Any hints or tips for dealing with cruel Ai for Galatic conquest?

[nightangel]

I can see a lot of people talking how big a step up  the cruel Ai is
Kinda of reminds of the old republic at war difficulty

I understand  this varies depending on the faction used but any general Any hints or tips for dealing with cruel Ai  for Galatic conquest

[turtle225]

It really depends a lot on which map and faction you are doing. Some are outright impossible on cruel such as From the Ground Up day 1.

Anyway, probably obvious, but pause the game on the first day and figure out your economy. Also probably obvious, but spread your hero bonuses around and do try to keep them alive.

Find the most efficient ships for you faction and use them. You might have to "try hard" and make less interesting but more efficient fleet comps instead of spreading the love to more unit types. Know which ships provide the most value per credit and which ships provide most value per pop point and make decisions according to which you need to optimize. Don't invest in ground defenses, you don't have enough money and if your fleets all die then you've lost already anyway.

Early GC blitz tactics can be highly effective as the AI usually takes a few days to get going. Combine you starting forces and rush a few planets if it will give you a better defensive position. Some smaller GC's can be outright won by just stacking everything and destroying all enemy planets in the first few days. On the flip side, feel free to cede difficult to defend level 1 station border planets if you have a better choke point further in. Try not to get stuck having to defend a level 1 station border planet.

Don't overinvest on defensive structures at the expense of units. I find that 1 Golan is a very high value compared to 0 Golans, but 2 Golans isn't that big a step up from 1. Golans are more cost efficient than the 10K stations. The 10K station isn't doing anything without a fleet to support it, get a fleet first. Ion Cannons and H-Guns are highly valuable, as I don't believe the AI factors them in when deciding how many units to attack you with. Getting 1 on borders is a high priority, and eventually 2 H-Guns since you are allowed to double up, but again make sure you have a fleet there or it is pointless.

Use 1 fleet to block two border planets if possible. Depending on the length of the star lanes, you can sometimes have one fleet capable of bouncing between two planets upon news of an attack faster than the enemies can reach you, allowing one fleet to pull double duty. Also along this line of thought, if you leave a border "undefended" then the enemy will attack it with a weaker force, but if your defensive fleet is camping nearby and can intercept in time then you net an easy win. With interdictors you can use this strat to cheese a lot of free kills. This tactic is extremely gamey though if that bothers you.

Another gamey but highly effective tactic is to create a buffer planet that you purposely do not defend. The enemy will take it from you and then usually run off somewhere and leave it poorly defended themselves. This allows you to very easily take it right back and rinse and repeat. Since the AI seems reluctant to attack you multiple times in quick succession, they will keep attacking the bait planet and not attack your actual planets behind the bait planet. This works extremely well in the Transitory Mists since they are hard to defend and you don't have to repeatedly do ground battles to retake them over and over.

Anyway, month and a half late but maybe it helps.