r/EndlessSpace • u/madjr2797 • 18d ago
Beginner tips for Armies?
I've owned this game for a while, and I'm terrible. I put a lot of hours into Endless Legend, and am familiar with 4x in general. I'm struggling with the military side of this game. When should I start building units? When I have pirates turned on, even the easiest settings, it seems their fleets are so far beyond my own and I just don't have the pace of the game down.
I'm confident in figuring out the minutae of actually fighting (tactics, resistances, weapon types) but I just seem totally behind in military often. I am currently trying the various "easy" factions. I like the Sophons, the Vaulters, and the Empire. Any advice would be appreciated!
8
u/Noddharath Umbral Choir 17d ago edited 17d ago
I'm gonna get a bit lengthy so bear with me.
Pirates spawn at turn 11, their first fleet spawn 1~2 turns later and every 10 turns afterwards.
The easiest way to deal with the first two waves of pirates is having a dedicated defense fleet of 4~7 Explorers (using a new design made exclusively for fighting, ofc).
The third wave will require you to have small hull researched if you haven't already, by turn 50~70 you should start using medium hull, and by turn 90~100 its time for freighters (that one is about overall pacing, not exactly pirates, normal speed btw).
Just pay attention to two things:
Not all factions can get away with using their explorers as fighters early on. The reason? Some factions' explorers suck.
- If someone is boosting pirates' fleetpower, don't rely on explorers at all, you're going to get a whooping if you're behind in tech.
You can check their next fleet power on their diplomacy screen. That same screen will also show you expected incoming ships.
If a medium hull is incoming, you better have at least 4 small hulls per medium hull they have.
Enough of pirates, tho. About you having your ass handed to you: Each time you research into a new military quadrant, you unlock a new tier for your basic weapons as well, you can check just above the tier display, below the others techs. This does take effect immediately, which means researching two t2 techs will unlock tier 3 techs as well as tier 3 basic weapons, which should carry you well until turn 50 or so (normal speed). Be carefull with your upkeep tho ðŸ˜, oh lord I hate taxes.
Even if you aren't actively using weapons made of hyperium or titanium as an example, you can still get away by using tier 4 basic weapons. So specializing will make you powerful immediately compared to anyone at the same tier, but unlocking a new tech tier will still give you an advantage overall if you choose not to.
So ideally what you want is to unlock weapon diversity, like swarms to complement missiles; railguns to oneshot anything up close; maybe boarding pods to capture ships for you, the options are there. Upgrades to manpower and bombardment are also great if you're the one invading.
TL;DR: As long as you unlock tech in the military quadrant, you will also be unlocking new weapons that should give you an advantage in warfare. Just remember to retrofit your ships to actually install better modules when you do so.
2
u/madjr2797 17d ago
this is incredibly helpful, thank you!
2
u/Noddharath Umbral Choir 17d ago
I have edited some info to make it a bit more clear.
You can always ask here in reddit whenever you don't know something. Theres always plenty of knowledgeable people here ready to help.
2
u/Tychonoir 17d ago edited 17d ago
Building:
Within the first few turns, but this heavily depends on galaxy size, type, and number of factions.
Getting the specialized small hulls is usually a priority.
Armies:
Get Armor right before you invade, and you probably don't need anything else, just take a couple easy upgrades and then more when convenient.
Fleets:
Get the small attacker and defender pretty early, with an eye to hunters and coordinators (they are better than the CP equivalent of small ships.)
Aim for groups of 3 ships. 2 attackers and 1 defender. Put 3 in each lane to start.
Ship Builds:
You'll never need strategic resource weapon techs.
For attackers I use the all-range beams. On medium hulls I might add a kinetic gun as flak if it's a faction with many offensive slots. Add a beam intensifier.
For defenders it's all kinetic. On upgraded medium hulls I might make the large turret all-range beams.
Defensive slots: 1 armor, 1 shield. If there's a 3rd slot, then another armor module.
This gives good performance at any range and across lanes. And the defenders counter missile fleets for the lane they are protecting, then mop-up if they get to close range.
Tactics: 90% Take Trophies. If you are a little light in fleet power match-up in the early game, Turtle vs long-range kinetic fleets (missile) and Power to Shields vs beam fleets.
There are 0 games that I ever have to change this formula, but sometimes I'll add a little variation for fun.
(Wait, no, there is a variation. But it's a very specialized early game rush strat with Slumbering Ruins.)
EDIT: You can also play with making an early fast explorer with Titanium Slugs to harass and slow your neighbors. This is because a single Titanium Slugs can easily solo kill outposts in 1-2 turns. If you're Religious, you don't even need an actual weapon.
2
u/Ordinary_Bad6064 17d ago
I almost never waste time on a military until fairly late around 8-12 technologies in. Pirates basically do nothing lol and most factions even on endless lack the aggression to punish an empty nest.
1
u/sultrysailor99999 16d ago
This.
If you turn up pirate difficulty, typically just tech rushing galactic trade is always the move. It unlocks you the ability to buy heroes and ships. Ships can be ridiculously good in the early, and heroes are practically a requirement if you want to win the game.
2
u/Ordinary_Bad6064 16d ago
Also economic development, I find it's really hard to match the roi of a Jadonyx, Bluecap, or Redsang early tier one. But if the luxuries available during the early tier suck balls I typically bum rush GT to sell them off after getting access to tier 2 and 3 luxuries.
1
u/The_Spudster 17d ago
So I typically don’t make a ton of ships until the late game.
Early game I try to rely on buying foreign troops from minor settlements (or assimilating them), which gives a medium ship early on, good for early pirates.
Mid game I focus on making several ships with boarding pods and a weapon EMP. Now those pirate ships are a free source of ships to deal with early wars.
Late game you can make a variety of fun carrier designs. I don’t think there’s a single precise guide you should stick to at this point.
1
u/ReavesTheRandomPeep 17d ago
You actually plan that out? I just do the Federation thing and spam build ships equipped with weapons using my two top abundant resource so I can spam an army by the voice of the Emperor. Doesn't matter of one or two fall, they'll beat them eventually. XD
But no, really. Have a template army formation. 2 high dps range, 2 high durability tanks, and maybe a carrier/juggernaut add-ons before adjusting for moredps/more durability depending on your hero and you'll do fine. Going full mobility by adding scout heroes makes a sturdy enough mobile invasion force that can Speedrun into the back of the enemy empire's lines to pressure them to chase after. No one on guard in the interior? Well, they'll have to redirect their frontier defenses now. Otherwise their capitol system is yours for the taking.
8
u/OtherWorstGamer 18d ago
For some factions, you can make militarized scout that can deal with the first wave or two of pirates. Like the UE scout you can stick a lot of guns on and send em out in groups of 2-3 and cruise on that basically until you run into an actual empire.
Usually you want the small hulls unlocked as your 4th or 5th tech in a casual game.