help, i've lost space to the Aliens, i don't want to restart :(

[hottwiz]

so I've effectively lost any form of space superiority, any fleet i build cannot compete with the aliens, they will build a bigger one and any time i get a space economy set up they send a fleet stronger then the defences i build. i had maxed out my rings around mercury and had build 5.5k defences on each ring, they sent a 7.5k strong fleet and systematically wiped out all but one ring station that was stronger, i got a 3k fleet around it.

i have played way too passively i fear, to be able to build up a strong enough fleet to hold them back, defend earth and eventually go on the offensive.
the year is 2051, i control a EU, African union and effectively all of the caliphate.
i have tried multiple times to build a strong enough fleet to survive and each time I've been wiped out. i fear i cannot catch up resources wise...i have enough mining hubs i "MAY" be able to mass build a fleet from around the solar system and add them up later.
however i have spent most of my water, base metals, noble metals and fissiles on now destroyed fleets. i have one 10k around earth which i moved from Mercury :( to defend against a coming alien landing.

Any tips are appreciated. thanks

[Ericus1]

No game is hopeless, it just may take a loooooong time to win. There is an entire achievement as the Resistance about losing completely and letting the Servants declare victory, then coming back from that, which people have done.

You still control a decent amount of the Earth, and still have Mercury, so you still have some research and resources. A well-design, end-tech fleet of Titans with UV Phasers and Spinal Siege coils will destroy an alien fleet with no losses regardless of how big they are. The question is do you have the patience to play that long to get to that point versus just restarting, and applying lessons learned into your new campaign.

[Mistfox]

You still have mining hubs, so it's not a lost cause. In fact it's pretty decent since it lets you accumulate for a sudden surge. You just have to be patient to wait until there is "enough" to rebuild into an unstoppable fleet.

[hottwiz]

Originally posted by Ericus1:

No game is hopeless, it just may take a loooooong time to win. There is an entire achievement as the Resistance about losing completely and letting the Servants declare victory, then coming back from that, which people have done.

You still control a decent amount of the Earth, and still have Mercury, so you still have some research and resources. A well-design, end-tech fleet of Titans with UV Phasers and Spinal Siege coils will destroy an alien fleet with no losses regardless of how big they are. The question is do you have the patience to play that long to get to that point versus just restarting, and applying lessons learned into your new campaign.

this will be the route i go i think, thank you. I've invested to much into this run to restart now.
I just cannot see the chess moves i'd need to make to counter the aliens as i cannot see how strong their bases are and cannot chase their fleets with mine, my goals at the moment is just to hold earth and it's space so i can rebuild more rings/habs and another defensive fleet so that i can retake Mercury and rebuild from there.

[wei270]

if your 5.5k defence get attacked by 7.5k alien fleet, that fleet will get damaged right, then you just need to time the alien when they just start to head back, then rebuild for max time frame between them leaving mercury and them coming back. because i don't imagine the alien have multiple 7.5k fleet out there.

[hottwiz]

Originally posted by wei270:

if your 5.5k defence get attacked by 7.5k alien fleet, that fleet will get damaged right, then you just need to time the alien when they just start to head back, then rebuild for max time frame between them leaving mercury and them coming back. because i don't imagine the alien have multiple 7.5k fleet out there.

so they took ZERO damage, as far as i am aware from destroying about 10 rings and one planetary hab. they had ZERO red or yellow marking after each battle, my assumption was that they out ranged me in the auto resolve. i don't think they have multiple fleet either.

[Pawleus]

I would strongly suggest to use fleets instead of fixed defences. There is no such thing as an unstoppable fleet as you could see eg. here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1176470/discussions/0/7027393439964348160/?ctp=3#c4839771533596594021 (222 combat value vs alien 10k+)

Edit: edited mistaken 208 to 222

[Batman1497]

Originally posted by hottwiz:

Originally posted by wei270:

if your 5.5k defence get attacked by 7.5k alien fleet, that fleet will get damaged right, then you just need to time the alien when they just start to head back, then rebuild for max time frame between them leaving mercury and them coming back. because i don't imagine the alien have multiple 7.5k fleet out there.

so they took ZERO damage, as far as i am aware from destroying about 10 rings and one planetary hab. they had ZERO red or yellow marking after each battle, my assumption was that they out ranged me in the auto resolve. i don't think they have multiple fleet either.

autocombat works bad. You do more damage watching the carnage

[Dr. Electrocutioner]

Put all your ships in a wall formation and manually direct their fire. If that's too micro for you then wall formation and let them pick targets.

People will probably reply with all kinds of comments about how that is terrible but it's a lot better than autoresolve if you don't want to deal with the awful rainbow dot mechanics.

Space stations you might as well watch it anyway if only to see some space combat.

[Ericus1]

I've detailed this out before, but autoresolve works by an entirely different set of rules:

If you are using autoresolve, these are the some of the major factors to consider:

Hits can come from any direction, so the typical "heavily armor the nose and skimp everywhere else" strategy doesn't work.

All PD types can hit any projectile type, and 40mms don't gain from the kinetics they are targeting own momentums, so all PD Ion is absolutely king at PD. Whereas normally PD Ion can only target missiles while 40mms are best against kinetics. In both cases any PD beam is a distant 3rd without large numbers of laser engine modules.

PD has unlimited range.

There are no fleet size limits.

There are no shaped nukes.

Missiles/torpedos only fire precisely enough to kill a target, so there is no missile "overkill" or waste.

The results from autoresolve will be WILDLY different from those you get actually playing out a combat. Autoresolve usually benefits the defender, especially in missile-heavy combat.