Can't finish the tutorial

[Huw]

So close, and yet so far!  I'm right at the end of the tutorial, where you take a 1,500-strong fleet into the enemy's home system to wipe out the core command centre.  It's just too tough, and wave after wave of core ships keep coming at my fleet.  I've tried fighting each wave off to minimise losses, and I've tried just concentrating all fire on the centre.  The best I've done is get it down to about 65% health.

This is with as many high level ships as I can field, too.  I'm using the advanced factory to produce MK IV bombers and something else, I think it might be cruisers.  Then anti-armour is at MK III.  And I'm making as many as the caps allow.  My final fleet is something like 1,600-strong.  They just get whittled away by all the defenders.

Help!

[eRe4s3r]

Destroy the outlying command posts first - don't touch the core station until you have destroyed ALL outlying posts, don't leave one standing last thing you need is wave after wave of core ships.

Also 1500 ships might be a bit too low - if all fails, max out your fleet completely before going in - be sure to research raid (take research labs with you in the home world of the ai) to squeeze the last bit out.

For comparison - i took a 2200 ship fleet in a DIF 5 homeworld and lost nearly 1400 ships just cleaning all the posts

[Huw]

Thanks for the help.  Yeah, it did occur to me to take out some of those other structures first, but the tutorial specifically tells you not to bother.  It says that as long as you take 1,500 ships with as many max-levels as possible, you'll win.

I'll give your suggestion a try.

[Huw]

Ha.  I bloody did it.  My fleet was whittled down to about 400 by the time I'd taken out all the command posts, but after that it was simply a matter of time before my bombers took out the core command post.  A lot of time.  The old time-compression came in handy there!  Now I can finally start a real campaign!  YES!  I've been looking forward to this. 

[Revenantus]

Great job, Huw!

As eRe4s3r suggests, it's generally a good idea to destroy all the surrounding core command posts before starting your attack on the AI's command station. It's odd that the tutorial says otherwise, maybe it's a miscommunication, I'll check with X.

Good luck on your first campaign.

[eRe4s3r]

I wouldn't say generally Its always mandatory to clean them otherwise every time the AI gets reinforcements you face several core battle cruisers from each post, which even with a full fleet live long enough to do damage.

When i did the tutorial i barely survived ^^

And worse - if you loose those core ships come straight to you

[Huw]

Thanks guys.  Yeah, before I was taking out the command posts the enemy just kept sending wave after wave of core ships after my fleet.  There's no way whatsoever that you can take that system without destroying the posts first.  You just can't field enough ships at once.

[x4000]

You know what?  The AI thread is running in the tutorial for some reason, and it should not be.  That would not happen if the AI thread wasn't running.

EDIT:  But actually, the fact that the AI is running is probably contributing to making the tutorials more interesting and realistic.  I'll leave it as-is, but am adjusting the tutorial text to reflect the new strategy (take out those command posts first).

[Huw]

Yeah, I didn't have any other problems besides that, so that's probably a good idea.  Oh, actually just one minor point.  Near the end of the tutorial I was told not to research Scout MK II, and "I'll see why soon" (or words to that effect).  Actually, it was never mentioned again.  I assume it's because you go on to research as many tech 3 ships as possible?  Maybe you'd like to just put an explanatory note in there.

[x4000]

Yeah, I didn't have any other problems besides that, so that's probably a good idea.  Oh, actually just one minor point.  Near the end of the tutorial I was told not to research Scout MK II, and "I'll see why soon" (or words to that effect).  Actually, it was never mentioned again.  I assume it's because you go on to research as many tech 3 ships as possible?  Maybe you'd like to just put an explanatory note in there.

Oh, another great point.  I've changed this to "you need all the military ships you can get" instead of "you'll soon see why."  Thanks!

[Huw]

Hehe.  Played a quick 20 minutes of my first campaign this evening and...things were not going well.  Time to readjust my strategies!  I know it's been said a thousand times, but it's very reminiscent of Supreme Commander in the early stages, when you have to make the best use of your resources as you possibly can and have to decide whether it's worth building one more engineer or not.

Loving it!  Can't wait to play again!

[x4000]

Awesome, glad you had such a good time even if that first one did not go well.  Good wormhole defense is critical, as is fielding a pretty sizable fleet from the get-go.  Are you playing on the prereleases, or on 1.013?  There might be some bugs in 1.014 prereleases because they are, well, prereleases, but they also have some things in there that should make the start a bit easier than it was in 1.013.

[Huw]

Oh, I haven't given up on it.  But my first fleet was decimated and I lost three space docks during wave attacks.  And my science lab.  I'm determined to rise from the ashes though, whistling and telling the AI "I meant that to happen."  The main mistake I made was not building a varied fleet.  I had lots of fighters and lots of bombers, but the enemy was sending ships that they couldn't make much of a dent in.

No pre-release play here, no.  I'll leave the experts to help iron out the wrinkles, at least for now, until I know the game well enough to take part in testing.

[x4000]

Ah, I see.  Good stuff, I hope you do rise above the ashes!