My latest attempt...

[zoutzakje]

if your scouts have trouble getting anywhere, consider using scout starships and have them group move (g+click) with regular scouts. Maybe even unlock mk II scout starships since they only cost 250 knowledge. You'll notice that your scouts get much further.

[mmobley]

if your scouts have trouble getting anywhere, consider using scout starships and have them group move (g+click) with regular scouts. Maybe even unlock mk II scout starships since they only cost 250 knowledge. You'll notice that your scouts get much further.

Thanks! Will try that now.

Now for an update. I have scouted almost the rest of the map, minus one home world (working on it). Found the other CSG-B and Adv. Factory on Isrexther. Position-wise it is far more favorable to my end game than Murdoch (3 hops from one home world, 4 from another). So I decided to take Isrexther instead, and hard neuter the connecting planets. I then fortified the hell out of the location and built all my construction facilities. This is effectively my forward base now.

Took out the remaining Data Centers as well. AIP is now at 179, including all gate raiding and my 9th planet. All CSG's are dead now, and I have my entry point into deep AI territory. Threat counter at a whopping 36 .

Now the bad news...
I only have 3000 K at the moment, with all my planets farmed. Having said that I have NO mk 2 ships except the ones provided by the ARS's. This is going to present a problem for the end game, when I face mk 5 ships. My adv. Factory is largely useless right now because I don't have anything mk 3 (except scouts).

So, what should I do? I could take more planets, but I would need like 4 or 5, which would add another 100 AIP, and probably aggravate the AI's badly. Knowledge raid? I could hit the neutered planets for that, but what side effects would I experience? How many planets should I raid for K?

Let me know. I'm gearing up for my end game here, and traded the extra K for lower AIP, so give me something else to work with please .

If you're fed up of ARS bonus ships sucking, send in a science lab (Mk II is good, because it's cloaked) before capturing the world to see what it'll give you. This lets you assess whether a ship hack is worthwhile.

How do I see this? I sent in the lab, but I see nothing...

[Hearteater]

Click on the lab and their will be an ARS tab.  Open that.  The ship type on the left is the one that is unlocked normally.  If you Ship Design Hack, you can pick any of the three (although why you'd pick the first one since that's the default I don't know).

[Wanderer]

Now the bad news...
I only have 3000 K at the moment, with all my planets farmed. Having said that I have NO mk 2 ships except the ones provided by the ARS's. This is going to present a problem for the end game, when I face mk 5 ships. My adv. Factory is largely useless right now because I don't have anything mk 3 (except scouts).

So, what should I do? I could take more planets, but I would need like 4 or 5, which would add another 100 AIP, and probably aggravate the AI's badly. Knowledge raid? I could hit the neutered planets for that, but what side effects would I experience? How many planets should I raid for K?

What all do you have unlocked so far?  From what I saw, it was mostly turretry... which as you're seeing defends you well but is useless later.  Also, you need to take a planet on the way to the last AI HW anyway for another 3k because otherwise you're deepstriking.  Another 3-6k could be gained by Knowledge Hacking.

[Mánagarmr]

I was thinking the same, you must've spent most of your K-bank on defenses or similar if you are struggling for it now. On lower difficulties (anything under 8, I'd say) you would likely be fine with stock turrets + grav turrets for defense. Waves are rather tame on that level.

But I'd suggest maybe knowledge hacking a system or two to get more K. Or even capturing a few if you can afford the AIP increase.

[mmobley]

Sigh... Guess I was still stuck on massing my defenses for the storm that never came eh?

Okay, so I guess my AIP will be going up now...
I start by knowledge raiding Yaetetheryar. The AI response was less than pleasant, and gave me an ominous message of further hacking likely response being moderate. Okay, enough hacking now .

I unlocked Bomber mk 2 and Missile Frigate mk 2. I have decided that for my end game the most important thing I can get is Bombers - lots of them. So here is my plan:

1. Take Foae (where the last ARS is, plus a mk 5 Fab.) and Iosdeloc (another mk. 5 Fab). Both will give me another 6000 K which can unlock Bombers mk 3 and thus Bombers mk 4 . I will neuter Oorvold and Zorick to compensate. This will altogether shoot up my AIP by 50, but I don't have much of a choice...
2. I then prepare for my first AI home world run. I am going to choose Diszimar (far east) first. I will start by taking the Core World closest to my forward base (Ashzup), and use it as my forward base, taking the knowledge from it. I then take out the first AI Homeworld (hopefully).
3. I then set up for the same run on Caucave. The Core World for targeting will be Niwigpin. I may hold here until I grab the knowledge, then unlock Missile Frigate mk 3 and 4 to give me more boost. With an assorted fleet of mk 1-5 ships, bombers, fighters, and other stuff I should be able to take out the final homeworld....

This is my plan. My end game... Hope it works.

If anyone has objections to this plan speak now or forever hold your peace (except to congratulate or yell at me ).

[Hearteater]

Just a note, when going for Mark III+IVs, bonus ship types you've gotten from an ARS are cheaper K-wise because you don't need to pay for Mark II.  So if you've got a bonus ship type that will do the job and are tight on K, consider that over bumping up triangle ships or your starting bonus ship type.

[mmobley]

Just a note, when going for Mark III+IVs, bonus ship types you've gotten from an ARS are cheaper K-wise because you don't need to pay for Mark II.  So if you've got a bonus ship type that will do the job and are tight on K, consider that over bumping up triangle ships or your starting bonus ship type.

Excellent point! That's why I chose Bombers (and possibly Frigates). The types I got for free, plus the mk. 5 Fabs are all Fighter type ships. So not only am I well covered in those areas, but I lack the one area that makes the end game count - heavy strikers. So, I'm pulling my remaining resources into Assault forces.

So far so good. Took the two systems and neutered their surrounding ones. Got Vorticular Cutlass for my final ship type (not a bad one at all) and mk. 5 Microfighters and Planes. Rounding up my now 2,000+ strong force and heading through Admaos and Edtus to carve my highway to Ashzup. Then the fun begins .

AIP is 221 as of now. If this works I will hit the AI Home world and it will rise to about 350 after. That doesn't seem bad going into the final home world attack .

[Mánagarmr]

220 is fine about now, if you are fairly ready to head for the homeworlds. Well done!

[mmobley]

Okay, so I hit Ashzup and knocked it down with little loss or effort. Dropped a Command Station and set up a forward base.

Then I started to hit Diszimar, and didn't catch the Core Eye present (ugh...).

After several half-assed waves I have only knocked out half of the guard posts, and my economy is badly strained. Luckily my threat counter is keeping reasonable (between 50 - 400 depending).

Will keep posted.

[mmobley]

Okay, time for an update. My end game got rough..... and ultimately failed.

First I did succeed in knocking out Diszimar. That wasn't so bad once I got the last command posts, then the homeworld folded fast.

So I packed up and fell back to my base at Isrexthar. Predictably the AI attacked my coreworld forward position within minutes of leaving it, so I just scrapped it up. Don't really need it anymore .

I rebuilt my forces, and took on my next phase - Niwigpih for forward base, then to Caucave.
Then things started not going well...
First, my raiding plan on Niwigpih fell apart, and I lost half my initial force to that damned Parasite Eye. Then the real trouble started - A fortress mk 3 inside a forcefield WITH the Command Station -.-.

So, I try to hit it several times, each time failing miserably with heavy losses, all the while my threat counter edges up due to CPA's and the AIP being now 363 from killing the first home world. FINALLY I said screw it and brute force hit the damned thing with my entire force. Amazingly it worked, and down they went. However, I guess I took too long to knock it out, because the AI Homeworld had built up to 1600 ships, and my threat counter was pegging 1000.

I built up my forward base as quickly as I could, and threw everything I had at the Home world. Almost as quickly as I did the AI decided it was time to strike as well, and hit Aelro (way far up north, far out from anything I could throw up there in time) WITH STARSHIPS!!! -.-. My turrets were no match. The AI quickly killed off Edgiofu and Asnoco as well, with some Fabricators and crippled my energy supply. So reinforcements were limited. So I decided to make the last stand on this home world (so close....). I managed to pick off the guard posts fairly fast (luckily no eye thank god). But as soon as I brought my fleet to bear on the main home command post (and guarding fortress mk 3) the special forces came swarming in. I barely made it out with 200 ships. Economy and energy both crippled and barely a fleet left, and the threat counter not reaching close to 2000 I know I have lost...

So.... save-scumming back to after I killed the first AI home world. New strategy to think of here...

[Mánagarmr]

Ah, the race for victory ^^

[mmobley]

Okay, so my second attempt...

After the first homeworld fell at Diszimar I pulled back my forces to Isrexthar. My initial strategy called for going through Oorvold, using Niwigpih as my forward base to take out the last homeworld at Caucave. However, as I quickly learned:

1. Niwigpih had not only an eye, but a fort mk 3 inside a forcefield WITH the command station. This rapidly delayed my final attack, long enough to be too late...
2. The AI was just mad enough to start sending forces at my planets north of my position. With my forces many hops away I could not even hope to reinforce in time...

So... this time I went with the second alternative - a more direct route from my own position. Aelro through Yelocyae, Tioerpar as my forward base, then smack the AI home world from the north.

First I needed to fortify and protect Isrexther - my Adv. Factory. I also took out the building threat from the surrounding planets. Then I grabbed my fleet and marched back to Aelro, leaving nothing alive (or online?) in my path to keep the threat low. From there I launched my incursion into Tioerpar, which was almost too easy with NO EYE and no stupid fortress inside a forcefield.

Forward base up, forces almost completely rebuilt, threat counter about 350 and forces on Caucave at about 450.... time to hit it!

No eye made it a lot easier. Ion cannon fell thanks to my raid starships (who died right after but their death was NOT in vain) I then took my fleet on a merry-go-round, knocking out one guard post after another as the AI poured in their reserves. It was about 15 minutes of white nuckled furious clickwork, but was done with only about 800 ship losses altogether.

Now for the final strike (haven't even pulled out once so far, and decided not to):
The good news - special forces never showed, and even if they did the worm hole they would come from was way out of the way, as opposed to before where it was between my fleet and my final target. I guess going the direct route cut off their entry(?).

Adn the bad news - the home command post is trapped inside two forcefields, next to a MARK 3 FORTRESS (whose bloody idea was it to do that anyways -.-). Fortunately I had most of my bomber fleet still, and very few enemy ships left to defend. So I parked my fleet right outside the range of the fortress, sent in the bombers, and used my Vampires and Cutlasses as cover for them. Down the fortress went, and the AI sends its last reinforcement wave to stop me. I regroup my fleet right on top of the command post, and finish off the reinforcements right as the command post went belly up. VICTORY AT LAST!!!!

Many thanks to the experts for providing helpful feedback during this game and with my previous failures. It feels good to finally get a hold of how best to approach the AI here. I will be starting a new game soon, and this time may throw in some expansion stuff to make it more interesting (any ideas?).

Final AIP: 504
Final Threat: 325
Total planets held: 12
Kill to loss ratio: 228%
Total Game time: 10:40

[Mánagarmr]

Woooot! Congrats!

[keith.lamothe]

Congratulations