I went easy first too. There's a good few things that will help out a LOT - like figuring out that the first capital ship is free so you should get that as soon as possible. (Buy 200 crystal, upgrade planet, build capship factory, build capital ship - which one isn't THAT big a deal so go with what you feel like. Build a few scouts, then build whatever you want.

(You may want two civil research stations so you can colonize ice/volcanic planets if that is what is closest to you).

Once you get comfortable with the start then you probably won't be challenged by the normal computer much, even though it can throw you a setback or two.

Started going against a 'hard' computer and that was a bit challenging. I figure there's a reason why you get achievements for fighting one (or more) successfully.

I thought I was doing fairly well and suddenly I ran into a monstrous green blob of ships taking up half a system's worth of space. Ouch. Took a while but is beating it now.

Fun game, definitely.

I'm taking it pretty slow. I played my first game on normal and got totally owned by the AI. So I switched to easy and I was able to learn the game mechanics better without having to worry about the AI stomping me 20 minutes into the game. So I played two or three games on easy then wend to a map on normal. Like I said, the AI ended up with every other planet colonized and they kept sicking those damn pirates on me!! So I concentrated on getting two more capital ships and just surviving. The turn around was once I got two Battle Cruisers and the Cap ship that can replenish shields. They were pretty much unbeatable. BUT... the enemy had reseached their broadcast satelites and started subverting my homeworld. I got down to about 15% loyalty before I finally got the tech to build my own and counteract their propaganda. After that I just cleaned house with my three Caps and a bunch of frigates. It was fun.

Medium isnt that hard at all, even with more than one medium opponent. Try your luck on hard with ONE AI. Much more intense and even, and is a good challenge.

played my first on normal last night, got utterly crushed lol

i always play 2vs2 with the AI and i try to expend to create choke points so i dont have to defend 10 plants at once

1 of the AI was taking down my ally so i went to help but ran into a fleet of the other AI blocking my path i couldnt just let my ally die so i fought through them but when i finally made it to help my ally my fleet was to small to help and i got crushed

so my ally was killed and my fleet destroyed, as i tried to rebuild they took 7 of my 10 planets but then when my fleet was finally done all i could do was block their attacks but they had access to 2 plants and i only had a fleet big enough to defend 1 at a time so i had to keep moving from each planet

they slowly picked away at me then i sent scouts to see what they had and it was horrible lol, each of their fleets had me outnumbered 10:1 but i was holding my own till they both attacked at once, i fell back to my capital and they took my other 2 planets

not hard to guess what happened next, both fleets attacked me and it was game over but the finaln fight did last for almost 45 min lol

nice work

I would , but I cant find the smiley   

Thanks guys. Since the first post I have been consistantly beaten the AI on normal, I guess it's time to up the anti. What do you guys recommend? Should I go to a 3 or 4 player match next or up the difficulty level. I'm thinking of upping the difficulty to hard.

Any thoughts?

I know I have one vote for taking on two AI.

and if I could offer any advice, go for a Ceasefire, then move your ships into position to attack the ai's capital  

Khardis,

I haven't tried that since 1.05. It was such a pain getting even one guy happy consistently before they started ganging up on me that I just locked the teams. Perhaps I'll try a game with unlocked teams.

So... In an earlier post I asked if I should challenge myself more by either playing on hard difficulty or taking on two AI's. Well... I'm glad to report that I decided to do both and set up a map against two AI on the hard difficulty setting... and I won! It was pretty tough, but I managed to pull it off.

Thanks for the responses guys.

A friend of mine and me teamed up online and fought 2 normal AIs for the first time. At the beginning my Solar Empire was almost destroyed when suddenly a huge blue fleet tried to poop on my planets. I called for help and learned that my buddy didn't know how to jump between solar systems... and never researched the technology for that.

But... I survived. I rebuilt my fleet and began to invade the solar system of the blue AI. And it went... okay. I managed to get a hold in there and slowly pushed his fleets back. Saddly the defense of my home system was lacking... and the yellow AI assaulted me and managed to kill off my dead asteroid fortress.

Again I called for help. This was the time when my "buddy" told me he couldn't help me because he was allied now with that yellow guy.

In the end "we" still won that match against the AI. I could turn the tide of battle while my friend was goofing off chasing pirates and conquering their bases to get the "awesome" credit bonus.

Still it was fun.

Actually, I'm currently in the process of trying to win the game with just my culture. I've managed to secure two chokepoints between myself and the enemy and I've been building broadcast centers like there's no tommorow. lol

I'm playing the TEC on a random small map. It's loads of fun... I love building up my empire. I don't think I'd last 20 minutes in a multiplayer game though. My pace is too slow. lol

Cheers