Colony Cap Ships

[Derrick Heyoka]

Really interesting thread on what to choose for your first cap ship.  I haven't personally (ever) used a colony cap ship, though now I'm really thinking about it...

http://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/309106

I'm really impressed by the point that (in the initial explore / expand part of the game) you can actually colonize a planet WHILE you're clearing the gravity well of neutrals.  Otherwise you'd be waiting until after (or nearly after) the fight (since neutrals seem to target colony frigates if you jump one in) to jump in the frigate.  Then you wait for its anti-matter to replenish enough to colonize, whereas the larger stores of antimatter on a colony ship apparently allow it to colonize immediately after jumping.

[Brak Zanagin]

So my take is that I want the best possible combat cap as my first ship.  I think it's a trade off.  The colonizer cap is worse at space combat than the best choice between the dreadnaught or battleship.  So either I burn some frigates when cleaning out new systems if i have the colonizer cap or I have a slightly slower colonization rate if i use another cap.

[Derrick Heyoka]

Yeah no one's saying it's not a trade off, I gave it a shot last night, I really liked colonizing planets while I was still clearing neutrals.  It was also convenient as it managed to last the entire game, I kept it in my main aggression fleet so I had no problems losing colony ships or anything.  I'm not saying it's crucial (hell it may not even be worth it)... but it's at least more advantageous than I originally thought. 

[otter]

I've always wondered why there were siege vessels in orbit of a lot of unowned planets... I guess this explains it.

[Derrick Heyoka]

Yep, I learned to kill the siege frig first and THEN colonize while killing everything else last night.