Poking the Bear

[Iron Horse]

It is 2030. I am Humanity First. I assassinated my first alien councilor already. Another aliel councilor was going wild in Russia, and was helping the Protectorate steal it from the Initiative. That alien councilor got sniped too before the Protectorate could steal the Executive Slot of Russia.

I have left the Protectorate and the Servants alone pretty well. I haven't really bothered them.

After the second assassination, the aliens send a small ship to my low Earth Orbital. It has 2x Tier 2 Layered Defense with laser and rail gun batteries. The alien ship zips around dodging the railguns, staying out of range of the lasers for about two hours, till I got tired of watching at fast speed, and auto resolved giving me the win.

This prompted the aliens to send a mega death fleet to Mars. Mega death fleet destroys one of my mining bases there, and flies away.

Is this resonating with anyone else, and are there any suggestions?

[Swat__Raptor]

Originally posted by Iron Horse:

It is 2030. I am Humanity First. I assassinated my first alien councilor already. Another aliel councilor was going wild in Russia, and was helping the Protectorate steal it from the Initiative. That alien councilor got sniped too before the Protectorate could steal the Executive Slot of Russia.

I have left the Protectorate and the Servants alone pretty well. I haven't really bothered them.

After the second assassination, the aliens send a small ship to my low Earth Orbital. It has 2x Tier 2 Layered Defense with laser and rail gun batteries. The alien ship zips around dodging the railguns, staying out of range of the lasers for about two hours, till I got tired of watching at fast speed, and auto resolved giving me the win.

This prompted the aliens to send a mega death fleet to Mars. Mega death fleet destroys one of my mining bases there, and flies away.

Is this resonating with anyone else, and are there any suggestions?

That sounds fairly typical given my play through experience. It's fairly easy to predict and direct the aliens response. There is a trick with building a swarm of cheap undefended stations in earth orbit whose purpose is to get targeted by retaliatory responses and thus soak up alien hate down from 5 diamonds to 4.
They targeted you cause their hate meter reached a certain lvl and they picked the least defended target they could see.

[Iron Horse]

I am playing around with Copperhead Missiles. Two Monitors and Two Escorts could take down a destroyer several months ago. Now the aliens seem to dance around and dodge all the missiles.

Am I missing something?

[Pawleus]

Originally posted by Iron Horse:

I am playing around with Copperhead Missiles. Two Monitors and Two Escorts could take down a destroyer several months ago. Now the aliens seem to dance around and dodge all the missiles.

Am I missing something?

Yes, it was even then very inefficient to use Copperheads, now (0.4.22) as you've realized it is pretty much a no-go. Use Artemis torps, instead, and 2 Escorts might be enough with some luck even if an alien Destroyer has a dedicated PD, especially in the early game when against a Surveillance Destroyer 1 Escort is usually enough.

[corisai]

Originally posted by Iron Horse:

Two Monitors and Two Escorts could take down a destroyer several months ago. Now the aliens seem to dance around and dodge all the missiles.

As another example to what @Pawleus'd said - 4 Escorts with Artemis torps in early game are casually killing alien Battleship or Battlecruiser. 3 Escorts are killing their Transport and Colony ship.

Keep the same ratio (3-4 vs 1) in case of bigger alien fleets and you will be victorious. Do not bother with PD on your ships - it simply not worth it on early missile boats. More missiles is always the correct answer early (and in later game you would be able to dodge stuff in combat).

P.S. Don't forget to pick maximal speed at start of battle. Every bit help.

[Iron Horse]

I just tried it out on scrimmage. Artemis torps move a lot faster.

[corisai]

Originally posted by Iron Horse:

Artemis torps move a lot faster.

Yes, they get buffed :)

Yes, once in a while, during a full moon - dev buffing humans instead aliens.
P.S. Spinal neutron lance also very sexy in 0.4.22.