Stealth ships

[PsyDev]

I'm wondering, has anyone found a good use for stealth ships? Either in-game strategies or racpick combinations that work well with it.

Are there any good strategies that people have found or simply enjoy using stealth ships with? Either multiplayer or singleplayer vs. AI.

I was thinking maybe a spy race that sabotages a starbase, while a stealth fleet comes in and captures a vulnerable colony. Mix with telepathy to conquer without troops maybe? Maybe use omniscient too, to see where their ships are while they can't see yours.

[Cabman]

If you create such ( stealth tele omni) race your economy will be crippled, so you can't compete in longer run. The only chance is blitz. As a tech you could take stealth to surprise your opponent and, with good fuel cells, have the ability to destroy his colonies unspotted ( remember that transports and op are visible on the main map). But stealth suit or personal shield ( in the same tech field) are considered to be a better choice.

[rewster1]

Tele stealth omni leaves enough room for Unification... so theoretically, if you blitzed a unitol or uniaqua2prod, all you'd need is to ship one of the instantly assimilated colonists back home and you would then be unitol or uniaqua as well (eventually). This would work well if you blitzed fast, but you'd need to do enough damage to his economy to get a chance to build up your population of unitol workers to be able to compete economically. I think though that a stealth cruiser could be capable of a decent amount of general harassment if sent early enough.
Though you'll have to forgive my ignorance, as I've only played a grand total of 1 online game. I'm not sure on a couple things about stealth ships. Are they invisible on the main map only? In other words, do they show up in a system map, so you can see if someone is spying on you or not? There must be a way to engage a stealth ship, or else you'd be blockaded to death and this would be the uberpick (at least in omni ban games).

[Cabman]

Stealth works only on main map, but those ships are visible if you have fleet or planet at the system they 're actually located.

[Time]

Not many people giving away their tactics here. I have a nice one I have used vs. comps and humans in LAN games.
My improved scout.
frigate hull, battle scanner, stealth field, battle pods, extended fuel tanks.
This will give you a cloaked scout on the main map, with a +2 scanning range.
Station it in systems your foe is unlikely to revisit (empty, gas giants or asteroids) and use it to monitor their fleet movements.

Of course one could choose stealthy ships as an Evolutionary mutation, and have all of your ships invisible on the main map.

[rewster1]

Not many people giving away their tactics here.

Really? That's too bad. I'll share my sure-fire custom race strategy then:
negatives:
-1 prod, -1/2 food, poor homeworld, and -1 res,
"positives":
cybernetic (the only important one) lucky, fan. trade, stealth ships, transD
How to use:
You start with 3 farmers and 4 workers feeding your pop, leaving you an entire pop to do whatever you want: you can make 1 prod or 2 res, up to you. Here is what i suggest:
turn 1: delete marine barracks. You now have 3 farmers and 5 workers nearly feeding your pop, leaving you absolutely nothing but a tiny bit of growth.

I have a nice one I have used vs. comps and humans in LAN games.
My improved scout.
frigate hull, battle scanner, stealth field, battle pods, extended fuel tanks.
This will give you a cloaked scout on the main map, with a +2 scanning range.
Station it in systems your foe is unlikely to revisit (empty, gas giants or asteroids) and use it to monitor their fleet movements.

That's actually a pretty neat idea. I hadn't thought to put battle scanners on scouts before.

Of course one could choose stealthy ships as an Evolutionary mutation, and have all of you ships invisible on the main map.

Hmm. I think your other idea is much more practical. This would be a waste of 4 picks when you get it with tech much sooner.

[rekka]

I always liked the stealth options for a number of reasons. Mostly, they are useful if your opponent has warp interdictors, star gates-- in otherwords late in the game, really. I usually play games with my brother though, so they tend to go longer than one session so this is a scenario that comes up: how do you attack a system when he can have everything + the kitchen sink there in one turn, as where it takes you five? The answer is stealth. Early on though, I never use it. usually what I will do is wait and pick the stealhy ships pic with the ev. mutation. And I used to use the time warp + phasing cloak way back when the game first came out, but now a days that combo (or at least using it in that fashion) is not allowed. It only works once anyways, because the next time around who ever you used it against will do the same thing, then youll turn around and counter it (I assume most here know how to do that by now, its been around long enough) and the fun is over.