Need Help with Apocalypse Chapter in Dread Lords

from GalCiv2 Forums
Greetings. I am new to GC2 and bought the Gold edition with the new campaign. I realize everyone is playing Dark Avatar right now but I wanted to start out with the old campaign so I could get a feel for the game. I have already had some successful test games and was doing fine on the DL campaign until I hit Apocalypse. I could only find 4 relevant posts on the topic so far. Any of you old hands out there know if its normal to get blasted by a DL battleship before you can actually get your planets up and running. I had the game on beginner, simple and am scaling down now to "retard" mode. I try and build a fleet and the DL ships come and wipe them out immediately.I cant seem to get to the say 35th turn. Its fun, cruel and really annoying. Was the AI changed for the gold edition? I had one stalemated game I retired from since it was a real war of attrition. I had reached a fairly high level and was consumed in defending two remaining planets from take over.

I am set as an industrialist with maxed military capacity at the moment. I initially start colonizing and building Defenders which is all I am capable of at the start. Once I get up to about 12-18 ships the battleships arrive and spank the hell out of them. I tried building freighters to buff my economies they just get shot after a few runs. I usually try and open up logistics early so I can make fleets as fast as possible.

Any tips would be appreciated.
3,694 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
If you're getting overrun, don't build fleets.

Just never build starbases, no freighters, and build "snipers" to take down incoming troopships.

Basically, an ideal sniper has 1 attack (any type), medium range, and as many engines as you can fit. It should be able to outrun all the enemy ships, while still taking out their troopships since the AI is apparently foolish that way. If not, you're screwed.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I've never thought about that "sniper" ship strategy before against the dumb AI. Too bad a simple AI change to escort their transports (or build combat ones) will effectively nullify this strat
Galactic Civilizations III
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I'll try out the sniper strategy and see if I can get my population fortified first and see if that makes a difference.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Others might not agree with this, but I found one or two military starbases, with enhancements to your ships' attack, will help enormously. Then you only need to build tiny ships with a little attack, and a fleet of those can do decently against the DL at first. Put those fleets on the starbases, and just wait for the DL ships to come at you. They take much longer to build their ships than you will, so that's one way you can at least survive a period of attrition. It is a tough campaign, though, especially with the few scenarios where you don't have allies doing much for you.

And putting the diff. down won't help vs. DL. It can actually help you to ratchet it up, so that any allies you might have can be worth something.

BTW, I know the idea of the campaign can seem cool, but sandbox mode is far better. I did the campaign for DL, but not much for DA. Once you're into the sandbox game, there's just no reason to go back. Everything you like in the campaign, you'll pretty much find in sandbox mode. And you'll find it much more amusing, I'd guess.

Oh, and always design your own ships. Those template ships, like "defender," are virtually worthless. Whenever you research an improvement to a ship, redesign. You don't have to worry about looks, unless that's something you like to do. The ships will behave the same no matter if they'd win a prize at a design contest!