Playing vs AI : from Normal to Hard

A good resource for beating the AI can be found here: https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/301605

I'll try to answer some of your specific questions, but the post above is a much better strategy guide than I can give you.

Hard gets a resource advantage (I think they accumulate it at 1.5x speed, though others may correct me on that). This allows them to do much more in the beginning than is usually possible.

It sounds like you play TEC. As that faction, I think the most important ships to research are the LRM, Carrier, and the Hoshiko. These should make up the bulk of your army. If it's getting late game, you can also go into Heavy Cruisers and even the Cielo can be useful if you know how to use it. There's no real distinction between frigates and cruisers; it's pretty arbitrary.

The first few levels of hull/armor techs are definitely worth the money, but quickly become cost inefficient at higher levels (you're better off just buying more ships).

TEC has a good metal resource tech at level one. They also usually have the most credits. The easiest ways to get more credits are: Develop Civilian Infrastructure (the top left button in the develop planet menu) to the max; Build Trade Ports (you'll need Trade port tech on Civilian tree, level 2), and researching improved __ colonies (and the equivalent terran one in the middle of the civilian tech tree). Building long chains of trade ports can really get your credit income skyrocketing.

The most important point on building your fleet is to know what kind of units counter other kinds of units. A basic breakdown is: LF > Carrier > LRF/HC > LF, though there are more in depth analyses on these boards.

Hope this helped.

Ok I will have plethora of noobie questions having read that article you linked to :

1. When he says "build taxes", he means upgrade civilian infrastructure right ?
2. At the beginning, buy 200 crystals, for what ?
3. A light frigate is, for instance, the Cobalt Light Frigate, not the Javelin, right ?
4. When he says "create a fleet out of [your capital ship]", what does that mean ? Capital ships can create fleets ?
5. What are "escape facilities" ?
6. "Resource inventions", what ?
7. 40-60 bomber squadrons? WHAT ? Ok I usually have ONE bomber squadron, the one my Kol capital ship can support. So I guess I need lots and lots of carriers. Never used those yet.

That'll be it for now, just bought the full game, so I have some playing to get done.

1. Yes, always upgrade planet infrastructure until you're at least not losing credits from it.

2. Crystal is generally scarce early in the game. You almost always have the metal and credits for stuff, but need crystal, so buying extra lets you progress faster.

3. Yes, the light frigate(LF) is the Cobalt for TEC. Javalin is the long range frigate(LRF)

4. There is a button to create a fleet and it makes it so you ships move together and some other stuff. Personally, I don't worry about them, but I suppose it might help.

5. I'm pretty sure he's talking about the planet upgrade that increases planet health. It makes it take longer to destroy your colony.

6. ?? Cant find it on the page so I don't know what you mean.

7. Yes, build carriers. But dont spam them. Balanced fleets are best.

The AI has one disadvantage, and that's how predictable it is.  As long as you aren't getting double, or Triple teamed, it's fairly easy to hold your own against them.  One of the most important research upgrades in my Opinion is the PSIDAR as TEC, especially if you're on a team with AI.  You can have them preemptively strike the forming fleet before they can attack you.

Contrary to one of the above posters, I don't use lots of Carriers or Hoshiko's as TEC, I work on researching, first and foremost, Trade stations and then make trade routes (And double or quad ports on planets with trade bonuses like "Massive pure glaciers" or "Helium Rich Atmosphere".)  Next is getting the Kodiaks as soon as possible which comprise the mainstay of Defensive forces.  If you are playing Entrenchment, A swarm of 15 or so Kodiaks around a Starbase with 2x Docking boom upgrade + a repair platform nearby can pretty much fend of anything the AI can huck at you.  The hard part is securing the economy to do that.  Also, given the nature of the AI, they seldom pass up any planet they come into, so keep Starbases kind of close to the planet itself to avoid Seige frigate spams, and surround the bases with as many Gauss turrets as possible to soak up fire and thin the enemy ranks out.  If you can afford it, swam  your defenses with mines too, 1 mine can take out most frigates and 2 will destroy a heavy cruiser.If playing a multi Star system, try and secure an entire star system for yourself and/or your ally and load the stars gravity well with Starbases with max fighter/bomber squadrons.  This will thin out a lot of enemies assuming there is no undefended wormhole into your system.

On a more offense oriented side, I favor KOL battleships and Dunov Cruisers with a 2:1 ratio (at level 6+ this is very nasty, resulting in almost unlimited shield power because of Flux field, and almost unlimited flak/Railgun bursts from Finest hour/Flux field spam) one Akkan battlecruiser can help too with the accuracy and range boost, and Armistice is VERY VERY VERY good if you find yourself in over your head and need to call a tactical retreat.  One important thing when attacking, is never have a fully dedicated force on offense, it leaves your planets open to small strikes, which is why I keep Kodiaks on defense (Interecept helps then get around pretty well). 

If you play with Dynamic alliances (Locked teams off) focus on getting an ally early, or the entire AI will rush you with everything they got. It doesn't matter how good you are, 9 fleets attacking you in the first hour of gameplay is bound for failure. Sometimes an ally will request something retarded early in game like destroy civilian structures, your best bet for this is a Javelis rush on an undefended colony to take out their extractors.  Try and do it as soon as you get the mission, because more than likely you're gonna need more than 1 attempt, and 30mins to cross a star system isn't exactly a lot of time.

Just to supplement Myles' excellent response.

2. The crystal is needed because of the research he needs to build (including two civilian stations) and the civilian infrastructure upgrade. You won't have nearly enough to do this without buying crystal. Also, in multiplayer, everyone buys crystal, so it's good to be the first before the market booms.

5. Escape facilities = Emergency facilities.

6. I think he means the resource refineries.

basic guidelines for efficient openings:

1. buy 100 crystal as soon as the game begins, its very likely to increase in price in the near future so the default 500 creds per 100 is the best deal you'll find on this for at least the first 15 minutes.

2. immediately research population increase (civilian infrastructure) on your homeworld. the extra tax revenue this generates is incredibly important. can't stress this enough. homeworld taxes are your single largest income sources for the entire game. 

3. your homeworld starts with 2 construction frigates so you can build 2 buildings at a time. start with a cap ship factory and a crystal extractor, then build 2 metal extractors. those buildings should all be built as quickly as possible. you can wait a little bit before starting on more buildings like research labs or whatever.

4. immediately build 2 or 3 scout frigates and start exploring the system with them. don't wait at all on this you need to find out the layout of the system very quickly. important details to look out for: are there any neutral resource extractors nearby that you can grab? are there any unusually lightly defended desert or terran worlds nearby? are there any volcanic or ice worlds with 4 asteroids? where is your opponent's homeworld? which capital ship did your opponent build? 

5. queue your first cap ship even before the cap ship yard is done constructing, don't waste any time on this. some cap ships are support ships and should not be chosen as the first ship. for TEC the Sova Carrier and Dunov Battlecruiser are very support oriented and are terrible first choices. The Kol Battleship and Marza Dreadnaught are both very strong and offensive ships (Marza has more offense, Kol has more defense, but both are very good) and make good first cap ships. The Akkan Battlecruiser will speed up your colonizing but is weak in combat so it can be problematic to start with. 

6. Unless you built an Akkan as your cap ship build a Colony Frigate as soon as possible. As soon as your cap ship is done building send it to the nearby asteroid (the one with 2 or 3 resources, and only 2 ships defending it). The cap ship can easily solo those defenders in a short amount of time. The colony frigate should come in immediately behind it. Make sure you have enough resources saved up to build the level 1 civilian infrastructure immediately after you cap the roid or else you'll have to pay underdevelopment penalties which can screw up your economy. 

those 6 first steps apply to almost every game of Sins you'll ever play. should get you off to a good start almost all the time. you'll have your first roid capped by 5 minutes and be moving toward capping your second colony right away. you should have no problems having a 2nd colony before the first 10 minutes are over. 

basic guidelines for fleets and combat:

1. the main offensive ship in the early game is the Long Range Frigate, it should be the backbone of your fleets until you have a robust economy. once your econ can support them, carriers are the best offensive ship you can buy. 

2. the main offensive ship in the mid and late game is the carrier cruiser. bombers are devastating against enemy structures, capital ships, and heavy cruisers. fighters are very effective against enemy long range frigates and support cruisers and are also the best defense against enemy bombers. in the lategame the fleet with space superiority (meaning the most squadrons) will almost always be the winner.

3. light frigates (like the Cobalt) are just not very good. they rapidly lose utility after the first 10 minutes. once you research the anti-matter draining ability (Steal Anti-matter, Sabotage Reactor, etc.) light frigates can take on a specialist role of countering enemy support cruisers.

4. anti-squadron frigates (like the Garda Flak frigate) are very durable and very good at shooting down fighters. they shouldn't be used in large numbers but a few go a long way, especially if there aren't a very large number of squadrons in the opposing force yet. they do get outclassed against lategame fleets though and ultimately you'll rely on your own fighter squadrons instead of flak frigates to clear the skies. 

5. cap ships aren't very good unless their abilities are well developed. learn the ins and outs of each cap ship ability to improve your performance. it can make all the difference in the world. also don't trust the AI to properly use your cap ship abilities, micro managing cap ships will boost performance by alot. a well played cap ship will dominate a battle. a poorly played one isn't noticeably better than the equivalent fleet logistics deployed as boring old Long Range Frigates.

6.  a small number of support cruisers (such as the Hoshiko and Cielo for TEC) make a HUGE difference in combat performance. don't underestimate just how powerful those special abilities are. 

7. siege frigates are very expensive and very fragile. they are generally a waste of money and fleet capacity in the early and midgame but will become necessary in the late game when you are more likely to be assaulting multiple planets at once. cap ships are better planet killers (particularly ones with anti-planet abilities like the Marza's Siege Guns) but you just won't have enough cap ships to be at every planet you need to bomb. 

8. the best way to defend is with a frigate factory and a repair bay. leave some fleet capacity available and build ships in response to being attacked. if you succesfully repel them your counter-attack force is already built! this technique also lets you build the most effective counters against your attacker instead of having to guess ahead of time what you'll be attacked with. 

9. some planets aren't worth defending. it might be better to just let them go and re-colonize later. you might just use the opportunity to scope out your opponents fleet and build some good counters and then go after him. or you might out-flank him and take out one or more of his planets while his fleet is busy taking out a planet you didn't care much about. 

Thanks for the tips. Re-tried a 2vs2 on hard. I played a better early game, but at some point the red guys had made like 50 cobalt frigates and 2 capital ships + 10 javelins so my proud army of 10 LF + Akkan + 3 carriers + 10 LRMs went down pretty quickly.

I tried as the guide explained, to make very well defended choke points, but I just don't get time for that. Trade ports, yes, but they're damn expensive ! With 700 credits I can buy almost 3 LRMs. Also, pirates can attack anywhere they want it seems, even a planet that I thought safe behind my "choke point" planet. Also, there were no desert or volcanic planets near me so I was really short in metal.

Anyway, I guess I mainly need practice now. I make everyone play TEC so I can at least get to know one race pretty well.

I think you researched too fast, and too prudent on the military front. Mid game is TEC's time to shine, I like the Akkan opener, but apparently you rushed toward carriers when your trade routes are not set up yet.  One thing I learn about the game is to take my time.  When you are calm, you will notice more about the market and pirate activities, then before you know it, you are ready to set up your trade ports instead of building three extra LRMs that you don't need.  So later, when you are the credit king because of your trade ports, you can buy powerful Caps like Kol or MARZA along with carriers that you can afford.

The biggest Sin that most people make is the fantasy to only master one race, and then expect to have an edge on their opponent, because he can play one race really really well....NOT.   You can never improve that way, simply because that's lazy, and you won't learn anything if you are already made up your mind to be lazy....although, TEC is pretty cool, but I think Advent is the easiest race to pick up because of its powerful illuminators, and you can think about your trade ports later.

I did not read the whole thread, Im tired and about to goto sleep.

The change from normal to hard for you has me awestruck, I do 1v2 unfair opponents and they seem ridiculously easy to me (were significantly harder back around 1.10 I think)

The simple easiest way I've found to hamper the AI Every.Single.Time.Without.Fail is to just stack ships in my sun (assuming this isnt a wormhole map, but same scenario I'd imagine)

lets say I can have 400 ships, I probably have 150-175 in my sun just at random positions, anytime AI jumps in they immediately turn and bail.

PS: I know that isnt any way to play this game, and I don't use this strategy to win, I actually play the game and simply out maneuver the unfair AI's in a real game, my post was merely meant to demonstrate how full of holes the AI seems to be. They could just burn through my sun in a bee line to the next planet, instead they flee.

What I wouldn't give to have 1.10's AI back, before they went "omg starbases! ill never attack again" route

Ok did the 2vs2 again, this time I rolled all over the enemy AIs! However I think I forgot to check team locked, so my ally turned against me at the end. And he had about twice the fleet I had. Oh well.

i'm glad to hear that you're improving. the main thing that your experience will teach you is how to properly judge what stage of the game you're at. 

in the early game you really need to just spam LRF's because there are only 2 ships that can be deployed in large numbers: the light frigate and the long range frigate. considering that LRF counters Light its a no brainer, just spam LRF's until you're well into the midgame.

you'll know you're in the midgame based on the state of your economy and the size of your fleet. generally you'll have researched at least the first 2 fleet logistics upgrades (maybe even the first 3) and will have a fleet of 1 or 2 cap ships and 30-40 LRF's. economically you should have at least 4 planets (homeworld, starter asteroid, and 2 additional colonies). gonna need a tax income rate of at least 20 creds/sec, which can generally be achieved by a HW with 300+ population (about 15 creds/sec all by itself) and another planet with about 100 pop (usually good for 4 or 5 cred/sec). 

your priorities in the midgame are to ramp up your economy and to make the next tech tier for your military.

for TEC that means the following:

1. going to need to go up to 3 military labs and 3 civilian labs. the military labs should unlock Hoshiko's and Percherons but hold off on damage/armor upgrades for now. you probably can't afford them yet. you may be able to squeeze in the first hull upgrade because its nice and cheap, consider it, its a nice edge. civilian labs will need to unlock trade ports and broadcast centers. 

2. build a broadcast center at your homeworld (or at a colony adjacent to your homeworld). the 10% alliegance increase it provides boosts your economic output by a large amount (about 1.5 cred/sec at the homeworld alone, and eventually it will effect all of your colonies). build your starter tradeport network. try to get a trade route length of at least 3 (will allow ports to contribute about 1.0 cred/sec each). the longer the route the more each port contributes but don't overextend and build ports at vulnerable border worlds. 

3. you'll be significantly vulnerable while you're expanding economically. i keep my fleet on defense during this time, parked at a border world and backed up by a couple of repair bays. this is a good time to build a few more scouts and see what your opponent is up to. if you see him pushing towards you you may need to scrap your economic development plans and just build more cheap ships until you fend him off. if he's doing development of his own its a race and you'll need to get your infrastucture running faster and then go on offense.

4. add Hoshiko's and Percheron's to your fleet existing fleet of Javelis. gonna want at least 3 or 4 Percherons loaded out with Fighter squads. those make a perfect counter for enemy fleets of LRF's that you might run into. probably don't need bomber squads yet because its a bit early to be assaulting enemy colonies. you just want to hunt down and destroy his fleet at this point. adding 4 or 5 Hoshiko's will boost your fleet's survivability by a massive amount, don't neglect it. 

5. attack one of his border worlds to try and draw out his fleet. if he falls for it you'll be able to smash his ships and then have your way with him. worst case scenario you can try to take out his cap ship and then retreat with only minor losses of your own.