Start of game - Step 1: Unlock all Mk 2 ships?

[Inglonias]

At the start of the game, if you include your home system's knowledge, you start with 12,000 knowledge. That's enough to get fighter, bomber, cruiser, and special mk 2 ships. Should one go about that immediately or is that just stupid? It occurs to me that storing knowledge is pointless unless you are saving up for a certain type of ship.

Thoughts?

[laxrulz777]

You're going to find a couple different answers:

MOST (but certainly not all) of us start by unlocking a couple of the MkII ships (WHICH ones depends on what the special ship is). Some people like to go for some of the cheap turrets as well (Mkii basic, laser, tractor mkii and tachyon emitter being the most frequent ones).

Some things that will play into your decision:

1) How many exits out of your starting system. If it's a lot, turtling might more sense.
2) Do you dislike bombers? Many people have indicated a certain dislike (I won't say hatred) of bombers and generally unlock Raid starships instead.
3) What's your resource situation look like? If you think that you're going to be struggling for research than the upgraded orbital command might be a move.
4) What's your playstyle in general?
5) Are you going to have scouting issues? 1000 knowledge for mkii scouts can make a big difference.

I don't have the same unlock patern each time (although it's similar) and I think most people say the same.

[Inglonias]

My strategy, though primitive, is simply overwhelming force. Cap out every ship, and send them in. Turrets defend systems for me unless it is absolutely necessary for ships to be there.

I generally play map seeds where I have a small cluster of systems with only one or two exits.

I like bombers, but I wish they'd stop dying so much

My favorite special is the Spaceplane, generally speaking.

[x4000]

Here are a couple of different things that people do:  http://arcengames.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=AI_War_-_Technologies

Lots of valid ways to play!

[El-Ravager]

I prefer to go to lvl 3, those units are more efficient and die less. I ttend to stick to core units for the beginning of the game too because I want to see what the AI has in store before I upgrade a unit that will be isnta dead to the AIs troop mix (e.g. upgrading bulletproof fighters and then encountering laser gatlings ^^ ). You are more more or less save from that fate with the 3 core ships.

With 12.000 you can do 3/2/1 and have 2.000 left over, then go to 3/3/1 on your next planet. I tend to upgrade cruisers and bombers before fighters because fighters are more of a defensive weapon, since their range is too low. And at the start lvl 1 fighters usually do the job well enogh.

P:S why the bomber hate? I love them Plus you cna have them earlier then youcna raid starships if you do need to crack a tough nut at the start of the game.

[Haagenti II]

I *always* go to II Cruisers, but for the other choices I wait until my scouts have looked at adjacent planets (to see whether I need bombers).

[laxrulz777]

I *always* go to II Cruisers, but for the other choices I wait until my scouts have looked at adjacent planets (to see whether I need bombers).

I don't find the Mk2 Cruisers to be that huge a difference as long as I can keep enemy fighters away from them. This may be more a function of the games I've played (Laser Gatlings, Autocannons, T-Raiders and T-Stations) which all happen to be good against fighters.

I'll have to try prioritizing the cruisers higher and see if i notice a difference.

[Kjara]

Cruiser II's are 2.666x the dps and 3.33x the hps of cruiser 1's, compared to fighters: (2x the dps and 1.34x the hps) and bombers: (4.5x the dps and 2.5x the hps).  The problem the bomber has is they are fragile enough(mainly due to cruiser overkilling) that the hp increase is less useful(the damage increase is great though and the mkIII increase is great).  Honestly, the fighter upgrades seem to be mainly about numbers(though they do get a slight range increase that can be useful, esp for increasing accuracy against starships--though starships shields vs fighter range seems a bit high considering fighters are intended to counter starships), while bombers and cruiser are about quality(esp with the mkIII bomber shield and range increases).

[RCIX]

I grab the Raid starships then spend the rest of my knowledge on defensive and turret technologies. Raid starships are usually enough for me to get going and take a bunch of planets, which gets me a lot of knowledge and resources to use in furthering my campaign. With most of that knowledge i unlock some or all of the following:



 * L2 Engineer for sure
 * various starships
 * more turret techs
 * usually l2 force-field
 * usually l2 command station
 * later on, higher tech ships

See, raid starships can be used in a ton of situations early on in the game, and i find them a refreshing substitute for ..... regular ships (stargate reference)

[Volatar]

I wait until I find out what I need by battling the AI a little, finding out what unit types it has, and unlock to match.

[Kjara]

Heh, I tend to unlock most of my "initial build" right at the start, since it involves the army I'm going to be building(Mk II units), and the turrets I'm going to be building for defense.  I've found that a decent mix of mk II units can beat pretty much any mk I or mk II planet in the first hour or 2.  The only time this has failed was against a vicious raider that decided to throw 600 or so infiltrators at me at about the 40 minute mark.  The infiltrators couldn't kill my army, but they could kill my command center before I could kill them .