Hello I have been playing this game as of late and I am sick of having to play the match on newbie just to keep up with the AI on research, expansion and fleetcap.



Can someone post a screenshot of the research tree with the fleet cap researches highlighted, I am sick and tired of being steam rolled by the AI by turn 100 when they have 11 or 13 fleet capped fleets filled with fully decked out cruisers and destroyers. When the most I can field is a destroyer or cruiser with basic fittings because I had to research colonization and travel techs. No amount of get better will over come 90% of the matches you are placed into in anything normal and up in difficulty.



I mean how the hell am i supposed to fight these? The only matches I seem to do good in is one where I get an extraordinary starting position that doesn't require 75 turns of research to colonize, and that happens almost never 1/10 times maybe. Even then in those matches I'll quick colonize 5-6 planets and turtle for a little bit doing lots of research and development...when suddenly AI spamms me with 7, 11 fleet capped fleets filled with ultra powerful beast that I can't even touch let alone come close to matching, even with my well developed economy and research fitted ships. Needless to say my front lines every match have been crushed to dust and my empire quickly lost after.



So can someone please show me the actual research options to increase fleet cap (I only know of the one that brings it to 7 because I never live long enough against the merciless AI beast fleets), and have any tips on how to actually keep up with the AI in research and production terms? Note: I know how to balance fids and the likes but no matter what I do the AI steam rolls me into oblivion by turn 150 with fleets of 11 or 13 ships that are fully decked out and untouchable.





s.w.a.t.

If you're having problems on newbie you're doing something fundamentally wrong.



I don't consider myself a great player, by any means, and I'm just winning my first game on impossible.



First things first - look at your tax rate. If it is too high, it will kill the growth of your empire. I generally try to keep mine at 0 (if necessary - if everyone is ecstatic and happy, I may raise it).



Second : Don't build money making improvements unless you know they will make you money. They're affected by taxes, so an industrial improvement with the system converting to dust is equal to a financial improvement at 50% taxes (which will kill your growth). I generally run at least 1 system at a time doing ind > dust, and switch over every so often.



Third : Don't colonise planets with crappy happiness penalties (unless you have a good reason to). It kills your growth, production, economy, everything. Always colonise planets with good bonuses to happiness.



The research options to increase fleet cap are relatively far in on the left side. If you're lagging miles behind on science, getting bigger fleets won't help generally.



edit : Here's an image of the tech tree with pointers. The one with dots is most important, since it scales with how many ship designs you know.

I got creamed the first few times I played on normal. But now I can win pretty consistently. I think happiness and food are the most important things to look at. I highly recommend the "thirty turn challenge" thread here:



http://forums.amplitude-studios.com/group.php?groupid=80



If you try it, and then load one of the save games attached, you can study the differences. I was able to get a lot better by studying these, and then playing it once or twice more. Once you have your population growing, you will find that you have plenty of research capacity, and then you will be able to spend it on anything you need.

This is why 'fleet size' 'bigger fleets' 'command points' etc etc should return hits when entered as a search term.

From the image above, the location of the "command points" researches are different for some factions. ie., Cravers have the lower left +4CP moved to a much earlier point on the tree.



EDIT: didn't notices I was unable to quote an image :rolleyes: Is it possible? If so, how?

This thread right here is an example of why technology names matter.

Awesome thank you, also I was not having troubles with newbie or easy, it was normal I was having trouble with and being steam rolled by lolzy 13 fleet capped beast fleets by turn 150.



Thanks for showing me the basic positions of fleet cap, as my ships were always well fitted but just hopelessly out numbered by the enemy.





s.w.a.t.

AngleWyrm wrote:
This thread right here is an example of why technology names matter.

I would much rather have flavorful tech names as opposed to the tech name being "Increased Fleet Cap III". Many of the icons inside the tech description are useful, once you get to know them. The kinetic weapon icons are an obvious example, to show the different levels. Maybe this can be improved with more consistent icons. Also, the color coding on the icons added in alpha2 "should" help with this.

davea wrote:
I would much rather have flavorful tech names as opposed to the tech name being "Increased Fleet Cap III". Many of the icons inside the tech description are useful, once you get to know them. The kinetic weapon icons are an obvious example, to show the different levels. Maybe this can be improved with more consistent icons. Also, the color coding on the icons added in alpha2 "should" help with this.

I love flavor text. It adds fantasy depth, and gives me bits to imagine with.



But the claim to flavor starts to lose flavor when I research "Personal Shields" and any mental image that I can dream of with that as a descriptor has absolutely nothing to do with the technological advantage in-game.



It's a schism, a disconnect between the presented fantasy and the game itself. Which dispels the effects of the flavor text, obliterates their very purpose. Instead, I have to create a new mental mapping of "" -> "what it actually does".



I am forced to specifically ignore the content of the flavor text, and instead treat it as a bizarre noun.



See? The result is Less flavor instead of more flavor.

OK, if there are a few tech names which violate your suspension of belief, please let us know the details. Maybe we can come up with better names for those.

davea wrote:
OK, if there are a few tech names which violate your suspension of belief, please let us know the details. Maybe we can come up with better names for those.

Nice touch.

seems like the tips on the research trees are a bit vague sometimes. they give the name of the tech you'll get, but not anything more specific about that tech. am I missing something?

So, you have zoomed into the tech tree, and read the details, right? If you still find it vague, please give some specifics.

eddyvegas wrote:
This is why 'fleet size' 'bigger fleets' 'command points' etc etc should return hits when entered as a search term.

I just hope a hyperlinked style of encyclopedia is included in the released version. Searching the tech tree for 'happiness' doesn't bring up anything.

I'd like to add that I think you also get a +2 fleet cap for every new ship blueprint you research in the expansion tree.