Empire = the strongest faction?

[Penegrin]

I played several hours of conquest and  i really prefer the Empire over all other factions (way cooler units  ). But I noticed that even at 'hard' the KI was no challenge and I really only lose battles when I use less units than I should. On the other hand the KI almost never attacks me even if they have way superior numbers (eg I sit with a decent fleet next to Mon Calamari and even though they have twice the ships they would not attack me for several days now). Also with a SSD you really need no other ships to win any battle 

So is the Empire really the (by far) strongest faction? Which difficulty should I use? And which scenario do you guys prefer and is really challenging?

[Corey]

The common complaint about the AI in 1.3 has actually been that it attacks more often but with less than it should, though in 2.0 Ive been attacked multiple times by huge fleets and lost several battles, without anywhere near as much of the single unit fleet thing happening. As far as faction balance goes, the Remnant is definitely not the most powerful faction. All 3 are pretty much even, really. Early eras have the NR with worse capital ships on the whole, although MC80B's are pretty decent, but in later eras even their capital ships give them a slight advantage. The NR and the EotH easily have the best fighters, on average, and EotH has the best frigates. The Remnant does have SSDs, but those are limited and aren't impossible to beat. This all shifts around based on eras and specific GCs. The hardest GC overall is probably Art of War as the Empire of the Hand, but the hardest for the Imperial Remnant is Caamas. Especially in 2.0. Even Shadow Hand should be pretty tough in 2.0.

[Penegrin]

Well I play 1.3 and only the early eras. Is there a way to get a hand on 2.0 allready?

[Senza]

I wouldn't say the MC80B is just "pretty decent" it eats ISDs for breakfast . And no 2.0 is not out yet.

[Enceladus]

Well I play 1.3 and only the early eras. Is there a way to get a hand on 2.0 allready?

No. 2.0 is still being made.

[Lord Xizer]

I find each faction is balanced, they each have their own strengths and weaknesses so it really depends on the player.

[Corey]

Saying they all have their own strengths and weaknesses does kind of sound like a copout, but we did make sure everything fits within specific ranges; it's not like FoC where anything the Underworld has instantly wins.

[Lord_jacob]

well, imk not sure if this has happened to everyone, but i took a regular SSD, lone wolf style to attack some New Republic people, then find a HUGE fleet and the Capured Lusankya waiting to pwn me. i took out most of the Fleet AND the Lusankya, then the SSd was overpowered. i personally was confused about this. could this have anything to do with the fact i was the Empire?

[Corey]

No, the factions themselves impart absolutely no bonuses just by being themselves, and there's no difference between the Lusankya and the generic Executors other than bonuses provided by Wedge.

[Lord_jacob]

then how did i basicly cripple that fleet?

[Corey]

A combination of luck, tactics, potentially the difficulty level, and the inherent randomness of SSD workability. I doubt Lusankya was having much luck being able to actually fire if the odds were that skewed to begin with.

[Lord Xizer]

Magic.

[Penegrin]

Yesterday I also played the scenario with the Lusankya (Palpatine as Leader and I was the Empire) and first I thought this is gonna be a tough one. But the NR never ever moved that ship even though there were 3 planets within reach with way weaker fleets.

On the other hand when I was in the Orbit of an enemy planet they would send fleet after fleet I could kill without a single loss.

In that game I also noticed a few things:

- auto resolve sux! I had a battle where I had 2 ISD, 2 Dreadnoughts plus several screens and the enem had 1 correllian corvette. With auto I won but lost one Dreadnought???

- The Fleet KI isn't the smartest. I attacked the Coruscant with a Souvereign and 3 ISDs. I jumped in with a MTC and let the Lusankya come closer. Then I jumped a Sovereign in front of it and the ISD in it's back. I could kick the sh*t out of the Lusankya while the rest of the fleet (several Capitals, Heavy Dreads etc) stayed back with the Golans even though they outnumbered me badly.

- The KI builds insane amounts of factories and barracks. In the later game it was virtually impossible for me to conquer any planets since the KI could throw wave after wave of free artillery, tanks and soldiers against me (the meanest planet was Bothawui which reppelled like 5 invasions without losing a single building)

So I can win fleet battles without a problem (not only numberwise but also tactically) but on the planets it's pure stalemate. Is that wanted?

Edit: just had a landbattle and the KI attacked my Planet with Luke Skywalker, Mara Jade, Lando Calrissian, Corran Horn, 1 Jedi and several infanterie. Needess to say all were killed.

[Corey]

Yesterday I also played the scenario with the Lusankya (Palpatine as Leader and I was the Empire) and first I thought this is gonna be a tough one. But the NR never ever moved that ship even though there were 3 planets within reach with way weaker fleets.

I did say Shadow Hand would be tough for the Remnant in 2.0, but it's probably one of the easiest GCs in the game to play as the Remnant in it in 1.3. You basically start out equally but the IR has much better ships and far better options for expansion at the beginning. Lusankya's barely even a factor since they start out completely screwed., especially since before 2.0 the superlaser on the Sovereign and Eclipse could target other supers.

Yesterday I also played the scenario with the Lusankya (Palpatine as Leader and I was the Empire) and first I thought this is gonna be a tough one. But the NR never ever moved that ship even though there were 3 planets within reach with way weaker fleets.

I get attacked by it a lot, so I don't know why you wouldn't be. Do you have Republic at War installed or something? OR you might just be playing an earlier version of TR.

- auto resolve sux! I had a battle where I had 2 ISD, 2 Dreadnoughts plus several screens and the enem had 1 correllian corvette. With auto I won but lost one Dreadnought???

Autoresolve always has and always will suck. There's nothing that can be done about it.

- The Fleet KI isn't the smartest. I attacked the Coruscant with a Souvereign and 3 ISDs. I jumped in with a MTC and let the Lusankya come closer. Then I jumped a Sovereign in front of it and the ISD in it's back. I could kick the sh*t out of the Lusankya while the rest of the fleet (several Capitals, Heavy Dreads etc) stayed back with the Golans even though they outnumbered me badly.

We're still trying to figure out why, but any defending force will always retreat to protect the shipyard until the shipyard dies.

- The KI builds insane amounts of factories and barracks. In the later game it was virtually impossible for me to conquer any planets since the KI could throw wave after wave of free artillery, tanks and soldiers against me (the meanest planet was Bothawui which reppelled like 5 invasions without losing a single building)

We've reworked garrisons and we're reworking ground combat in general.

[Penegrin]

Thx for the answers. And don't get me wrong: this Mod is awesome and brings them game to a whole new level. I can't wait to see what you did with 2.0