I won my first game by actually playing and it's amazing what I can discover when I play the game without cheats.
60 planets
Map type: X
Full visibility
No CSGs, No Dire Guardian lairs
AI options: 1/2 waves (I honestly forgot I had this on from a previous cheat session)
AI types: 3- Chivalrous 3-Random easier (Fortress Baron)
AI Plots: none
Minor factions:
Resistance 10/10 (Didn't even see these losers once)
Dyson sphere 10/10
Golems easy
Botnet easy
The Dyson sphere spawned on Tasuo, so got a lucky spawn there. Conquered the planets I needed in my x branch as well as neutering the AI near me (except on Rekede) and moved to Murdoch. Conquered the planets right before the middle of the Homeworld X branches. The Data-Centers were clse by, so I quickly took most of them out. The Co-processors: 2 in my branch of the X, one next to the bottom AI homeworld and one on the bottom AI homeworld. Neutered the planets next to each homeworld. Attacked the bottom homeworld. Had to do 2 attacks with my fleet in assault transports as well as my armored golem. Actually lost the golem in my first attempt, had to reload. Proceeded to do the same to the other homeworld. Victory!
Things I learned:
The armored Golem is not just armored. It's a powerhouse when it comes to attacking.
Botnet Golem. Zombies. Awesome.
Intra-galactic Warp gates are something I thought I would never use, but the 60 second engine penalty is far less than however long it would take my ships to get from Yunkakin (my homeworld) to Murdoch.
Lauushu and Murdoch were my main "Whipping Boy" planets, I guess. The waves sent were negligible except for one wave of 1,600 mark 1 fighters. Botnet/Dyson Gatlings swallowed it up.
I learned I can set a rally point to another planet. That's useful.
I also learned you can capture core warhead interceptors from the AI. Interesting, but not useful.
I also learned that I need the Zenith Trader on. Near the end, my metal production was far outpacing the metal costs for re-fleeting.
Protect your advanced research stations at all costs! 6 knowledge of second is insane.
On a similar note, alt+right click for science labs and click auto gather knowledge(or whatever it says). No more micromanaging them. I did that for the first few planets. It was an exercise in frustration.
For my next game, it will be same settings except for the starting bonus ship (I hear autobombs are pretty cool) and the AI will be
5-Cowardly and 5-Vanilla as well as having Spirecraft-easy, CPAs, and the Zenith Trader enabled. Now you might be wondering why I'm doing the same thing but on a higher difficulty. Well, I'm building up for a Fallen Spire game and I want to have some experience on a higher difficulty. I might put the difficulty down for the Fallen Spire but it will give me experience dealing with more destructive AI attacks.
