The Bothan Assault Cruiser...

[Volsky]

Howdy guys, my first post on the forums. Sadly, a bit of a ragepost, apologies for the poor first impression. Anywho, the BAC. Yikes. Uh, this thing is pure, unadulterated hell. My experience with RTSs lies in the Company of Heroes franchise; I play EaW/FoC to  blow off steam and stomp the AI. Hard. But these things, hot damn. I can't really box my way out of the first few planets in the 'From the Ground Up' GC (playing as the Remnant) because the AI just sends fleets of 20+ of these damn BACs my way. Even with 2 VSD IIs, 6 VSDs, 8 Lancer Frigates, and out of pure spite, eventually a second fleet (I deleted everything else I owned just to try and counterspam) of 15 VSDs and a crap ton of focus firing (in both instances), these things just eat my ships. The ONLY way I can think to counter them is to fling as many TIE series ships at them as possible because the BACs are criminally short on anti-starfighter weapons, but then the problem is, the BACs carry enough K-Wings to drown a TIE factory in.



So what gives, what's the magic 'f**k your couch' button against masses of Brutal Anal Carvers? Regards, Volsky

[Rovert10]

Invest more into escort carriers and Tie Defenders in that case. As well as Lancer frigates for more anti-strikecraft.
You aren't possibly going to win head on engagements with the thing.
Tie Defender is pretty much the best fighter in game as well as acting as a light bomber if it needs to.
Sweep their fighter squadrons from the skies,

Abuse the dumb AI pathfinding as well.
Try as much a possible to kite your fleet to avoid BACs till they run out of fighters to deploy. When that happens invest your craft into killing anti-fighter craft first and then systematically kill any and all large cruisers afterwards preferably with your bombers. But yeah being horribly outnumbered like that sucks. But you can kill pretty much anything with good strike fighter management.

[kucsidave]

In from the ground up as IR your main goal is the closest Capital shipyard planet, in name: Bilbringi
You have to expand quickly before the NR could reach you, and you should quickly take a few planets from them too, before they are heavily defended.
The beauty of hard difficulty is that AI gains ten times the amount of credits for capturing a planet than you do, so capture and hold as many as you can.
I played a lot of FTGU as the Remnants, and in my humble opinion, the best conquer line is the following:
Farrfin =>Noquivzor =>BILBRINGI!! =>Champala =>Obroa-Skai =>Borleais
This way you only have 2 fronts planets to defend, while also having a capital shipyard.
From this position you can also rush out, and capture Gravan VII if you feel like you have the necessary forces to do so.
A good advice: Build 2 Hypervelicity gun(HVG from now on) in Obroa-Skai, Borleais and Gravan VII.
At this point you have a solid border, what can be defended.

About the Economy: I know it is very tempting to build troops training or HVGs on Bilbringi, but that is your best paying planet, so build up 2 Tax collection agencies(TCA from now on) there.
In Noquivzor there is only 50 credits income, and you can say it's too low to build TCAs there, but you will need every single creit you can get your hands on, so build up 3 there.
Carida(your starting planet) is important, because first that will be your only place to train ground forces (I know that) but after you will have other planets where you can build ground units on, you should really free up the spaces there for further TCAs. Build the maximum amount of 5 there.
That way (if my calculations are good), you will have 2650 credit/week.
That is enough to hold out.

About spending the credits... NO
I know it is tempting to build up huge fleets, but believe me, some times it is not worth to hold the space against overwhelming enemy superiority. Do not lose your ships. Retreat is a good option sometimes. I suggest to only hold the space above Gravan VII with all your fleet, and defend Borleais only on the ground. It is more than recommended to build an advanced vehicle factory there. IMPORTANT: If you decide not to defend the space above the planet, sell or do NOT even build the HVGs there. They are credits you desperately need.
Collect your credits until you can build the cheaper version of SSDs, your first Soverign class. Bring that with a suitable taskforce to Borleais, and start defending the space there, and start rebuilding/building the HVGs there.
After that, just make sure to collect the credits again until you can build your second Sovereign too, and send it to Gravan VII.
BANG! you have an almost unbreakable front line.

After that, you can save credits again until you have an Executor class, and with that(and a suitable taskforce) you can start conquering. If the NR already took Over ILC-905 J'T'P'Tan, Galantos and Byss start with them, as Byss will be the best chokepoint...
If you could do all this, then you only have to be patient and you will surely win.

GOOD LUCK!

[Slornie]

Don't forget that the Bothan Assault Cruiser was designed as a successor/replacement for the (by then) aging VSD-IIs, so they were designed to be powerful!

[Volsky]

The issue is the situation Im stuck in (see the screencap in the OP). Im fending off (now) 110-pop fleets from 3 sides and if I dont concentrate me fleets I get eaten by 60(!)-thick stacks of BACs, now with a bunch of Viscounts (or whatever the ultra-mega-mon cals are that have more hardpoints than my fleet does) in the mix too. I just dont have enough bodies (VSD-IIs) to throw at them, and if I only hold ~2 planets I have just enough pop to squeak at the next 110 pop fleet with my 40 pop suicide flotilla...I dont have enough dakka to kill them all without losing ships...that I dont have the credits to replace. Its even more fun when a raid fleet swoops in and guns down my 9k Interdictor before quickly jumping out again--in the middle of a NR assault.

[kucsidave]

Look, that situation what you sent the picture about is clearly a lost one.
Start a new game, because there is not a chance to win that.
Your starting fleet is more than enough to break Farrfin's defenders without losing any ships, and the NR defenses of Noquivzor with minimal losses, if nothing.
The problem will be with Bilbringi, but if you are patient, and take it to the edge, you are able to take it without too much losses. Don't forget that if a ship survives with only 1 hardpoint, it still survives. You can use this to your advantage.
Also a small trick from me: most ships have slightly larger firing range than a Golan platform. If you move very carefully you are able to kill one without it even having a chance to shot at you.
The trick is: Bring in your fleet far away from the Golan, give them an attack order(not hardpoint specific), and as soon as the ship's cannons start to shot press the stop button in the UI.
Voila.
If you have Bilbringi and a huge NR fleet shows up somewhere, make Bilbringi your main base. It can have more income and can have better defenses than Charida, but if you move fast enough you will be able to take Farrfin, Noquivzor, BILBRINGI, Champala and Obroa-Skai before any serious NR fleet shows up.
The main goal is to move swiftly. You don't have time to build up a fleet in the beginning.
You will only have enough time to build a VSD II before Bilbringi.
With that fleet you should be able to win the battle there.

[kucsidave]

Sorry, i made a mistake.
Bilbringi is much heavier defended than i remembered. Take every other planet first for the credit bonuses, and build up your forces before assaulting Bilbringi.
Sorry for my stupidity.

[Volsky]

I yolo'd into Blingblingland with a pair of VSD-IIs and a strike cruiser and wrecked the trio of ISDs thumbing their butts there. The power of focus fire. Currently sitting on week 227 with a trio of Executors, because why not, and 28k spare credits. Fun fact, 40-pop blobs of TIE Defenders wreck *everything*.


EDIT: and a solid ~1/3rd of the galaxy capped

[kucsidave]

grats.
But let's see.
40 pop cap of tie defenders vs. 40 pop cap of lancers... which one would win? XD

[tlmiller]

grats.
But let's see.
40 pop cap of tie defenders vs. 40 pop cap of lancers... which one would win? XD

If you made sure to use autoresolve, the Defenders.

[Volsky]

If you made sure to use autoresolve, the Defenders.

Good thing the AI is too dull to deploy proper counters.

[jordanthejq12]

Whichever side has the human player. Simple.