Demo Tips

[Mr.Puerto]

So I'm creating this so people can post their tips on the demo GC since its a new way of warfare that we are all not used to. My tip would be to purchase a couple Allegiance class battlecrusiers and an armada Gladiator Star Destroyers for an attacking force. The Gladiators not only serve has cannon fodder for the Allegiances but also give out two Skipray Blastboat squadrons which are needed to wipe out anything bigger than a Star Destroyer. The Allegiance class is just a beast of a machine, its able to handle anything at long and short range as long as its bigger than a Corvette. Of course you should throw in IPVs for Anti fighter support, but you'll need several because IPVs are extremely fragile. That's only one of several fleet designs I've tested so far. One con to it is that you'll always have to spend credits replacing a huge amount of Gladiators. 

[tlmiller]

As the Maldrood, Providence carriers + Bulk Cruisers are a FANTASTIC strike force.    The Providence supplies a nice deep supply of bombers, the bulk Cruisers give you a few fighters, and both are fairly competent in battle.  Just don't expect to be taking out Zsinj or Allegiences with them.  But a small fleet of ISD's can easily be taken out by destroying the shields & generators with the bombers then attacking en-masse with the ships.  Became my favorite fleet composition, with a few heavier ships in reserve if something big came in.

[Mr.Puerto]

As the Maldrood, Providence carriers + Bulk Cruisers are a FANTASTIC strike force.    The Providence supplies a nice deep supply of bombers, the bulk Cruisers give you a few fighters, and both are fairly competent in battle.  Just don't expect to be taking out Zsinj or Allegiences with them.  But a small fleet of ISD's can easily be taken out by destroying the shields & generators with the bombers then attacking en-masse with the ships.  Became my favorite fleet composition, with a few heavier ships in reserve if something big came in.

That's what I like about GM, its ship make up is so good you can have any different combination of unique ships and still get different jobs done. If you need bombers and fighters, a fleet of sectours and bulk crusiers should do the trick. If you need something to destroy capital ships, allegiances along with ISDIIs and IPVs. And thats just one of the many different unique combos you can have. Its easily my favorite faction in the demo so far.

[Ordinarygamer96]

Got rekt as Maldrood because the NR sent all their heroes to my south and wiped my fleets there and Zsinj came with all his fleets to my north. Was good but had to restart once the SSD wiped my last good fleet and their ground troops started taking planets.

[Mr.Puerto]

Got rekt as Maldrood because the NR sent all their heroes to my south and wiped my fleets there and Zsinj came with all his fleets to my north. Was good but had to restart once the SSD wiped my last good fleet and their ground troops started taking planets.

I always retreat when a big fleet comes in when I know I can't handle them, especially Zsinj, then I gather the near by fleets and attack them again before they do a ground invasion. I have the advantage because I can jump in any ship anywhere and control the pace of the battle. For Zsinj Arc-170s and Skiprays will wipe out his shields, then warp in anything else to handle his hardpoints along with the bombers, its an easy kill doing it like that.

[Warlord Roach]

So I've won as Maldrood and Zsinj so far. But I keep getting owned as the NR. Did MC-80's get nerfed because they really seem to suck. I gave up building anything but the home one type. Also the Winged mc-80 kept wanting to do derp donuts and pathfind worse than a star destroyer. (Which i didn't know was possible :p)

Absolutely loved the Bellator and Procurators through seriously those little things are like a mini tector they shred ships. I used a lot of them backed by Providences and Crimson Command victories to kill Zsinj. It was fun watching him melt from arc 170 spam and then go boom from a massive dual turbolaser volley from multiple procurators. Maldrood may rival Pentastar as my favorite faction now. (I still love you Grand Moff Kane) Also as maldrood blitz for fondor and get DAT bellator asap if the big Z is giving you Tue blues. The Iron Fist doesn't fare to well vs a bellator and a couple Alligences. (Which I wish the AI didn't spam so much!)

Long winded post I know. But last thing. The Japan Battle dragons were really under whelming to me I'm a total sucker for the the battle dragon. I'll probably buff it for my own personal use. Increase the ROF on it let's torps and turbolasers or something.

[Revanchist]

I find Zsinj to be the easiest to play as. Load up the Corporate Sector with Credit Generators, move Teebo to a Capital Shipyard, and start pumping out an Allegiance a week. Chokepoint yourself with fleets backed up by a hero, take Zsinj and blow everything up, profit.

New Republic is pretty easy as well. Your starting forces can just wipe Zsinj off the map within the first couple weeks. I usually find where he is and trap him, then build up a bunch of ISD 2s and other Imperial stuff before I wipe him. Meanwhile build up a fleet over Mon Cal and start expanding into the Corporate Sector for maximum profit.

Maldrood can go very sour very quickly if the AI decides to be aggressive. You are boxed in with not a whole lot of credit rich planets available. Take Antemeridias immediately for the heroes/units as well as a fantastic credit planet. Secutors are really fun, though I haven't determined how practical they really are (they just look so cool). Providences are generally weak in combat, but are better than Lucrehulks as far as cost-effectiveness. Crimson Commands are of course the greatest thing ever, I field them over ISDs any day, as long as I have Providences available for ARCs. Also while IPVs provide better anti-fighter support, Arquitens are fantastic little ships too. They are fast and decently armed. By far my best moment was when 1 Arquitens defeated Zsinj. I flew it around in circles, keeping ahead of the fighter blob and keeping Zsinj spinning around and around while my dual HVGs shredded him.

[Mr.Puerto]

I find Zsinj to be the easiest to play as. Load up the Corporate Sector with Credit Generators, move Teebo to a Capital Shipyard, and start pumping out an Allegiance a week. Chokepoint yourself with fleets backed up by a hero, take Zsinj and blow everything up, profit.

New Republic is pretty easy as well. Your starting forces can just wipe Zsinj off the map within the first couple weeks. I usually find where he is and trap him, then build up a bunch of ISD 2s and other Imperial stuff before I wipe him. Meanwhile build up a fleet over Mon Cal and start expanding into the Corporate Sector for maximum profit.

Maldrood can go very sour very quickly if the AI decides to be aggressive. You are boxed in with not a whole lot of credit rich planets available. Take Antemeridias immediately for the heroes/units as well as a fantastic credit planet. Secutors are really fun, though I haven't determined how practical they really are (they just look so cool). Providences are generally weak in combat, but are better than Lucrehulks as far as cost-effectiveness. Crimson Commands are of course the greatest thing ever, I field them over ISDs any day, as long as I have Providences available for ARCs. Also while IPVs provide better anti-fighter support, Arquitens are fantastic little ships too. They are fast and decently armed. By far my best moment was when 1 Arquitens defeated Zsinj. I flew it around in circles, keeping ahead of the fighter blob and keeping Zsinj spinning around and around while my dual HVGs shredded him.

Nice really just one Arquitens? Now I have to try that. Anyway the Secutors are very practical in my opinion, they spawn you with mostly fighters, while the rest of the carriers the GM has all spawn you with bombers. I also use the Providence a lot for a damage outputter since it has alot of proton torpedoes I use it to fire from behind my front line. IPVs are really good but for some reason they always fire at ships for me not fighters. I use the crusaders mostly, I think they have more damage against fighters but I'm not sure. I don't use CC VSDs too much but I probably should.

[Mr.Puerto]

So I've won as Maldrood and Zsinj so far. But I keep getting owned as the NR. Did MC-80's get nerfed because they really seem to suck. I gave up building anything but the home one type. Also the Winged mc-80 kept wanting to do derp donuts and pathfind worse than a star destroyer. (Which i didn't know was possible :p)

Absolutely loved the Bellator and Procurators through seriously those little things are like a mini tector they shred ships. I used a lot of them backed by Providences and Crimson Command victories to kill Zsinj. It was fun watching him melt from arc 170 spam and then go boom from a massive dual turbolaser volley from multiple procurators. Maldrood may rival Pentastar as my favorite faction now. (I still love you Grand Moff Kane) Also as maldrood blitz for fondor and get DAT bellator asap if the big Z is giving you Tue blues. The Iron Fist doesn't fare to well vs a bellator and a couple Alligences. (Which I wish the AI didn't spam so much!)

Long winded post I know. But last thing. The Japan Battle dragons were really under whelming to me I'm a total sucker for the the battle dragon. I'll probably buff it for my own personal use. Increase the ROF on it let's torps and turbolasers or something.

I don't think they got nerfed they have always been weak, the NR doesn't start getting those type of capital ships till era 3. Since fighters and bombers got a huge buff use the ones the MC-80s spawn since they are Carriers and use ISDIIs to clean up the rest

[Ordinarygamer96]

I always retreat when a big fleet comes in when I know I can't handle them, especially Zsinj, then I gather the near by fleets and attack them again before they do a ground invasion. I have the advantage because I can jump in any ship anywhere and control the pace of the battle. For Zsinj Arc-170s and Skiprays will wipe out his shields, then warp in anything else to handle his hardpoints along with the bombers, its an easy kill doing it like that.

Three times in a row I got the you can't retreat for four minutes event. So that led to my fleet all dying by Zsinj. I just worked on killing his other heroes while his SSD wiped me. Killed like 3 of his space heroes one battle but after that I had to restart because the NR took my southern planets right after.

[hesterj]

Three times in a row I got the you can't retreat for four minutes event. So that led to my fleet all dying by Zsinj. I just worked on killing his other heroes while his SSD wiped me. Killed like 3 of his space heroes one battle but after that I had to restart because the NR took my southern planets right after.

Try to kite them.  At least Zsinj is big and slow, imagine the fright of the last of your fleet being swarmed by 3 Secutors!  There is no escaping from the 24 (!!) squads they would spawn. 

[Warlord Roach]

I don't think they got nerfed they have always been weak, the NR doesn't start getting those type of capital ships till era 3. Since fighters and bombers got a huge buff use the ones the MC-80s spawn since they are Carriers and use ISDIIs to clean up the rest

I'll have to try that My poor fish tanks! I'll have to revise My NR strategy build my fleets more like carrier battlegroups

[Bucman55]

What is the best way for Maldrood to defeat Zsinj gladiator spam without many losses? I say without many losses because I cannot currently afford to build a massive fleet due to being low on pop-cap.

[tlmiller]

Lots of corvetes, and VSD-I's.  the VSD-I is the best ship against carriers because it's fairly powerful in it's own right, and it's concussion missiles are deadly against incoming fighters & bombers to keep them from getting shredded before they ever reach the Gladiators.  Keep your ISD's & Allegiences well away from these battles unless very heavily defended by corvettes & VSD's, as they'll get absolutely torn apart by the Skiprays & ARC-170's of the Providences.

[Bucman55]

I haven't really built many VSD Is, mainly because I've been building Procursators and Crimson VSD IIs. In your opinion, what would a good 40 pop cap Maldrood fleet look like? Currently I do 1 Allegiance or 1 Secutor, 3 ISD IIs, 1 Providence, 2 Procursators or 2 Crimson VSD IIs, 2 Gladiators, 2 Arquitens (3 if i use a Secutor), 3 IPVs, and 1 Dreadnaught/Bulk Cruiser.

[tlmiller]

As Maldrood, I'm a big fan of Providence + Bulk Cruiser + Corvettes.  Throw a few CC's for helping to take out the big ships.  I pretty much never use the Arquitens.  While it's capable of taking on anything, it's kinda useless against everything as well.  Too week against fighters to necessitate the need of corvettes, and not effective enough against capital ships to justify it's inclusion.  IMO.  I also don't like the Procursators, but that's because they seem to want to close to melee range to fire at anything in my experience...

[Mr.Puerto]

I love the procursators so much firepower in one package,  I like to use them more than VSD1. CC and procursators mixed with a couple bulks ISDIIs a sectour and maybe an allegiance you got yourself a good fleet that can take on anything short of a SSD. IF you need to kill a SSD then I would recommend using Gladiators so you get skiprays. Those things will wipe out any ship.

[tlmiller]

I want to like the procursator, but if you order them to attack anything instead of just letting them auto-attack, doesn't matter where the ship is, they want to close to point-blank range, and there's no way to get them to simply close to stand-off range that I've seen.

[Helix345]

In my experience if you click the stop button once they get into range they generally will.

[briG]

I did one playthrough of Maldrood and aside from a rough early patch I was able to cordon off my space pretty readily after expanding quickly to get a better defensive position. Pretty much all planets immediate to your except for  Phindar, Maridun and Lianna.

Zsinji was the first one to go after me and I think I had to give up one planet to him but I took him out pretty convincingly with:

1x Allegiance
2x ISD II
4x CC VSDII(love these things, they look pretty, are quite sturdy and hit hard and aren't terribly slow)
2x Gladiators
4x IPVs/Crusaders

That was pretty much my standard fleet for the entire playthrough, I only paired the CCs with fleets I had heroes in to maximize their usage since you can only build so many and when they're destroyed you don't get any more. So I had 4 or so fleets setup like this by the end.

When I make my fleets I usually make sure I don't have more than 3 standard size capital ships in it, otherwise they tend to get too spread out so they can't concentrate fire on one important target and start doing random 180s and stuff. The CCs don't share the space layer with the ISDs so if one gets into trouble you can quickly move them to take out whatever it is. The Allegiance doesn't take crap from nobody.

The Gladiators I used just to fill out some extra pop when I don't feel 8 IPVs are needed. I just roll them up in a control group with the CCs and while they do tend to die regularly they are pretty cost-effective esp with the skiprays. Honestly I've defeated several invasion fleets just by getting my gladiators killed over and over so I have massive swarm of skiprays by the time the fleet starts hitting the golans. Kind of broken!

IPV vs Crusader is preference. IPV has ridiculous firepower and can threaten even capital ships that have had their shields stripped. Crusaders are very fast though and the Point Defense system while rather annoying to get the maximum usage out of, moving them infront of a blob of skiprays coming from Zsinji's gladiator spam works great.

When I needed to make a new fleet just to plug a hole in my Empire when one of my hero fleets was going on the offense I did something like:

2x Secutor
1x ISD II
6x Procusators/VSDI/VSDII (I never really could make up my mind on these things, the Procusators are really more like glass cannons though so I preferred the VSDs)
4x IPVs

Non-space combat related: Pod Walkers are super OP. Only cost 200 and they can bring down a turbo-laser tower by themselves. At a cost of 200 they're really easy to mass, and when massed all vehicles and buildings cease to exist in a large area around them. Pair them with a few ATPTs and you have a really good invasion force without even building Heavy Vehicle factories. Skyhoppers are great scouting units and spotters for your bombing run.