Cathartic.

[u/IllTrade4240]

Another run, another win. This time, after quite a few wins behind me, I've decided to clean the entire map and prepare a proper defense for the endgame. Being capable of starting with 2 Sevastopols is something else. There are a few things that I've noticed that can propably help new players that should be the priority, so I'll line them up right now. Now I can, without doubt, state that I've finished all the "endings" the game has to offer.

First, you should not start with too many ships. The flagship and 1-3 lightnings along with a tanker for each lightning should be enough. There are more than enough ships to get later in the game, and every single ship in your fleet burns a lot of fuel, best to keep the fuel efficiency good.

Hidden cities can be found on your own, without the use of land radar, although it can help quite a bit. You want to zoom in as far as possible so that you see the actual terrain around you, then look for roads going from cities into the middle of nowhere. If there is a large gaping hole surrounded by cities, there's propably a hidden city somewhere in that desert. You just have to look for it, and the best way to do that is to follow the roads. Winning the game without hidden cities is really, really hard since any mention of your fleet in any official city will lead the Strike Groups right to your location.

Don't engage strike groups, they're not worth it. What you want is to pelt them with airplanes and missiles whenever you locate the SGs. A non-nuclear cruise missile is 1500 gold, repairing your cruisers after fighting an SG usually exceeds 20000 gold and takes a lot of time.

Nuclear groups and aircraft carrier groups do not migrate. They're the same as garrisons, just with the capability of pelting you with aircraft/missiles. If you've destroyed all the SGs, you don't need hidden cities anymore.

Garrisons, including nuclear groups and carrier groups, will chase you if they think they're stronger than you. They won't go to the next city over like that since they don't have enough fuel for that, but they can chase you down till you're out of fuel if they think they're stronger than you.

Nuclear groups and carrier groups do not use their radar unless they're expecting you. This can be used to strike a garrison with these in the middle of the night, making their main advantage useless if you take them by surprise.

Nuclear groups and carrier groups are almost in every second city next to Khiva if you play on normal. If you are detected when attacking a garrison next to a city with a NG or a CG, run. The loot is not worth losing your strike group.

Hoard A-100s and AA missiles. The enemy is physical, they have a limited amount of resources to throw at you. You can take down enemy missiles with A-100s and with AA missiles. You can also take down enemy plane squadrons with A-100s and AA missiles, although using A-100s against planes is not recommended due to the high cost.

Use AT munitions. While I've finished the game with basegame vehicles without using special munitions, AT shells can make your Lightning useful not only in early and midgame, but also in the endgame. The rest of the munition types are either too expensive or not effective enough, but a Gladiator with AT shells can take down an SG on it's own with a skilled pilot.

While decoding enemy transmissions is fun the first dozen times, it gets tiresome quite fast. Once you've destroyed all the SGs, leave a light corvette in every intelligence outpost. Knowing where enemy NGs, CGs and transport convoys are is crucial to minimizing loses and maximizing profit.

[u/Protoboomer]

Damn, this is some solid advice

[u/IllTrade4240 → u/Protoboomer]

I've been playing this game way too much over the past few years. It's my comfy game. The only downside of it is that it's too short.

[u/Council_Man → u/IllTrade4240]

Have you tried Flight to Hara Vera?

[u/IllTrade4240 → u/Council_Man]

Yeah, tried it when it came out. Was put down by the blatant AI generated pics, don't know if they've updated it since then.

[u/Council_Man → u/IllTrade4240]

I think that's an unfair judgement. Pretty sure we can all agree that using AI for art in a free mod made by a couple people is totally acceptable. I mean the mod is voice acted and has custom textures, but you were put off by the fact that the modders aren't artists?

[u/IllTrade4240 → u/Council_Man]

You don't seem to understand. I don't have a problem with AI art, nor am I in any way angry with the mod team. I just think that the mod was created too early in the development of AI and the characters do not look good. Same thing with the quality of the textures. It is a great idea, it's just that it needs a bit of polishing before it's a good mod.

[u/TEH_Cyk0 → u/IllTrade4240]

If you run with vanilla ships, sure avoiding strike groups is fine but if your fleets includes good custom ships (not massive one just one or two good ones) id say clearing strike groups is just simpler than avoiding them (and it also a step to clearing he entire map)

[u/TheImmortalLS]

imo having a lightning with airburst rounds as a picket/combat air patrol is more economical than burning $1500 for each A100 vs incoming missiles/planes

+1 to armour penetrating and laser guided munition, used selectively

[u/dungustom]

Agree on everything but the SGs. A dedicated brawler can kill SGs with armor damage at most, instead of sending upwards of 4 or 5 KH15s (Ishu help you if you use planes) before you exhaust their sprints. This also yields valuable components. If you send a fully loaded Seva at it of course you will lose 20k worth of sensors and other expensive components.

[u/TEH_Cyk0 → u/dungustom]

Haha i just thought the same thing

[u/bambush331]

Plenty of good advice This guy knows his shit and I second all of it

[u/Shady_Merchant1]

I'll have one seva and another seva and don't you dare give me 2 because I'll know

[u/Riot-in-the-Pit]

Personally, I've been retrofitting the Sev in my past couple runs to become a Strike Fleet killer. Taking inspiration from the Nomad Mk 2 and the Varyag, which both kinda feel like the Sev designers would take inspiration from, the Sev is a museum piece. Kinda like refitting the Galactica, putting that much love into her makes you love her a little more.

Putting armor on the top of the rightmost fuel tank, popping off single armor plates here and there to make room for about 12-14 palash, 3 more D-30s's and later just halving that rightmost fuel tank to make room for another maneuvering thruster and gun if you get the salvage. Doesn't all have to be done at once, basically every time I land it in a fast-repair city, I do a few upgrades and move on.

I know it's fun to hate the Sev, but imo if the game's gonna shackle you to it, make use of it. Turn it on your enemies. I tend to save it as my 2nd or 3rd ship in a SG fight though. Let them burn all their Zeniths on something that can zip around them like a modded Lightning, or heck, sometimes a Fenek or Gepard if I'm feeling spicy and one popped with like a Tarkhan. Then bring in the Sev to mop the floor.

I'm starting to hate throwing cruise missiles at the SGs. It takes 2-3 just to exhaust their Sprints, and I swear I've dumped a Skylark's worth of KH-15s into a SG just to watch the Nomad face tank them all and somehow keep limping along, Gryphons and Boreys untouched. But like others say, I think taking on the SGs is better than dodging them, once you're ready. If I'm going to throw money at the enemy, let's do it earning XP on the ships doing the killing, I say. That way when the Sev gets to Khiva, it's not this crew of beardless children still learning how to pull levers and push buttons.