EDITORIAL

NOTE: This article is about changes at Planets.nu that were announced for the 2023 season. These changes remain in effect.

Introduction

Certain ships that were considered underused were given a buff by reducing their Priority Point cost. Each ship receiving this benefit had its PP cost reduced by 1. You can view the official list of ships here. 

Since this change only affects a ship’s PP cost, it only becomes relevant after the ship limit has been reached. Therefore, it should not affect your decision to build these ships before the ship limit — much. By the same reasoning, it has no real impact on PLS games, or any game where the ship limit is never reached. All of the ships receiving this change are relatively light (< 200 kt mass), with the exception of the Thor B and Thor Heavy.

Perhaps the most striking instance of this PP reduction is the D19b Nefarious Class Destroyer, which now costs only 2 PP. This makes it more deadly as a popper, where it can earn 2 PP back for destroying an enemy ship. Thus it is now “PP-neutral”, i.e. you don’t lose any PPs when you pop it and kill an enemy.

Minesweeping Buffs

Many minesweepers tend to be built post-limit, when resources are common but points are harder to come by. These ships are thus more likely to be used since they’re cheaper in PP, and the lower cost increases their overall efficiency for sweeping — the number of beams per PP. For example, the Sky Garnet Class Destroyer costs only 2 PPs but has 7 beams. That gives it 3.5 beams per PP, the highest score of any ship (tied with the D19b and B222). All else being equal, more beams per PP means more minesweepers, and therefore more beams. 

You can view the Best Minesweepers List to see how ships have improved in PP cost after these changes.

Which Races benefit most?

It seems clear that the Fury benefits most, with the D19b change alone being a major advance. The Fed also benefits significantly, with both light combat ships and better sweepers. The Evil Empire benefits only a modest amount, mostly in Campaign, where the Moscow Star Destroyer is cheaper, it being relatively useless in other formats. 

One race for whom these changes are mostly irrelevant is the Privateer, which benefits but little.

Most other races have a modest benefit, mostly in minesweeping cost for certain ships. Minelaying races like the Robot and Crystal can be presumed to be negatively impacted by this change, since minesweepers are now cheaper for other races. 

Race by Race Analysis

Federation ☀️

Ships affected (PP): Nocturne (2), Vendetta (2), Banshee (3), Arkham (3), Thor (4).

The Nocturne, Vendetta and Arkham are now great minesweepers. They are ships with 2.0 beams per PP. Here is a graph to give you an example of how things have changed:

We can see that the Fed now has a pretty strong minesweeping force. The Arkham used to be the best minesweeper for Fed relative to PP; it still is, but now is better, and tied with the Nocturne and Banshee. 

Late-game, the Thor sees a boost as a low-PP sacrificial lamb against carriers. (When the Thor gets bonus mass from fighting on the right-hand side, it can survive long enough to damage a carrier.) 

Campaign Mode. The Banshee B and the Wild Banshee are among the best sweepers in the game and will see a lot of use.

Note: The Arkham Class Destroyer is not on the official list, though one might expect it should have been, since the bigger Arkham Class Cruiser is on the list. Since it has higher mass, the Arkham Destroyer will cost +2 PP compared to the standard Arkham. 

The Thor B and Thor Heavy both also received the PP reduction. 

Conclusion. Fed gets some extra sweeping power in their light ships. The Arkham Frigate is a pretty solid ship at 150 kt and a great sweeper, and might see more use by Fed now, post-ship limit. The Thor might see more use as a result too. 

Lizard 🦎

Ships affected (PP): Reptile (2), Vendetta (2), both Standard and Campaign versions.

Lizard gets a minesweeping bonus, and Vendettas become much more appealing as a light fighters. Overall, these changes are a benefit, but will not change Lizard strategy much. 

Campaign Mode. The Vendetta Stealth (2) could be a more dangerous cloaker due to its very low cost. It has two engines and 4 torpedo tubes, while costing only 2 PP. It also can survive a mine hit, giving it additional value. 

Bird 🐦

Ships affected (PP): Bright Heart (2), Deth Specula (3).

The Bright Heart is a very cheap cloaker with 2 engines which can be used to tow enemies or scout. The Deth Specula is now the Bird’s best minesweeper relative to PPs, surpassing the Resolute, the former champion, by a wide margin. 

Campaign Mode. Bright Heart Light (2), Deth Spec Heavy (4). 

At only 4 PPs to build, the Deth Specula Heavy Frigate is probably going to find renewed relevance, as players usually favoured the Resolute post-ship limit. The Deth Heavy has only 4 beams, so it will not be a good sweeper, but it might find use as a low-PP warship. 

Note: The Deth Specula Armoured Frigate does not appear in the official list of PP-reduced ships. We’d think it probably should receive the PP reduction since the heavier Deth Specula Heavy does. Also, since its mass is higher than the standard Deth Specula, it costs +2 PP. This makes it less appealing due to the expense.

Conclusion. The Deth Specula will find more use in Standard as a minesweeper, since it is the most efficient in Bird’s fleet per PP. The Bright Heart might see some increased use as a light harassment ship. 

Fury 🔺

Ships Affected (PP): D19b (2), Saber (4), Deth Specula (3), D3 Thorn (2). 

The Fury undoubtedly benefit the most from the recent PP change, due to the cost reduction of the D19b. The D19b is now PP neutral when it destroys enemy ships. E.g. if your D19b pops and destroys a Meteor, it will gain you +2PP, which pays for the 2 PP cost of the D19b. This allows you to keep building D19bs perpetually as long as you pop them wisely. Meanwhile, your opponent will lose the PP from the ship they lost with no appreciable gain. 

The PP change has also given the D19b the benefit of being tied for 1st place (along with the B222 and Sky Garnet) for best minesweeper in the game per PP. The next best is now the Saber Class Frigate. This makes the Fury a minesweeping powerhouse, post-limit. 

The Fury also gain a 2-PP D3 Thorn Class Destroyer. This change is surprisingly useful for the Fury, as it is their cheapest cloaker. This allows a player to build many of them post-ship limit. Since they have 2 engines, they can tow enemy ships. They can also scout and be trades to other players. 

The Deth Specula is also in the Fury fleet, though it probably won’t be used as much for its minesweeping power. Its main utility will probably be in sacrificing itself to take down very large starbases by stripping fighters.

Campaign Mode. The Campaign versions of the D3 are not on the official list. 

The Deth Specula Stealth is on the official list, but the Deth Specula Armoured is not. We are not sure if this is an accidental omission or deliberate. 

Conclusion. The PP reduction for the D19b is a game-changer, and the Fury have some extra goodies on top of that as well. All in all, Fury are a race to watch out for. 

Privateer ☠️

Ships affected (PP): D3 Thorn (2).

The only Privateer ship that is affected by this is the D3. While this is slightly cheaper than a Br4, it is doubtful if the D3 will ever be as popular as the Meteor as a use for PP. 

Conclusion: This change will minimally affect the Privateers. 

Cyborg 🔳

Ships affected: B222 Destroyer (2). 

The B222 was already the best sweeper/PP in the game, tied with the D19b and Sky Garnet. Now it is a better sweeper. Its downside is that it does not survive a minehit; the silver lining is that a ship lost to space mines doesn’t benefit one’s opponent.

Campaign Mode. B222b Destroyer (2).

Conclusion. While Cyborg sweeping power will be slightly improved, it will not affect the Cyborg game otherwise.

Crystal 💎

Ships affected (PP): Topez Class Gunboat (2), Sky Garnet Destroyer (2).

Campaign Mode. Sky Garnet Frigate

The Sky Garnet and Topez have had their minesweeping efficiency (beams /PP) increased by 75%. This is a significant increase in the minesweeping power of Crystal. The Sky Garnet and Topez both die from a single mine hit, however. 

Sky Garnets become a cheap way of stripping fighters off of starbases. If for some reason, you want lots of Topez ships, now they are significantly cheaper. 

Evil Empire 🗡️

Ships affected (PP): Ru25 Gunboat (2), Super Star Frigate (3), Moscow Class Star Escort (4).

The Ru25 is EE’s most efficient minesweeper per PP, and now it’s significantly improved. The Super Star Frigate is now in 2nd place for sweep/PP efficiency, now ahead of the Super Star Destroyer. The SSF is actually one of the most efficient sweepers in the game now. It ranks as the 7th most PP-efficient sweeper in the game, among ships that have 100 kt of mass or more (i.e. among ships that can survive a mine hit). 

Moscow Escorts are still expensive at 4 PP, and weak with only 4 beams and 2 bays. Therefore they are unlikely to find much use in Standard play. 

Campaign Mode. The Moscow Class Star Destroyer benefits from the PP change, which will be somewhat significant. The Moscow SD has proven itself as a good light carrier, with its 5 bays. The cost reduction will make them more useful post-limit. The Campaign Ru25 and Ru30 Gunboats are not affected by this PP change. 

Conclusion. The minesweeping efficiency of EE is improved in Standard, but not much else.

Robot 🤖

Robot has no ships that are affected by this change. 

In fact, it can be presumed they’ll be the overall losers due to other races’ increased sweep efficiency per PP. 

Rebel ®️

Ships affected (PP): Patriot (2), Cygnus (2), Gaurdian (2). 

The Patriot has now become quite cheap, costing only 2 PP. This will allow many of them to be built post-ship limit to spam unguarded rear areas (see discussion below). 

Even the Cygnus becomes a superior sweeper with a PP reduction. Unfortunately, it cannot survive a mine hit. 

Campaign Mode. The Gaurdian-B and Gaurdian-C upgrades also receive the PP reduction, making them marginally more useful. 

Colonies 🔱

Ships affected (PP): Patriot (2), Cygnus (2). 

The Patriot is now a cheap armed scout or disposable missile, same as for the Rebel above. The Cygnus will be less relevant to Colonies, since CoM already has fighter minesweeping.

Campaign Mode. Note that the Patriot and Cygnus do not get the PP reduction when the Stack Ships campaign advantage is activated.

Additional Discussion

Also relevant to these new lighter ships being more buildable is the Planetary Production Queue and how it has affected playstyles. Specifically, players often build fewer starbases due to the use of RBx friendly codes. If players are building fewer starbases, this means they are potentially open to attacks against their planets by light ships in their “hinterland” rear areas. This PP change could potentially bring about play where large numbers of light ships are used to wreak havoc in someone’s relatively undefended colonies. 

It is possible that building large numbers of light ships will cause the total ship count to become quite high. This would be especially true if people pursue a strategy of building more starbases to save up PP before ship limit. (E.g. 100 PPs could buy you 50 D19bs. That is a lot of ships). If there are that many more ships, it will certainly take longer for the ship count to return to 500 to allow regular builds again. 

For Horwasp games, there will be more small ships available to be built with low PP cost, to be used as “picket ships”.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I think these are good changes to the game. This is a creative way to make less-used ships more useful, post-ship limit. 

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NOTE: Mucked about with by Gnerphk. Errors can be presumed to be his and not the author’s.

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