Unfair AI: Rebellion

from Sins Forums

I was hoping you gents could throw a few tips my way.

I can't quite seem to keep up with the production and fleet sizes of the unfair AI - I'm not too far off, it is generally an hour to an hour and a half in that I start getting overwhelmed.

The game I just lost resulted in me having 3 capital ships with minimal support (couldn't afford it) defend two closely linked choke points (wormhole in the middle) with highly upgraded SBs.  I sent my titan to the other side of my empire in the hope that it could stop another AI (vassari) from successfully beating the hell out of me.  My level 3 Eradica was soon overwhelmed by massive fleets with phase missiles and the fleet on the other side of my empire got overwhelmed with similarly sized AI fleets with a Vorastra (I guess maybe having to fight phase missiles on both sides of my empire might have had something to do with it...)

It just seems like if I go for large cruiser fleets I get beat to the Titan race and end up facing down level 6 titans with cruisers.  If I go for a titan I get overwhelmed by AI Titans w/fleets.  If I try to choke off 6-8 planets with highly upgraded starbases I am spending all my money on defense and seem to lose a war of attrition.

Anyway like I said, I don't think I am too far away from being able to beat up on the unfair AI but instead of me just trying to do what I already do better (which might be a losing tactic) I was hoping for some tips.  Advent Rebel is my favorite faction and the one I am best with at the moment..  It is frustrating losing to artificial intelligence lol.

18,291 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

I don't have time right now to give you a proper response, sorry mate, but I'll say this...big issue new players often have is not expanding fast enough...

Instead of going for the general "how can I get better at this game", focus first on getting better at expanding really fast...getting your economy up faster and reaching those chokepoints sooner will make your life much easier...seriously, no amount of advice in regards to military tactics or unit counters or fleet composition is going to do you much good if you aren't getting the economy up fast enough to put that tactical advice to good use...

Look for replays or discussions that focus on quick expansion, and master that first...then learn the other stuff later...

Hopefully someone like Ekko or Goa will give you a more detailed response or link you to some nice threads....best of luck to you!

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Seleuceia, reply 1
Hopefully someone like Ekko or Goa will give you a more detailed response or link you to some nice threads....best of luck to you!

Aye, this is a still on going thread geared towards multiplayer, not the AI, but it might help your realize some things you can do to improve your play style.

In a nutshell, these are the main things newish players tend to do wrong. Let us know if you suspect you are doing one of them for more advice.

Quoting GoaFan77, reply 14
IMO the three main mistakes newb players make are the following.

1. They expand too slow.

2. They research too much (you should focus on ship/ability/colonization unlocks in the first half hour at least. Don't research too many +% bonuses, with a few exceptions like tier 1 hull and terran population bonuses, they aren't of much use early game).

3. They build too many capitalships.

Elemental: Reforged
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

#3 point is the biggest flaw I see online when I play on ICO comp stomps. Its even worse with VL. 

 

Its always better to have 1 lvl 10 Cap than a bunch of weakers ones. Like Titans their stats improve with levels. Making a bit harder to not insta die vs a non-bomber spam fleet.

 

Also its a bit harder to level up Titans with many Caps around and vice versa. Since they all share XP, till lvl10.

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Seleuceia, reply 1
I don't have time right now to give you a proper response, sorry mate, but I'll say this...big issue new players often have is not expanding fast enough...

Instead of going for the general "how can I get better at this game", focus first on getting better at expanding really fast...getting your economy up faster and reaching those chokepoints sooner will make your life much easier...seriously, no amount of advice in regards to military tactics or unit counters or fleet composition is going to do you much good if you aren't getting the economy up fast enough to put that tactical advice to good use...

Look for replays or discussions that focus on quick expansion, and master that first...then learn the other stuff later...

Hopefully someone like Ekko or Goa will give you a more detailed response or link you to some nice threads....best of luck to you!

A great big second on this one.  Against Unfair AIs, you should be able to build an economy that is at least equal to them (and often greater) even counting all of their cheats.  The AI just isn't efficient in its opening game colonization.

As the Advent Rebels against the AI, your big game changer is a high level Eradica (at least level 6-7).  Your mid game focus should be to level your titan up.  One thing I have found to be effective is to reseach Synergy and build a cluster of 15+ turrets at a choke point.  Against a human, this would be really stupid as humans will just avoid the cluster.  However, the AI will attack it and with shields on the turrets, they become very durable.  Keep you Eradica in the gravity well with the turrets until it levels and then go on the attack.