Darvin3

[quote]but I don't think building a few carriers at that point in the game would be all that viable because, in low numbers, they'd be pretty easily neutralized with flak and capital ship fighters.[/quote] The bigger issue is that early-game battles tend to run for longer (repair power is more influential) and carrier cruisers run out of antimatter. Between that and their slow move speed, you're [i]much[/i] better off getting a second Halcyon if you want more strike

[quote]There's barely enough slots for the Temple of Communion (culture tower), and not enough money for it and a fleet. Especially if you are spending all of your money on your preferred 'rapid expansion'. [/quote] As I said, if you knew the map layout you could actually weigh those risks and alternatives. Because you don't at the time you have to make your decision, this is normally infeasible for a 5v5. That risk is considerably smaller on a 4

While opportunity costs are an issue, the bigger problem is actually the timing. On faster speed, you have to make your call regarding labs before you've had an opportunity to scout (on a 5v5 random map, enemies are often as little as 2 jumps away; you gotta make that call [i]instantly[/i]). If you actually knew the distance to the nearest enemy and the planet layout between the two of you, it would be feasible to weigh the tactical and economic opportunities and whether

[quote]Probably Yes, especially if: your opponent is nearby, and if you are in danger of being rushed. At a minimum, 1 or 2 hostility, and probably no civics at all.[/quote] Advent is perhaps the only faction (due to T0 spam) that can realistically open 2-harmony in a rush scenario. Culture can be quite a headache for the enemy to deal with, and this approach opens up more colonization options for you. Definitely a more difficult approach to pull off, but totall

Direct comparisons of level 10 capital ships are irrelevant. The only time you'll ever see two capital ships duking it out without any backup is level 1-3 (which carrier caps win, hands down). A level 10 requires 7800 XP to come into existance, the equivalent of 78 dead heavy cruisers. Such capital ships will only exist in conjunction with huge fleets, which is where TEC capital ships are at their weakest. The TEC capital ships lack wide-scale support abilities tha

[quote]Oh well its easy, i jumped them in, turned them immediately around for a retreat[/quote] Your opponent was foolish for committing himself against that. With your capital ships lined up and ready to make an escape and no units of his own in position to pursue, he's wasting his forces. If you're frigate-based and he's SC-based then you have to come to him, which means that if he plays his hand right you'll be forced to leave the edge of the gravity wel

[quote]Thank you for all the replies how about a late game strategy whats good then:) and I heard culture spamming enemies to death once;P[/quote] The Transcencia culture bomb is generally used to take out heavily entrenched positions. It only works against very localized targets, and won't be effective to take down an entire empire. Essentially you use the culture module on your trancencia combined with culture buildings to produce a veritable tide of culture that com

[quote](TEC aren't too bad with 3 decenlty levelled kols, they can kill a bomber clump very fast!)[/quote] A Kol is not a flak frigate! A single level 6 Kol is going to pack a powerful punch that will frighten even massive strike craft swarms, and if there are multiples then you have to be very careful with your SC. [quote]while my flak + guardians soaked up damage and whittled them down. By the third capital jump his 84 bombers were gone and I repulsed him to

Generally speaking, you have two choices for opening capital ship: the Progenitor and Halcyon. The Progenitor a long-term option, giving you a stronger economic foundation and better supporting large fleets. The Halcyon is a military opener and your strongest combat capital ship by a significant margin. It also remains relevant into the late-game and is very effective against militia, so in general most people err on the side of the Halcyon if they're unsure of which of

Flak has never been a big deterrent for large quantities bombers. They simply hit so hard and can focus fire so easily that they'll kill their prey before they get whittled down. Small quantities of bombers will get beaten by flaks, but "small quantities" of anything probably won't be much good against a titan.

I'm more worried about bombers. Ogrovs and Solanus can't be built en-mass since they're useless against conventional units, and Solanus are terrible against single targets anyways. Bombers, on the other hand, are very agile killing machines that [i]excel[/i] against big targets, and they're already used extensively in large groups so a big swarm of them is no stretch of the imagination. Sivuskras... no. Titans definitely won't be disruptible, and

As cool as that would be, we're talking about a total impossibility for the engine.

[quote]ok thanks a lot, now when you say speed it up i know you are talking about my fleet management and all that, but what game speed does the online community play at...ill be playing comps till rebellion comes out most likely...thank you so much for the tips [/quote] When I say "speed it up", I mean try to win faster. That means fleet management, empire building, just about everything. I find it's more fun to play against a reasonable difficulty level (for me, that

They're great cockroaches. In low-income scenarios they can be superb long-term investments since you'll only take casualties in major battles. They're also great for fighting over neutrals or other out-of-the-way locations since they beat the crap out of pretty much anything if we're talking less than 50 command points of frigates/cruisers. Against someone who can't afford large quantities of bombers, they should work out in spite of not using ph

[quote]From there I rally my frig fac to my fleet I start building light frigs till I can build LRM and HC's[/quote] On bigger maps, you're usually better off building frigate factories closer to the front lines. It can take quite a while for new units to travel from your homeworld. Also, I'd avoid light frigates and skip straight to LRM. The light frigate is useful against people who are scout-spamming, flak-spamming, and carrier (cruiser) rushing.&nbs

Good read (skimmed over it towards the end, sorry) I think Sins has a lot of potential, and the core game is rock solid. I have high hopes that Rebellion can polish it and turn it into a shining jewel of the genre. There are lots of ways your broad ideas could be applied to specific aspects of the game, but that's a topic for many, many threads.

It will flood more into planet 1... but you're better off just putting more on planet 1 if you're going to build multiples. Given the stringy nature of your empire, culture should feed back into those rear worlds fairly quickly since it doesn't have a web out of outgoing lanes to dissipate on. So building it on those back worlds is probably a poor idea. On the flip-side, you've got a solid starting trade chain.

Those income amounts don't account for their cheat. So their actual income is 8*6 = 48, which is enough after-upkeep income to squeek by in an end-game scenario if they don't take heavy casualties. Combined with savings from earlier in the game (they can't seem to spend it fast enough even with the ability to purchase capital ship levels up to 6 and research technologies ridiculously quickly) they can keep going for a surprisingly long time. Still, in the

[quote]Use Novalith. End the night with a bang.[/quote] Remember, enduring devotion is your best form of protection!

[quote]armorType "Latex" [/quote] Those crazy Vasari.

Considering the game will award you the achievement regardless of the map or difficulty level of the opponent, most of these are pretty easy to get. Try playing an easy AI on point blank and use the Sova Carrier against it. Should be a piece of cake with the resource handicap easy takes. Beating an unfair difficulty AI in a straight 1v1 is harder than almost all the achievements.

[quote]I think I'd normally rather have a few more LRF or flak with my main combat fleet than have some spare LF of mine staying out of the fight and being mostly useless except during the 30 seconds to a minute that my enemy tries to retreat[/quote] Totally depends on what units your opponent is making. If they're just trying to cram copious numbers of LRF down your throat, you probably don't want any LF; [i]maybe[/i] half a dozen for fighting over neutrals, but tha

Meh, if you can't plot down 3 refineries but it's still a good spot, make due with 2. I don't think this is a huge deal.

Ah, I'd better do some housecleaning over there. Most of those files are for old versions, anywho (2 gigs here, btw)

[quote]I'd say absolute minimum 16-20 extractors before they are viable (which is rare).[/quote] At 16+, they're absolutely must-have. Absolute minimum is 8, in practical terms they usually make sense around 12. The biggest problem they have is a high cost, both in terms of research and in building the structure. On a direct comparison of 1-logistic slot, they're highly competitive.