping it competitive.

Hanger Defense – Rating B
The HD matches the GDP in military orbit slot cost at 2 whilst being a little less durable and armoured but holding twice the hull points.

The HD offers 2 fighter/bomber slots and is set to one of each by default, this can and should be adjusted according to your needs. The special ability of Enhanced Production keeps the production consistent when you’re under siege by reducing strike craft build time by 50% for an impressive 150 seconds. However, if the attack runs over this time, you do face a downtime of another 150 seconds.

Not to be missed, the HD also includes x4 PD autocannons with 5000 range and 16 DPS. It may not sound like much, but it’s effective in groups and will help a lot against missiles giving the HD better longevity than an ADP or GDP against pesky Kanrak Assailants and their like.

Phase Jump Inhibitor - Unrated
I won’t go into the PJI in detail as it’s not exactly a defensive structure, and we all know what it does. Nor will I rate it as I would have to give it a situational C when really is deserves an S for its unique ability.

I will only mention that it’s quite an expensive bit of kit in research and manufacturing, so make sure you bury in in a pile of defensive structures to make it difficult to pick out in a crowd.

Defensive Structure Summary
This one was harder than I thought as the TEC have a fantastic range of defensive structures and although I couldn’t quite bring myself to give any of them an S rating (though arguments could be made for all of them to have one) I also couldn’t give any of them less than a B and really they are on very equal terms.

So, it comes down to how to pick your defences. Frankly, the options are simple –

• Build a lot of ADP if your enemy has many frigates and less cruisers/capitals.
• Build a lot of GDP if your enemy has many cruisers/capitals and less frigates.
• Build a lot of HD if your enemy has a lot of carriers and missile ships.
• Always build an RB or two.

A couple of other things to consider:

• Despite the above, usually a balanced approach works very well and doesn’t leave you too open to being wiped when you build rocks and your opponent brings paper.
• When using garrisons, your defences need to be placed as close to the outer border as possible – this is because when your garrisons start engaging, they will do so near the border often causing your ADPs and GDPs to be stuck out of range (this is less of an issue if you’re stacking HDs)

If I have the time and energy to do a part 3 it will be covering the Argonev starbase in detail.

Hi all,

I recently made a post regarding an Argonev starbase item before working out how it functioned in game and posting the response to the question myself.

This post got me thinking about TEC defences in general and I played several games focusing on testing different defence measures.

Part 2 on defensive structures is done and can be found here.

Disclaimer: These are my personal thoughts and feelings on the Enclave TEC defences, and I am sure many will disagree with some of my takes.

Planet Items

Auxiliary Supply Depot – Rating C
The ASD is used to increase the range of minor faction abilities. For this study, I will focus on its defensive performance. The ASD may be used to spawn 150 worth of defensive ships from the Alutar Sect, or 250 points of defensive ships from Pranast United on front line worlds. Personally, I have given this a C, a rating I tend to reserve for situational items. When Pranast United is on the map it could be more of a B and when Alutar Sect is on the map, more of a D. Either way, it is best used on planets near the front line, and not an actual frontline planet due to its range.

Command Bunker – Rating A
Personally I like the command bunker. It provides +3000 planet health, and +10 military orbit slots. The reason that both bonuses matter is the primary role of defence in SoSE. Often, the defences are there to hold a position until a fleet can be redirected to the planet, and once your fleet is there, support in the defence.

Garrison Recruitment Centre – Rating S
The GRC is the core of the Enclave TEC defence strategy, allowing ship building units and structures to produce a garrison that can travel up to one jump away. You will usually have these garrisons on “Defend” (the yellow one) to support adjacent planets.

Home Guard Outpost – Rating B
The HGO is used intermittently between worlds to generate a -15% global damage reduction on its construction planet and up to one jump away. It’s an understated buff that can easily swing a close fight and because of it’s range, it can be build on every other world to full effect (I often find that places them on asteroids).

Industrial district – Rating C
On a planet focused on ship production, I would probably give the Industrial district a rating of A. However, as a defensive structure, it has a lot of competition that I feel pushes it out of those valuable slots. At first glance, it synergises well with our key GRC by producing ships up to 25% faster, but ultimately it would be more efficient to use your civilian slots to just build more factories.

Munitions Plant – Rating B
The MP offers +50% damage for starbases and defensive structures. Self-explanatory and works well on frontline planets, while being overkill on anything just off the frontline because of the desperate lack of slots and need to fill some with economy and research items.

Unassailable Fortress – Rating A
It’s a command bunker with a bit more health. Buy if you have Pranast United available.

Apologies if this has been asked before but does the Defense Grid Command Center on the TEC starbase stack?

​

If I have 2 starbases, do they get -20% damage, +50% range, and +50% damage? I would assume not but wanted to check.

Hi all,

I'm looking for reference material and/or advice on a tattoo for both me and my partner in honour of our new son, Archer.

Neither of us have or want tattoos with text. So either a stylised bow and arrow, or an actual archer drawing a bow is preferable.

I didn't think it would be difficult but browsing the Web turns up the same 10 tattoos that aren't exactly what we are feeling.

I had a local talented artist but they have recently moved out of area, otherwise I would just consult them.

Colour is optional, as we haven't decided and ideally want it not too visually jarring for male or female. Location-wise, probably somewhere on arm for both, likely upper arm.

I'm not exactly sure what results I'm hoping for here, I was just blown away by the same recycled tattoos when browsing online.

Anything from Greco-roman or Norse styles are particularly good with us. But we're not tied to the style by any means.