Experimentor Strategy

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fran
Space Krill
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Jan 27, 2022 6:00 pm

Experimentor Strategy

#1 Post by fran »

I'm not sure how you are supposed to beat the experimentors?
Wave after wave of difficult challenges...the nastiest being the cosmic dragons eating up whole systems...so the base really needs taking out, but how?
I tried Chaos Waving their planet...this got rid of the population, but that didn't seem to have any effect on the nasties they keep sending out.
I wasn't able to send troops into their planet even when I had the only ships in the system (including attack ones)....do I have to wait for many rounds until the shields are depleted?
I tried to Nova Bomb them but this requires an activator can only be built on a planet where I have at least an OP...I tried to build an OP on one of the empty planets in the experimentor system, but this wasn't allowed...once the dragons have started their work then no adjacent systems have planets to try there...
Luckily I can win by just resisting until Singularity of Transcendence is researched, but that's not as satisfying as being able to take them out.
Suggestions welcomed on how they should be handled.
Many thanks!

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LienRag
Cosmic Dragon
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Joined: Fri May 17, 2019 5:03 pm

Re: Experimentor Strategy

#2 Post by LienRag »

Usual way is to invade them.
Current rules apply : you cannot invade while they have shields.

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Oberlus
Cosmic Dragon
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Joined: Mon Apr 10, 2017 4:25 pm

Re: Experimentor Strategy

#3 Post by Oberlus »

fran wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 6:10 pm I wasn't able to send troops into their planet even when I had the only ships in the system (including attack ones)....do I have to wait for many rounds until the shields are depleted?
Yes, you have to deplete Experimentors' shields, then you'll be able to invade the planet and they will be over.

Other advices that you seem to not need:
- Avoid crewing your ships with organic species: the nasty snowflakes will control them telepathically.
- When fighting the more nasty monsters with strong single-shot weapons, much better to use huge hulls (Titanic, Solar, Scattered) to reduce losses.
- If the game was going well before Experimentors showed up, you can prepare in advance a few squads of nasty ships around their system and just wait for them to pop up, then move into their system (that gets blockaded so you won't need to chase monsters around) and kill them quickly. Some players combine this with creating starlanes so that they can get into Experimentors' system even before they show up and kill them by turn 251 (they show up at turn 250 IIRC).

fran
Space Krill
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Jan 27, 2022 6:00 pm

Re: Experimentor Strategy

#4 Post by fran »

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated :)

I hadn't come across the planetary shields issue before in any other play...always seemed completely useless so the last thing I research before Singularity of Transcendence...perhaps they should be buffed in normal play?

I had never come across experimentors before so didn't take much notice of the disconnected system.
Can't use normal troops against them as need to get them across with your battleships & have them survive several rounds...so they need to be carried in high-structure ships, no? & will thus need a lot of them since each ship can't carry many troops...

Why does Chaos Wave not work? That seems like a bug, no? Surely a 0 population should stop them sending out more baddies?
(I am using the current stable: 0.4.10.2)

I had never used Nova Bombs before either...seems like the way that the Cosmic Dragon uses them is impossible to replicate right?
- can't insert an activator onto a planet populated by an enemy?

I'll be sure to take these much more seriously ASAP if/when I encounter them again!

Many thanks,
Fran

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Oberlus
Cosmic Dragon
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Joined: Mon Apr 10, 2017 4:25 pm

Re: Experimentor Strategy

#5 Post by Oberlus »

fran wrote: Fri Jan 28, 2022 11:14 am I hadn't come across the planetary shields issue before in any other play...always seemed completely useless so the last thing I research before Singularity of Transcendence...perhaps they should be buffed in normal play?
Yes, the Experimentors have absurdly high planetary shields (on purpose, to make them a challenge), nothing to do with normal planets.
Maybe normal shields should be stronger, yes...
Can't use normal troops against them as need to get them across with your battleships & have them survive several rounds...so they need to be carried in high-structure ships, no?
I prefer to send the troops when the Experimentors have been pwned by my ships (hence no shields and no planetary defenses to shoot at my troopers). So I use normal troopers (maybe with one armor part if there were mines in the game).
Why does Chaos Wave not work? That seems like a bug, no? Surely a 0 population should stop them sending out more baddies?
I prefer how it is now, more challenging. Think of the Experimentors Outpost as a link to another dimension. Unless you go down to grown to close the link, monsters will keep appearing. Or maybe they use automatic facilities to produce the monsters, deep under the planets surface, so you need to kill the ground troops of the Experimentors to destroy the facilities.

I've never used a Nova Bomb. I'm too greedy :)

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LienRag
Cosmic Dragon
Posts: 2103
Joined: Fri May 17, 2019 5:03 pm

Re: Experimentor Strategy

#6 Post by LienRag »

Why does Chaos Wave not work?
AFAIK, Chaos Wave works.
Though in a buggy way, like all Bombardment.

Someone invaded an Experimentator planet reduced to Outpost, and got the Monsters spawning from it still, but owned by him.

fran
Space Krill
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Jan 27, 2022 6:00 pm

Re: Experimentor Strategy

#7 Post by fran »

Oberlus wrote: Fri Jan 28, 2022 11:27 am I prefer to send the troops when the Experimentors have been pwned by my ships (hence no shields and no planetary defenses to shoot at my troopers). So I use normal troopers
That's what I do with normal enemies, however for the Experimentors, the starlanes are only open when they have monsters ready to send out, no?
So I need to get them in with my warships...unless I use a starlane that I create myself, of course...have never made those before...

F

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Oberlus
Cosmic Dragon
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Re: Experimentor Strategy

#8 Post by Oberlus »

fran wrote: Fri Jan 28, 2022 11:51 am for the Experimentors, the starlanes are only open when they have monsters ready to send out, no?
So I need to get them in with my warships
I first send the warships (when the starlane opens, I don't build my own), they take a few turns to deplete planet defenses and clear out monsters, then I send troopers using the same system (wait for a starlane to pop up nearby and rush through it), and not caring about monsters because my fleet is already blockading the Experimentors system and shooting down on sight any monster that pops out.

defaultuser
Juggernaut
Posts: 854
Joined: Wed Aug 26, 2015 6:15 pm

Re: Experimentor Strategy

#9 Post by defaultuser »

Generally it's much easier to take care of the situation before spawning.

As I've posted before, occasionally there's a backdoor method. Sometimes there's another planet in the Experimentor's system that can be colonized. So you build a colony ship for a compatible species, research Starlane Bore, and push the colony ship through. This is all well before the spawning. Research Stargate, and have your colonized planet build one. Then you can send ships in and out without needing to build or wait for starlanes.

Daybreak
Vacuum Dragon
Posts: 641
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 10:14 pm

Re: Experimentor Strategy

#10 Post by Daybreak »

My strategy is to turn them off when I set up the game :D

To me they just spoil the game. Either
a) They appear close to you, and unless you are in a position to defend against them, then you may be so weakened that AI's can help finish you off.
b) They appear close to opponents, in many cases, strong oponents you were battling which then get so weakened that you can finish them off easily.
c) You do defeat them, but really don't get any benefit, and if you have defeated them, you are already so strong you have already won the game anyway.

Still, I suppose it is worth doing once of twice.

Be great if turning them off was persistent, hint hint :D

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