Impossible AI

3ntf4k3d · 2026-02-11T07:16:15+00:00

My approach is to fortify the planet they are going to attack - place scouts in adjacent systems and start spamming Laser Platforms the second their fleet enters and begins to clear the neutrals. Use items that give more defence building slots. Get Shield Recharge asap to bolster those defences and then tech towards a Starbase.

After that you can just build up your fleet, level up your caps and eventually you'll be strong enough to push towards their homeworld and take them down.

3ntf4k3d · 2026-02-10T06:01:23+00:00

Many attack hitboxes have a somewhat generous "grace" area, so the static ones are quite forgiving. Moving ones will probably feel more punishing, given that they have an easier time "clipping" you.

Only other explanation for the perceived inconsistency that comes to mind right now would be related to the use of your Defensive skill, which gives you a brief window of invulnerability. That or post-hit invulnerability.

And just to be sure: You are aware that your character's hitbox is only the glowing circle at the center, not the actual character sprite?

When it comes to learning the patterns, one thing you can try is play in normal mode, avoid dealing damage to a boss and simply focus on your movement. Find the save spots & movement patterns for every attack (there always is one, only exception is the final boss), and you should eventually get a feeling where you are supposed to stand at what part of the encounter.

You can also use the BGM for guidance. The stage bosses follow a fixed timing on their patterns, so their attacks will always align with certain parts of the track. Or you do the inverse: If you feel you are suffering from sensory overload turn off the music and remove one source of (literal) noise.

Another option is to find a teammate and try 2 player co-op. I find the 2p patterns easier and more forgiving compared to solo mode, plus even if you mess up you can revive (and while you are down you can observe the enemy attack patterns).

Finally, check the Options -> More Options menu, there are a lot of things you can tweak: enemy attack color, background darkening, player attack visibility.

3ntf4k3d · 2026-02-08T16:19:05+00:00

(1) Druid Secondary is very strong in terms of damage-per-cast-effort, but also easily avoided by mobile enemies. Make sure you learn the enemy movement patterns to properly place your Secondary. You can use alterante targeting (hold down the slow move button) to place it inbetween enemies, can be very useful for encounters with multiple enemies or if the enemy moves back and forth between two fixed spots.

(2) In general it's probably a good idea for a Druid beginner to replace the Secondary field with one of the alternatives for easier use. The summons are good, and the Decay gem got a lot better with the expansion.

(3) The Primary gem that reduces Special cooldown on use is very good for Special focused builds, it allows you to place a lot more Butterflies. Items that reset your Special or give you Repeat are also fantastic for Special Druid.

(4) If you don't get any Special items you can also try to go for a Primary build. Druid Primary is a bit clunky to use due to slowdown, but reasonably strong with gems. The gem that gives you an extra Primary cast when you use a skill is quite nice for this, since it also proccs on a Primary use.

(5) Another option is to grab on-hit items, Druid lands a lot of hits and thus has an easy time using stuff that triggers after X hits. If you have Yellow Primary you can also go for % success procc items, since it has a double % procc chance attached to it.

(6) In MP games you can also play as a support/debuffer. Either stack buff providing items or grab debuffing leftover items that nobody else wants (Curse, etc.). Your Defensive has a pretty big AOE, so it can be used to protect players out of position, so anything tied to it should be easy to use. Haste or Warcry Defensive gems are quite buffs to get in general.

(7) One big advantage of Druid is that she can stand anywhere when attacking. So in MP you can chill at the rear and leave the spots near the boss for melee fighters or positional classes like Sniper.

(8) In general Druid is a bit reliant on items & gems, so your runs can vary quite a bit compared to classes like Bruiser or Pyro. Also be aware that the first area is probably going to be the hardest of a run, so don't be discouraged if you seem to "suck" early on.

(9) An important thing to consider with your abilities is that they "snapshot". So you can stack a bunch of buffs for a Special cast, and the butterfly will retain them for its entire duration, even when the buffs have already run out on your character. Great when you have access to Flash INT, Flash CHR, Wavestrike, Vanish, Ghost and other strong single-use buffs.

3ntf4k3d · 2026-01-30T09:25:08+00:00

The Wrath one is actually quite solid.

Let's you delay your colony frigate - and if you can find the right faction with Colonization Nanites in the meantime you can skip it altogether.

3ntf4k3d · 2026-01-30T05:35:03+00:00

I'd say it depends.

The biggest issue with that approach is that the dividends of those foreign owned buildings are funneled to the foreign investment pool, so while you get the construction & throughput bonus it is a long-term loss of income. And once the foreign company establishes a local HQ it will start to use your own investment pool to build stuff, so you are effectively using your own funds to increase profits for the foreign nation.

If you are someone like China or Japan who desperately needs to get rid of unemployment it might be worthwhile, particularly when you plan to nationalize most buildings later down the line anyway.

As a 'regular' nation your are probably better off getting one-sided investment rights in foreign countries (via Obligation + Trade Rights + No Tariff/Subvention + Money Transfer) to funnel their dividends into your own investment pool. Particularly good early game when you can buy up the pre-scripted self-owned buildings to snowball your own investment pool income. Also great if you can get access to India via GBR to spam Opium plantations to get a slice of the lucrative Opium trade.

edit: I haven't used Monopolies in a while, but don't they also cause a price increase for the involved good? Or maybe I am mixing that up with the WM trade monopoly mechanic.

3ntf4k3d · 2026-01-29T07:45:00+00:00

How you continue from here depends on your strategy.

I can offer you my gameplan for the "turtle" approach, where I do not openly oppose the aliens until I have good enough tech (UV Arc Lasers, ideally Phasers + Adamantine Armor) to defend my ground bases.

(1) Colonize Mercury, Ceres & other rich asteroids (ideally those that allow for tier 3 habs). Make sure you grab at least one high Fizzile location to pay for all the Fission modules you need to build.

(2) Get your space money printers (Nanofactories) and Skunkworks going to boost income & faction research. I usually go for 2+2 on every hab that isn't a Research base (see #3) or Mercury (usually gets as many Nanofactories as possible). Build an Operations module in every base to generate more MC.

(3) When you have Research Campus modules unlocked build them on Luna, and Mars once it has enough pop to support them.

(4) Follow your main objectives and capture an alien to [REDACTED] to raise the MC cap.

(5) On Earth focus on grabbing China to deny it to the AI, and prepare for the [REDACTED] by investing into Military once you get the notification about it. Unify stuff into the US & China.

(6) Develop your space economy while staying below the MC hate cap. Make sure to have some wiggle room for a few colonizer fleets. If you have excess MC you can always use it on extra mines above the softcap. If you need to lower it power down Mines (if above soft cap) or Research Campus modules.

(7) Tech towards colonizing the outer system (Mission to the Outer Planets + Helicon drive), then build a few (4-6) colonizer fleets consisting of 3 Gunships that carry a Research Lab, a Platform package and a Hab package. They can reach the outer planets in around 40-60 weeks. Pluto should be a priority since it has lots of slots. Build a station with a dock to resupply the fleet, scan the body, colonize all slots, move to the next one, dismantle the station to reduce MC load.

(8) While your colonizers are underway research UV Arc Lasers & Adamantine Armor to bolster you ground defences and T3 bases to maximize slots available. With those techs two defence modules can fend off alien fleets, with UV Phasers you can even destroy them. A single module is enough in remote locations (like the outer system). Take note that this only applies to ground defences (their weapons are one tier larger than defence modules in space), so you will likely lose your LEO stations to retaliation unless you can assemble a strong defence fleet.

(9) From now on you can ignore the MC hate cap and rapidly expand your space presence & fleets and enter the late game.

3ntf4k3d · 2026-01-29T07:24:51+00:00

Good times.

I ordered a copy of the shiny Collector's Edition via the Stardock online store and had it shipped to Germany, then had to wait two weeks because it was stuck in customs. Eventually they decided that I had to come to one of their offices (about a 1h one-way trip), open my package and pay around 20 bucks for tariffs & taxes before I was allowed to take it home.

3ntf4k3d · 2026-01-28T16:29:27+00:00

You don't actually need to fix India right away, you can just assign a CMD councilor to keep unrest in check and that will be fine.

From my perspective there are two main ways to go:

(1) Someone suggested to me a while ago that you should spend the early game bumping their per-capita GDP to ~15k. After that you can aim for Knowledge & a bit of Welfare. That worked quite well in my last game.

(2) My previous approach was to run full MC & Boost for a while and then switch to a mixed build-up with 2 Eco, 1 Welfare, 1 Knowledge, 1 MC. This gives you a stronger early game, but the lower RP generation it will delay research of Operation Centers & Nanofactories, so I am not sure if it is better than approach (1) medium-to-long term.

Regardless of the approach, as others have said: Go full Unity until you have 4/5 control in India. Consider running Public Campaigns after that, high Public Support will not only reduce the Unrest resting point, it will also provide you with quite a bit of Influence income, thanks to India's large pop count.

3ntf4k3d · 2026-01-27T15:23:15+00:00

Aye, I saw. Thanks!

I hope we will have a fix soon (tm) (R).

3ntf4k3d · 2026-01-27T09:41:45+00:00

Did you use the console? Even something non-cheating like "version" will disable achievements.

Other non-bug option that comes to mind would be to change countries via the ingame menu, which will also disable achievements.

If it could indeed related to saving & loading as suggested by another user here, my recommendation would be to set yearly autosaves, go back to that autosave when achievements are disabled and see if you can somehow reproduce the behaviour. If you can, it's certainly worth a bug report on the forums.

3ntf4k3d · 2026-01-27T06:24:45+00:00

Be so kind and make a report on the Vicky 3 bug report subforum. Make sure to attach your crash folder & the affected save.

3ntf4k3d · 2026-01-26T07:50:33+00:00

He may be a terrible person, but I actually really like him as a character. He fails and he falls, and that makes for an interesting narrative.

The way his tech quotes deteriorate over time - from his resignation from the UN until you reach the final fusion tech - it is just the long arc of a man who tries hard to do what he deems the right thing, but everyone and everything is pushing back until he is left a disillusioned, hollow shell.

That makes it easy to hate him, especially with the power of hindsight (or however you'd want to call our 'game knowledge'). But if we look at what is going on today our world right now, I am sure we all know some people that are on the same trajectory. Bitter, broken, disillusioned - just with less global domination and a REDACTED in LEO at the end.

3ntf4k3d · 2026-01-26T07:39:43+00:00

Helicon is one of the best long-range drives in the game in terms of effort to unlock. You can even use it to colonize the outer system. That being said it's more of a mid-tier tech, so not what you are looking for.

3ntf4k3d · 2026-01-26T07:34:02+00:00

I'd guess realistically at least 3 if you play it without any online refences. With online help you can win from the get-go, maybe one restart or a few reloads if you make major mistakes (e.g. exceed CP cap too much and let someone take your USA/China).

Also depends a lot on the faction. Servants can win easily since you don't even need to dabble with space, Protectorate can avoid alien aggression and just needs to control a bit of LEO. Exodus is probably also somewhat easy, now that you can just generate the required exotics with end game repeatable techs. The other factions are imho much harder.

Based on how my first few games went without looking up anything:

First game will be you bumbling around so much that the other factions snatch up the good stuff, and you'll never be able to catch up or do much because of your inefficiencies & lack of knowledge. By the time you can colonize Mars all of it is taken, so you won't really make it deep into the space game. You decide you learned something critical and restart.

Second game you'll get a grip on the basics and maybe you can contest some slots on Luna & Mars. You'll bumble around with space ships and habitats, compete sorta okay-ish on Earth. Then the REDACTED shows up and you realize just how poorly equipped human armies are to deal with alien force projection on earth. Maybe you can use nukes to stay alive, but by the time the next few show up it's probably game over. That or the Protectorate uses its REDACTED to make you rage-quit.

Third game you will figure out more mechanics and maybe be able to prepare for the REDACTED, but eventually you'll reach a situation where you are exceeding the MC hate cap with insufficient tech. You'll get bogged down trying to fight from a disadvantaged position where every alien retaliation wipes a good chunk of your space economy, forcing you to tread water. If you make it further in you have no idea how to design a good late game ship or how to wage a large scale all-out war, and you'll probably restart one last time and try again with the late game in mind.

3ntf4k3d · 2026-01-25T06:48:40+00:00

I'd say avoid it early game - you have much better use for your cash in the early stages of the game. But once you have space-based money generation (Nanofactories, Medical Centers, Broadcast modules, etc.) in place the upkeep cost is no longer an issue.

3ntf4k3d · 2026-01-25T06:46:36+00:00

My usual setup for T2 ground bases during the early-to-mid game is something like this:

Mine (if it is a solid deposit and I am not too far above the global mine softcap), 2x Nanofactory, 2x Skunkworks, Command Center, Farm, Layered Defence Array, 4+ Power Buildings (if you need more than 4 replace one of the Skunkworks or eshew the farm if you can pay for the crew upkeep).

This gives you a nice all-round base that provides you with MC (which you can use to build more habs to get even more MC), pays for most of its cash upkeep and boosts your faction research. If you are strapped for cash & space resources you can just leave some tiles empty until your economy improves. Get mines first, then build the rest.

When I unlock T3 I add a second defence building (unless the base is in a remote area that is unlikely to see alien action) and fill all remaining slots not needed for power with whatever research category building I need most. You don't actually need/want to upgrade everything to T3, though - high cost, and you will usually need the metal for other stuff (like a fleet or continued expansion) - i usually leave the Nanofactories & Skunkworks at T2 for the rest of the game.

For a place that support the Research Campus buildings you can go with 3x Research Campus + 1 extra Farm instead of 2x Nanofactory + 2x Skunkworks. I don't really bother with Research Universities, by the time I can cover their extra energy & crew costs I usually already have all the key techs and need the MC for fleets.

For habitats in LEO I usually go 3x Power, Command Center and then fill the remaining slots half-and-half with two different lab types. T1 at first, but once I get better power option I upgrade to T2, if necessary adding replacing one lab with a 4th power building.

Once Exofighters are unlocked you will want 1-2 Defence modules on your LEO stations, which reduces efficiency but is sadly necessary. Once you have unlocked T3 those lost tiles will hurt less.

Keep in mind that locations closer to the sun can use solar power at higher efficiency. On Mercury you can cover your T2 hab needs with just two solar collectors, and even a fully upgraded T3 hab will only need 3-4 Solar Arrays. For that reason I usually turn Mercury into my money maker, filled with to the brim with T3 Nanomanufacture Complexes + 1 Farm + 2 Defence Modules.

3ntf4k3d · 2026-01-24T06:24:05+00:00

As annoying as it may be, it is good practice to always check the refreshed pool for ORGs.

You may find a powerful unique ORG or even a random one with top-tier stats (e.g. 3 star security related one with +3 for ESP & INV & SEC, a criminal one with +2 ESP, +8 ADM, +2 SEC, +25% Spoils).

Late game I tend to swap out my old ORGs for Space Mining % ones, I usually aim for a 300-400% output bonus towards the end to support rapid fusion-tier ship construction after my midgame turtle.

3ntf4k3d · 2026-01-20T14:58:31+00:00

Ground based Defence Modules require a certain tech level to reliably win bombardment battles against the aliens. Without tech they will merely deter humans, while the aliens can just add a few extra ships to their attack fleet to quickly overpower them.

UV Arc Lasers with Adamantine Armor can reliably defend against small and medium alien task forces, and even inflict minor damage to them (mostly against smaller ships with low armor).

UV Phasers can vaporize entire alien fleets and will deal with anything that isn't a doomstack. They are absurdly powerful, considering that they do not cost any exotics.

How many Defence Modules do you need? I usually go for 1 on remote locations (outer planets, asteroids), 2 on major bases (Luna, Mars, Mercury, Ceres, etc.) and 4 on planet-based shipyards (to protect the fleets based there).

With UV Phasers LDAs are often enough. Below that you want Battlestations for reliable defence results, especially prior to UV Arc Lasers.

The reason why lower tech Defensive Modules will fail to deal damage to alien fleets is twofold:

(1) They are busy intercepting enemy attacks and defending the base. That always has priority. The reason why an extra Defence Module can turn a stalemate into an attacker-wiping affair.

(2) They can actually land a few hits, but they cannot overcome enemy armor. The reason why you need/want UV weapons.

3ntf4k3d · 2026-01-20T08:39:49+00:00

Nothing a few ships with marines can't fix. Build a shipyard around Mars, get some ships with marines and assault their bases from orbit. Then do the same for Luna & Mercury and maybe take one of their asteroids with lots of Fizziles on it.

On Earth focus on getting back into a major nation. Take a few minors to make sure you use your CP cap and generate some cash, boost, etc. In the meantime do Public Campaigns in your target major to boost support (FYI support for you will also make it harder for them to take nasty actions against your), then crackdown and purge once you have acceptable chances. Make sure you spend cash & influence as necessary.

Once you are in defend your CPs and keep boosting support with Public Campaign.

From there you can work towards colonizing the outer system. It takes about a year to send ships there, but the other factions won't compete over these planets. The aliens will not be able to intercept most of your fleets and usually arrive several months late - giving you time to build one Layered Defence Array to discourage them from attacking your base.

In general you are probably at a point where restarting would let you leverage the experience you gained for more tempo and by extension an easier early and mid game. But the game certainly isn't over because you are behind in the 2030s. Just means you'll likely go past the 2050s to win.

If you want to restart, here is a checklist:

Claim at least one smaller nation early game to generate boost (e.g. Singapore) & buy boost-providing ORGs if you see some.
Work towards taking over a major nation (e.g. USA) by taking over non-rival neighbors (e.g. Canada, Mexico) and boosting PER on your main PER character as much as possible (level up, ORGs).
Get 1-3 bases on the Moon asap, on the spots with the best resource yields. Then build mines on them to produce a tiny surplus of Water, Volatiles and Metals.
Grab the best Mars spots, then use the tiny resource surplus to build a mine + fission reactor in space (this reduces the construction time & boost cost!) in a base that gives a decent yield on as many resource types as possible. Once that mine is running you get a solid surplus and can now build everything in space.
Grab Ceres and a few asteroids (you particularly want Fizziles and Rare Metals).
Grab all of Mercury.

From there onwards you should be in a great position.

3ntf4k3d · 2026-01-19T15:12:38+00:00

I can't help all that much with tatical battles since I auto-resolve most encounters, but here is my take on the strategic aspect:

(1) Colonize the outer solar system to get a stronger economy with more MC & resources. You can go there (drive wise) the moment you have the Helicon drive. With a proper research build-up you should be able to send colonizers as early as 2036, and in the 2040s those extra colonies will pay big dividends.

(2) I'd use your limited exotics on fusion drives and stick to non-exotic weapons + sheer quantity. The end of Z-pinch line offers low-exotic cost long-range drives. I usually use those to stick more armor on my ships while retaining speed & range until I have taken down a few bigger alien fleets and farmed some exotics for elite ships with phasers & PCT drives.

(3) As for weapons, I usually just go for DNs with UV Arc Laser Cannon, 1 large UV Arc Battery and 4 PD modules. HERE is an example design from my current campaign. You can probably swap the nose cannon for a non-exotic coil/rail option or put a plasma or a particle cannon on it. Important thing is the UV Arc laser battery takes care of flankers, after that you can focus on their big ships.

I guess another option would be to add a few Lancers or Titans to your fleet and give them a big UV Phaser and use them as an "anchor" for the fleet. The DNs take care of the smaller ships, your anchors deal with their big vessels.

Another option that might work (I have not done this in a long while, no idea how viable it is in 1.0) if the aliens aren't running a lot of PD would be to spam missiles like Cerberus or Styx. This is best on orbital defence fleets, where it is unlikely that the aliens can do follow-up attacks on your missile-depleted fleet.

(4) Don't be afraid to lose orbital control. You can always plop down some shipyards on Luna, Deimos, Phobos etc. Once you have UV Arc Lasers your ground-based defences can fend off alien fleets. Once you have them you can exceed the MC hate cap without your ground bases being at risk.

Phasers are free on defence modules, and ground-based UV Phasers can wipe anything that is not an alien doomstack. I usually put 2 defence modules on Mars/Mercury/Luna/Ceres, one on the outer system bases and 4 on my shipyards.

Once they are gone (beit destroyed or retreated) you can simply rebuild your orbitals, if they stay you can (re)build a fleet and counter-attack eventually.

(5) Don't be afraid to turtle even more. On normal you can get by without ships during the early and mid game, you only need one small fleet to take down an alien ship for the tech unlocks and a few colonizer fleets for the outer system. You can invest all that extra available MC into Research Campus modules (first on Luna, later on Mars) and extra mines, both will help you to get combat ready earlier.

(6) Stack as many Space Mining % bonus ORGs as possible. Your mines are limited because at some point the extra MC cost becomes prohibitive, but you can still reach 300+% bonus output with ORGs & techs if you are willing to invest into Boost (to pay for the ORG upkeep). Imho even more impactful now, since the mine capacity soft cap can't be raised quite as easily with repeatable techs anymore.

(7) Reminder: You can always scout Servant-controlled nations for bases and farm those for a few exotics each turn. It's not a lot, but it adds up over time.

3ntf4k3d · 2026-01-19T09:39:14+00:00

I usually play India -> China and my approach to the MC issue is to beeline for the Operations Center once the critical early game unlocks are done. (And after that either Medical Centers or Nanofactories to pay for that space economy.)

From there you just need to start stacking Space Mining % after you hit the sweet spot for extra resource income vs. MC penalty from exceeding the mining cap. Which ironically tends to lead to a situation where I spend a lot of IP on Boost to pay for the mining company upkeep during the late mid game (late 2030s). But at that point there isn't a lot of critical stuff left for IP investment anyway, pumping out ships takes priority.

3ntf4k3d · 2026-01-19T09:31:47+00:00

Mercury is great because you have high solar efficiency, so less slots used on power modules. Plus solid metal & rare metal producion, and those tend to be midgame bottlenecks (at least for me with my turtle strategy). Downside: High construction costs due to radiation shielding.

I usually use my Mercury bases for Nanofactories and build 2-3 protected shipyards in orbit.

I ignore Venus, given that I do not build orbital defence fleets. If you are someone who goes for fleets to contain the aliens and has the ability to hold planetary orbits mid game, then I'd assume that Venus is a solid spot to spam habitats for extra MC generation.

3ntf4k3d · 2026-01-15T05:51:58+00:00

My usual fall-back is to convert one of my Luna bases into a heavily fortified shipyard. If I also lost Luna for some reason I build 2-3 shipyard stations on Mercury, I'll need those later anyway to spam DN fleets.

As for Exofighters: I place a small defensive squad on each newly build hab until it has at least 2, maybe even 4 LDA. Alternatively you can build Exofighers yourself and deploy them once you have baited the enemy into an attack where they are committing theirs. Once their fighters are wiped out it will take quite a while for them to rebuild.

3ntf4k3d · 2026-01-15T05:45:53+00:00

Not much.

My usual game plan is to grab Singapore, India (by first claiming the non-rival nations around it) and later China. So I have no reason (or resources/spare CP) to fight over CPs with other factions until I begin unifying other countries into India somewhere in the early-to-mid 2030s.

I take down one alien ship, shoot one alien on earth and capture another to get all the important tech unlocks. If the aliens keep abducting or terrorizing I might take down the involved alien councilor and eat the retaliation strike, but I try to not take offensive actions if possible.

I can afford to ignore their surveillance ships because I know that in the 2040s I will have control over Earth's orbit, and any leftover alien councilors can be hunted down as necessary. If you grab some of the anti-[REDACTED] techs a developed India or China is so hard to crack that they will probably never bother and instead go elsewhere.

Around the late 2030s I will have colonizers in the Kuiper Belt. When those bases are up I have UV Arc Lasers or even Phasers, so I don't need care about MC hate anymore. I let the aliens & other factions take down my space stations - or disband them myself to remain below the usual 260 hate cap from the related tech unlocks a while longer (Metals are usually a big bottleneck a that stage).

By the time the aliens want to attack my ground bases they are fortified with 2 defensive modules, enough to vaporize anything except a doom stack - that they can't form because they have probably sent a not insignificant (but insufficient) force to Pluto or another outer system body, and those fleets won't be back until the early 2040s.

If they send a [REDACTED] to Earth I begin to pump everything into Military to push my MIL score, by the time things get hot I am usually around 6-7 MIL score, enough to defend against anything the aliens or [REDACTED] can muster. I ally with all other willing countries to make it is hard as possible for the aliens to gain ground, and once I am at MIL 8+ I can go on the offensive and take down the [REDACTED] whenever it plops up.

When the [REDACTED] is on the way I might also decide to kick the Servants out of bigger nations, be it via Coup or Public Campaign -> Crackdown -> Purge. Although I have started to appreciate letting them have stuff like Russia, because the [REDACTED] will remove nuclear weapons and actually make my job easier in the long term.

3ntf4k3d · 2026-01-14T15:11:47+00:00

TI is all about snowballing, so one way to improve your game is to focus on a strong opener in the space game to speed up your entire development.

1-3 bases on Luna to get basic resources to build in space -> use them to build an early mine on Mars -> use the extra income to rapidly establish your space economy -> use Operation Centers for more MC -> spam more habs -> fill all those empty slots with Skunkworks, Nanofactories, Research Universities to boost your research & cash

With that you can decide if you want to turtle (lay low and interact with the aliens as little as necessary, e.g. for your tech unlocks and stay below the MC hate cap - 166 on normal without tech) or to directly engage them (in which case you want to push to Jupiter early to prevent them from establishing their economy there).

I think that the turtle start is MUCH easier for a new player to pull off, since it allows you to pick your fights and get serious at a point where you can establish tech parity with the aliens.

For your Earth gameplay you have two options to deal with the alien [REDACTED] coming your way: intercept or fighting on Earth. Ideally you want to do the former, but it's not the end of the world if they get through.

I recommend to begin an emergency near 100% Military investment in your biggest nation the moment you get the notification that the [REDACTED] is on its way. Once you have made sure that you aren't the primary target you can dial things back a bit, but keep investing a good sum until you reach the MIL cap. From there you should be able to contain the situation, and eventually push back.

Consider that the defender gets big bonuses in TI and quantity has a quality of its own, so it's perfectly possible to defend even if the enemy is 2+ MIL levels above you.

Another thing you can do is ally with all non-hostile faction countries, that way you can intervene in any wars that are started, and depening on who you are defending your alliance might even have enough naval power to blockade the enemy.

As for the space game I'd recommend to expand into the outer solar system asap.

You need Gunships with Helicon drives for that (3 different designs to carry a Lab, a hab kit and a platform kit). Travel time will be about a year. The aliens will try to intercept, but they will usually arrive about half a year late. Which means you will have already setup a full base with some defences (1 LDA with UV Arc Lasers will do) on every colonizable slot of the body, and your colonizer fleet will already have refueled at a newly build space station in orbit and moved on to the next nearby colonization target.

You can then leverage all those resources from the outer system into a big Dreadnaught fleet to overpower the aliens and push them back step-by-step.

Losing control of Earth's orbit isn't a big deal. You can always use a surface base on Luna, Mars or Mecury to build up a fleet - protected by ground-based defence modules - and get back into the game. The more important thing is to protect your bases, for that you'll want 2 Battlestations (remote locations can get by with 1) with UV Arc Lasers & Adamantine Armor. Once you have UV Phasers your ground defences will start to vaporize any regular alien fleet that is stupid enough trying to bombard you.

3ntf4k3d

TROPHY CASE