I'm new to Sins and enjoy playing TEC in single person. A lot of members have given great advise on making a pretty strong empire and I do pretty good when playing against AI. Maybe we could just consider it more of a challenge instead of short comings.

For YOU perhaps, but not necessarily everyone else.


Mad Cat

Haven't played a single game online. Won't. Don't need to.

I apologize to all the strictly sp types. I wish you would come to the mp community. If its a hosting issue. Ill help in any way I can. PM me and we'll see what we can come up with.
As for sp I use it to test tactics, but I find the ai lacking. After 1.04 that improved somewhat. Only in an OMG they must have a hedge fund backing their empire kinda way.
To all you sp types don't you want to obtain victory against a breath thinking being?

I'm still learning at a rapid pace every game I play in SP. I know MP is different but a lot of what I'm learning is functionality. For instance this weekend I just learned that you can click the left planet bar that displays how many ships you have in the system to select and move them. I also read today that a lot of players effectively scuttle the abundance of carriers they get from RA to boost econ and built support ships more effectively. That being said, since I rely on RA in SP games when I play Vasari, I noticed I have relatively little experience with support cruisers...of varying kinds. I typically stick with LRM's and HC's or RA spam. So right now the deluge of information is high enough that I'm at a point where I am satisfied.

I can easily stomp what appears to be 4 hard AI now and theoretically more when locked. It's all about focusing on the efficiencies of all the great UI features I fear I won't have time for in MP.

What's the average planet amount/time to complete ratio in MP? I'm hoping for 2-4 hour runs (solid 3's if possible).

Just finished a TEC 3star sp game that lasted over 13hrs (total not in one sitting). I lost but had a great ttime, I know I made some major blunders but I'm learning from experence and from this forum. There is so much to learn I don't know how anyone can master 3 races, so I think I will stick with TEC. Happy hunting...

That's ok, all the SP guys' nicknames fit on the left sidebar where they belong.

Actually, that's a pretty lame comeback. In reality, there's tons of reasons people don't play online, from connectivity to time constraints; some people feel they aren't 'good enough' to hack it online (which is largely true, I know I'd get stomped). Some folks find sufficient challenge in single player without needing the challenge to their patience of multiplayer issues, like the dreaded minidumps I hear so much about. I had a minidump once in a single player game. I was -mad-. I can only imagine having to deal with that on a regular basis.

And some of us -like- the TEC and may not want to play vs. other players if the TEC are really as bad as people make them out to be.

Also, it's easy to make a single player game that will outstrip in difficulty any MP game you're ever likely to play

Missile barrage fix will be great for TEC! But i suggest getting the armor upgrades ASAP or your Marza wont live to LVL 6 Also repair rate upgrade, and you can circle repair bays till you get Missile Barrage and wipe whole enemy fleet unless he runs.

Think my new TEC strategy will involve gettign the AOE missile upgrade for LRMs ASAP! With it they should hold up fine vs other long range frigates.

TEC are actually significantly worse off in Single Player as well, at least in a late game, big galaxy situation. It's not hard to extrapolate those problems into multiplayer, even though I don't partake and the problems aren't really the same. In 1v# comp games, both Vasari and Advent have hugely useful late game techs that facilitate a reasonable rate of victory.

Vasari have Phase Stabilizer Nodes, which trivializes defense and allows fleet consolidation because the AI don't prioritize them. Every planet you own is a choke point when they all have gates. Overseers shine in big fleet battles because of their direct heal and the AI's tendancy to attack capital ships, even when pointless. If you can stand the macro, RA and salvage spec is a better economy than TEC has by far, though I don't use RA myself. The Evacuator's gravity bomb is hugely useful in trapping fleets, and explosive nanites is hugely useful in wiping them with a chain reaction. Subverters, enough said.

Advent has a fleet superiority that mostly lies in its ridiculous capital ships. While people are already quite aware of Illuminators and Repulsion, there are several other key advantages Advent get against greater numbers. Malice and Cleansing Brilliance allow for a maddening rate of kills, Vengeance and Telekinetic Push essentially shut down all strike craft, and the Rapture aura for allied strike craft is just incredible for razing orbital structures. This race is a little tougher than Vasari to manage on a wide scale, but once you get the steps down it's a juggernaut.

TEC have... ? Novalith cannons I guess? The late econ tech involving recources for enemy production is good, but it's only good in a big game with several players. Dreadnaughts are about the only strong AE that the TEC have, and without the disables Vasari have to make up for it. TEC support cruisers have abilities that are too subtle for late game fleet battles. The capital ships are strong in direct combat, but not on a scale wide enough to deal with multiple foes. Armistice is good, but again the problem is in kill speed/efficiency, not survival. If you can't kill lots of ships quickly, they'll just warp away from superior fleets and stalemate you with hit and run. TEC is the only race that seems to need a choke point.

Yeah, TEC can win 1v1 just fine, but the AI is so weak in battles that TEC problems don't really start to shine through. You can also win against AI building only capital ships or zero capital ships, either of which is hugely underpowered all things considered. Multiplayer is much more competitive, and forces players to really analyze the potency of each race. I agree that TEC needs something beyond fixed Marza to be on the same level as the other two. Sadly, I'm still not versed enough in the game's nuances to suggest exactly what it is they need.

I have never played on line before and the way you mp guys sound, I bet you are just waiting to get some of us sp guys on line and beat the crap out of us  , someday you will see me and some of the others on line after we have mastered the sp skirmishes with ease, so watch yourself  .
I also like playing the Techs and yes most of the time even on small maps against the Vasari I get dusted royally but I learn a thing or 2. I think that from the way the story was written The Traders are similar to the Federation Of Planets because of being such a large organization they had grown fat and complacent and thoughts of conquest or war was like a sickness to them just like the federation on Star trek, and just like the Federation they felt superior and smug about their huge merchant fleets and the huge number of frigates to protect them. When the Vasari came the Traders were caught with their pants down around their ankles and it became even more dire when the people that they banished came back for revenge opened up another front (Hence the title Sins of a Solar Empire!)now they are scrambling to learn war once more and that takes time, thats why I look forward to the expansion pack to see how the mad men that made such a excellent game will come up with new Tech ships and high technology, so don't count the Traders out yet  !

Wrong, I have never played this game MP sans LAN a few times. This game is NOT all about MP.

if u can't win by rush sit back and bunker bring novaliths up and win
takes u a lot more time but if u care about winning a 4-5h mp game just bunker after mid-game with tec and bring as much novaliths up as u can
then double hit every planet of the enemy
still if they manage to recover their planets they wont survive a single hit some minutes later by your novaliths so u can prevent the enemy to get his planets back up
also u can go for insurgency wich will make it even harder for your opponents to bring their lost colonies back online

so tactic for tec is - put the pressure early on your opponents if you can't take em out sit back and bunker - fortify as much as u can
a big capital ship fleet won't hurt either
good defense = alot of flak,alot of hoshikos and kodiaks, a lot of repair stations,3-5 light factories, and some culture backup from other planets.
and of course phase jump inhibitors!!! always build them in mostly every system so your enemy cant rush threw your defensive lines
even if the enemy slips threw just follow, your kodiaks can intercept in the next system so the enemy will suffer losses on the way to your novalith possitions

with the novalith in your homesystems far away from the front you force the enemy to come to your heavily defended systems where u can crush them while your novaliths still firering

your caps should look like this:
4-5 marza 4-5 dunovs 1-2 akkan 1-2 sova +2 more caps
and just stay at your chokepoint systems and wait till your novaliths are up
sovas are just after the big fight at your system u can rush and embargo the next systems wich hurts the broken economy of your enemy even more
buy lvls for your caps if you got the money


so the short version:
if u can't win over an enemy buy a quick rush
you have to win by attrition but stay on defense as long as necessary
get as many planets as u can but watch out for choke points dont overstretch
a short front is always easier to defend
tactic is quite lame but who cares history is writen by the victors!