Over run by pirates in first few minutes

[Dr Pix]

I am trying to play the campaign, on human and easy. Both times I have tried, I get a merchant tell me there is a pirate base near by. i see people have had issues not being able to find the base, but that is fine. I can see the planet no problem.

The problem is that within a few minutes a pirate ship appears, and takes over both my planets. I have not had time to build any ships, I just have the conqueror I start with, and it is not fast enough to get to the pirate ship - even if it is more-or-less between the pirate ship and its destination.

I get no opportunity to attack the pirate ship, or to defend either planet. I am left with just that one ship, and after 90 days game time, I lose.

I have played twice, and lost both times within 10 minutes, without any obvious choices in the outcome. What is going on here?

[MarkDey]

Ouch! Have you tried moving Conqueror towards the pirate's target, and then when it's close, clicking on the pirate fleet to have it engage it?

[Dr Pix]

Oh, I can get the conqueror to chase the pirates. It is just too slow to actually catch them up to attack.

[Moridin]

hostile fleets have to fight any of your ships that are in orbit of the planet they are attacking. just hope you can work out which one they are going for first and park conqueror in orbit.

its not always a pirate planet nearby when you start either, though it can be useful if you can take it over.

[Mr.Kiss]

at the start of the game unload your 2 tanks from fleet to your planet where the production is. (main planet) start building one or of poss two more tanks. let the pirates come, defeat them in ground combat with focus fire. pick up tanks recover your other planet if needed, conquer pirate planet. moving on. hope this helps

[Dray Prescot]

What I always did as a human player (when playing the original version), was build a couple of the smallest/cheapest of the ground bases that mount a space weapon at the start of the game and make sure that you have enough power to run them. After they are done being built, deactivate them and keep most of your warships in orbit of your Home World (HW)/colony.

Then when the squadron of pirate ships approaches your HW you activate them (the gun platforms), you may have to turn some other building(s) off to provide labor and power for them. With the help of the gun platforms you have enough firepower to defeat the Pirates without taking any ship losses.

Meanwhile, while waiting for the Pirates to attack you want to build a Tank Factory and build several of your cheapest (wheeled) tanks. Each of your ships should be able to carry one cheap wheeled tank. Leave all of the tanks, on the ground until you defeat the pirate squadron, then pick as many tanks as you can carry and then go off to attack and invade the pirate base. You may have to fight one or two more additional pirate ships on the way there. After defeating any pirate ships, land your wheeled tanks, hopefully at least 3 or 4 of them, and conquer the Pirate base/colony.

This gives you your first new colony and at least one new building type tech.

After you defeat the Pirate Base, Alien Merchant Ships will start visiting your World(s) which you can make money off each visit.

[yuss95]

You tried to remove terraformer and coloniser from Conqueror fleet ?

[rhony2]

This is on Easy? Very Strange. If I remember correctly you start with 80,000 credit on Easy. When you first start the game you should immediately start constructing another Destroyer. Also build a couple more fusion plants and place them on the edges of the map. Also build a Trading Post. As you start with one Ship Research, the only thing you can do is research Hyperdrive 1. Don't rush as it will be a while before you can research other things. Also build a Bldg research as well but make sure its offline. While money is the single most important thing in this game, population growth in essential in the early part of the game so lower your tax rate to increase your population growth. Once your trading post is built, look to see if you can buy a Destroyer. Should cost roughly around 30,000. If there is none available, look to see if you can buy tanks to prevent your colony from being overrun. Tank prices for the same tank can vary greatly so look for a wheeled tank for around 4,000. And as it has been mentioned, you can move your 2 starting tanks onto your colony.
Now assuming you have successfully defended your colony, you need to take out the Pirate Base. I believe it has two tanks so you should have at least 3 when you assault it. With the lowered tax rate you should be able to build a second ship research bldg and man it. If you still don't have the excess manpower you could take your Ship Factory offline temporarily. You want to research Quad Laser to help in the battle with the defending Pirate Fleet. If you already have a decent sized Fleet (5 or more Destroyers), you can delay the Quad Laser and start researching Bldgs. Start with Large House but once that is finished don't research Bar as you will get that tech once you take over the Pirate Base. Since it will a little while until your next mission pops up, look to upgrade your Bldg tech first. You need 2 Bldg research for Solar Power Plant and recreation center (upgrade from Bar). While you might not be able to afford it immediately, you want to always have the latest upgrade bldgs as they tend to use your population more efficiently. Once you get recreation center you can destroy any parks and bars you have previously built to get some cash back and use your people more efficiently. Look to do the same with power plants, small houses and food factories once you research the upgrades and can afford it.
Later in the game there are some bldgs that are not worth the cost of building. Trade Center and Bank come to mind. Trader ships visit relatively infrequently so it really isn't worth the expenditure.
In terms of ships, don't bother spending any money on fighters - they just aren't worth it. There is a late mission where you need a handful of fighters but that comes really late. Don't build a ton of Destroyers or Hvy Destroyers either - they can only get to Hyperdrive 3 so they are pretty useless as you get later into the game. I would also wait until you have researched Heavy Space Base and Heavy Fort before you build those.

[Oakshield]

Iirc, the "Conqueror" fleet also had a colony ship in it. And colony ships are the slowest pieces of scrap you can build.

Remove the colony ship and try to attack the pirates again. I'm quite certain you will be able to catch up on 'em.

Thorin :)