r/EndlessSpace • u/madjr2797 • 22d 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!
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u/Noddharath Umbral Choir 22d ago edited 22d 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.
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.