Early Combat

[CiverDan]

I was just wondering if attacking early is ever feasible. (i.e. will attacking with 3 BatteAxes work if the planet is defended by colony ships only?) From what i see the game seems to discourage attacking others early on.

[Kinjiru]

Early attacks can be effective, to a point.

If you want to actually conquer systems, early attacks are pretty hard. It is not that hard to overwhelm a system, but you need to also have transport tech, which comes a bit later.

You will also need to either have a bunch of constructors ready, in order to rush in some culture to your new sector or else you will lose your new planet via defection.

Where early attacks can be decisive is attacking trade lanes (the freighters if you can find 'em, the mini-ones along the routes otherwise) and constructors en-route to a starbase. Early star bases are usually easy to take out as well.

All in all, I find that mid-game combat is actually the hardest in which to be effective. Mainly because while it is easy to win engagements, it is hard to dominate. What happens to me quite often is that I will begin to press my attack, only to run out of steam because I end up trading ships at a 1-2 ratio (one of mine for two of theirs). In the mid-game it is hard to replace ships fast enough to carry on a sustained conflict.

[The Templar]

I got a precursor Ranger-class ship st the beginning of the game (restarted via screwdriver) and use it to whoop ass on the Yor. Early compbat was only non-viable for them.

[BlueDEvil]

To attack planets, your ships must have high HP or else it won't survive the attack. Battle Cruiser is the bare minimum. Battle Axe is good, but at one movement per turn, it is quite a pain to organise an invasion fleet. Even transports are equally slow. This game discourages early combat. Building ships are slow, and maintenance is a burden to your fragile economy.