From the Ground Up seems impossible.

[rord64]

Really love this mod, but I feel that my favorite GC (FtGU) is extremely difficult bordering on impossible to play (from what I've experienced).

I'm not sure if it's just playing as the Imperial Remnant in general that does it, but by the time I can take control of 4 or 5 planets the New Republic has already taken most of the galaxy, usually taking 10-15 worlds IN THE FIRST 2 WEEKS. Anyone who's played these knows that with only 4 planets you can maybe have about 2000 credits per week income, if you built mostly tax agencies. By the time you get a few Victory Class Star Destroyers and a mix of other smaller ships, the New Republic is knocking on your door with their Super Star Destroyer equivalent. This is maybe week 20.

I tried another strategy in a different game to try rushing to the capital shipyard to have a fighting chance. Turns out there's a massive fleet of Imperial Star Destroyers and Golan 3's guarding it, so that's physically impossible with a starter fleet. I just don't see how a faction that began with 1 planet has massive fleets able to take out Golan 3's that early into the game. The credit income to build time ratio doesn't make sense.

This is on medium difficulty FYI, I tried playing on Easy and the AI's don't even fight each other, or fight back that much either. Has anybody completed this scenario who could give me some pointers? If not, maybe a YouTuber who has?


TL;DR   A.I seems imbalanced in FtGU, no time to expand or prepare for their massive fleets of doom.

[Corey]

The AI factions start with more planets than the player. If they start with one, the AI assumes it's already lost and stops doing anything at all. There's several strategy threads about FTGU on the forums with tips on how to play the scenario for each faction.