Having serious trouble against normal AI players

Yes, indeed, how can I be beaten by a normal AI player?!

I visit this board very often, though I don't play the game that often. Today, I started a 4 player, 16 planet map, playing as Vasari.

The first time, I created a TON of strike craft carriers since I usually send the competition to hell with 80-100 bomber squats (though this was easy level, TEC race). I was wrong, I planned on crushing a player with around 30-35 bomber squats, a few sqirmishers and the 2 capital ships; the Evacuator and the Kortul battleship. Things didn't turn in my favor, as my opponent had a TON of TEC frigates which in an incredibly short time destroyed my strike craft carriers. I had to retreat, and as I arrive, another player attacks my homeworld. That battle ended in 10 seconds.

So I try a second time. This time, more radical. I start, extractors, cap ship, and 3 military labs to unlock the enforcer. I build two cap ships, the same, but this time I wait to attack another planet. But as I was expanding my fleet very fast, suddenly all three opponents attack my homeworld, and each of them had a large fleet, with at least 2 cap ships. And this after only 5 minutes!

I mean, what's this. I get 4 sqirmishers to start, do they get 20? The rate at which the enemies expand is incredible, and this is only normal level...

Any tips?

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Easy way to fight off TEC lfs is to bring a 2:1 ratio of fighters:bombers. The bombers will go off and kill those pesky defensive structures and frigate factories (always a priority target) while the fighters will rip the lfs to shreds. If that doesn't work try taking a few kanrak assailants with you (the designated anti-light frigate weapon of the Vasari) since they only take one military lab to build and are generally cheaper on credits than skirmishers, and they're lethal to low tier ships with the first two phase missile upgrades.

The way this game works means you have to know which ship counters what and build accordingly. Normal AI generally spams light frigates for a long while (TEC especially I've found) so Vasari have a definite advantage in the short game.

I'm not too versed in Vasari capital ship tactics so I won't comment on those but the Evacuator is practically designed for cap ship killing with Nano-Disassembler and Gravity Warhead. A second strategy you might use is to rush the closest TEC player with your cap and about 10-20 assailants. They should be able to take out a fleet of lfs twice their size with ease and wipe out the cap ship supporting them once ND/GW have been earned. Then you take over his first planet/asteroid and use the boost from that to out-econ the other two enemies.

I'd advise you to keep building assailants at this point for your defensive fleet, as well as placing repair bays in key positions to keep them alive. A group of 10-20 should be able to hold off a cap ship and a fleet of lfs without much trouble if you position them right (two repair bays covering each other with the assailants in the middle).

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In your particular case the AI built the exact unit they needed to counter all your carriers. All your strike craft do reduced damage to his light frigates and his light frigates do bonus damage against your carriers plus you can't outrun them. I recently played and advent game against 5 Hard AI's where 4 of them were allying against me. Usually I try to tech up to illuminators, but I realized I just didn't have the time nor resources to wait for it. Instead I just kept spamming out disciples. I focused on just upgrading my disciples and their firepower as resources became available, but I was fortunate enough that the missions the AI gave me were geared toward attacking a single player. My large amount of disciples were able to pretty much one shot any ship that wasn't a capital ship at that point in the early game. My target was a unfair vasari and even though he had Assailants which counter light frigates, counters aren't too effective when you're outnumbered about 6 to 1.

Just against the AI on small maps like the one I was playing in the above mentioned game, numbers usually plays a more important role then quality in terms of units. Going on an early game defensive is pretty much suicide with multiple AI as well as they're going to eventually just team up on you. I had a similar game where I did the opposite and built the correct counters with 30 illuminators, but the combined AI fleets came with about 120+ light frigates which totally rolled over my fleet.

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i think the issue lies in your economic development lagging behind the enemy. what did your empire look like when you were attacked?

also, you're getting double teamed in FFA maps, which is very difficult even for highly skilled players. stick with 1on1 or 2on2 until you can beat the AI more reliably.

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Well, tried it again, this time I had an allianse with one player and it was much easier. I kept myself low with a Kortul and an Evacuator at lvl 10 which really kicked ass with the drain planet ability. I won the map with my allianse, but just for kicks I took on my former friend.

This is just unreal, I had a fleet of 4 capital ships, 60 enforcers, 30 LRM frigates, and 120 bomber squads and 20 fighter squads. He managed to defeat me with only 2 capital ships and 40 bomber squads, seriously.... Aargh! If I'd only managed to get my hands on Returning Armada, this maybe wouldn't been so hard...

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anti-fighter frigates and more fighters wouldve won you the battle handily. also, target prioritization and focus firing helps a lot, if you're not doing that.

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You probably made the same mistakes as I did, by researching too many upgrades that you don't need to beat AI's fleet or economy. Just research the stuff you really need, then build up your fleet first.

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I led the carriers away from the battle to avoid them being destroyed and I told all my caps, frigates and LRM's to focus fires on the enemy caps but to no avail. I was surprised I was destroyed because my fleet was easily twice as large...

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