Where's a good place for a newbie to start?

[Teal_Blue]

Hi,
          I've been over in the other forums, the AVWW1 and 2 and SH and SC ones, and have bought and tried AI War, and all the expansions, but i keep losing. Haha, well... i guess i'm a newb at tactics and stuff, so i wanted to post a note and ask where is a good place to start to learn, i mean simple stuff, you know, like how not to die all the time?    Anyway, thanks for the advice and help in advance, take care and as Spock would say, "Live Long and Prosper."


-Teal

[Kahuna]

Hi,
          I've been over in the other forums, the AVWW1 and 2 and SH and SC ones, and have bought and tried AI War, and all the expansions, but i keep losing. Haha, well... i guess i'm a newb at tactics and stuff, so i wanted to post a note and ask where is a good place to start to learn, i mean simple stuff, you know, like how not to die all the time?    Anyway, thanks for the advice and help in advance, take care and as Spock would say, "Live Long and Prosper."


-Teal

Hi!

If you haven't already might wanna read these
Going for my first game of AI War: http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,11837.msg125730.html#msg125730
Some overall strategies and tech unlocks: http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,11937.msg128188.html#msg128188
Neutering: http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,12037.msg129629.html#msg129629
Ship combos: http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,11996.msg129236.html#msg129236
Beachheading: http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,11391.msg129159.html#msg129159
Bindings and In-Game Controls: http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,13292.0.html

I'm working on a bigger guide that combines all of those and probably more but I don't know when it will be finished. Need to sleep more if i want to get it done.

Anyway.. how to NOT lose in short: Keep AIP under 300 or 200 depending on which difficulty level you play. I try to keep my AIP under 110. Keeping AIP low means capturing less planets. Only capture planets you need and know you can defend. Try not to let the waves get bigger than 1800 ships. Good defenses can "auto stop" about 1800 ships without you having to do anything.. how?

When it comes to defense Minefields (especially Area Minefields), Force Fields and Tractors Beam Turrets are you best friends. Sure you need turrets that do damage too but Force Fields and Tractors will buy you more time and allow the damage dealing turrets to actually do their damage before getting destroyed. Mark II Gravitational Turrets are very good too but if there are 2000 AI ships coming for your Command Station you turrets wont have enough time to destroy all of them. Even though they greatly slow down the AI ships it isn't always enough. Gravitational Turrets are a must vs Exo Galactic Strike Forces and very good vs Starships (Starfleet Commander AI type^^) and Guardians. But vs normal waves and CPAs (Cross Planetary Attacks) Tractor Mark Is and IIs protected by Mark I and II Hardened Force Field Generators will do the job better.

These Tractor beam Turrets will stop 1996 non Tractor Immune ships and there's 3 Force Fields (Mark I and II Hardened Force Fields and a Mark II Force Field).

And yes Hardened Force Fields are actually better than the normal ones:
MarkI Bombers vs MarkI Force Field
MarkI Force Field destroyed in: 20,000,000/468,480=43s 43/12=3,5 --> destroyed in 4 reloads
MarkI Bombers vs MarkI Hardened Force Field
MarkI Hardened Force Field destroyed in: 5,000,000/(468,480*0,2)=53s 53/12=4,4 ---> destroyed in 5 reloads

There are also Mark I Flak Turrets countering Fighters (Light Hull) and Swarmers.. Mark I and II Lightning Turrets countering Bombers (Polycrystal) and Ultra-Light. Flak and Lightning Turrets are very good even though they're expensive in terms of resources so rebuilding them will get expensive. Normally Force Fields reduces the damage dealt by everything (except AI ships) by 75%. Flak and Lightning turrets only get 25% penalty. Flak and Lightning Turrets also have very high cap health which means they will be able to take lot of punishment even after the Force Fields have been destroyed. I just stopped a ~8000 ship CPA with these defenses supported by my fleet and I didn't even have to use Warheads. Took some microing but it worked.

BUT.. before the Force Fields, Tractors, Flaks and LightningTs there are Area Minefields "line placed" between the hostile wormhole and my Command Station kinda like this:
How to stop a wave in 3 seconds:
Time: 4:02:22
Enemies left: 631


Time: 4:02:25
Enemies left: 173


I strongly recommend unlocking Area Minefields when wave sizes are close to ~1000 ships. Use the line placing to line place them between the hostile wormholes and the command station. (Alt+Right click on the background-->line placing-->enable packed line. make a line by first clicking on point A then B. Then hold shift and start placing)

This is why "Area Minefields + Force Fields + Tractor Beam Turrets + Flak and Lightning Turrets" is my favorite defensive tech combo at the moment. I can't think of any better combo right now.


You can also combine Gravitational Turrets with EMP Minefields. Build the EMP Minefields in front of the turrets so the paralyzed ships will be in range of your turrets. The effect is quite similar to Tractor Beam Turrets. The AI ships won't be able to move and will be sitting ducks. Of course Mark II Gravitational AND EMP Minefields cost more Knowledge than Mark II Gravitational Turrets. You can try which you like better. Of course it depends on situation too.

So if you do that correctly you should be safe from waves.

EDIT: Oh.. I forgot to mention: You can effectively defend 3 planets vs ~1800 waves. Split your turrets between 3 "whipping boys" (whipping boy = heavily fortified planet where the player takes the waves). So you can have 3 planets "auto stopping" ~1800 ship waves. Note that it's not 100% sure the wave will always be auto stopped. It depends on the distance between the wormhole and your Command Station, wave ship composition, turret positioning, number of Engineers and Remains Rebuilders and stuff. So always keep an eye on the planet when a big wave is coming and have you fleet and transports ready.

[doctorfrog]

Hey Kahuna, mind if I reuse any of that material for a pocket strategy guide?

[Kahuna]

Hey Kahuna, mind if I reuse any of that material for a pocket strategy guide?

Not at all. That would be awesome go ahead!