Super New Player Time

[Minty]

Snrub, the AI doesn't get additional shiptypes (I think), just increased amounts of waves and more reinforcements the more starting planets the player(s) have.

[Velox]

Snrub, the AI doesn't get additional shiptypes (I think), just increased amounts of waves and more reinforcements the more starting planets the player(s) have.

     That's correct - the bonus ships shown for the various planets are only relevant in that they determine which ship you get if you pick that planet.  The AI doesn't get anything based on the ones you didn't select (although as mentioned above it will be more powerful if you DO select more than one.)
     The AI does unlock more ship types as the AI Progress count increases, but that's a totally separate mechanism from the in-lobby selection.

[snrub_guy]

Yep, that's what I thought. But you know, I have never started with more than one planet... Might need to try that out.

[RCIX]

I personally pick Complex and spin the roulette until i get a ship type i like and the other ones don't look too frightening.
*/quote*

I was under the impression that once you pick your starting planet, the ships on the other choosable planets have no significance...
Does the A.I get the bonus ships for the other planets you don't pick? If so, I may have been overlooking something quite big...

Funny, i always thought it was the other way around; that the AI just gets whatever you don't choose....

[HitmanN]

I'm also quite new. Been playing less than two weeks.

Out of three games, I've won one. The others I gave up on simply based on the pressure from the AI's which felt too great compared to my situation.

The game I won was against two Difficulty 6 AI's, small galaxy (didn't understand what difference the galaxy size makes at first, so I started with small ones like 25 planets), probably 30 planets or so. AI's were Random Easier, the other was Turtle and the other Entrenched Homeworlder. I seriously wouldn't have won the game if it wasn't for two Armored Warheads that I used to bait the guards on the AI home world away from the Command Station. xD I had let the ship count grow way too big on that planet since I had unknowingly alerted it in mid-game, looking at near 5000 ships (some sort of cap, I think.), it was fun to see around 3000 AI ships and 23 starships go after two near-indestructible warheads and keep shooting at them even when their command station was under attack behind their backs, LOL. Felt like I cheated that one, but it was fun. Turned my game into a slideshow with so many ships too. At least now I know what I shouldn't let happen next time. ^^;

Been playing with Simple ship types for now. Next game I'll go Normal or Complex for sure, as I think I've learned the functions and uses of the simple types.

Anyways, my suggestion for a first game, if there's at least some RTS experience, and based on my first game experiences, would be Difficulty 5 or 6 AI's, 'easier' AI type for each, simple ship types, 40-60 planet galaxy, AI progress 1/30, no minor factions. There's plenty to learn there already.

Oh, and read the wikipedia pages and some forum posts here. I think I found tons of information here and there that is not mentioned in the tutorials or anywhere in the game. Mainly stuff about AI behaviour, priorities, stuff like that.