Journal of a newb's first campaign (Image Heavy)

[athros]

This is going to be a journal of my progress in my first campaign. I invite people to comment if they want to, I’ll try to keep it up to date.

I’ll start with the opening creation.



So, I’m taking the Teleporting Raiders, knowing nothing about them. The intersection looks somewhat defensible, I like the area.

An aside: what are the x# (e.g. x4) underneath the ships?

My first scouting. 1 jump away on each









Not too much there. I build 2 space docks and begin to crank out Mk I fighters, bombers, missile frigs and the teleporting raiders.

I also continue to scout.



























So, there’s a little more out there, and an ARS. It’s time to begin the expansion. I smashed through both planets very quickly, and followed up with a colony ship and Military Mk I stations on both (for now). The distribution nodes netted me 800k Metal, 800k Crystal. I proceeded to beef up the defenses on each planet, and ran back to my homeworld to defend against a wave of ~180 bombers (Mk I) and a Starship.

Ok. Not too shabby. ARS nets me Mk I and Mk II Tanks. Never used them, but I’m used to cursing at them (bloody tutorial my pale white behind). This is about where I ended it.



I also scouted to the junction to the Up and Left.





Ok, that’s going to be a minor pain.



......Holy *insert expletive here*. I want this system in the worst way. I’ll get a screen shot of the actual system tonight when I get home from work. Time for some planning. Lots and lots of planning. Or little scalpel raids to chop it off one piece at a time whilst Gate Raiding around my homeworld.

My Tech Unlocks (will confirm when I get home):
- Tachyon Turret Mk. I
- Basic Turret Mk. II
- Riot Starships - They look interesting, I’m trying to mix it up.
- Mk II Scouts, Bombers, Fighters and Teleport Raiders.
EDIT:
 - Mk II Engineers
 - Advanced Warp Sensors

I've managed to hit the cap on Fighters, Bombers, Teleport Raiders and about 1/2 cap on missile frigs.

I’ve noticed Regen Chambers all over the place. I don’t know if that’s a clue as to what AI I’m facing. So far, it’s shaping up to be a fun first campaign.

[Red Spot]

An aside: what are the x# (e.g. x4) underneath the ships?

The number of warpgates on the planet, in other words, with how many other planets the particular planet connects.

I’ve noticed Regen Chambers all over the place. I don’t know if that’s a clue as to what AI I’m facing.

Effectivly it just allows the AI to use "youngling" ships, there is an AI and some settings that will make more use of these ships but I dont think it has an impact on how many regen chambers you see.


Edit: I really like the seed you have there, makes for a nicelly shaped map. Could you post the seed?

[athros]

The number of warpgates on the planet, in other words, with how many other planets the particular planet connects.

Ok. I didn't even make the connection.  

Effectivly it just allows the AI to use "youngling" ships, there is an AI and some settings that will make more use of these ships but I dont think it has an impact on how many regen chambers you see.

Ok, sweet. That helps a lot.

Edit: I really like the seed you have there, makes for a nicelly shaped map. Could you post the seed?

Sure. I'll start a new game with it and grab the seed for you when I get home.

[athros]

Edit: I really like the seed you have there, makes for a nicelly shaped map. Could you post the seed?

185846599



Image for verification. Enjoy!

[athros]

So, I decided to scout out the dead end. Good times.



Ok. Doable.



Another Golem! Sweet! And much easier to get to!

So, here's where I stand:

My fleet



The current map



I have 2 options. I can go for the choke with the Artillery Golem, which is going to be one hell of a fight, and then get to the Black Widow Golem at my leisure. Or I can get the Black Widow Golem, and then use it to go after the choke, along with everything else.

Decisions, decisions. I think I'll look at it more tomorrow. I also worry that it's going to be too easy at 6. Restarting might be the better option, but it might be too early to tell.

[BobTheJanitor]

I don't know if you wanted advice or if you're just thinking out loud, so feel free to tell me to bugger off. I would put the importance of the widow over the artillery golem. Artillery golems are kind of lame now due to the limited number of useful targets you can use them on. They used to be capable of popping out of a wormhole and killing a guard post and then popping back, but since all the guard posts have been given a radar damping range, they are kind of without a useful role at the moment. You can use them to very easily gate raid, or to kill data centers. If you're playing against an AI that has other specific things that you might want to pop out and kill from the wormhole (black hole machines, gravity drills, etc.) then they can be useful. But their main role (I felt) was being able to one-shot those far away guard posts and then duck back into a wormhole for their 30 second reload time. Since they now have to be within 5-6,000 range to do that, they're not so hot. Widows, on the other hand, can eat whole fleets of lower mark ships at once, and anything they don't kill immediately gets stuck in tractors. Plus they just got a bit of a health and damage buff in 5.002. I'd judge them both as low tier golems at the moment though. Get your hands on a botnet golem and you'll see what real power is.

And difficulty 6 can be relatively easy if you have some experience with other RTS games, but it can also keep you from getting overwhelmed while you're learning what everything can do. And it's still entirely possible for the AI to pull out some trick that throws your game off, just less likely. On the plus side, it gives you a relatively safer sandbox to try out various strategies of your own.

[athros]

I absolutely am looking for advice. I'm using this to figure out if I have any major logic holes, or bad information. Having veterans weigh in helps for that. It might also help with information for other new players. Having the seed in this post means they can make the same game, and (hopefully) if they pick the same system, follow through and have a 2nd, longer campaign to work through that isn't scripted...so things might be a lot different. (Thanks to Red Spot for wanting the seed )

Reading that about the Artillery Golem vs the Black Widow Golem means I'm going to split up my fleet, use some of it for gate raiding around my homeworld, and the rest to get to the Black Widow, though I'm unsure if I want to take each of the systems so that I have a nice, defendable back door area for Econ CC's and such, or just raid what I need to and take just the Black Widow. I'm sitting at 75 AI Progress, so I'm not too amazingly far up there yet, and it looks like each of the systems has a decent level of asteroids on them (In order starting from the right most AI controlled world - 4m and 4c, 1m and 4c, 4m and 0c) as well as the 9000 knowledge .

The Artillery Golem's resting place also has an Adv. Fabricator for Mk V Armor ships. So, with the right amount of ships, it's still a very attractive target, just not until I can reasonably take it on, especially knowing that the golem is of limited use.

[Red Spot]

snip

Arti Golems are in effect your non-spire Penetrators. They are no longer the 'aim, release, kill, and see Golem return' - kind of auto-magic unit, but still are very potent if used within a certain, painfull to the AI, plan 
It is just that when you do enable the spirecraft minor faction, specially when you do so on hard or easy, they pretty much lose their purpose. (Last game I had 2, and just never felt any need to use them .. having a cap of mk1 Penetrators standing by.)


Athros,
Thanks for the seed, I am currently playing a 100 planet D-maze map, but I'll be sure to try this seed after my current game (I tend to like the more 'organised' maps, but your seed seems like a nice balance .. and a change

Added a screeny so you can see what is keeping me occupied

[BobTheJanitor]

Arti Golems are in effect your non-spire Penetrators.

Expand on this for me, if you will, because I really can't find a good use for them. Penetrators have the advantage of being able to cloak their way across many worlds and take something out at the end of it. A subtle, surgical strike unit. Golems are far from subtle. The amount of firepower that the AI sees it as means that if I tried to deepstrike with it I would probably end up with a string of seriously upset AI worlds and a LOT of suddenly freed ships pouring down the wormhole network. Because if you bring in 2x the firepower (I think that's the threshold) on a world, the guards all have a chance to break and attack.

My use for them (whenever I do use them) has just been for incredibly easy gate raiding, which is pretty nice, and for data centers. But that's about it. Got any examples of neat things one can do with them?

[Red Spot]

That sort of explains what I mean.

Golems a big bad nasty painfull creatures, often only usefull for a specific purpose.

Spirecraft are pretty much the same, with the difference that because they actually are 'buildable ship' you have a cap of them and they are often a bit more specialised than the golems.

Penetrators are a very advanced, expendable, version of the non-replacable, big, bad Arti golem.
Arti's should in theory be able to rid a planet of its posts/CC from the comfort of a safe distance. Penetrators can do the same, but unless you want to wait 6 hours for that single Penetrator to do the job, you need a cap(or more) of them.

Golems are the blunt hamers, spirecraft the Katana's. They both hurt.

My use for them (whenever I do use them) has just been for incredibly easy gate raiding, which is pretty nice, and for data centers. But that's about it. Got any examples of neat things one can do with them?

When I see an EMP guardian, alarmbells go off. Arti's should work vs them (have been using Penetrators, but the tactic 'should' stil stand afaik).
Other big hurtfull things can be killed/damage long before they reach you. The only downside is their micro-heavy nature wich means they tend to not be that usefull on general defence.
Penetrator for instance cant hit data-centers, you need a golem or other tool for that (unless it is nextdoor I wouldnt suggest a golem either though).

[BobTheJanitor]

Arti's should in theory be able to rid a planet of its posts/CC from the comfort of a safe distance.

But then we come back to that original problem I mentioned. When all the guard posts got radar damping ranges, using a golem to wipe them out became pointless. If they could do this, I would find them much more useful. In fact, here's the mantis page on it: http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/view.php?id=2663 Just in case everyone wants to go vote up giving the artillery golem immunity to radar damping.  


Edit: By the way athros, sorry for totally skewing your topic off the rails. That's a common result around here. What starts as a discussion of the balance of one type of fleet ship evolves in three pages to a dissertation on the intricacies of french cheese making. Just roll with it.

[Red Spot]

First the more important thing at hand. Dutch cheese is much better. 

Secondly, just voted on Mantis. Dont see a need to give it immunity, do think they need some boost, somewhere.
KDR_11k's suggestion would also do that.

ps: I second Bob's edit, sorry .. doesnt mean we'll stop though

[athros]

Edit: By the way athros, sorry for totally skewing your topic off the rails. That's a common result around here. What starts as a discussion of the balance of one type of fleet ship evolves in three pages to a dissertation on the intricacies of french cheese making. Just roll with it.

First the more important thing at hand. Dutch cheese is much better. 

Secondly, just voted on Mantis. Dont see a need to give it immunity, do think they need some boost, somewhere.
KDR_11k's suggestion would also do that.

ps: I second Bob's edit, sorry .. doesnt mean we'll stop though

I noticed. I am not worried about it in the slightest.

[athros]

More progress last night. I managed to get the Black Widow Golem, and managed to get it powered up. It's rather amazing.

I also took the first hop towards the Artillery Golem, the system to the upper left of my homeworld, and destroyed every other gate. There was a Zenith Reserve in the one hop towards the Artillery Golem, which is interesting.

The freeing of ships after a Gate Raid surprised me. I'm really glad my fleet was staging in the homeworld system, otherwise it would have been game over. Approx. 240 ships came through the wormholes. It was a hectic fight for 5 or so minutes. Took me completely off guard.

The planet to the upper left of my homeworld has a Gravity Drill, which is why I took it. Talk about your perfect place for static defenses and a military mk II center. The Dristribution Node took 150k metal and 150k crystal. Ouch.

Just 3 screenshots. 2 of my fleet (in 2 places) and one of the current map.



Zenith Fleet minus 10 Chameleons and 11 Zenith Elec Bombers



The Fleet + the Black Widow after taking Revtol.



Current Map and position.

Tech Unlocks:

 - Econ Center Mk II
 - Military Center Mk II
 - Flagship
 - Raid Starship Mk II
 - Riot Starship Mk II
 - Metal Refinery Mk II

I feel I wasted the Starship unlocks after getting the Black Widow. She kind of defeats a lot of the purposes for them. I'll push on though, mistakes happen.

[BobTheJanitor]

Unlocks are almost never wasted. If you don't need the extra starships to support the golem, you can always keep them for defending other fronts or when attacking elsewhere. If you're not finding yourself needing to split your forces yet, don't worry... it will happen. 

As far as ships freeing after a gate raid, I don't think they're supposed to do that. Were they freeing on the world that you were raiding? It might have just been that you brought so much firepower through that they all freed from that. Especially if you brought the golem along, because they count as some ridiculously high firepower number. If they were coming through from another world, then I'm at a loss as to what would have angered them.

As for the trojan distribution nodes... I'm an evil cheater and I always always save scum on those. It may be lame, but the alternative is usually just wasting a few minutes for my resources to build back up so it seems like kind of a pointless deterrent. The minor AIP increase is enough of a tradeoff for me. If you save, pop a bad one, reload, and pop it again it will usually reroll itself into a good one.