Am I doing something wrong?

[Lightbulb]

Apologies - read it in a rush before going to work.

Saves - I save immediately when I load so about 2 seconds - because I'm quite new and tend to die early sometimes



Ok, ideas:

I guess I am just working on the assumption that you must have done SOMETHING to cause it because how else would you explain it? That said its beta: weird shit happens (like waves of 200 Zenith Bombers which is frankly impossible to counter and was a documented error from pre-version 5).

Did a roaming neinzul enclave just happen to turn up with a wave and you assumed it was the same?

Is it a counter attack guard post you didn't notice when you took the system?

etc etc

Who knows is basically the answer then

[Sir t]

Although, something I have observed is that, there is an absurd amount of neinzul youngling ships in these waves.  I'm not playing with neinzul enthusiastic AI but these ships have been present in every incident so far in huge numbers, comprising maybe half of the enemy ships.  Not sure what to make of this.

Ding!

What you have there is an attack by the Nienzul enclaves thats working with the AI. You probably dont even see them because they are a clas V carrier ship that dips into your world with the AI attack, unloads 200 odd (I'm not sure the exact number they hold) class 3 ships and then leaves. They are immune to tractors and whatnot and they don't even need to stay in your world for more than a moment.

I HATE THOSE GODDAM THINGS.

I fought through my first long game a few weeks ago, and I lost all my planets multiple times to these things. It wasnt the AI. The Ai was not actually causing me too much problems. It was those enclaves. They would just zip through my planets, spawning hundreds of children and all my planets would rapidly die. I swear I lost all my planets 15 times at least to these things, and they would nip in with an AI attack to cause maximum pain. And it was against AI 5 opposition. It took me 20 hours to get into a position to strike against the AI, and after all that crap I could not take the homeworlds... because the Guardposts in the last AI homeworld suddenly spawned 3000+ neinzul younglings that devoured my fleet. So I dropped AI war in total frustration and I haven't played a game since then till I started against today... and I disabled the Nienzul expansion and I doubt I will ever play with it enabled ever again.

But yeah what happening is that one or 2 enclaves are dropping their gifts into your homeworld and they are ripping everything apart. The amount of enclaves is limited by AIP but even one can drop a huge amount of pain. And the proof is the Younglings haven't traveled with the AI fleet as they only live a few minutes by themselves. They need a carrier and that's the enclave.

[TechSY730]

There are supposed to be human allied enclaves, but for some reason, they are bugged right now so they don't spawn.

[Invelios]

But yeah what happening is that one or 2 enclaves are dropping their gifts into your homeworld and they are ripping everything apart. The amount of enclaves is limited by AIP but even one can drop a huge amount of pain. And the proof is the Younglings haven't traveled with the AI fleet as they only live a few minutes by themselves. They need a carrier and that's the enclave.

Waves are warped in, they don't travel through AI space. The AI can warp in Younglings without an enclave, they just warp to your wormhole. So there is no proof that the enclaves are causing the problem. If he turned the roaming enclave minor faction on, then it might be the problem though.

[zebramatt]

The number of ships is not the most relevant factor with the Neinzul. They always have a lot of ships. No, what are far more important are delaying those ships, and ensuring you have the right ship types to eat them up.

I'd recommend gravitational, lightning and flak turrets, for sure; plus as many fighters as you can with a light starship or two; anything else you might have which does area of effect damage; and then, depending on the types of Neinzul you're seeing, missile, MLRS or laser turrets, raid starships or bombers. Snipers are always good but they'll really put a strain on your economy so early on.

Best to do what you can with a couple of strategically placed gravitational turrets, a healthy number of fighters with a light starship (or two) and as many turrets as you can feasibly support that early on, especially lightning and flak.

[Shrugging Khan]

Force fields. This may sound stupid, but one the biggest force multipliers against the Neinzul is the simple ability to outlast them.