Some things I noticed in my current run - and asking for advice

[redrum68]

Regardless, it happens specifically when you have a high level of Piracy in a system.

Are you sure about that? I'm fairly certain I've had the event spawn pretty early while I had very little trade/piracy. I remember that my fleet at the time was still very small and I actually had to build it up to be able to kill the pirates.

 

[Talanic]

Are you sure about that? I'm fairly certain I've had the event spawn pretty early while I had very little trade/piracy. I remember that my fleet at the time was still very small and I actually had to build it up to be able to kill the pirates.

Was that in 2.2 or later? Previously, it was just a timed event. Now, it's only triggered by at least 10 points of trade being eaten by piracy.

 

[redrum68]

Yeah it was 2.2.3 I think. I might have had 10 points of trade being eaten by piracy across all systems but definitely not in one system. Also is the 10 points only include over the protection of each system? If I had say 5 systems each with 2 base protection and each had 2 piracy so that I wasn't actually losing any trade would have count as 10 or 0?

 

[Tom D.]

For AP, I'd lean towards Interstellar Dominion to reduce influence cost of building more outposts to continue to expand your borders since you'll probably be doing that a lot over the next 10-20 years and later on it'll make claims cheaper.

Now that I'm about to go ham on expansion that might indeed be a better perk, as I'm already running into difficulties with influence. A defensive pact does cost almost 1 influence a month so I already cancelled one of them because it was not necessary.

Your monthly influence gain is also low (3) at this point in the game and you should consider reviewing your factions happiness and trying to rival 3 empires if you haven't already to boost it.

Factions are a bit difficult, there seems to be no real way to please them, at least from what I know they have almost all their demands fulfilled but as more ideologies pop up more different factions will pop up with conflicting demands. I'll keep it in mind though.

You also have a large stockpile of alloys so upgrading a few starbases for either trade hubs/anchorages and building your fleet to max naval capacity would be a good idea as that will act as a deterrent to the AI declaring war on you.

With my expansion this will definitely be used up and I'll upgrade some starbases too now that my cap has been improved.

 

[redrum68]

Yeah, I generally find until my expansion has slowed down that diplomacy pact benefits (defensive, research, trade, etc) are not worth the influence costs in most cases. Defensive pacts in particular costing 1 influence/month are really expensive so unless you feel that an enemy is stronger and going to declare war on you then it isn't worth it.

 

[Tom D.]

So it's now 2327 and absorbing all the info I got from you guys I expanded as much as I could, even cancelling defensive pacts and agreements that I thought were unnecessary boosting my influence gain. I joined a Federation of two rather weak actually empires in the north, but as I saw it took a bunch of influence I almost immediately left as soon as I joined, pissing them off but nothing to worry about. I took the whole arm I was talking about full of rich resources, and I'm going to take over the space between that arm and my neighbour in the north which is expanding south so I want to cut them off. I also colonised two more planets and I'm indeed convinced that my expansion actually helped me with my research and resources rather than hindering me so that was definitely a good advice to ignore the penalty.

There are some screenshots below showing my progress, does someone know btw why some species evolve over time into 4 different species? I know they probably mutate but I never get any messages about it and in the species tab it's quite messy and I don't know whether genetically modifying my species is worth it if they mutate all by themselves anyway? Also I still have issues with that one planet I conquered from natives, there are some unemployed lowest tier pops on that planet but there is actually a demand for tier 2 jobs but they don't seem to upgrade to that lvl, any idea why?

Lastly, I have a fleet power of around 12k, I recently researched battleships but I don't have any yet and I am going to upgrade my fleet who was hunting pirates so that fleet power might increase a little bit. I also just saw that I now have 182 fleet cap due to anchorages and stuff, so I'm going to build up to that limit which might probably bring my fleet power to around 20k I think. Is this a lot for 2327? I am about to research the tech which gives me a project to open the L-Cluster, if anything bad comes out of it, is my fleet strong enough to handle it or do I need to seriously up my fleet power? I'm curious to find out, but I can't seem to rival the Marauders yet so I fear that what is in the L-Cluster will be able to defeat me.

Any advice on these matters or a general feedback on how I'm doing will be very appreciated, I'm loving this run (which I intend to finish till the end, which would be my first one) and I'm loving the info and advice so far, it has really helped me. Thanks in advance !

Spoiler: Screenshots 2327

 

[FonVegen]

One little hint for you: If you get the most likely result for opening the L-Cluster... be prepared. I won't spoil what might happen, but build up your forces. A lot.

All in all though, just from the first glance at the screenshot I can tell that you are doing much better than before, so keep it up! And if you want more fleet cap, build strongholds and fortresses, because the soldier jobs they provide also generate more of that.

 

[Tom D.]

One little hint for you: If you get the most likely result for opening the L-Cluster... be prepared. I won't spoil what might happen, but build up your forces. A lot.

All in all though, just from the first glance at the screenshot I can tell that you are doing much better than before, so keep it up! And if you want more fleet cap, build strongholds and fortresses, because the soldier jobs they provide also generate more of that.

Thanks, I'm at around 2350 now and I think I'm strong enough to take it on, I'm just too curious by now to not open it and I want to know what's in it before the endgame crisis inevitably fires in 50 years, I feel horribly unprepared for that though. My fleet cap is quite big though but probably not big enough, but I can in case it goes wrong take the AP that gives you extra power against the endgame crisis, I just finished the domination tree so I got 2 open AP because I'm still waiting for Mega-Engineering to get Megastructures (and I do have all tech requisites AFAIK, Zero Point Power, Citadel and Battleship) and I even have 2 ruined Megastructures in my territory which should increase the likelihood of the tech appearing but as said, no luck so far. For now my fingers are crossed for the L-Cluster. Below is one screenshot to give the situation I'm at now, in 2350:

Also: any advice on Fleet composition? How many corvettes/destroyers/cruisers/battleships?

 

[Bryartuck]

I would suggest beefing up your fleets considerably before trying to open the L-Gates. Depending on your luck, you might not need them (there are several possible outcomes from opening the L-Gates), but if your luck is bad, you will. I don't want to spoil too much for you, but would recommend at least 2-3 fleets around 25k each, just in case.

 

[ragehavoc]

if you want to get to megastructures fast you can pick voideborn and master builders, youll need the zero point tech, and you wont need the galactic wonders perk to repair the ruined megastructures.
i believe mono fleets is the "best" way to go still. i.e. an all corvette fleet, and an all battleship fleet, but having a mixed bag shouldnt cause too much of an issue.
the most important thing is usually the loadout, most of the time a balance is fine vs other empires, but the l-clusters, awakenings and crisis' typically require a specific loadout depending on what card you drew.

 

[Tom D.]

I would suggest beefing up your fleets considerably before trying to open the L-Gates. Depending on your luck, you might not need them (there are several possible outcomes from opening the L-Gates), but if your luck is bad, you will. I don't want to spoil too much for you, but would recommend at least 2-3 fleets around 25k each, just in case.

Seems like I'll have to temporise and build up a little more to really not mess up things. Let's hope 3 fleets of 25k are enough.

if you want to get to megastructures fast you can pick voideborn and master builders, youll need the zero point tech, and you wont need the galactic wonders perk to repair the ruined megastructures.
i believe mono fleets is the "best" way to go still. i.e. an all corvette fleet, and an all battleship fleet, but having a mixed bag shouldnt cause too much of an issue.
the most important thing is usually the loadout, most of the time a balance is fine vs other empires, but the l-clusters, awakenings and crisis' typically require a specific loadout depending on what card you drew.

I didn't take voidborne because I didn't want to bother with Habitats, but the funny thing is: if you want to take Galactic Wonders, you need Mega-Engineering - if you're unlucky with tech you can get the tech option by picking Master Builders - but that AP requires voidborne or Mega-Engeneering - so basically if you don't want to use voidborne you're forced to get the Mega-Engineering tech anyway, because if you take Master Builders you need the tech in the first place as you don't pick Voidborne. Looks like a bit of a faulty design if you ask me.

 

[Tom D.]

Boy, am I glad I build up my fleet as suggested, cause I think I just doomed all my friendly neighbours (great ) and by extension the whole galaxy... 25k fleets are not nothing, I think my neighbours can't even handle such a big fleet - woops, my apologies fur ruining your empires . I thought they would come through my L-Gate and not all the others hence why I also build up my citadel in the system but I guess it'll be useful in case anything does come through, as there were 4 of those fleets already in the Terminal Engress (rip science ship, but I was smart enough to put a lvl 1 scientist at the lead). I read I had to destroy a factory of some sorts in the L-Cluster to defeat those things, I hope my 3 fleets will be able to defeat those 4 Nanite Fleets in the Engress system, unless they will move too to the galaxy? I might actually let those fleets run a bit rampant in the galaxy, but as said most L-Gates were located in friendly empires so I might just weaken myself indirectly by doing so... This is definitely interesting, can't wait to find out more!

 

[FonVegen]

Several fleets will remain guarding the Egress, and I recommend you counterinvade the L-Cluster as soon as possible. Might take a few attempts, but once you do, keep all fleets in that system and keep reinforcing them while also sending a science ship and a construction ship there to build a new outpost (to grow into a citadel as soon as possible). Because from then on you'll have the cluster locked down and can defeat the fleets at your leisure. Afterwards you'll have ten extra systems and gateways into all parts of the galaxy that you can control border access to and from.

Good idea to fortify the gate system on your end though, because more fleets will come, and they will move to random systems, which then also includes yours.

 

[ragehavoc]

Yes the "quick path" to mega structures isnt much better than waiting for mega engineering yourself, but due to the card system and the high tech value of mega engineering you pretty much have to go voideborn > master builders > mega engineering tech > galactic wonder, since master builders guarantees mega engineering tech.
Most people agree that it takes far too long to get to mega engineering since it rarely becomes available until almost late game and the prices to build one makes building the structure redundant (if you can afford to build it you dont need to build it).
The only exception for the cost to worth is repairing megastructures since it doesnt require galactic wonders, and is cheaper and takes a shorter amount of time than building it yourself, so it can give you an advantage early on depending on the structure.

For the tempest l cluster, make sure you can handle at least 2 fleets of them at a time if you are going to go in, and they will keep spawning until someone takes care of them.
They use lasers and strike craft so shields are good defensive counters, they have a balance of shields and armor, so a standard weapon build is fine.

 

[Tom D.]

So my first battle against the Gray Tempest in the Terminal Engress system went remarkably well, my 3 22k fleets won against 4 of their fleets without much losses. It quickly became a hassle though because casualties started to mount and I couldn't really reinforce my fleets because of the big amount of alloys it costed (although I never really ran out until near the end for the final battle) but also because building those ships took an awful amount of time too, forcing me to keep on fighting without reinforcing because it would be easier to just keep on fighting rather than wait it out. But finally after 30 years I got to end the threat and now I'm probably going to double my amount of planets in one go due to all the nanite planets which are remarkably cheap to terraform (only 1k to terraform in a continental world is almost nothing). The marauder clan (out of 2 and the nearest to me) suddenly got a khan in the middle of that 30-year period just as I didn't need more dangers but I fought them several times and I always won without much losses, partially helped because they used the L-Cluster and arrived in that system I reinforced to counter any potential Gray Tempest coming through my L-Gate. I also finally got Mega-Engineering tech, after looking at the wiki I saw that the probability is halved if you don't have specific traits and one of them was a curator, so I juts hired one and put him on the Engineering part. Still took a few years after I put him there to get the option. Now I hope to build up a lot with all these new planets to be able to counter the endgame crisis, which should only arrive in 70 years so I still have time.

The final battle ending the Gray Tempest.

Basically I'm all set for the final struggle and there's only one thing I need advice with: Megastructures. So I have two ruined Megastructures in my territory, a ruined Sentry Array and a Science Nexus. As it is cheaper to repair one than make a new one, which one should I repair (first)? I'm already at the repeatable techs so I don't really need faster +5% techs, so I'm leaning towards repairing the Sentry Array and maybe even letting the ruined Science Nexus be and just straight go for building a Dyson Sphere after, as I have struggled very hard with my energy production during the 30-year war period as my ships required a huge amount of it, and a Dyson Sphere would help a lot here. I might build a Ring World after the Dyson Sphere is done, but it might be that the Endgame Crisis is already there by then so I'd probably build it after they are defeated as alloys would be better spend on Fleets I imagine. Thank you very much for all the advice so far, it was very useful!

 

[Bryartuck]

Most of the megastructures use a lot of energy once completed, so if you are going that route, you will probably want to start with the Dyson Sphere. I wouldn't bother with a ring world myself. If you have Megacorp, I'd go for the Strategic Coordination Center, as it gives a big boost to fleet cap and other bonuses for your fleets as well. The matter Compressor is good as well. You'll be rolling in minerals with that.

 

[FonVegen]

You may want a Dyson Sphere and a Matter Decompressor. That way you have pretty much all resources covered.

The SCC, as @Bryartuck suggested, is always the one I go for first as long as my resource needs are covered for the moment. The Interstellar Assembly will make sure that the entire galaxy loves you unless you blow up their planets, but I'm pretty sure you need to build it in your home system for it to work (or so I've heard, so I do it that way just to be sure).

The Art Installation is great if you want to keep a lot of Unity Ambitions running, but generally you are able to do so without a dedicated megastructure.

Ringworlds can be your friend if you want to get rid of all agriculture districts on every planet you own, and the building slots can be utilised for whatever you need at the time.

And the Sentry Array is nice, but honestly I don't usually need to know what species X is doing at the opposite end of the galaxy. Though to be fair, once you own the L-Cluster no empire is too far from your borders, so that's a valid point.

Finally, the Science Nexus may come a bit late, but you only need to finish it, and don't underestimate the power of repeatables on economics and fleet strength shouldn't be underestimated.

 

[The Founder]

2. The pirate event is a random event that still is in the game but IMO is outdated and based on how pirates used to work. Now that piracy has be reworked at it primarily a loss of trade value on along your routes, the event should be removed but it still has some chance of spawning and you then have to deal with the pirate fleet. I don't think there is anything you can do to avoid the chance of it happening.

How to prevent Priate Spawns:
Do not have unprotected/insufficiently protected trade routes.
Or at least do not get current Piracy exceed maximum trade protection.

 

[The Founder]

Are you sure about that? I'm fairly certain I've had the event spawn pretty early while I had very little trade/piracy. I remember that my fleet at the time was still very small and I actually had to build it up to be able to kill the pirates.

You just need Current Piracy > Trade Protection. The exact figures seem irrelevant.

 

[The Founder]

Boy, am I glad I build up my fleet as suggested, cause I think I just doomed all my friendly neighbours (great ) and by extension the whole galaxy... 25k fleets are not nothing, I think my neighbours can't even handle such a big fleet - woops, my apologies fur ruining your empires .

Most Event Countries have no or very limited, Event based reinforcements. At least prior to 2.2, I could often win a War of Attrition against them.
With the new way you pay for miltiary ships this might be a lot harder.