Enemies all over the place?

from Sins Forums
OK ... so I am slowly trying to wokrk my way into this game. 

I have a huge question.

I tried setting up a medium map (19 planets) with myself and an easy random enemy...

Like I said... I am really just trying to have some success early so I don't get too frustrated.

However... when I start the game... the AI has ships EVERYWHERE... no matter what system I jump to... they have ships all over the place... I can't quite understand why as I get what... two construction ships and that is it?  It seems like I have to build severeal military shipt so go with a colony ship if I want to colonize a nearby planet.  Even if it is one away from their main planet. 

Is this normal?  Heck I even sent a scout out... and with 5 minute... I saw at least 10 ships floating around of of his planets attacking my scout.

Reason I ask... I even tried a small map first... and noticed they were everywhere... so that was when I bumped it up to medium.

Am I missing something here?


strategy
7,087 views 14 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
The universe is populated with pirates and rebels. Kinda like NYC or SF.
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
Thought about that... I am playing medium map with no pirates
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
Every planet is guarded by its own local navy, which you must first destroy before you can take over that planet. (They do not respawn, however.)

These aren't empty planets you're going after. They're all inhabited by humans who are going to resist being conquered, even if you're playing as the TEC. ;)
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
The regular planets have "militia" that just sit there... they are not controlled by the AI computer player, and he has to fight them as well. The current AI kills these guys very slowly... so even if you build just one capital and a few frigates and go from planet to planet you should be expanding faster than the computer.
Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top
AHHH... that makes more sense... I guess I should have kept better track as I moused over them. lol

Now that that is understood....a few I can understand... however ... what was up with that one planet with like 10 ships?
Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top
Your first (and free) capital ship should deal with them without a problem.
Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top
AHHH... that makes more sense... I guess I should have kept better track as I moused over them. lolNow that that is understood....a few I can understand... however ... what was up with that one planet with like 10 ships?
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The better the planet, the more ships there will be.

Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top
Although there is a bit of randomness to it. I had three ice worlds, one right after another along a single phase lane, and the last one had many more ships than its companions.

One strategy that I picked up on the boards was to send in your capital ship first and then send your support frigates a few moments after. The enemy ships will more than likely be focusing their fire on your cap which should be able to take it for a while.

I started out the same way you are. When I found myself rolling over the AI I moved up in difficulty and number of opponents. Enjoy!
Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top
Although there is a bit of randomness to it. I had three ice worlds, one right after another along a single phase lane, and the last one had many more ships than its companions.
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That usually means it has an artifact. :) Try exploring it next time this happens.

Reply #10 from Sins Forums Top
Thanks for the tips all.. can't wait to try it out.
Reply #11 from Sins Forums Top
The in-game map creator has a slider bar for adjusting the strength of the neutral force guarding a planet. I do not know off hand if it can be set so there are no forces guarding a planet.
Reply #12 from Sins Forums Top
I thought that you make be on to something, Longabow, so I went back and checked. Like I had said these three worlds were in succession. The first one had a weak defense but had the Phase Accelerator artifact. The second had a weak defense but had both Porous Core and High Security Protocol. The third, with the higher defense, didn't have anything special. What it does have, however, are a total of four phase lanes. And it was a major choke point at the beginning of the game. Could that have been the factor that weighted the defense a little heavier?
Reply #13 from Sins Forums Top
Defense tends to be a little random on random maps -- not necessarily weighted by the value of the planet except in that the planets type determines the "set" from which the defense is chosen.

I. E. if you have defense levels 1-6, asteroids have 1-4 as a valid choice, while planets have 3-6 as a valid choice. Terrans and deserts tend to be more heavily defended, as well, with deserts being the most heavily defended "type" in the game.
Reply #14 from Sins Forums Top
Ah, I can see that. Besides a single match I played on Doppelganger I play random maps exclusively.

But back to the original post... it's all XP for your cap ship anyway. Phase in your cap ship and then follow up with the rest of your fleet. Phase jump any damaged ships back and let them heal. Take planet. Jump to next planet. Repeat. :)