So, how difficult is it for decent players to destroy enemy main bases, solo?

[keeper_of_the_wolf]

I'm pretty terrible at this game but having fun. I pretty consistently win by hegemony against AIs on medium. But I only managed to destroy an enemy main base once.

I've seen a few multiplayer maps where it happens, but usually it's a temporary alliance between human players that pulls it off.

But to me, in order to take out a main base I need to wipe out the opponent's army first and cripple their economy. In order to do that, I need to take so much of their spice fields and special regions that I win by hegemony before the base battle is an option.

Also, are any factions especially good or bad at it?

A related question would be to ask people's general ranking of late game military strength between the factions. I am mostly a mediocre Fremen player, maybe I would do better at destroying main bases as (an equally mediocre) Harkonnen or Ecaz player?

[Nibelungen Finest]

Against AI i wont bother cripple their economy much since they cheat…

But i would like do few things for preparation:


1 development for bottom right of military tree that gives you extra dmg and solari when attacking enemy base.


2-3 operations: decrease missile dmg , and base defense sabotage, maybe supply drop if you’re not playing IX with drone army or you dont have controlled territory near by.


As stated above capture one region next to enemy base but primary for healing you unit , if you dont have supply drop use them to resupply too


2 landsraad resolution can also help but may not get it when you want, one debuff enemy base even more than your operation and another give you landsraad punishers (?) which do extra dmg to bases



Extra thoughts : stack your intel, base sabotage is too expensive at 500 so noway you can spam it, but at least keep - missile dmg operation (100intel) running and in case you need more supply drop.
I usually let frigates go in first to tank the dmg, they got lots of health so you can comfortably timing your retreat, also some houses frigates (Atriedes and Corrino) let you bypass enemy front lines so you dont have to take all those regions between you and enemy base

[keeper_of_the_wolf]

Thanks! I knew about the bottom right of the military research tree, and the base defense sabotage mission. But I missed the other tips.

I especially didn't think to have my frigate tank the damage while everything else hammers on the base.

[madpraxis]

Do note capturing a village next door helps, a lot.

Apparently a fair amount of people don't think of 'Pull wounded units back'. Pull back wounded, heal them up, then send them back in. Just keep cycling them out.
Honestly, by the time your at take the base stage, you've most likely beaten the everlovin snot out of them anyways, so its just a few spawns (if even that) coming from the base itself.

[keeper_of_the_wolf]

Originally posted by madpraxis:

Do note capturing a village next door helps, a lot.

Apparently a fair amount of people don't think of 'Pull wounded units back'. Pull back wounded, heal them up, then send them back in. Just keep cycling them out.
Honestly, by the time your at take the base stage, you've most likely beaten the everlovin snot out of them anyways, so its just a few spawns (if even that) coming from the base itself.

Thank you. I'll give those tips a try. I had been trying an incursion into Ecaz territory with fully upgraded Fremen, and I'm lucky to get half the base HP out before their army wipes me out. I used the mission to decrease their defenses and I had the upgrade for additional damage, and I had my frigate - but I had no place to heal my units (especially ranged ones, which got shredded) and I didn't think to send the frigate in to tank.

[Dizzy Ioeuy]

"Against AI i wont bother cripple their economy much since they cheat…"

This is the part that keeps turning me away from engaging with this game.

Really!? Really? The AI can't be fought economically?

And then I play and find out. Yes. It's mostly true. I HATE this about the game.

[madpraxis]

...Brah, I need to know if you finally did it.
For some reason, this random thing is important to me.

I need to either be able to cheer you on, or provide moral support, and I don't know which one.

[Anrakyr]

Originally posted by Dizzy Ioeuy:

"Against AI i wont bother cripple their economy much since they cheat…"

This is the part that keeps turning me away from engaging with this game.

Really!? Really? The AI can't be fought economically?

And then I play and find out. Yes. It's mostly true. I HATE this about the game.

Yes, every bot in every game cheats nowadays. Where were you've been for last 20 years? Under the rock?

[Dizzy Ioeuy]

Originally posted by Anrakyr:

Originally posted by Dizzy Ioeuy:

"Against AI i wont bother cripple their economy much since they cheat…"

This is the part that keeps turning me away from engaging with this game.

Really!? Really? The AI can't be fought economically?

And then I play and find out. Yes. It's mostly true. I HATE this about the game.

Yes, every bot in every game cheats nowadays. Where were you've been for last 20 years? Under the rock?

Not this badly. You need to expand your horizons. GalCiv series, old world, there are games out there without thos much blatant disregard of the game systems.

Sorry your world is so dim and your expectations so low. Choose better

[Flugente_TheCreator]

In addition to what others said:
One of the Smuggler Underground Headquarters for an enemy base lowers a Base's armour by 3. That's huge, it's basically a second armour-lowering Ops. As others have said, that operation is costly, but definitely pays off.
Iirc Drisq's skill allows you to play an Operation once without using it up. Obviously use that for the 500/500 Operation.

Not sure if bug or not, but I had a game where the Burn stacks that Corrino flamethrowers and artillery drones (gear option) can apply on an enemy base. The stacks last for the duration of the battle, have no max limit, and EACH give +1% damage against the target from any source. Since you're going to hammer at the base a long time, one can easily rack up 100+ stacks, which, well, is a LOT of extra damage.

In addition to keeping the 100 Intel anti-missile Ops up, spread your units out so that only few get damaged. If possible, retreat heavily damaged units to heal them at a nearby village. If you have an adjacent viillage, build a military base and an airfield, obviously. In the best case so close that your ranged units can fire while being supported and supplied at the same time.

The base missile launcher seems to target melee units first, so be sure to keep your melee units spread out.

Several units have gear options that halve armour on enemy buildings for them.

If you really, really want to destroy that one base, you can use a nuke to destroy the last 5k HP. You'll be a pariah afterwards, though.

[SV_Mallet]

It's not that difficult to destroy enemy bases after the fix about a month ago (before that it was much harder as due to some bug they regenerated health for some reason. Sometimes).

Steps to do to get it in one try (the best chance)
- Develop military branch to get the bonuses to damage against bases.
- Develop spy operation weakening defences.
- (optional) build a Nuke and arm it.
- Conquer sector closest to the enemy base. Best option is to put 2 Missile batteries on the border with the base so they'd cover as much as possible of base territory. They won't be shooting the base but they will attack enemy units. Also put an airfield and war factory building (to reduce damage by 20%).
- Max out your command points and build suitable diverse army depending on your house. Don't forget the armory.
- Try to clear out large clusters of enemy units anywhere on the map, as they will return to defend the base. But it should be noted that once you amass your army in that border sector, they will usually have a large army defending.

Once it's all in place, The easier part is to nuke the base (this will clear all the enemy units and will break the defense for a while), run weakening operation (and something else complimentary) and send in your troops. if you've done everything before, they will usually finish the base in one swoop.

I've completed the conquest 3 times with different houses and beat a few skirmish battles. Destroyed few houses. Agree that destruction of bases seems to be the most difficult way to win, but it's not that hard at the endgame.

[IonizedMercury]

Originally posted by Nibelungen Finest:

Against AI i wont bother cripple their economy much since they cheat…

I had great success staving off potential economy victories by attacking a faction's income sources, so I have to disagree.

[madpraxis]

Originally posted by IonizedMercury:

Originally posted by Nibelungen Finest:

Against AI i wont bother cripple their economy much since they cheat…

I had great success staving off potential economy victories by attacking a faction's income sources, so I have to disagree.

Yea... There is a literal handful (not even) of people on here that can't seem to grok how anything works in game. Therefore the AI is cheating.

Cause, I'm with you. I've gone after factions economy more then a few times when things were getting too close for comfort. Works great, honestly. Even if I feel a little bad about breaking truce, 'accidentally' over-running their spice field(s), then making up afterwards... Sorry, my bad, my troops fell into your village, forgives, please.

ALSO OP, TELL ME YOU DID IT. PLEASE. I MUST KNOW.

[SV_Mallet]

Originally posted by madpraxis:

Originally posted by IonizedMercury:

I had great success staving off potential economy victories by attacking a faction's income sources, so I have to disagree.

Yea... There is a literal handful (not even) of people on here that can't seem to grok how anything works in game. Therefore the AI is cheating.

Cause, I'm with you. I've gone after factions economy more then a few times when things were getting too close for comfort. Works great, honestly. Even if I feel a little bad about breaking truce, 'accidentally' over-running their spice field(s), then making up afterwards... Sorry, my bad, my troops fell into your village, forgives, please.

ALSO OP, TELL ME YOU DID IT. PLEASE. I MUST KNOW.

Try playing with the house of IX. IMO the hardest of them all. It's way too difficult to attack the AI economy as they conquer their regions and you just send in your harvesters. If the op is playing with them, it's difficult and may seem like they are cheating.

[hibbidy_jibbidy]

Originally posted by Dizzy Ioeuy:

"Against AI i wont bother cripple their economy much since they cheat…"

This is the part that keeps turning me away from engaging with this game.

Really!? Really? The AI can't be fought economically?

And then I play and find out. Yes. It's mostly true. I HATE this about the game.

i have no idea, why some people pronunce that @the ai is dumn@

the butlarian jihad has declaered, thou shal nopt make a machine, in the liklness of a human mind

this is how you get the worm tyrant, and his fish speakers

[hibbidy_jibbidy]

to be fair, some dlc, where the fish speakers are a unit would not hurt my feelings, thise broads are effed up