Breaking a stalemate?

from Sins Forums

First let me say that I certainly am no "pro" in this game. Furthermore I only played TEC so far and for the first time picked another race.

I use the 7-DeadlySins-Mod and picked the Atlantians for my race, but I guess for those who dont use that mod, you could compare it with the Vasari in the standard game for the "problem" I got (even though I never played Vasari ;P )

I started a game on a Large Random 1-Star-Map, so ~40 planets (or 50?) vs 3x unfair AI: TEC, Vas, Adv. Locked teams (so everyone on his own), no pirates. settings all at slow. But map seems quite small, so travel times between stars are real quick.

Here's the current situation:

All of "us" have the maximum fleet size and probably filled with ships

I am the "economic" leader: I hold the biggest share of the System and have the biggest income in credits and ressources.

I grabbed all but one planet from TEC, but there he has his full fleet gathered

I have currently 4 ways of expanding:

1 Phaselane goes to the Vasari planet where he has (I think) his full fleet gathered.

1 Phaselane goes to the TEC planet at the other side of the galaxy where he has (I think) his only planet - with his full fleet

1 Phaselane goes to a Shipyard where a massive (maybe also a full fleet) fleet of the Advent AI is. ( I had no battles with this AI)

1 Phaselane goes to the Sun, from where I can either get to the Vasari planet (see above) or the Shipyard with the Advent guy.

I have no ways of scouting the area behind because non of my scouts gets through those fleets.

My fleet is somewhat spilt: 33% is at the planet beside the TEC-hideout (and near the Shipyard)

66% is at a planet near the Vasari.

The Vasari is quite agressive and constantly launches heavy fleets at me.

So my logical course of action: to send my whole fleet at the TEC and take him out is a no go. I estimate I'd lose at least 2 planets - but probably 3-4 - to the Vasari in that time.

Once when the Vasari had his fleet sent to me I kept a small defending fleet and at the same time sent the most of my ships at his planet. I took out is RA-portal and some defenses, but before I could deal severe damage he had his fleet back there. I then tried to take out his lvl 10 Cap ship while sending in a constant stream of replaced RA-ships. But at the time I noticed that his ship gets repaired faster than I can inflict damage (duh!) I had lost 2 of my cap ships and his other 8 caps there had gained quite some experience.

So basically I cannot beat him at his planet - but he can beat me neither at my planets.

TEC: could probably beat him but only if I could devote my full fleet to it - which I just can't. TEC has been quietly sitting at his planet for a while now, but not sure if TEC really wouldnt try to attack me anymore ;P

Advent: it's neutral territory and as I had no battles with them before I just don't know if I could beat them...but also only with my full fleet I guess, which again would open up my planets for Vasari invasion.

Is there an idea on how to break that stalemate?

I was thinking on opening up teams, but I dont think this would really help me. Because I couldnt really fullfill any "destroy structure" missions I think.
strategy
8,148 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
I have not played the mod, so what are your superweapon options? A good superweapon can help place some pressure on your opponents while you work out a strategy.

Are you playing with locked teams? If not, you should try to appease the Vasari player. Doing so will buy you some time to get the TEC player out of the way.

Naturally, since you can't do much without losing a planet, just soak up the losses and take the TEC player out. You did fortify your other worlds, right? Keep the culture strong at them, as that will hinder the enemy's efforts to expand into your territory. With the TEC player gone, you'll have the freedom to launch all your attention on the Vasari. Plus, they might soften up a bit going through your fortified worlds, which should help things along the way.
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Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
Put ship yards (at least 2) in the planets bordering tech, then go at him with your smaller fleet, constantly replacing your losses...(sending new ships over as soon as their built). Put your fire on his shipyards so he cant replace the ships your slowly dwindling. Then, in some time, you should be able to stamp him out.

Good Luck.
Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
But at the time I noticed that his ship gets repaired faster than I can inflict damage (duh!) I had lost 2 of my cap ships and his other 8 caps there had gained quite some experience.


Overseer cruisers. They can build up the hit points of a friendly ship very fast. Use anti matter disrupting abilities to shut down the Overseers, or focus on destroying them first. You have to do something to take them out of the battle.
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
Depending on how many planets you have... I'd attempt the 'Novalith Solution'. Build two on backwater planets, give the TEC AI two simultaneous shots. That should finish him if he has only one planet. If you don't want to go that far, you can use multiple shipyards to outproduce him, sending in waves ( taking out his ship yards as previously mentioned ). He won't be able to keep up, and eventually you'll grind him down.

The Vasari will be harder. With RA up, he'll replenish faster than you, unless you build tons of frigate factories and have the credits/metal/crystal to pile it on and keep it on. Attrition again, but it MIGHT work, as long as you can get the local phase gate. It is possible to outproduce RA but it takes huge reserves, multiple ship yards, and only works for a limited time. Use the 'free' fleets, ie : Insurgency. Insurgency would require the AI to split his fleet allowing you to concentrate yours.

AoE attacks might help out, Kol's Flak burst to clear strike craft and missile barrage from multiple Marzas to clear support craft, but micro-ing a huge fleet might be a bit tough. EMP burst from a Dunov might be of huge assistance here, shutting down his overseers anti-matter abilities. Research the Cobalt anti-matter sapping ability. Maybe a combination of all of these.

You might try a 'bypass', if it's tactically possible. Drive 1/3 of your ships through his system ( the ones no longer needed on the TEC front ), and jump past it while accepting the losses inflicted, the AI will have no choice but to follow, at which point you launch the real attack at his choke point. If the AI doesn't follow, you're in his back yard to run amok.

Of course, 4 or 5 frigate factories and 100+ fully upgraded LRM'sure would be kind of cool to see...
Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top
Ummm, there has been some misunderstanding. I'm NOT playing TEC this time, I play a custom race of the Mod , the "Atlantians", which are - to my understanding - a hybrid of Vasari and Advent. So I myself do have RA and my superweapon is a cannon that disables orbital structures.

Anyway...I gave it another shot yesterday and while it was the complete opposite of "having fun", I was able to break the stalemate eventually.
It meant ~1.5h of "cycling" 3-4 Vasari-planets, destroying as many orbital structures as I could before his fleet arrived (esp. the Media centers had to go).

After about 1.5h of doing so I finally was able to colonize the first of his planets, since then it's going somewhat upwards. Been able to destroy 2 of his lvl 10 Capital ships when he ran into the trap at this newly colonized planet. After a while I was able to grab the 2nd planet. Since this planet also has a 100% culture-spread-bonus and together the open up many new was into enemy territories things should go upward - at least until I again run into the situation where he has his full fleet at his last planet ;P
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
I had a similar situation yesterday in a single player game against one Hard Ai. I was Tec, he was Advent. We both had huge fleets (used up max fleet capacity), at planets adjacent to each other. It seemed that neither of us could attack with any certainty of winning. So, I used some of the suggestions in this thread. I built two Novaliths and bombarded some of his planets. This did not seem to have much effect at first. I think he just recolonized them. Then I found the Insurgency upgrade in the civilian research tree and researched it. I also decided that, since I had a strong economy and his was at least weakened, I could try wearing him down through repeatedly attacking, then withdrawing. We would both constantly lose ships, but I could replace them more easily. I also continued firing the Novaliths.

The result was that on my second attack on the world with his huge fleet, he retreated after a couple minutes! I couldn't believe it! I colonized it. This also worked with the next world into his empire. The Novaliths firing, wearing down of his fleet with quick attacks plus the insurgencies did the trick. (I found one of his planets owned by insurgents). I should also add I used the civilian upgrade that caused his fleets and structures to be built 50-100% slower. I don't know how much that affected the game though.