Reunification GC Strat 2.2.1 UPDATE

[Darth Revan]

:WARNING:

The following strategy WILL take a long time to pull off so if you're not a patient kind of person, than you may stop reading now.

Couple of nights ago I decided to try the hardest GC IMO for the IR again on Admiral difficulty.....Reunification.  So I have read a lot of the topics in the forum saying that the sound strat is to invade the Northern area and take out Yavin 4 and the rest of the planets there until you have the economy and the population to begin the run to Odik to get the Knight Hammer.  While I see the merit in this, I wanted to instead accomplish the run the way I think the devs wanted us to in which you race to Odik while the NR is at your heels.  So first thing I did was build a light factory and construct an AT-ST.  With my 3 remaining pop points, I built 3 TIE Defenders.  Grouping my fleet together I made sure my TIE Defenders would exit hyper space first, I head to Hakassi.

Now here's where I ran into this little strat.  After reversion to real space, I send in the other 2 Defenders and head to the North East corner of the map where the long asteroid belt is.  From here I waited and put the game on fast forward.  This next part takes awhile because Teardoc's fleet is on guard mode and will stay around the station for a long time.  What I'm waiting for is the moment where Teardoc and his fleet venture a little South just enough for my Defenders to take a shot at their space station.  What this does is it TRIGGERS his fleet to start chasing after my fighters.  Now begins the LONG "Benny Hill" chase.  With Teardoc's fleet chasing you, you can kite him into the asteroid belt and if you're good at kiting and you keep your distance, you can do this again and again and again until his fleet is so crippled that you can send in the rest of yours to finish him off.  I took the even longer approach and kited his entire fleet to die in the asteroid belt. 

I've tried this strat before on the FTGU GC and it also works there, but only on maps where there is either one huge asteroid field or multiple ones around the map.  The only difference is that in FTGU you need at least 5 Defenders to confidently destroy whatever fighters you run into.  After awhile the AI will get bored and send his remaining ships at you and you can start the kiting from there.  In the Reunification GC and more specifically at Hakassi against Teardoc, you can sit for hours and he will not stray too far from his space station since his whole fleet is on guard mode around the space station.  Once you attack it, he will chase you all around the map.  I know this strat may take a very long time, but to me.....it was satisfying as hell to watch Crimson Command's ships get destroyed one by one as they chase me around and it saves you from losing ships which in this GC are VERY hard to come by.  Hope this helps and good luck.   

[Darth Revan]

:UPDATE:

Just realized how old this post is and so here's the updated strategy from playing Admiral difficulty.

Okay, so bad news first.  You have 3 more factions besides the NR that you have to worry about.  The Greater Maldrood and the NR will be your early competitors and they will continue to attack your two territories.  With the nerf to TIE Defenders (Not sure how bad it is, but in my playthrough I just haven't used them at all), they won't be as effective as they were in the past when you could build 10 squadrons and curb stomp most fleets you fight against.  Also, if you lose your capital, your economy is going to take a HUGE hit.  So you need to rush to get into the Deep Core.

The good news though, is that it's not really a  huge rush to get into the deep core.  Your primary objective will be Odik II.  Capture it, and you will be rewarded with the SSD Knight Hammer.  Also by taking Hakassi, you will also get Pellaeon.  He will be fighting against you with the GM, but if you do manage to kill him he will still join with your forces after you capture Hakassi.  Next good news.  You don't have to fight through EVERY SINGLE PLANET to get to Odik II.  Once you take Hakassi, you then capture the Tsoss Beacon and you're within striking distance of Odik II.  If any of the other factions capture Odik II before you do, you will not lose the Knight Hammer or the hero Cronus.  So again it's not a huge rush.  Lastly, the AI for the IR factions will not huddle and camp around their space stations like they did before.  They will spread themselves more and openly head out to attack you.  Use this info to lure them away from targets of opportunities like an enemy hero and send the rest of your fleet to ambush. 

Okay, so first things first:
You start off with Kessel and The Maw.  One little change up they did was allow ground vehicles to be built at the Maw Installation.  You will have access to light and medium vehicle factories from the start.  Build up some ground forces like TIE Crawlers to support your small force of stormtroopers and other light units.  Once done, unite your fleet and take over Bimmisaari.  This will give you breathing room to build more units.  At this point you will probably start getting attacked by the GM and the NR.  Try to hold them back while you strengthen your numbers in the fleet.  Before sending your fleets to attack, make sure to send in some probots to get an idea of what you're heading into.  You have very few numbers of ships and not much of an economy to rebuild any losses you've taken.  Once you have a strong enough force, head for Hakassi and capture it.  Once it's yours, build Hakassi into a fortress world.  Build a HVG, barracks, and all factories that you can.  Hakassi will now be your "locked" back door as you move further into the Deep Core.  By this time you probably have lost Kessel, The Maw, and possibly Bimmisaari.  If not, try to build at least one of these planets into a fortress world as well just so you can keep your economy and more importantly, your unit cap up.  Also, if you have lost these planets, than your capital is also gone and the huge economy bonus you would get from that.  Don't worry too much if you do.  Leaving behind any ships to hold these planets would be a waste and it's not your objective to hold these planets.  Also, you can rebuild your capital on another world if you do lose it.

After taking the Tssos Beacon, head for Odik II and take it over.  Again, make sure you're gaining intel from your probots before moving in.  Squaring off against a death stack at this point of the campaign would be crippling.  Once you take over Odik II you will be rewarded with the Knight Hammer  and another hero, Cronus.  This is where things get tricky, tiring, and frustrating at times as well.  Hopefully the NR or the GM have been too busy fighting each other to send over a death stack at you, however they will send in small fleets of about 4-7 ships of mostly frigate types or smaller.  Nothing too huge, but enough to destroy level one space stations that could open a way for an invading force.  YOU CANNOT LOSE ANY MORE PLANETS!  This is extremely important because with the lose of your capital from your starting worlds you will be losing credits possibly from your unit upkeeps.  So you pretty much have to juggle building up your fleet and ground forces, building up your economy, taking over the rest of the Deep Core, and also defending your territory from raiding fleets from the GM and NR.  With the Knight Hammer in your fleet, you can curb stomp pretty much whatever you have to attack so it won't be too hard, but the sheer number of attacks and having to rebuild your space stations over and over again will chip away at your economy and your sanity at times.  To lessen the number of planets they can attack, make sure to hold Hakassi and if you have the time and the ships, head North to Pakrik Minor and turn it into a fortress world with 2 HVG's to support the level 1 space station there.  Easiest and fastest way to take over the rest of the Deep Core is to send your fleet in, crush whatever they have there, than move back to either Odik II or Hakassi while leaving one ship that can provide bombing runs and bombardments for your ground forces.  Rinse and repeat until the Deep Core is yours and all those planets to rebuild your economy. 

If you have made it this far, still have the Knight Hammer, still have Pellaeon and Cronus, have taken over the Deep Core, and have stabilized your defenses, then congratulations.  You pretty much have won this GC.  It will take a long time to take over the rest of the galaxy, but at this point it would be incredibly bad luck to lose at this point.  Hope this helps and add onto this if you have an easier method for any of the steps I've mentioned.  Good luck Commanders.

[taupin121]

You don't have to fight through EVERY SINGLE PLANET to get to Odik II.  Once you take Hakassi, you then capture the Tsoss Beacon and you're within striking distance of Odik II.

So you can get the Knight Hammer and Cronus without fighting the Delvardus ? Too bad but as Maldrood and Eriadu are now playable factions and most likely to act widely, that's comprehensible.

I should give it a try in Admiral difficulty

[taupin121]

Tried it in Admiral. I've got the Knight Hammer on week 5, used it to block Pakrik Minor and built Golan III on the Maw and Hakassi.
Then I secured the Deep Core using the base fleet + heroes. I didn't lose a single ship in that game until the last planet. I tough I could use the asteroid field at my advantage but Harrsk used it in fact and I lost an ISD, Pellaeon and a Strike cruiser. In the meantime, the NR just took space over Kessel but failed to capture ground.

[Darth Revan]

Tried it in Admiral. I've got the Knight Hammer on week 5, used it to block Pakrik Minor and built Golan III on the Maw and Hakassi.
Then I secured the Deep Core using the base fleet + heroes. I didn't lose a single ship in that game until the last planet. I tough I could use the asteroid field at my advantage but Harrsk used it in fact and I lost an ISD, Pellaeon and a Strike cruiser. In the meantime, the NR just took space over Kessel but failed to capture ground.

Yeah, it was easy for the NR to smash your space stations/units in your starting planets, but if you turn them into fortress worlds, they become incredibly difficult for them to take over.  Especially if you were building turrets during the ground combat since they remain afterwards if they were not destroyed.  It's hilarious to plant down 1-2 anti-infantry turrets next to the first reinforcement point and watch as the enemy infantry get mowed down one by one.  Doing this has allowed me to quickly move my garrison units to other points and keep them pinned to their first LZ.  I've won a lot of defense battles against HUGE stacks by knocking out their starting units and capturing their LZ.