Am I just doing combat wrong?

[Gwmngilfen]

So, going on the offensive seems very... expensive.

I've just started a war (with the Thoraxians, probably a bad idea). I had plenty of time to build before starting the fight, so crushing the first sector was easy enough. But now, I can't move forward. Any attempt to build in that wiped-out sector for myself gets flattened by a bunch of missile launchers in the core Thoraxian sector.

It seems like my only option to move forwards is to build more Guardposts / AntiAir / CounterMeasures than they have guns every turn until at least one of them completes and I can claim the sector - even then, I still need to build more attack buildings than the AI can destroy per turn. I can count 6 attack buildings that I can see, so at minimum cost, thats 7 guardposts (140k cr) per turn until one of them completes - and if the AI is smart enough to target the most complete site every turn, I'll never finish one anyway.

It seems like I can't move forwards, and the same result will happen if I try to flank and come in on another sector. What did I miss? Is this kind of stalemate meant to happen, to discourage too much outright fighting?

[nas1m]

I wondered this as well. Things indeed seem to get pricey after the initial offensive strike has been dealt. Might well be that Chris intent is to balance this using diplomacy - which is still lacklustre.

[topper]

Maybe some sort of decoy building/bunker is needed that intercepts fire and takes it as its own damage. I'm sure the cost and buildtime could be balanced to keep it fair.

Otherwise, being able to use money/resources for instant building completion would allow the stronger economy to gain a bigger edge to tip the scales.

[Gwmngilfen]

I was thinking along those lines. Things have actually gotten worse in 0.896 since construction capability is per-territory now. Previously if I had the capacity I could arrange for guardhouses to finish in 1-2 turns, but it's guaranteed to be 6 turns to build, since you won't be able to build engineering facilities until after you capture the area.

My thought was that interception buildings should have a 1-territory range, just like attacks. That would make it difficult to assault without big numbers (since the core territory would protect the edge one), but once you crack their defenses, your own anti-air etc could protect the under-construction stuff.

[tigersfan]

Mantis'd: http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/view.php?id=17348