I'll be completely honest, I have 100 hours logged in this game over the past week. It's like crack, and I'm still discovering new ships. You probably won't learn anything from me, this stream is more of a selfish act on my part so that I can get pointers from people who watch me play haha.
As far as my strategy/starting design goes, I'll research a Mark 2 or 3 fleet ship after doing some scouting and seeing what they're throwing at me. I follow Kahuna's turret guide and use the scout "line" trick to arrange all my turrets so that the tractor beams and turrets all line up at the exact spot (that guide is pure gold), and from there on out I pretty much always go for assault transports and set up offensive beachheads on priority targets like ARS's (obviously), factories, spaceship const's, and then I pick and choose which Controllers or Design Backup Servers would best suit the current game. So I'm not a TOTAL noob, I have SOME strategy, but I have yet to beat the game on 7/7 all random non-technologist and I'm
far too stubborn to lower the difficulty from 7. I love a challenge and I love losing. Dwarf Fortress is one of my favorite games if that gives you an idea of how I view "fun". Currently working on slowing down combat a bit (still leaving combat on normal, not epic), but using formations to position certain ships in front of others, and using certain trash ships as fodder to draw fire away from the big guns. My biggest problems right now and I guess this is always going to be there is choosing what to destroy, what to take, what to neuter, what to deep strike, that kind of stuff. It's those high-level strategic decisions that I'm trying to learn now; I've got the basic mechanics down I believe.
Thanks for reading if you've made it this far. Been fiddling with youtube trying to get it up at 1080p but it's being stubborn and won't go higher than 720p so I'm gonna start streaming again now in about 15 mins. Would love to set up a multiplayer game if you don't mind giving me some pointers here and there. I take direction well. Got raidcall, teamspeak, you name it. Youtube channel is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAnOLHp6_4w&list=PLRVf7vYOMgXnMgsPwMuOtY-Ym_QbKf_pMPlaying with these settings:
7/7 Vanguard/Peacemaker
Setup Script: None Selected
# Planets: 80
Map Style: Realistic
Campaign Type: Conquest
Map Seed: 1240237058
Expansions: All Expansions Enabled
Available Ships: Complex, All Enabled
Combat Style: Normal
Unit Cap Style: Normal
Performance Profile: Very High (33ms)
Visibility: Extra Fog of War
Enable Cheats: Unchecked
Show Unexplored Planets: Unchecked
Minor Factions to Include:
Human Marauders: 1/10
Human Resistance Fighters: 10/10
Human Colony Rebellions: 4/10
Zenith Traders
Zenith Miners: 2/10
Zenith Dyson Sphere: 3/10
Zenith Devourer
Broken Golems (Easy)
Botnet Golems (Easy)
Neinzul Rocketry Corps: 3/10
Neinzul Preservation Wardens: 3/10
Neinzul Roaming Enclaves: 2/10
Spire Civilian Leaders
Spirecraft (Easy)
Dark Spire: 1/10
Showdown Devices
Nomad Planets: 2/10
Exodian Blade
AI Modifiers: Reveal Random AI Types
Auto AI Progress: 1 every 5 minutes
AI Plots:
First AI:
Astro Trains: 1/10
Beachheads
Counter Posts
Second AI:
Astro Trains: 1/10
Warp Relays
Preemption: 1/10
My Role: Normal
My Handicap: 0%
AI 1 Type: Random All Non-Technologist (Vanguard)
AI 1 Secondary Type: None
AI 2 Type: Random All Non-Technologist (Peacemaker)
AI 2 Secondary Type: None
Starting Planet Connections: 3
Random Planet Bonus Ship: Zenith Mirror