Hello I am enjoying your game and have played single player for several hours. As far as balance there are a few things that add nothing to the game IMO and others that just don't make a ton of sense. 1. Long range guns, if you try to take on a planet with heavy space based equipment and long range guns the infiltration is nearly impossible, I sent through roughly 200 vehicles with damage upgrades when I finally got a teleport in and they barely made it to the edge of the enemies camp. 2. I have played for maybe uhh 12 hours in about 5 different games and I have yet to run in to the technology that lets me do much of anything is space except transports or even build advanced factories. 3. I had about 4 technologies then my planet exploded out of nowhere in the game where I had to try to infiltrate the planet with heavy space arms and long range guns, I literally could not defend myself, any situation where you literally can present no defense is not a winner. Overall message: Players should be equipped with a potential counter measure to any attack, not being dependent on them discovering said countermeasure, anything less and it is by definition unbalanced, we're here presumably to play strategy, not poker. Really like the game guys, certainly running in to bugs But I will be excited when it finally goes full release.
I'm assuming you're rather new to PA, eh? 1. Planet invasions are nearly impossible in Planetary annihilation at the moment. There's not enough orbital units or buildings to do it. A few suggestions- try using a combination of Shellers and Vanguards with Spinners... or just conquer a nearby moon and nuke the AI. Oh, try discovering the AI's commander with radars then insta-zapping him with SXX-death rays! 2. Sometimes Galactic War screws you over like that. I think they'll eventually improve it, but hey I think it's cool having to be resourceful and dealing with what you have. If all else fails, just restart the war. 3. It just...exploded? Did another planet collide with yours? Did the AI planet smash you? I'm a little confused here. They'll develop Galactic War as time goes on. In the meantime, I'd say just play skirmishes against the AI if you're not much for online play, like me.
If you take too long, the AI will planet smash you given the opportunity. What difficulty were you playing on? If there isn't already, there should be an easy difficulty level where the AI simply will not planet smash you.
After about 20 hours in-game time I have yet to even run in to the ability to use death rays, shellers, spinners, or nukes. I keep running in to supporting technology like metal reduction or things only accessible after I get advanced builders, but alas I never get advanced builders, not even once. I seem to be relegated to discovering additional slots or basic bots. I have only actually ran in to flying technology in one game.
Are you aware you can also play a 'skirmish' type game against the AI with all the technology? This isn't in the most obvious place- to play a skirmish game, go into the Multiplayer menu, then click "create game". When the game loby window opens, make sure it's set to 'Private' and then you can configure the game as you see fit. Load your own systems made in system creators, set up teams and critically add in AI opponents. This is the best way to practice as it gives you access to all the technology of the game.
How do you do that? I started 6 wars now, 4 on "epic" scale, one on "medium" and one on "uber" scale. The result is: First start: No tech, just two enemies. Second start (uber): Basic Bot, Advanced Vehicle, Basic Air, Advanced Air Third start: Basic Air, Advanced Air Fourth start: Advanced Vehicle, Vehicle Ammunition, Efficiency, Basic Air Fifth start (medium size): Efficiency and two useless techs Sixth start: No tech, just one enemy. These are just the important ones I got. I just fly around until I have to fight and I get rid of useless tech when I get something better. As you see the epic size is really no problem and you get really good start setups. Of course I lack orbital tech in all these. There is just one solution to that: Complete wars on easy and get the orbital commander. Start with him until you find some complete tech tree. This took me 10 minutes, how can you not have found one single advanced tech in 20 hours? Do you just play the really small galaxies? That explains it. Just give it more tries with the large galaxies and don't be afraid to restart your war!
I've only played on epic, I guess just hilariously bad luck from what I am gleaning? I have never ran in to those, but I do run in to the enemies with all that lol.
On galactic war, just early rush the enemy AI with whatever tech you have. I don't know about you guys, but the AI seems to always spam air units. When you expand on the same planet as the AI, always defend your metal extractors with a few AA turrets & laser turrets. The AI is also horrible at dealing with your defense structures. Make walls and laser turrets backed with AA, and crawl towards their base. Artillery really helps here, too. Don't be afraid to constantly restart GW until you get a good start, too.
