I can't figure out the pacing of this game.

posted on August 24th, 2010, 8:23 pm

I've played a few matches against AI trying to get a feel for how things work, but I haven't had much luck. You see, in Armada 1 and 2 I pretty much know what I need to be doing at any given time. I know how to get my resources up and running, which ships are effective for which situations, and when there's a problem someplace I know how to fix it and get my system back on track.

But this game has me pretty lost regardless of what race I play. The only game I've won was when I was the Borg and after struggling for a good while, I managed to take down all the other AI players with the same 5 units or so. From there I tried playing the Klingons and Romulans and can never match up to the enemies. I make ships and build stations, and I try to optimize my resource intake, and I'll venture out to try dismantling the other race's infastructure, but it never "clicks" for me and I eventually get squashed without making any real progress.

I'm not really sure what I should be doing different, either. Any tips for general game management or something? lol

[Anonymous]

posted on August 24th, 2010, 8:32 pm

Last edited by Anonymous on August 25th, 2010, 10:05 am, edited 1 time in total.

read the guide, all of it. it covers all of the basics.

if u have some specific questions feel free to ask.

some general pointers:

• fleetops is balanced for multiplayer person vs person. playing vs the ai is not a balanced experience and isnt what fleetops is supposed to be like, so all tips are for online play.
• you should only have resources built up if u are specifically saving up for a yard or tech facility. at all other times u should be buying ships with the rest of your money. tritanium buildups should be spent on research, which costs more tri
• you should be making lots of ships and few to no turrets. 1 turret per moon you have is fine unless u are in a team game, and trying to "hold the middle", ie u are trying to keep a yard in a tactically nice position or something like that. turrets are bad, they have no engines and fleetops is about holding resource points to make ships in larger numbers.
• team play is the most common game in fleetops. so definitely become a team player, learn to support your ally, and to rely on them to join with u to do more damage.

EDIT: assassinated a typo

posted on August 24th, 2010, 8:37 pm

That being said, try an easier AI.  the hard one is extremely hard to beat for those new to FO, and still puts up a good fight for veterains.

posted on August 24th, 2010, 8:38 pm

Okay, I suppose I could try an online match and see how that works. I had assumed starting off against the AI would be better since I could see how the game functions, but I guess playing against real players without altered build times and the like would be better.

posted on August 24th, 2010, 8:41 pm

Okay, I suppose I could try an online match and see how that works. I had assumed starting off against the AI would be better since I could see how the game functions, but I guess playing against real players without altered build times and the like would be better.

playing vs the ai can teach u some stuff, like learning how fast ships are. and what specials they have. but wont teach u how to beat another player. the guide is good for that.

but practice is the best way to learn. ask a seasoned player to give u a tutorial.

posted on August 24th, 2010, 9:14 pm

Hi and welcome to the forums.

Yep, sadly the Armada AI is quite limited, that's why a real player versus player experience can't be realy simulated. We are working on that front

Qapla!

posted on August 24th, 2010, 9:30 pm

• team play is the most common game in fleetops. so definitely become a team player, learn to support your enemy, and to rely on them to join with u to do more damage.

We're supposed to support our enemies? So that's what I've been doing wrong in this game all this time! 

posted on August 25th, 2010, 6:31 am

We're supposed to support our enemies? So that's what I've been doing wrong in this game all this time! 

Well spotted. 

@OP: Played against the AI for a long long time before getting online.  Its quite a different experience and much more interesting and fun playing against human opponents.  At the start though be prepared to get your arse thoroughly kicked, to the extent that you are still producing your first ship when your opponent is attacking you with half a dozen ships.

If i spot you online i'll be more than happy to give you a practice game and play nice with you.

What can really help you as well as playing online is watch some of the replays located in this thread:
Star Trek Armada II: Fleet Operations - List of awesome youtube replays

By all means, play against the AI to get the hang of things and learn what is available, how the different races look and feel.  Just don't expect the AI to give you a good game.  Watched an AI only game last night just while testing something out and was amazed by its stupidity.  One team build 3 additional constructors at the start, another built no mining until it had spent 2 minutes building other things and then sent its construction ship half way across the map to build its first mining (FOW was on and map was not revealed so this is rather strange).

Played my third game online last night (and had to give big apologies to the guys as i had to drop it 15 minutes into the game) and was very happy that I only made half a dozen stupid mistakes in those 15 minutes.  Its a learning process.

posted on August 25th, 2010, 6:36 am

PS: While starting it probably is a good idea to pick one race to learn with and get good at that before trying others.  If FO the sides are more unique that in stock A2 and require different strategies and tactics.

I think most people would recommend Federation to new players although I would probably say Borg are not too difficult once you understand what the ship modules actually do and how to manage their resources.

Roms, Klingons, and Dominion require a little more skill i think.

posted on August 25th, 2010, 10:07 am

We're supposed to support our enemies? So that's what I've been doing wrong in this game all this time! 

corrected that awful typo. i need to stop posting when im tired.

posted on August 25th, 2010, 5:07 pm

The AI in this has the same 'exploit' so many AIs in RTS games has.  It pretends to scout, but automatically knows where all your stuff is.

I remember one game against multiple AI where the first thing I did was build a starbase in a choke point to prevent scouts from seeing my base.  I added sensor stations as quickly as I could, and additional turrets.  No scout ever got past it.  Suddenly, a stream of fed ships flew straight past it (taking significant losses) and beelined straight at my shipyards, which were effectively in the middle of nowhere.

At that point, I stopped any attempt to hide stations from the AI, because I knew better.