i am beyond horrible at this game

[adecoy95]

which is a shame because i really like all the different ships and stuff that are in it.

basically, at the beginning i try and use my research to make myself more resources, then i build a few extra buildings so i can make fighters/bombers/frigates/etc. i spam these like crazy until i cant build anymore.....

....

then the first ai wave comes and destroys my command and i loose the game

[Coppermantis]

What difficulty are you on? If you're failing, then try lowering the difficulty. (unless you're on 1, of course). Giving yourself a positive resource handicap in the lobby is useful as well.

More detailed, I usually start pumping out fighters as soon as I start to defend against basic border aggression. Turrets around your starting force field. (MLRS and Missile are the most useful in my opinion, in the early game.) Unlocking Econ II stations is good if you consistently find yourself pressed for resources, but probably not more until later. I personally never get Mk. II harvesters, because the econ stations work just as well.

After I get a cap of Mk. II fighters my strategy depends on my bonus ship. If It's a cheap unit (autocannon minipods, shredders, planes, microfighters, etc.) I build a cap of that too, followed by maybe a half cap of bombers and frigates. If I have excess resources before the first wave, I build a full cap of every ship and a few light starships as well.

This is just my strategy of course, It may be less useful for you depending on your preferences.

[Hearteater]

Here are some random early game tips of the top of my head:

* Try not to research stuff until you need it.  Sitting on 5000 Knowledge isn't bad; it means you have the resources to pull out some new tech when you encounter an enemy system that otherwise would stop you.  If you run your Knowledge down to 0 constantly, you'll soon find yourself in the tough situation of not having the tools you need and no where to expand to get more Knowledge.

* Unlock Gravity Turrets immediately.  Place at least two to cover each warp point in your home system, between the warp point and your command station (form a triangle with the warp point being the third point).  These turrets are so amazingly useful.  In fact, they are basically the most OP turret in the game.  If you've ever played a tower defense game you'll know slowing turrets are generally pretty awesome.  Now imagine a slow-aura turret in a tower defense.  Yup, they are that good.

* Fighters are really strong all-around ships.  They have a lot of survivability so they make a really strong early unlock, especially if you find yourself needing to defend a lot.  Bombers are awesome on offense and a great unlock if you need to take enemy systems quickly.  Missile Frigates are...less impressive.  Try and avoid unlocking them unless they are a hard counter for one of the enemy's ship types.

* Early game you probably don't need to build any additional Space Docks or many (if any) extra Engineers.  Your resources won't be able to keep up with insane build rates so you are just wasting resources creating super-fast building potential that your resource base can't support.  A good early-to-mid guide is one Space Dock per Mark of ships.  So once you've unlocked some Mark II ships, build a second Space Dock.  Don't build a third until you start unlocking Mark III.  Unless you know what you are doing, don't build any extra Starship Constructors or Merc. Space Docks.

* Initially your main goal should be to take all adjacent systems.  While building up your fleet ships to do this, scout all those systems and everything adjacent to them.  You want to be very careful about taking a system next to a Mark III or worse, Mark IV enemy.  You absolutely can crush a Mark III planet 20 minutes into the game with just one or two Mark II unlocks.  However, that only works if they aren't on alert very long.  So early on if you do have a nearby Mark III, try and take it right after you put it on alert.  Do this by clearing out the adjacent system of everything except its Command Station and then rebuild your forces.  Then drop the the Command Station and go straight for the Mark III.  You don't need to take it in one shot, but crush as many Guard Posts as possible (ignore the Wormhole Guard Posts).

* Until you start capturing enemy system, don't unlock Economic Command Stations.  I like to wait until I have 2-3 systems claimed first.  Basically everything adjacent to my home world.  Don't improve harvesters unless Economic Command Stations aren't cutting it which should be rare.

* If you are generating too many resources early, build up some starships.  There is nothing wrong with pausing starship construction often.  When my resource reserves are climbing, I unpause.  When I start losing reserves, I pause.  Eventually you'll get some starships out.  Raid, Bomber and Light Starships are all extremely useful early.  With experience you'll probably want the Raid Starships first because they are such a great tool for removing problem enemy structures such as Warp Gates, Ion Cannons, etc.  If you don't think you need those, try Bomber Starships.  They really help speed up taking enemy systems.  Just make sure to pull them out before they die.  You'd much rather repair than replace them.  Light Starships are a touch fragile, so while they multiply your power, they can be tough to keep alive.

[Commiesalami]

Try unlocking Gravity Turrets and Advanced Warp Sensors as your first unlocks.  Then wait until the first wave is announced.  The advanced warp sensor will tell you where the waves are coming from, so you can build gravity and tractor turrets around the wormhole (Remember that a tractor turrets can stop 30 ships each, so there is no need to build a whole lot at this point) and a gravity will slow down anything else.  From there your ships & turrets can pick them off

[Coppermantis]

Oh yeah, grav turrets+ AWS. The warp sensor lets you know which wormhole to defend, so you don't have to waste resources building mines+turrets on the wrong wormhole. A well-laid minefield can work wonders against enemy waves.

[x4000]

Another few notes: if you're trying to buff your economy before the first wave from the AI, the best way to do that is to take a second planet.  Researching better command stations is useless until you have another planet anyhow, and researching harvesters and then upgrading all your harvesters will eat all your knowledge and only give you so much added return.  And also, while the harvesters are upgrading you'll get no income from them -- so better to have a more solid base of more planets before doing that, in most cases.

I'm an economically-minded player as well, so I tend to try to take 1-2 planets in the first 30 minutes of the game and get either mark II or III economic command stations on them, plus a full complement of mark I harvesters.  But, that's really pushing it as you might not have enough forces to deal with the AI return if you try that when you're still learning the game.  It can be done, it's just harder if you try to rush it.

[TechSY730]

@Hearteater

Awesome tips, except for one thing.

* Fighters are really strong all-around ships.  They have a lot of survivability so they make a really strong early unlock, especially if you find yourself needing to defend a lot.  Bombers are awesome on offense and a great unlock if you need to take enemy systems quickly.  Missile Frigates are...less impressive.  Try and avoid unlocking them unless they are a hard counter for one of the enemy's ship types.

Missile frigates may not be able to pump out the damage, but they are very survivable due to decent HP and great range. Among my triangle fleet ship types, the one I lose the least of is the missile frigates, due to these reasons. To fully exploit that range though, you better be good at spacing, kiting, or use auto-kiting. (I personally use auto-kiting, though it is confusing to new players)

They also serve as a good counter to many bizarre but otherwise annoying ship types; the bizarre ship types tend to have the rarer armor types, which missile frigates tend to get bonuses against.

[Hearteater]

Very true, but for beginners I think they are the toughest of the triangle ships to use.  They are hard to keep grouped with the rest of your fleet until you learn the game's controls well, there are units that are missile immune to consider, and cost-wise Fighters can actually be more economical against enemy forces that frigates are actually superior against.  But they definitely do have their uses.

[NickAragua]

Missile frigates may not be able to pump out the damage, but they are very survivable due to decent HP and great range. Among my triangle fleet ship types, the one I lose the least of is the missile frigates, due to these reasons.

Heh, probably you're also not losing too many of them because by the time they get to the fight, it's already over.

But yes, I consider them useful in defensive situations.

[TechSY730]

Missile frigates may not be able to pump out the damage, but they are very survivable due to decent HP and great range. Among my triangle fleet ship types, the one I lose the least of is the missile frigates, due to these reasons.

Heh, probably you're also not losing too many of them because by the time they get to the fight, it's already over.

Not really. This holds true even when I send all my ships through an enemy wormhole all at once.

[Echo35]

Oh yeah, grav turrets+ AWS. The warp sensor lets you know which wormhole to defend, so you don't have to waste resources building mines+turrets on the wrong wormhole. A well-laid minefield can work wonders against enemy waves.

I actually didn't even start using grav turrets until very recently. Even then, I still prefer teching out Tractor Beam turrets until I start running into things that aren't tractorable.

[TechSY730]

Oh yeah, grav turrets+ AWS. The warp sensor lets you know which wormhole to defend, so you don't have to waste resources building mines+turrets on the wrong wormhole. A well-laid minefield can work wonders against enemy waves.

I actually didn't even start using grav turrets until very recently. Even then, I still prefer teching out Tractor Beam turrets until I start running into things that aren't tractorable.

I use both. The tractors hold most of the attack force, while the grav turrets severely slow down anything that manages to get past, and serves as an additional buffer if all of the tractor turrets get destroyed.

Also handy for countering melee units, as in my current game the AI got their hands on Spire blade spawners.

[Coppermantis]

Oh yeah, grav turrets+ AWS. The warp sensor lets you know which wormhole to defend, so you don't have to waste resources building mines+turrets on the wrong wormhole. A well-laid minefield can work wonders against enemy waves.

I actually didn't even start using grav turrets until very recently. Even then, I still prefer teching out Tractor Beam turrets until I start running into things that aren't tractorable.

I used to use tractors, but after I found out that tractored units don't hit mines, I switched to grav. I still use tractors after the minefield, but for intitial wormhole defense I prefer grav+basic/lightning/flak/mlrs+mines.

[Hearteater]

Don't forget that tractored units can always hit the tractoring unit, which is not automatically true of gravity turrets.

[adecoy95]

ok, i tried the tractor beams, they helped a bit, but i am still having trouble defending my worlds, i dont have very much in the way of command for turrets, so i have to spread them out a lot, i my last game i was trying to defend something like 5 wormholes and i only have two systems. once the first wave of 250 ships came in it was over. i assume that turrets are not any stronger than ships, because a fleet of 20 of some sort of raid managed to make short work of my entire defense grid (some area mines, 10 mirvs, 10 basics, 6 tractors, 1 heavy beam thing, 5 laser, 10 sniper, 3 flak)

also, the advance sensor thing is mostly useless, i thought it would tell me what wormholes i needed to defend, instead it just told me what i already know, which is what system is under attack