has anyone actually beat the covenant as UNSC? Sotp

[BotZero]

I haven't given up yet but I almost have 30 hours into the mod and I haven't had a single victory as UNSC vs covenant even with 1 ally. The covenant titan unit just solos entire fleets and the AI seems to get it unlocked super fast as if it is cheating.

What's really bothering me which are issues with the Base game's design is I really hate how research works. If you lose your research buildings you lose the research you unlocked and paid for so as you lose planets it basically gives the opposing force handicaps because you are cut off from all the advantages you worked hard to obtain you cant build any ships that counter the enemy whatsoever making it progressively more impossible to ever push back. I think it would be better if Research was just research you unlock and it keep it not for free but it isnt tied to structures the enemy can one shot with a heavy destroyer.

Love the mod but UNSC is greatly underpowered hoping this changes in a future update. Interestingly the covenant had thousands of ships in the lore and overwhelmed the enemy when they committed but the covenant is not a swarm army in the mod the exact opposite with specialized expensive ships that are absolute monsters. The UNSC has less expensive ships and must outnumber the covenant 3 to 1 or more to have any chance of victory. This is respectful to the lore but in the mod you can lose 150+ ships to a small covenant force that you outnumbered and thought you had a chance.

i"ve played it with 2 friends and when they play the covenant they beat me and when they play the UNSC they lose the same as I do evidence that something is Amiss but neither one is as frightening as the AI in control of the covenant.

[The Real Saucy Egg McMuffin]

Playtester for the mod here.

Covenant in SOTP is purposely designed to be the easier to pick up and play of the two factions. They have consistent, excellent damage values, well-rounded ships, and a few expensive monster caps that allow newer players to perform exceptionally well for their experience level.

UNSC, on the other hand, is designed to be the experienced players' faction. Their battle doctrine revolves around a fairly basic concept: massed alpha damage. They rely on glass cannon ships that output incredible amounts of damage in the first few seconds to cripple enemy fleets, before mopping up survivors with very specialized and intricate abilities on the capital ships. It is absolutely the harder of the two to pick up and play. I'd recommend playing Covenant if you're just looking for a good time.

If you're actively looking to play the UNSC no matter what, I'd recommend hopping into the SOTP Discord server. I'll link it at the bottom. We have a healthy assortment of new players, experienced veterans, playtesters, and developers on hand to answer any questions you might have, plus a number of strategy and gameplay tips to help you improve with whichever faction you decide to main (if you main a faction, that is).

SOTP Discord: https://discord.gg/EntKnXq

[DeciNinja]

Something McMuffin didn't mention is how the two factions' economies differ.

Covenant are pretty straightforward; they have a bunch of research to massively increase their populations, bog-standard resource extraction upgrades, and trade ports and refineries that can't be upgraded much. You can come close to the ideal Covenant economy without refineries or trade at all, though of course those are helpful.

UNSC can only upgrade their populations a little and have comparable resource upgrades to the Covenant, but get huge upgrades for their trade ships and refineries. Refineries give you a ton of income cheaply. UNSC trade ports are better individually than Covenant ones, and stack better if you put a bunch on one planet. You have to use both well, or you'll fall far behind the Covenant.

And if the AI builds a titan, and you don't have the fleet to stop it, just lure it into some Super-MAC platforms; six or so should do the trick.