If you already use cloaked scouts then you probably do not need to read this section of my guide. Nothing I go over is really groundbreaking material. From now on I will assume you have no idea when I am talking about cloaked scouts. When I am talking about cloaked scouts I am not so much talking about putting cloaks on a scout as versus the how they are deployed. While looking through the wallpapers you may have seen this one courtesy of Quickstrike.
This shows the classic deployment of a cloaked scout. In fact I consider it a misnomer to even call them scouts because they only stay in one place. Spy would be a more appropriate term. The basic idea is you place a shuttle equipped with a cloak and engines slightly above or below an enemies system. This allows you to see the entirety of the enemies system without them seeing you.
When you get right down to it the only real skill involved in using spy ships is the placement. Two things to keep in mind is your scanning range and your enemies scanning range. Here is a handy little chart Arcady posted on the forums.
As you can see, spy ships are very problematic to use with cloak alone and low scanner range. This does not mean you cannot use them, just that its more difficult. The most common place to station your spy ships is on the outside. In a 2 layer galaxy this is easy, you put the spies on the top for the upper layer of systems and the spies on the bottom for the lower layer of systems. With 3 or more layers it becomes more difficult. I would suggest trying to guess your enemies likely traffic patterns and base your placement off of that. Even in a two layer galaxy placing your spies to the inside can throw your enemy off if he is actively searching for your spies. When it comes to actually placing the scout the only effective tool is an admiral. You need to create an arbitrary point in space for your spy ship to rally at which both the assault and defense admirals are capable of.
This is the basic method and it really does not get any simpler than this. Pick the sun as your reference point and go straight down far enough to where you will not be visible to ships stationed at the sun. Use the reference chart above to determine your distance.
The advantage to this method is simplicity. The disadvantage is that if your enemy is actively looking for spies, guess where he is going to look first? Right where you are. One note on this, in the 5 or so galaxies where I have actively used spy ships against my enemies(and friends ) I have used this method the most often. I have yet to lose a single spy ship to hunters. It is basically not worth the trouble for most players, a lot of micromanagement is required to go spy ship hunting.
This is a slight variation of the basic method intended to make it harder to find your spy ship if another player comes a calling. Instead of using the sun use one of the inner planets. Just make sure that wherever you set-up places the farthest planet within your scan range.
If you really want to be tricky I personally consider this method to be the best. Instead of picking the sun or an inner planet pick one of the outer planets. Then set the range to be just around the scan range that your spy ship has. Finally adjust the vertical and horizontal angles so that the other planets are all within range but not to close(some eyeballing will be necessary). This way there is no nearby reference point for an opposing player to use when searching for you.
Sometimes if you just send your spy ship directly to the point you want them to spy from they will come to close to an opposing player and a risk of discovery exists. When this occurs use the assault admiral because you can have multiple active rally points. First you set a rally point that is above or below the galaxy eccliptic. Tell the admiral to wait until 1 ship gets there. Once the one ship arrives it will immediately route them to your next rally point which should be your spy position.
By far the most effective countermeasure to spy ships is the system scan. System scans detect all ships within 200 units of the systems sun irregardless of cloaking. You cannot hide from a system scan. The second method which is far less effective but far more economical is to send a ship or multiple ships to various rally points within the area you would anticipate the spy ship being. Once you see the ship attack it and get ready to do it again in 5-20 turns when the next spy ship is placed.
This guide has been created by uncountednose. See the forum contact information.
) I have used this method the most often. I have yet to lose a single spy ship to hunters. It is basically not worth the trouble for most players, a lot of micromanagement is required to go spy ship hunting.
