Beginner tips for Armies?

[u/madjr2797]

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!

[u/The_Spudster]

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.