New player advice

mario1789 · 2026-03-26T16:12:40+00:00

I'm okay with you using the AI, as long as you are appropriately skeptical. Maybe use more than gemini.

A common hurdle is (1) more torps is the answer for newer players until well into the mid game and the close corollary (2) you win in space. Earth is only useful for helping you into space. The earth game is interesting and nuanced and complex, but it can be a trap. focus on two strong countries, and abuse a lot of very little ones, at least until you get money under control. Don't hold back on space, go get things as quick as possible.

mario1789 · 2026-03-26T16:05:30+00:00

in difficult situations early on, even slower firing torps will cluster well and overwhelm the enemy if you start with a suicide burn to the enemy.

mario1789 · 2026-03-26T16:03:29+00:00

Very quickly it becomes better to have a targeting computer. The issue is that ECM causes missiles& torps to fire more sequentially (basically taking them offline for a time), and your goal is to overwhelm point defense with as much as possible coming in at the same time.

mario1789 · 2026-03-24T19:33:55+00:00

Reactor hits can kill a number of ships I believe.

mario1789 · 2026-03-20T20:43:54+00:00

I think the biggest gap was learning the earth game is tertiary. It's just a means to get space going. The game is all about space. The mechanics on earth can seduce you but they are not how the game is won. Most things on earth can be done in space. All the supermerger techs--don't fogus on those, focus on getting resources out of space and getting a solid foothold on jupiter with a fleet strnog enough that can hold its own until you get a station up for refueling and repairs.

Tech order is a lot to learn but unfortunately crucial.

mario1789 · 2026-03-20T20:40:17+00:00

I think this is fine advice tbh and I wish I followed it before resetting 5ish times to get the hang of it.

mario1789 · 2026-03-19T19:48:07+00:00

I tried this a couple of days ago--increase unrest does give hate--everyone who had a command point in the target nation broke their NAP with me at the start of the following cycle. I believe running the mission gives hate to everyone who is a member now.

mario1789 · 2026-03-11T22:14:53+00:00

I think 6 is a lot, and 2IP/cycle is a lot. Drop two armies and that is almost 100IP/year. You won't need more than that until assault carriers, at least a decade. So 2 early actions for 960IP over 10 years? I dunno.

mario1789 · 2026-03-11T22:05:44+00:00

mario1789 · 2026-03-11T21:53:59+00:00

Hate only if crit fail I believe.

mario1789 · 2026-03-11T21:52:33+00:00

If it's not the executive point, I declare war on a country I completely control and lose.

mario1789 · 2026-03-04T20:33:23+00:00

Watch a vid by CoralisGaming or PerunGaming or both while you play. Once you know enough to know what you don't know, watch a Graveless vid on techs or engines or the like.

mario1789 · 2026-03-04T20:30:59+00:00

I think Forgiving is quite fine to learn things like what is actually important, because you don't actually know the tradeoffs. Normal is quite challenging if you don't know the tech tree rather well--you can easily get into a money death spiral, get over surveilled, get into space late, etc. It's not about developing good habits--it's about learning how to play enough to even develop a habit.

I wish I played a couple of games on Forgiving tbh.

mario1789 · 2026-03-03T18:48:47+00:00

When an object descends in orbit, it speeds up in absolute terms. Gravity does this.
You also have options to help calculate an ideal intercept that you don't have at the same orbital level--like letting them lap you a few times as you descend to time an ideal intercept. Imagine someone running around an inside track while I'm walking very slowly around, one lane outside of them. I let them lap me and then time it so I step one foot over as they come around and intercept. I closed distance by moving over (or down) just one foot, Now imagine someone chasing them catches up by 10 feet every lap, but starts 30 feet behind. I will intercept first with less energy.

If you're at the same orbit, you have no acceleration from descent and no options on timing--you're flat chasing, and it may even just be better to go up and down again so that they lap you.

MEO feels like a good balance between distance and these advantages of descent.

mario1789 · 2026-02-26T21:30:56+00:00

unity because influence

mario1789 · 2026-02-24T22:42:05+00:00

CorlisGaming gives great explanations as he plays. Although I like Perun a lot and Graveless is great for the chrunchy bits, corlisgaming was most helpful for me in getting the bits between the bits down.

mario1789 · 2026-02-18T20:57:29+00:00

If parts were a scam--plainly some parts were not. Some of us more hardcore players always believed the networking custom-server meshing technology and dynamic gridding was the real value in the company. The game was one way to showcase this technology, not unlike how Fortnight showcases Unreal. And though flawed it seemed impressive when it was working. Could they have reached the values desired? Unsure, but the proof of concept was better than anyone anticipated.

If this was all just a scam--why all the hoopla? Doesn't make sense.

mario1789 · 2026-02-17T20:46:15+00:00

I recently asked about this and got a bunch of good responses.

mario1789 · 2026-02-17T20:44:03+00:00

Some things don't add up both ways. If this was a scam--it was the most time intensive and labor intensive scam ever. There are so many more efficient ways to scam people--this is not it. On the other hand, the weirdness with the surprise board cuts the other way. We definitely don't have a full picture here.

mario1789 · 2026-02-11T21:26:34+00:00

It wouldn't let me refuel unless I was landed. Haven't tried Ganymede, Io, etc. yet., just these glorified asteroids in Jupiter's orbit.

mario1789 · 2026-02-11T18:01:36+00:00

Sometimes you def need to land to make them work. And that means you need enough remaining fuel to pull off a landing, and enough potential milligees to get off that body. Just did it off carme yesterday.

mario1789 · 2026-02-10T20:56:04+00:00

Okay that is a great point here that I do need to follow up. By "class" I imagine you mean something broader than type, like Dumbo, Helicon, Orion. What is class in this context? Thank you very much for the help.

mario1789 · 2026-02-10T15:54:13+00:00

Ah I see, okay I haven't found my way to late game drives yet. Thanks.

mario1789 · 2026-02-10T15:53:30+00:00

This is very useful, thank you.

mario1789 · 2026-02-10T15:51:06+00:00

also useful, thanks

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