Congrats! Man, when I first got this game I was scared and kept playing on easy. The AI can be surprisingly challenging sometimes, especially when you haven't been paying attention a bit and then BAM...supermassive fleet at your doorstep!

I went easy first too. There's a good few things that will help out a LOT - like figuring out that the first capital ship is free so you should get that as soon as possible. (Buy 200 crystal, upgrade planet, build capship factory, build capital ship - which one isn't THAT big a deal so go with what you feel like. Build a few scouts, then build whatever you want.

(You may want two civil research stations so you can colonize ice/volcanic planets if that is what is closest to you).

Once you get comfortable with the start then you probably won't be challenged by the normal computer much, even though it can throw you a setback or two.

Started going against a 'hard' computer and that was a bit challenging. I figure there's a reason why you get achievements for fighting one (or more) successfully.

I thought I was doing fairly well and suddenly I ran into a monstrous green blob of ships taking up half a system's worth of space. Ouch. Took a while but is beating it now.

Fun game, definitely.

Congrats

Now try to take on two

I'm taking it pretty slow. I played my first game on normal and got totally owned by the AI. So I switched to easy and I was able to learn the game mechanics better without having to worry about the AI stomping me 20 minutes into the game. So I played two or three games on easy then wend to a map on normal. Like I said, the AI ended up with every other planet colonized and they kept sicking those damn pirates on me!! So I concentrated on getting two more capital ships and just surviving. The turn around was once I got two Battle Cruisers and the Cap ship that can replenish shields. They were pretty much unbeatable. BUT... the enemy had reseached their broadcast satelites and started subverting my homeworld. I got down to about 15% loyalty before I finally got the tech to build my own and counteract their propaganda. After that I just cleaned house with my three Caps and a bunch of frigates. It was fun.

NO!! NOOOOO!!!! LOL

Medium isnt that hard at all, even with more than one medium opponent. Try your luck on hard with ONE AI. Much more intense and even, and is a good challenge.

Congrats...

I remember playing first game with normal AI...(my first game...)...and got crushed by massed Disciples...

Good going!

played my first on normal last night, got utterly crushed lol

i always play 2vs2 with the AI and i try to expend to create choke points so i dont have to defend 10 plants at once

1 of the AI was taking down my ally so i went to help but ran into a fleet of the other AI blocking my path i couldnt just let my ally die so i fought through them but when i finally made it to help my ally my fleet was to small to help and i got crushed

so my ally was killed and my fleet destroyed, as i tried to rebuild they took 7 of my 10 planets but then when my fleet was finally done all i could do was block their attacks but they had access to 2 plants and i only had a fleet big enough to defend 1 at a time so i had to keep moving from each planet

they slowly picked away at me then i sent scouts to see what they had and it was horrible lol, each of their fleets had me outnumbered 10:1 but i was holding my own till they both attacked at once, i fell back to my capital and they took my other 2 planets

not hard to guess what happened next, both fleets attacked me and it was game over but the finaln fight did last for almost 45 min lol

Congrats, I remember after just learning the tutorial and playing the first couple of easy solo missions I felt confident enough to take on a couple of normal AI. Long story short, I got slapped around.

nice work

One way to segue into tougher AI is to lock teams so that they cannot gang up on you. I can take on several hard AI's as long as they cannot ally together and squash me.

I would , but I cant find the smiley   

When I first started (not all that long ago   ) I paused the game A LOT!

So much to learn it seemed and there was.

Locked teams, no pirates...

Congrats on the win!

Thanks guys. Since the first post I have been consistantly beaten the AI on normal, I guess it's time to up the anti. What do you guys recommend? Should I go to a 3 or 4 player match next or up the difficulty level. I'm thinking of upping the difficulty to hard.

Any thoughts?

I know I have one vote for taking on two AI.

nice! I'm used to RTS games, but I still got pwned on my first try. It takes time to learn to play any game good, so keep up the good work!