Getting owned by viscous ai

Hi everybody, thanks for checking me out.

I was playing as the tec on random small against the hardest level ai. i say hardest level because i hate words with s and c..lol anyways i didnt upgrade my weapons or armor at all. late game after desolating the ai fleet (advent btw) my economy couldnt support the fleet i was building +all the boom bases i was using to keep them back. cheap i no but due to the map lay out there was no easy way to their bread basket. so i put it all on the fleet. i hate 50 heavy cruisers. 20 carries 40 long range, 20 light, 25 yoshis and ..that was it. this was pinned against their fleet of 17 heavy. 19 lite, 9 gaurdians, 2 siege caps and 12 long range.. also some number of structure assault and oh yea 17 carriers. 

with like 20 seconds my forces were halfed and their shields virtually untouched. 

my question to you guys. how the hostis am i sposed to invest in a massive fleet, economy, star bases, and research all at once
?

?

 

 

23,240 views 5 replies
Reply #1 Top

Well, it seemed you were doing well. once you got a solid line against the ai, its really hard for them to beat you. 

It seems you said your problem yourself.  You invested far heavier into fleet than you needed to to hold them back. 

While boom bases are fantastic for holding the enemy back... you shouldnt have to rely on them.  build a real starbase to form a permenant choke point. then fix your economy issues... hopefully by then you will have very high level capital ships (2 or 3 lv 6 marzas, least 2 kols w/flack burst, least 3 donoves with shield restore, least 1 akkan for 'just in case')... and then its just simply a matter of missle barraging the enemy fleet to shreds.

Reply #2 Top

Well vicious AI is just that. Without abusing starbase tactics (like you were doing) and the like it is very difficult to keep up with them. Further the TEC have a harder time breaking through Advent defenses, late game you need to have a superior economy and have superior numbers in every battle. Make sure you are constantly producing more ships to reinforce your fleet throughout the battle, using waypoints if you have no factories at the planet.

Brute force and numbers are the only real way the TEC can win late game, and while they have the best economy in the game to support this, you might have thrown this away by upgrading your fleet size to early. Probably should have just taken those upgrades you ignored instead of upgrading your fleet supply that last time.

Reply #3 Top

If he's TEC, his only real option is to get a couple Marzas up to Level 6.

If you're ready to play against vicious AI, have you considered trying online multiplayer against human opponents on Ironclad Online?  Human players won't have the insane eco buffs the AI gets.  They'll be on even footing with you in those regards.  But, instead they will have a much better understanding of strategy than the AI could ever be capable of.  Large team games also introduce new team-based strategic elements to the game that you just won't get to experience when playing the AI.

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Reply #4 Top

While boom bases are fantastic for holding the enemy back... you shouldnt have to rely on them.

Against vicious, it's unsustainable to use any attrition tactic no matter how effective.  You can't afford to detonate starbases against them.

Upgrades become increasingly important as your fleet and economy grows.  While they are marginal for small early-game fleets, they are great game-winners for large late-game fleets.  The decision is when to pursue them.

Anyways, good work going toe to toe with vicious.  I'd agree with DirtySanchez, you've reached the upper limit of the challenge the AI can throw at you and will only find a suitable opponent in human players... which can be far more dangerous than the AI.

Reply #5 Top

Easiest way to go toe-to-toe with Vicious AI I've found is simply to expand as much as you can, then get starbases at all vulnerable worlds. Upgrade them as they get attacked so that you don't get caught with too little cash. (Defense first, then weapons, hangar last if you absolutely need it.) The basic non-researched starbase upgrades for TEC will work just fine if you support them with repair bays and later hangar bays.

Makes for great leveling grounds for caps, and you can stay at very low levels of fleet research this way, meaning you get a lot more income to pour into starbases, defenses, and research. Get culture for your caps and tech up to Pervasive Economy. Once you do, you'll have the cash for just about anything you need. On the other hand, it's gonna take a long time to go on the offensive with this strategy.

If this strategy succeeds, only massive AI fleets can crack the static defenses alone, while your small supporting fleet can easily turn the tide.

 

:fox: