Picked up the game fresh out of the shipping box the other day (Canada always gets these things late..).
I hated Galactic civilizations as well as Homeworld but I played Supreme Commander and Total War so I figured I should at least give this one a try.
So I've been playing the biggest map I could find with me as TEC and the other guys as Advent and Vasarii. Unfortunately for the TEC and Vasarii, we are both in the same galaxy while the Advent can expand to god knows where. All set to Normal with locked teams by the way which was probably a bad idea.
I eventually established a perimeter around my inner colonies though I wonder if I was expanding fast enough or not as the AI had no trouble expanding and eventually the Advent expanded into our parts. I was able however establish a small galaxy rich in minerals for myself and sealed it (Any ship exiting the phase lane would be blasted to oblivion by heavy defenses.
The perimeter is holding the line and while the AI sends in seige fleets (Please no arguing about sieges here) the Advent did send in a main fleet with 3 cap ships against an asteriod outpost which I only beated back with my own main fleet (1 cap battleship) reinforcing from a nearby shipyard(planet, I've established some worlds as main shipyards). I was able to push into another world held by the Varasaii but only because my 2nd fleet (1 cap carrier) drew the attention of another Varasaii main fleet (3 cap ships). I sent in the 3rd fleet (1 cap battleship) which flanked and annihilated this enemy fleet.
Other than that I'm finding it rather hard to continue expanding and fighting out.
Defense fleets consist of 1 command, 5+ heavy cruisers, 3 flaks, and 5+ missiles supplemented by 3+ hangers 1+ repair and the rest turrets.
My main fleets usually consist of
1 Cap ship (I am thinking of adding battlecruisers to support them now).
10+ heavy cruisers
20+ cobalt
2+ commands
4+ carriers
2+ robotics cruisers
20+ missiles
I'm still up in the air with this setup though I'm wondering how to expand effectively enough but yet maintain a strong fleet. When I take over a planet should I wait till I upgrade all tactical ports and maintain one defense fleet?
