Hello, I just bought the full version of the game, I played through the campaign tutorial on the demo and just started my first game, I had a few questions if people don't mind.
Not at all! People here love to share.
First off, what difficulty would you recommend for someone who is used to RTS games but new to this one in particular? I ask because right now it's on 5, and in ~1 hour of playtime, the AI has sent one wave (progress is at 32 I believe). I picked something low'ish because I didn't want to get completely destroyed while figuring everything out, but right now it feels like the AI is mostly just letting me do whatever. I don't know if progress increases the rate at which these waves appear or only the strength of them.
Don't let it lull you, haha. It is true that the waves get more frequent when the difficulty level increases, but so too does the ferocity of those waves. One thing to keep in mind is that the waves also get bigger the longer it has been between them, even on a given difficulty. So your next wave in this game might come in only 15 minutes, say, and be half the size. The next one might not come for an hour, but would be huge. Even on the higher difficulties, the waves are not incessant simply because you need some time to take some offensive action without constantly being embattled on your own planets.
On the lower difficulties (below 7), the AI is not too much of a threat usually at the start of the game, but again, don't let that lull you. The higher that AI Progress gets, the more of a danger they will be. There's a fair chance that diff 5 is a bit on the low side for you, from the sounds of it, so you might enjoy playing on diff 7 if you don't mind the possibility of a few losses. Some strategy players prefer to start lower and get a few victories, then move up. Some prefer to start a bit higher, struggle for a bit and possibly lose a few times, then come out stronger. Just depends on which camp you are in that you might prefer.
The reason I'm 1 hour in with what is probably pretty low progress is because the first planet I took had a forcefield around a special ops station. The problem was I had to shoot it forever with cruisers since my bombers would just get obliterated if they got close enough to shoot. Was there some sort of research or anything I should have done to speed that up? I swear I spent at least 10-15 minutes just shooting that forcefield.
The higher-level bombers have much better range, so unlocking them can make this sort of situation easier. Alternatively, there are a few starships (Raid, mostly) that can shoot through forcefields, or you could use an EMP and then send in your cruisers after the special forces guard post while everything is stunned. Something like massed sniper turrets can also be pretty effective, or potentially even a pair of lightning warheads, though I've not tried that and so that may or may not actually work.
You can always "brute force it" like you did, but that takes forever -- there are generally at least 3 or 4 ways to crack most problems such as this one.
Which brings me to my last question, research. The tutorial mainly just covers mark upgrades, and there's so much more research to get. Early on, should I focus on mark upgrades? Should I get a starship early or wait? Basically I'm a bit at a loss of what research I should focus on first.
Well, it depends on your playstyle, honestly, and you'll figure out what matches your style as you go. kjara gave a great example of what he does, and I think that's one good way to handle it.
For myself personally, I'm traditionally a boomer/economic fiend in other RTS games, so I tend to do something more like:
Command Station II (under ECON)
At Least 2 or 3 Mark II upgrades
At least 1 o 2 Mark III upgrades
Spider Turrets, or perhaps Basic Turret IIs, or both
Possibly Engineers II
Possibly higher-level scouts
And that pretty much sets me for the early game. Upgrading the mark levels is pretty key in most cases, because it gets you more ship cap, and therefore more ships to use. However, some people play the opposite and unlock the Starships instead. That lets you really have smaller fleets, but with these super powerful starships at the center of them. Or you can find something of a balance there.
I think it's a good idea to avoid unlocking too many turrets or defensive techs until you really need them. Although, some people find that mobile repair stations and/or transports are something of a must-have for their play styles. It depends on what you really want to emphasize. If you go the starships route, a popular line is the flagships-to-Zenith-to-Spire route, because those are the most powerful starships you can get, and they really pack a punch. But the AI is good at defending against just them, so it's very smart to pair them with a reasonable fleet as well.
