So I recently played a game of ES 2 as the Vodyani and thought I had it made. Started to build the Wonders for a wonder victory and my alliance was fighting the other major alliance that had formed.

So I decided to take the fight to my closest enemy, the Lumeris. Imagine my surprise when 1) Not only was my invasion made way more difficult that anticipated because I couldn't seem to do more damage to them than they did to me. I upgraded all my ground forces to the max.

2) I actually lost several space battles as well. Seems like they went all in on bombers and I was sure I remembered that bombers were not that effective. But they were mostly using energy weapons and I chose the battle option to make shields more effective by 75%.

3) They actually blew up one of my planets with a core cracker. That's the first time that happened to me.

Are the Lumeris actually super effective in combat? Or maybe I just suck more than I remember.

I don't know. The Lumeris have strong ships but none are better than the Vodyani. Maybe there was a technological gap or you chose a battle tactic that, while boosting your energy defences, put you in a range that made most of your weapons highly inaccurate. Maybe they were retrofitting their fleets more often and hard countered your ships.

All of those things are possible. I remember not doing much damage to their carriers. While my own got killed by the end of the battle.

I'm going to have to review most of my setups. They were at least teching in league with me. They had quadrinix lasers for sure.

In terms of the ground battles, they really had me to the wall. I think they had Gnashast among their population. Not sure if they had researched the techs that gave them increased health for the ground forces but it is possible.