One last attempt.

[LordSloth]

Things are a lot tougher, and able to outpace your defenses. I might suggest a lightning warhead placed right next to your shield generator. And LOTs of mines, since it isn't like they'll be stopped by tractor turrets for long.

Yes, it is really hard, and I'm having to adjust as well, since they blew through my chokepoint.

[Volatar]

If I need a Lightning Warhead to beat this Exo, I am going to need one for the next, and the next... until death by AIP.

I don't like Warheads.

[Hearteater]

You're doing FS right?  AIP is less critical there.  As you get the big ships, the amount of AIP will be less important.  So if you need a warhead or two for early Exos, that's a fair trade.  Think of it this way: You have 1 AIP/30 minutes on.  A Mark I Lightning Warhead costs 1 AIP.  So if you are in a situation where a Mark I Lightning will save you 30 minutes of game time, use the warhead.

[Volatar]

You're doing FS right?  AIP is less critical there.  As you get the big ships, the amount of AIP will be less important.  So if you need a warhead or two for early Exos, that's a fair trade.  Think of it this way: You have 1 AIP/30 minutes on.  A Mark I Lightning Warhead costs 1 AIP.  So if you are in a situation where a Mark I Lightning will save you 30 minutes of game time, use the warhead.

Oh, I thought they were 5 AIP.

Wellllll then. 

[LordSloth]

...I tend to play with Civilian Leaders on, and do a bad job getting ahead of the automatic growth. So I'm usually seeing 7-10 AIP an hour, which should be taken into account with regards to my occasionally building a full cap of lightning warheads in desperation. That said, as soon as you get those cities up, the sooner you can leverage those shielded destroyers into other game advantages. I tend to view the first spire city as the most important - I want my railguns bad. Forgot to take Sniper as starting ship type? No problem.

[Volatar]

Well, the two Lightning warheads I used certainly helped, but in the end about 500 ships broke through. (Note: The shard spawned further out this time, so there were more spawns.)

Hmm....

[Volatar]

And success! I modified my defense again.

You see, what was happening before was that my fleet would duke it out with the Exo at the wormhole. The turrets were too far to assist. When the fleet died the AI was able to walk right past my turrets, barely taking any damage from them before destroying them.

So, I moved the turrets up, AND gave it more tasty targets, namely a capful of tractor turrets on top of the wormhole, AND provided a safe way for my engineers and remains rebuilders to continuously refresh the bait for it's fire.

This is what it looked like.




All of this death and destruction brought to you by the glorious metal band Demetori.

Finally I can move forward.

[keith.lamothe]

Nothing like atmospheric densities of lightning to spice up an AI attack's day

[Volatar]

Ended up spending that 9k knowledge on harvesters III. I didn't want to wait around forever for the resources to build the spire city stuff.

So I immediately plopped the city down, grabbed some engineers, and watched it build.

It wasn't until the AI taunted me that I looked at the map, to see an Exo breaking through my left side while I wasn't looking. I forgot about that Exo trigger.

RELOAD.

[Volatar]

So, after not dying to the city building wave I proceed to build said city (on Buzzel).

I take the main bulk of my fleet over to Arkintoofle and examine the situation next door.





Well crap. Those are gonna suck.

Oh hey, a CPA. They all form up on Synchrony. I bait them to attack and clean them up without difficulty, netting me 19 Sentinel I's in return. Sweet.

I form up my fleet and stick my head into the meat grinder of Synchrony (not enough to trigger the eye). My Raid SS's manage to take out the Ion Cannon and two of the guard posts before I retreat. Unfortunately the Fortress is sitting right next to one of the remaining two guard posts, so Raid SS's aren't going to cut it.

I lick my wounds (having lost nearly 200 of the 600 ships I brought to that system) and start to build the Spire Fleet ships that I now have access to.

A Exo is imminent but since it is the first one I am not concerned. My static defenses should handle it fine.

[Volatar]

I poke my head into the same system again after the Exo, and my single Spire Destroyer picks off both guard posts while sitting at the wormhole in seconds.

Well that was easy. Guess I don't have to worry about that fortress after all.

On to Narn!

Exo at 90%? Ah that's not that big a deal. I can fit in a quick raid on the Ion Cannons before it hits.

or not

I manage to take out the Ion cannons before the Exo hits. The wave races right past me and through my wormhole before I realized it had spawned.

My defenses take care of it, but in my haste to bring my fleet back my Spire Cruiser and Destroyers get caught out alone left in Narn, their engines down to a quarter speed, getting swarmed by little ships.

The Cruiser, slowest of all, gets out at 40% hp right before a wave of bombers reaches him. That was close. That could have been expensive.

[Volatar]

So, the city reveals that the next city shard is on Flargathon. As I suspected might happen. (That's why I have been working on Synchrony and Narn.) Well, guess I better punch some scouts through to Arcturus next door.

Only two make it through, and, knowing they would die quick, I make sure to be watching the system with my hand over the P key when they enter.





O.O

I have severely underestimated the AI.

[Volatar]

Managed to clear out all the threatening things from those two systems (apart from that fortress).

Also, this amused me in one of the waves:

[keith.lamothe]

Those ships really have no concept of personal space.

[Volatar]

So, after that battle with the Eye on Narn, everything that was not a starship in First Fleet had either retreated (to keep the number's from being imbalanced) or died (when I couldn't retreat them fast enough). So, at the end of it all my First Fleet group selection only consisted of Spire Fleet ships and Starships.

Well, I guess I might as well use these guys I think. I hop them over to Narn after the Exo mentioned above and pop the barracks from afar, and kill all the contents before they reach firing range.

Then, suddenly, these guys show up.



RETREAT!

I guess the AI considered the now-barren system of Narn worth defending?

Anyways, that reserve fleet of theirs goes back to Synchrony, I gather my fleet and hop over to attack it. Unfortunately it's too far away and said enemy fleet has nearly a hundread zenith sentinels. Not duking it out at long range with that.

So I hop back over to Arkintoofle, then to Narn, hoping to come in behind them at much closer range.

They oblige me with the fight I wanted.



Cleaning that up should reduce the threat out there.

I send out scouts to report on that buildup at Arcturus. I manage to get one through permanently.



Looks like that fleet I just killed came from there, so it is reduced, but still a large threat.

I plan now to go for the second city shard in Flargathon. Hopefully that reserve fleet doesn't throw itself into the battle. Things could go badly quick if that happens.