Super Newbie Question: Survival

I think this was addressed in 1.02 when they added what ship is good vs what on the infocard?

Also, try limiting the AI to one and making it an easy fortifier. I know my first game vs an easy ai lasted some 3 hours and 30 minutes before I killed it, on a tiny map.

Start on Point Blank or one of the other 1v1 maps, they're highly effective at giving you experience at running a full game. Otherwise, try and tell us how you "died" and we'll try and help

Thank you for the kind offer of assistance. I hope my ineptitude isn't too irritating.

Well, i've been playing against just one opponent. And usually just letting the game auto-fight my battles for me since i only have a vague idea of how the Advent ships are used. So, i've been going for a variety of ships, although i end up dead before i can get a fleet of Caps up & running.

It just seems that the AI simply does everything better than i do!

At first, i thought it was than i didn't acquire enough planets early so, so then i tried again and went out colonizing every planet i could get my hands on, but when the enemy's fleet shows up it's 2 or three times as large as mine and then it's a quick downward spiral to destruction.

Also, when his big fleet attack strikes, i have ships all over the place on different planets and by the time they reach the planet under attack, the AI seems to destroy my fleets as they arrive from different planets (and can't defend effectively as a single group).

Surely, i'm not supposed to group all my ships into one fleet?

i'm green just like you are but i can toss a couple things out.

when you are exploring/colonizing and you come to a point where you must stop, or the planet has many branches in it, try to build up fleets at these points. The AI can phase jump past it, but you'll be in position to do some cat n mouse.


The AI (at least the pirates) seems to be very interested in targeting structures, so I've built 3 or 4 turrets to aid the fleet there. I'm sure humans would move their siege ships around to the back of a planet for planetary sieges, but you nor I are at that point yet

build a capital ship first... the first one is free

Take a more strategic approach to your expansion. Try to keep most of your empire behind a couple of nodes. That doesn't mean you can just completely avoid defending planets in the back, but it will keep your fleet from being spread out across the entire system.

If you're having trouble defending, build hangers and broadcast centers. The first will give you pretty good defense and the computer doesn't really compensate for fighters much, the second with give you some combat buffs in your own territory.

Your fleet does not need to be "equal opportunity". Certain ships, particularly cruisers are merely support ships. They're not very good for combat and you only need a few. Try focusing more on capital ships and light frigates until you get a hang of the intricacies of the combat.

Be sure you're upgrading your planets infrastructure as you expand. Planets with low infrastructure are a drain on your resources which may be why your fleet is so much smaller.

Hope those help.

I'll try and toss some ideas out here.

Expanding relatively quickly is usually a smart way of doing things. A single system won't be able to produce enough materials to allow you to build larger fleets in any sort of speed. Just don't over expand. Remember, if you don't upgrade the civilian (or whatever it's called) status of a planet it loses you tax income until you do. So, if you're taking over a new planet try to be able to spend on some of those upgrades soon. If you're expanding too quickly you'll start losing too much income and that starts compounding on itself.

One very important thing to recognize is that your first capital ship is a freebie build (unless there was any update that I didn't catch in 1.02). Once you build the capital ship yards you can immediately get your first ship at no cost. This is very useful because in the early game the unoccupied planets typically won't have fleets that can compete with a Cap ship plus some helper frigates. Send out some lone wolf scouts to see what's what in surrounding systems and then send in the big boys as one unstoppable juggernaut to get those first few planets. You'll lose less of your fleet and can move on to the next planet a bit faster.

Like you said, bringing together all the elements to form one large fleet is time consuming. I would say one standing fleet (with a capital ship (or more)) for defending because you can move it quickly to respond to any important threats, and the AI will probably avoid attacking a system with a capital ship and fleet parked in orbit.

I hope the ideas help.

Do the tutorials, and just use common sense. You don't need a bachelor's degree in spaceship command to beat the AIs in this game, just work through your strategy logically.

Basic life skills are enough to beat the pathetically easy AIs in Sins.

Look at your choices, balance short-term (military) vs. long-term (economic) needs, read the ingame documentation on each choice, and make a decision. Experience is the only way you'll actually learn. Other people can train you, they can't teach you. Nothing can teach a person but experience.

But here's a tip just to get you started:

You can't support a military without resources.

When I started, I played against an easy ai set on defense on the smallest map, it takes awhile, but the size of forces stays small. Build a capital ship as fast as you can, because it is free and vastly more powerful than the early game ships. Gun turrets are also effective, but make sure you put them around your planet and surrounding your economic structures.

You don't need a bachelor's in spaceship command, but it sure helps.

Also, when expanding you're better off developing planets in sequence rather than in parallel. That is, expand to a planet and build it up a bit, get it cash positive, and THEN move onto the next system. You'll have a much better cashflow if you have 2 good planets than you do if you have 1 good planet and 3 3rd world ones.

For research, don't rush up the tech tree. Build one or two labs, then focus on key areas in each tech tree. Don't immediately plop down 3 or 4 labs and scramble your way up the tree.

As the above users say, you need resources to support your military. With advent, these "buffs" in their research trees require very little to get started. I usually indulge in the extracting for extra metal/crystal, as I try to expand fast to some sort of chokehold to get myself going. Then it's one planet at a time.

Also, getting the trade structure isn't hard in their research tree (some 3 or 4 Temples of Harmony). This, paired with a couple planets, can be a vast resource for your income, and then you can begin with the better ships.

Oh, and for the Advent, a REALLY nice pair I like is having Crusaders with Iconus Guardians. You get heavy assault with Iconus Guardians being able to use a "pushback" ability to buy extra time, and the Subjegators can also paralyze enemy fleets and heal your own. These are all cruisers, btw so they require research.

Thanks everyone for all the helpful advice!

I'm gonna go put your sagely wisdom to the test right now!

One thing I'd like to add, or perhaps to summarize: Fully developed planets are better than a larger set of colonies that are unupgraded.

Don't forget about the pirates, if you are playing a map with them use them. They are really good at tying up your enemy's fleet and attention. Early in the game they are also useful for getting some experience for you capital ship.