What to do next?

[Bas92]

So, I watched all the video tutorials, read most articles on the Wiki and completed every tutorial. I'm now doing my first campaign versus 2 level 6 AI's.
I'm a bit unsure how to proceed. Here's a screenshot of the galaxy map: (click to enlarge)

The P9 planet on the bottom right corner contains one AI Home Command Station. It is, obviously, protected by Mark V ships. Both P8 planets adjacent to it have Mark IV ships.
I already found an Advanced Research Station, however, my army is still pretty weak (Mark II Bombers and Fighters).
There's a large "snake" connection of planets at the top, maybe I could capture those and set up a strong defense at the end of the "snake"? I'm a bit worried about the AI Progress getting too high though. As of now I have four planets where the AI can attack me. Maybe I should do some gate raids first?

As you can see I have one scout on some planets. I tried to send Scout starships + Scout M2 blobs everywhere but usually they died after 2-3 hops.

I also have way too many resources 

If this isn't enough information, well, ask away . I can always provide you with more screens/info.

Thanks in advance!

[x4000]

Have you killed all the core shield generators?  If not, then you can't attack the home planets yet because their core guard posts and command stations are still under protection from the CSGs elsewhere in the galaxy.  Sounds like you need to go after them, and in the meantime also get some more knowledge so that you can unlock some tier 3/4 ships to have more powerful fleets with.  By the time you get through a lot of that, and get an advanced factory, you should be in good shape to go for the AI homes!

[Bas92]

Hm guess I forgot the core shield generators . Thanks, I'll scout for them! Is a "core shield raid" a common strategy (maybe with a transport ship and some starships)?

[x4000]

No problem.

You can't raid a core shield generator, because you have to take the planet in order to drop its shields.  So it's one of the few things you can't raid.

[Hearteater]

Few things:
1) There is a filter on the galaxy map to show any system you've scouted a CSG on (it is the very bottom choice).  This is very useful once you start finding them so you can decide which you want to destroy.

2) Since you don't need to destroy all the CSG, you want to plan carefully which systems with CSGs to actually take.  Don't just grab them as soon as you find them unless they are a good choice for expansion regardless.

3) The Objectives tab shows you all the various things you should be doing and is very useful, especially your first few games or when returning to an old save.

[Bas92]

Haha I lost my first game . It's great how one tiny mistake can have such a big impact.
I left one of my planets, the only planet with no numbers next to it, almost undefended. I also forgot to gate raid the planet to the south of it (with 153 enemies on it). When I finally used some fighters to destroy the warp gate, it was too late. My fighters were followed by hundreds of AI ships and my command station was destroyed in less than 2 minutes. At the same time, the AI also attacked the now isolated planet to the east (see the map, it's the planet with the P0 priority). And only 30 seconds later he attacked my home command station while I desperately tried to bring my army back from the frontlines, but it was too late. Ah well, at least it was worth an achievement and a lot of experience . Starting a new campaign now..

Thanks for the tips btw! They're definitely useful. I'm also trying to read old topics here on the forum, lots of useful tips to be found. It's quite time-consuming though.

[BobTheJanitor]

You probably would have been better off just leaving that planet alone until you were ready to deal with the backlash. Even a planet with a lot of ships on it may not be a problem unless it has a lot of threat. Hit T on the galaxy map for detected threat for any planet you have scouts on. That will show how many ships are on that planet waiting for an opening in your defenses. Your raid probably freed a lot of extra ships on that planet, making the threat skyrocket and tipping the balance so the AI though it could win if it sent all its freed ships into your world.

Managing threat can be a big part of the game. Any time you go into a world you should be ready to deal with a lot of enemies following you back into your world when you leave. Or just be ready to wipe most of them out while you're there. And pretty much always make sure that a wormhole you're raiding has some mines/tractors/turrets around it. Better to build too much and scrap it later than the alternative.

[Bas92]

I have one more question. Instead of creating a new thread I'll use this one .
I'm doing pretty good in a new campaign (40 planets). I only captured 5 planets so far but I already got 3 advanced research stations, I scouted most of the galaxy and I got a Mark V fabricator (Chameleon ships).

Unfortunately I've got a planet with a human settlement and a Mark V fabricator right next to a wormhole. And as you can see, a new wave is on it's way.



I already got the wave covered with my main fleet and some MLRS/sniper/tractor beam turrets.

Any suggestions how I can protect these two buildings? Maybe a force field (which will cause any AI who exit through the wormhole to spawn outside the force field) with lots of tractor beams / turrets covering it?

[x4000]

A forcefield (or pair of forcefields, for redundancy) is a great idea, and should work against most foes.  The one thing to watch out for, though, is if the AI has anything that is immune to force fields -- most melee ships, etc.  If they do, then you'll want to supplement with gravity turrets and maybe even something like EMP mines.

Or you can go whole-hog and actually capture the planet on the other end of the offending wormhole; it sounds like your planet count is really low compared to what you've been able to capture, so taking "wasted" planets is less of a worry thus far.  So you might appreciate the extra metal/crystal income so that you can build/rebuild more stuff more quickly.