Im playing on Normal Difficulty as Empire.
The Economy is pretty easy to manage and you can hold of entire enemy Fleets with a single Tier 3 Space Station(Bombers) if you have set up your Chokepoints wisely giving you enough time to take new Planets with your own Fleet and strengthening your Defences. Ive found that the AI keeps trying to Attack the same Planet again and again if they Fail to take it so its pretty easy to anticapate their Attack and send some extra ships for the Defence.

Imo the Mod doesent make the game more Difficult just waayyyyy slower. It takes time to get your Eco up and running but thats it.

Saving does take a couple of minutes but its important to save often due Stability Reasons.

Originally posted by Khaidon:

Im playing on Normal Difficulty as Empire.
The Economy is pretty easy to manage and you can hold of entire enemy Fleets with a single Tier 3 Space Station(Bombers) if you have set up your Chokepoints wisely giving you enough time to take new Planets with your own Fleet and strengthening your Defences. Ive found that the AI keeps trying to Attack the same Planet again and again if they Fail to take it so its pretty easy to anticapate their Attack and send some extra ships for the Defence.

Imo the Mod doesent make the game more Difficult just waayyyyy slower. It takes time to get your Eco up and running but thats it.

Saving does take a couple of minutes but its important to save often due Stability Reasons.

Basically this.
If you're newer to the mod and want more space, the starter campaign is really good and sort of mirrors the old 1 Planet Start gamemodes, and since the minor factions don't expand in that mode its easy to establish a foothold and build your economy up before you have to worry about getting attacked. I didn't have to worry about attacks until after around 150 months and a tech upgrade in my current playthrough.
Skirmish is also much more relaxed than GC since things like attrition and upkeep costs aren't applicable to that mode, and the pace is much faster.

Originally posted by Admiral Piett:

Originally posted by Khaidon:

Im playing on Normal Difficulty as Empire.
The Economy is pretty easy to manage and you can hold of entire enemy Fleets with a single Tier 3 Space Station(Bombers) if you have set up your Chokepoints wisely giving you enough time to take new Planets with your own Fleet and strengthening your Defences. Ive found that the AI keeps trying to Attack the same Planet again and again if they Fail to take it so its pretty easy to anticapate their Attack and send some extra ships for the Defence.

Imo the Mod doesent make the game more Difficult just waayyyyy slower. It takes time to get your Eco up and running but thats it.

Saving does take a couple of minutes but its important to save often due Stability Reasons.

Basically this.
If you're newer to the mod and want more space, the starter campaign is really good and sort of mirrors the old 1 Planet Start gamemodes, and since the minor factions don't expand in that mode its easy to establish a foothold and build your economy up before you have to worry about getting attacked. I didn't have to worry about attacks until after around 150 months and a tech upgrade in my current playthrough.
Skirmish is also much more relaxed than GC since things like attrition and upkeep costs aren't applicable to that mode, and the pace is much faster.

How much more complicated is this mod compared to Awakening of the Rebellion? Cause I know that mod had upkeep costs for stations and things, but I didn't have to pay to repair ships or fighters and that sounds intimidating af lol

Originally posted by The Warden:

Originally posted by Admiral Piett:

Basically this.
If you're newer to the mod and want more space, the starter campaign is really good and sort of mirrors the old 1 Planet Start gamemodes, and since the minor factions don't expand in that mode its easy to establish a foothold and build your economy up before you have to worry about getting attacked. I didn't have to worry about attacks until after around 150 months and a tech upgrade in my current playthrough.
Skirmish is also much more relaxed than GC since things like attrition and upkeep costs aren't applicable to that mode, and the pace is much faster.

How much more complicated is this mod compared to Awakening of the Rebellion? Cause I know that mod had upkeep costs for stations and things, but I didn't have to pay to repair ships or fighters and that sounds intimidating af lol

I personally think it's simpler than AotR, at least concerning Galactic Conquest. Attrition costs are paid automatically mid-fight and you don't really need to pay to repair any capital ships that haven't been fully destroyed, so really you only have to worry about that if you're low on credits or you tend to lose fighters a lot. Buildings are easier to understand as well in my opinion, and the game does a good job of explaining what each building and unit does so long as you take some time to read through everything.
When you build your first Research Station (if one does not already exist) the game gives you more information about fighter attributes and the attrition costs for your faction, located in the space build menu where the station is.
Don't be too intimidated by it, honestly. If you found yourself comfortable to AotR's mechanics you'll do alright here. Let me know if you have more questions though.

It's definitely not for everyone. Like myself. I've been playing as the criminal underworld, and while I've had some success, there's just too many changes from the original for me to have fun. Playing on the easiest difficulty still makes it feel like dark souls, which is not what I signed up for. I'm out of money constantly (what gives with it costing money to shoot (not buy, but shoot) artillery during battles??? I usually spend about 10k each land battle (which aren't even very fun), which is completely unsustainable when you get 14k a month), have terrible units compared to all the surrounding factions, and everything is just too different. I really want to like this mod, but it's much too difficult and frustrating for someone who doesn't have a lot of time to learn the ins and outs. It seems like it'd be fun if you want to spend the time learning it, but I'd pass on it if you don't like games like dark souls. I play games to have fun, not get challenged.

I've been cruisin' as Rebels on the easiest difficulty, I suggest giving that a shot since its a lot more chill, but the game isn't necessarily "easy" even in that mode.

Originally posted by Kaiser of Antarctos:

I've been cruisin' as Rebels on the easiest difficulty, I suggest giving that a shot since its a lot more chill, but the game isn't necessarily "easy" even in that mode.

Same here as the Empire. On the starter campaign it's mostly smooth sailing for the first ~100 months since you mostly encounter independent forces during that time, though once the main factions hit things become much more challenging.

Can anyone help me figure out how to build the damn Eclipse? How am I supposed to build a level 5 space station when the max is level 3 in this mod and you’re supposed to build it in Kuat but even with Palps there I can’t build it…

Originally posted by Erectobussy:

Can anyone help me figure out how to build the damn Eclipse? How am I supposed to build a level 5 space station when the max is level 3 in this mod and you’re supposed to build it in Kuat but even with Palps there I can’t build it…

If you're able to build other Dreadnaughts but not the Eclipse, it may be disabled due to bugs. I think the Death Star was still disabled last I checked, so something similar might have happened to the Eclipse.
If you are unable to build any Dreadnaught tier ships including the Eclipse, you may need to check your tech level. They don't become unlockable until Tech 5.

Originally posted by HaloD:

Originally posted by Khaidon:

Im playing on Normal Difficulty as Empire.
The Economy is pretty easy to manage and you can hold of entire enemy Fleets with a single Tier 3 Space Station(Bombers) if you have set up your Chokepoints wisely giving you enough time to take new Planets with your own Fleet and strengthening your Defences. Ive found that the AI keeps trying to Attack the same Planet again and again if they Fail to take it so its pretty easy to anticapate their Attack and send some extra ships for the Defence.

Imo the Mod doesent make the game more Difficult just waayyyyy slower. It takes time to get your Eco up and running but thats it.

Saving does take a couple of minutes but its important to save often due Stability Reasons.

Basically this.
If you're newer to the mod and want more space, the starter campaign is really good and sort of mirrors the old 1 Planet Start gamemodes, and since the minor factions don't expand in that mode its easy to establish a foothold and build your economy up before you have to worry about getting attacked. I didn't have to worry about attacks until after around 150 months and a tech upgrade in my current playthrough.
Skirmish is also much more relaxed than GC since things like attrition and upkeep costs aren't applicable to that mode, and the pace is much faster.

LMAO! What?? Week 150? I'm week 36, always broke despite investing heavily in economics infrastructure, and have already been attacked by 4 factions and lost my only Sector Endor to Rebels who apparently have every planet fortressed up.

IMO the game's balance is off on how much things cost and how long it takes to build. I like challenges, but this game is unbalanced.

There are balance issues for sure, but honestly, my Zaan Consorcium easy playthrough was pretty chill, sometimes tough to hold on to systems, but if you expand strategically to not leave yourself exposed you can definitely manage. I got to the point where I got the hold of half of the galaxy by spamming frigates with no upkeep and got to the point in economy when I can just produce them at inifnitum and heep everyone at bay.

And then both my newest savefile and auto save got corrupted, so either I replay last two (correction - 4) hours of game, including some of the most difficult battles I've ever had, or that's it. It was fun while it lasted, I guess. ://///