Conquest & War on Grand Admiral [Need Advice]

[QOMRADEQUEER]

Hello!

I usually play non-militarists of some kind (currently I'm in love with Inward Perfection Void Dwellers).

I want to try something radically different! I have a custom democratic crusader empire I'd like to play a game with (F.Egal/Military w/ shared burdens), but every time I start a game I find myself struggling with them.

Should I be focusing fleets early, for example? Or focusing on tech/economy 'till later? Really trying for, erm, militant internationalists trying to bring order to the galaxy. Galactic Custodian, and maybe if I'm lucky a Last, Best Hope run.

Any advice would be great!

[VoiD]

In my experience if you don't use dif scaling (which turns every game into super easy mode regardless of difficulty) then you cannot beat the AI early or mid game, your only hope is to secure good checkpoints, create massive fortressess to disencourage their attacks, pick a decent ally or 2 and tech like crazy, when you're in the mid-late game the AI will start ranging from average to pathetic.

[QOMRADEQUEER]

Originally posted by VoiD:

In my experience if you don't use dif scaling (which turns every game into super easy mode regardless of difficulty) then you cannot beat the AI early or mid game, your only hope is to secure good checkpoints, create massive fortressess to disencourage their attacks, pick a decent ally or 2 and tech like crazy, when you're in the mid-late game the AI will start ranging from average to pathetic.

That tends to be my usual strategy. I like to play a tall, peaceful turtle game, so chokes and defenses are what I am about. I find I tend to stagnate in the mid-game though, and the AI will quickly catch up to my tech lead I keep all through the early game. Once the end-game year comes around, three to four have caught up with me and I can never outpace them again. I assume I just need more tech in that case.

I do play on scaling difficulty though, as I do not play optimally. I'm more a roleplayer than a meta-strategist, though I do take meta information into account depending on my needs. It sounds like I might be better off playing my militant commies as though they were my pacifists and just go even harder on research.

Hmm hum.

Thank you.

[UnluckyNoob]

You shouldn't lie to yourself. Scaling difficulty is not GA, it's cadet. So you do not need to learn how to war. First of all you need to learn how to play(and most important part of that is expanding).

[RodHull]

Yeah scaling could do with a second option to determine where it scales from. So you could pick it to start scaling from say Captain or Commodre and go up from there.

[Azor]

Originally posted by VoiD:

In my experience if you don't use dif scaling (which turns every game into super easy mode regardless of difficulty) then you cannot beat the AI early or mid game, your only hope is to secure good checkpoints, create massive fortressess to disencourage their attacks, pick a decent ally or 2 and tech like crazy, when you're in the mid-late game the AI will start ranging from average to pathetic.

No, you can definetly beat the AI WITHOUT scaling in the early game. Vanilla AI is bad regardless of difficulty bonuses. I've been doing it since I learned how to do it.*

The strategy is simple. Pick prosperous unification, construct research labs and a foundy on your capital, build a foundy in your colonies. Upgrade your starbases and build anchorages on all of them except one which should become a shipyard. The rest you can figure out by yourself (eg whether you want more generator districts or more industrial districts).

Remember to use the market to its maximum. MONTHLY sell excess food (selling more than 60/month might decrease values) and monthly buy up to 13 alloys (13 alloys will barely increase its market value while 10 alloys will not). Buy minerals monthly up to 60 if necessary (it very likely will be)**.

Declare war between 2220 and 2230. By that time you'll have enough influence to claim an entire empire**.

You'll be looking at 260 to 300 total research output and +60 alloy income until your ship building and then conquest begins.

Remember that ships cost alloy upkeep, so only start building your fleets 3 years before you plan going to war.

*I've been doing it against vanilla AI Grand Admiral and Starnet AI Admiral. Starnet isn't bad, but the fact that you can keep up with it despite difficulty bonuses speaks a lot about the current state of AI.
**technicians were buffed making them more efficient than miners in 3.0, so much so that it's better to produce energy through technicians and buying up to 60 minerals/month than producing those 60 minerals/month with miners.
***you only need their planets, but taking their systems for their mineral and energy output is nice.

EDIT: worth of note that going against AI in the early game is easier in max AI + clustered spawns. But it also means you can be obliterated way easier too with if you're using Starnet AI. So make sure you manage your economy and plan ahead properly.
EDIT2: this strategy will be easier in 3.0.3 with the foundries buff. The 3.0.3 beta is stable and I highly recommend opting in until it's finally released. See https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/stellaris-dev-diary-211-3-0-3-beta-updates.1472418/

EDIT3: REMEMBER THAT CLERKS ARE STILL BAD. Clerk jobs are filler. Unemploy clerks whenever you have other jobs available; make a plan to unemploy every clerk.

[VoiD]

Originally posted by Azor:

Originally posted by VoiD:

In my experience if you don't use dif scaling (which turns every game into super easy mode regardless of difficulty) then you cannot beat the AI early or mid game, your only hope is to secure good checkpoints, create massive fortressess to disencourage their attacks, pick a decent ally or 2 and tech like crazy, when you're in the mid-late game the AI will start ranging from average to pathetic.

No, you can definetly beat the AI WITHOUT scaling in the early game. Vanilla AI is bad regardless of difficulty bonuses. I've been doing it since I learned how to do it.*

The strategy is simple. Pick prosperous unification, construct research labs and a foundy on your capital, build a foundy in your colonies. Upgrade your starbases and build anchorages on all of them except one which should become a shipyard. The rest you can figure out by yourself (eg whether you want more generator districts or more industrial districts).

Remember to use the market to its maximum. MONTHLY sell excess food (selling more than 60/month might decrease values) and monthly buy up to 13 alloys (13 alloys will barely increase its market value while 10 alloys will not). Buy minerals monthly up to 60 if necessary (it very likely will be)**.

Declare war between 2220 and 2230. By that time you'll have enough influence to claim an entire empire**.

You'll be looking at 260 to 300 total research output and +60 alloy income until your ship building and then conquest begins.

Remember that ships cost alloy upkeep, so only start building your fleets 3 years before you plan going to war.

*I've been doing it against vanilla AI Grand Admiral and Starnet AI Admiral. Starnet isn't bad, but the fact that you can keep up with it despite difficulty bonuses speaks a lot about the current state of AI.
**technicians were buffed making them more efficient than miners in 3.0, so much so that it's better to produce energy through technicians and buying up to 60 minerals/month than producing those 60 minerals/month with miners.
***you only need their planets, but taking their systems for their mineral and energy output is nice.

EDIT: worth of note that going against AI in the early game is easier in max AI + clustered spawns. But it also means you can be obliterated way easier too with if you're using Starnet AI. So make sure you manage your economy and plan ahead properly.
EDIT2: this strategy will be easier in 3.0.3 with the foundries buff. The 3.0.3 beta is stable and I highly recommend opting in until it's finally released. See https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/stellaris-dev-diary-211-3-0-3-beta-updates.1472418/

EDIT3: REMEMBER THAT CLERKS ARE STILL BAD. Clerk jobs are filler. Unemploy clerks whenever you have other jobs available; make a plan to unemploy every clerk.

Good stuff, I'll have to give it a try sometime, sounds very specific tho, does it still work on the current patch?

Also, if you fail for some reason, is that window of opportunity closed for ever and you're back to turtletown?

[Azor]

Originally posted by VoiD:

Good stuff, I'll have to give it a try sometime, sounds very specific tho, does it still work on the current patch?

Also, if you fail for some reason, is that window of opportunity closed for ever and you're back to turtletown?

Yes, it worked in 2.8 and still works in 3.0 except 3.0 is a little bit easier.

There was one run where I did fail - I couldn't reach their planets and had to settle for some of their systems instead. This left them some time to build a superior fleet, and I was then attacked by another empire with claims on all of my systems.

But there were (are) two reasons why the window is nearly but never fully closed. 1) military AI has been improved but is still flawed. Because of this the AI *might* fail to stack its fleets when it should meaning you *might* be able to take advantageous or equal fights despite a slightly inferior fleet power. 2)You can call other empires to war. So, in that run, I survived and then conquered two planets due 1), and then I called another empire to a conquest war against that first empire and consequently won despite my inferior fleet. This got me back in equal footing with the other empires in early game thus allowing me to conquer other empire once I had enough influence.

That was with Starnet.

Guides... kinda

If you want to see one way this strategy can work in 3.0 before trying and experimenting with it yourself, I recommend KomradTruck on Twitch. Just do what he does but in singleplayer. Now, you don't really have to min/max as much as he does because singleplayer will never be as competitive as those multiplayer lobbies*. Chill. So do what he does except don't worry about resettling if you're not a slaver, swapping leaders. rolling for better scientists/governors/admirals.

https://www.twitch.tv/komradtruck

*most multiplayer communities play with a 20 to 30 year truce. Also, they play with 0.75 tech cost, so don't expect to be as strong as they get at that time if you play on standard settings. Nonetheless I've played with x1 tech cost using about the same strategy and still succeeded -- you'll have fewer and weaker fleets but so will the AI.

I learned about this strategy here. It's outdated but you'll only have to adapt it to current mechanics. Works with any build, even without slaves.

https://youtu.be/8S6VfN2WVkY

If you want to really tryhard and rush, check this absolutely disgusting run. completely different strategy btw. idk if an early rush is even possible as a normal empire.

https://youtu.be/MgB0qjNas_Y

Also, I almost forgot: sell your minor relics and remember to research that Capacity Subsidies edict as soon as you see it. Best edict in the game right now.