I hope i am not alone in thinking this, but it seems that the game is still unbalanced. I find that by week twenty i can gain six planets and need to place fleets at two in order to defend them. However by week twenty i seem to be facing massive fleets attacking my planets. The largest decent fleets i can get by around week 20 consist of 5-12 cruisers and maybe some frigates, and those fleets need to be split to defend two choke points. Although this may seem a good size fleet for so early on, i am faced with the problem of enemy fleets consisting of around 10 cruisers, 7 frigs, and some fighters.
Currently i only play on the cadet setting, and feel that the game may be counting my entire split fleet as what i have to defend one planet.
Be aware that the enemy fleets will build up. If they attack you, and lose badly, you need to counterattack right away, to capitalsie on their defeat.
Also, they will build up more aggressively if you park a huge battlefleet on their borders.
Plus, if you expand like an absolute maniac right at the start, you will reach heavier resistance than if you take it more steadily.
well personally I try to never attack with a fleet less than 8-10,000 strength, although that number gets much higher after the first 4 or 5 planets. I attack just at the point where I start to worry the enemy might attack me first.
AI atack way to often and rebuilds way to fast for the cadet dificulty, shouldn’t easy difcoulty be easy so you can learn the basics and not have computer stomp you down on turn 20 with huge fleet.
It’s not as simple as that, because if the AI fleet knows its chances are hopeless, it won’t attack anyway, and if you haven’t been attacked in ages, it might attack regardless of the threat. It’s a rough guide, but there are many other factors that filter in. Also, giving the AI a bloody nose will scare them away from attacking you for a while.
Check out campaign_options.ini for lots of stuff to tweak, if you feel adventurous…
