In the off chance that anyone keeps and eye on this forum, and has completed Blue Libra II campaign at advanced or expert difficulty, I'd like to beg for some help.
I was able to finish the BL2 campaign at beginner level, with some difficulty. I'm playing through at Advanced level and I'm getting spanked. I've gotten as far as map 23, but I can't beat it.
I can handle most of the maps with no problem, but some of them, like map 23 and the final map, are brutal. The problem is always the same. I'm overwhelmed by the Garians. They outproduce me and/or have waves of reinforcements coming in. To be honest most of the reinforcement maps, especially the last map of the campaign, are way over the top. The AI loves to build and send huge waves of Garian destroyers. I don't know how to counter these. They kill my bombers dead, my destroyers don't seem very effective against them, and I can't upgrade fast enough to heavy cruisers or other fleet types before I'm overwhelmed.
I'm going a little nuts here trying to figure out how to beat the Garian produciton/reinforcemnt/numbers advantage.
If anyone happens to see this post, and has actually finished the campaign at above beginner difficutly, please take the time to share how you did it. I would really appreciate it.
Thanks
Edit: For some reason this forum dosen't seemt to allow me to post a reply to my OP. It adds any reply to my actual OP. So, the text below is a reply to my OP after I finished the campaign at advanced level several days later.
Reply Post Begins...
Behold my Wall of Text! Look upon it and despair!
OK, realizing I'm talking in an empty room, I'll post a reply to my OP - for anybody who may have
the same problem.
I beat BL2 at the advanced level. It wasn't easy (given that I suck at RTS games). Anyway, I'll
post a few things that helped me get through it, in case anyone else has the same problem I did.
This worked for me; your results may vary.
The problem with BL2, as I mentioned in my OP, the the Garian number advantage. The designers love
to throw a lot of ships at you (they did this in BL1, but it wasn't this bad). Several of the maps
have a countdown timer where Garian reinforcements come in in waves, and/or the Garian's have a a
production advantage in the form of more bases than you. The game goes from easy, to challenging,
to frustrating by the time you get to the second galaxy. There are about five maps like this, where
you really need to be on your toes.
Research
I unlocked the first five Economy, Warfare, and Tactical research bonuses in that order. Once
unlocked I unlocked the last, three bonuses, the ones dealing with fighters. The fighter bonuses I
saved for last. Why? Because they suck. See below.
During ingame research, I researched the first five Warfare bonuses, the first five Tactics bonuses,
and the first five Economy bonuses - in that order. Again, I saved the last three bonuses, the ones
dealing with fighters, last. However, depending on the situation, I'd research the first two
Economy bonuses (the one that gives command points the the one that increases speed to capturing
planets) if I'm in a situation where I need to raise my command point cap early. Usually I don't,
as I was slow to reach the command point cap at the beginning of a map.
I found by the middle and engame, I really needed those fleet attack and defense bonuses. The
tactical range and speed bonses help at the engame when you're dealing with large maps. In BL1
Economy was the best, here, not so much.
Units
I started by producing fighters until I had captured one or two bases. Then I produced destroyers.
I upgraded my bases whenever I could, usually upgrading one-third of them at a time, unless I was
getting overwhelmed early and needed all bases producing. I started with Libra and expanded from
there. The goal was to get my bases to level three ASAP.
Fleet development = destroyers -> heavy cruisers -> missile cruisers. I'd add repair ships,
valiants, and imperators for support. That's it. I never built anything else.Fighters to capture
the first few bases. Destroyers to get to heavy cruisers, and heavy cruisers to get to missile
cruisers. Add support ships to taste.
The goal was to get to missile cruisers ASAP. They kill everything. Missile cruisers are your
friend; become one with the missile cruiser.
The big ships were too slow; too slow to build and too slow to move. By the endgame I spent a lot
of time chasing fleets that were trying to capture my bases. This was nearly impossible with the
big ships. By the time I got to one of my bases that was being captured, the Garians had already
captured it and moved on. I couldn't keep up.
The small ships, including fighters, were useless. The only thing fighters were good at is
capturing planets. The AI loved to build destroyers. The mistake I made in my first playthrough
was listening to the narrative in the game that tells you bombers and eliminators were useful at
killing large ships. They're not. They suck and die in waves against the Garian destoyers. Ironic
considering I found fighters to be the best ship in BL1.
Tactics
My tactics suck, but a few things seemed to work.
I captured small planets first, medium planets second, and large planets third. I captured
stations, defense stations, and asteroids as an afterthought and mostly to keep them out of the
hands of the Garians. Early production for the win!
Like I said, I tried to upgrade one-third of my bases at a time, starting with Libra. The goal was
to get to level 3 ASAP. If I was being spanked I stop upgrades and focus on production, if needed.
I tried to park Libra near a space station or defense station, in an attempt to keep it alive. I
set my rally points on Libra, so there was always a defense fleet. I'd send ships from that point
to my other fleets as needed.
I split my units into two fleets: one offense and one defense. Offense captured bases. Defense
defended my bases. This worked until they sent mobs of huge fleets to a single base or Libra, in
which case combine fleets and fight defensively until you wear them down and can go back on the
offensive.
As a rule, I only played defensively when I had to. I tried to go on the offensive ASAP, attacking
and capturing one of the Garian bases as my first base. The goal being to retard their production
advantage. I found that if I focused only on expansion, capturing all the free bases before going
on the offensive, I'd get overrun by superior Garian numbers. After I took a few bases, I tried to
hit their fleets and capture their bases ASAP, I focused on taking Garian bases rather than free
ones. There are some maps where the Garians have a special ship, such as a carrier or mothership.
I tried to kill those as soon as I had enough ships. If I had to choose between capturing a base
and killing a large Garian fleet, I'd kill the fleet. Small fleets become medium fleets, medium
fleets become large fleets, and large fleets become huge fleets that kill your ships, take your
bases, and make you cry.
OK, there are several maps where Garian reinforcements just keep coming. Those fleets spawn near
one or more specific locations on each map. What I tried to do was locate those locations, and
capture those bases ASAP, parking a defense fleet on one or more of them to kill the Garian
reinforcements when they spawn. This is easer on some maps than on others. The waves are around
twenty to thirty point fleets apiece. I could take them easily when they came in. The problem is
they will combine into large fleets if left unchecked, and overwhelm me. While I was doing this,
the main Garian force was capturing planets. The goal was to defend and maintain my bases while
killing as many of the Garian reinforcements as possible as they spawned. If I could, I'd try to
captured a main Garian base or kill a main Garian fleet if the opportunity presented itself.
Mostly, I played defensively until the reinforcement waves stopped. Then I went on the offensive.
I could actually beat the Garians if they had more bases than I did, if I had a working fleet with
at least heavy cruisers.
The final map is the worst. You're supposed to have an AI parter that helps you. He's useless.
All he did was briefly slow down the hordes of Garian's coming from all directions. There are two
reinforcement countdowns every minute or so.
There are two space stations to the north and south of the map. Those are the reenforcement
spawning points. I could only hold one. Too much distance and too little ships at the beginning.
I found that if I went south, and captured every base between my starting point and the Southern
space station, I had a chance. For some reason, if I went North I got killed very quickly. If I
stayed at my starting location and tried to capture all the free bases, I got overwhelmed and killed
very quickly.
I took the bases leading to the space station, then the space station itself. I produced destroyers
like crazy and tried to get my repair ships and heavy cruisers out there as quickly as I could. I
set LIbra just north of the space station after I captured it, upgraded everything, and set my rally
point on LIbra. Keep some ships on Libra at all times! Tried to take as many bases in the south
section of the map as I could. The waves started coming in. I went pure defense, and used
everything I had to hold what I had until the counters stopped.
If you can hold out until the reinforcements stop, still have a few bases, and a fleet with a few
missile cruisers and repair ships, you can take the rest of the map. If you've survived to this
point, you've probably killed most of their fleet, and they'll have to rebuild. It's just a matter
of taking the Garians out one base at a time. Again, Missile Cruisers and repair ships are your
friend. Love them, because they love you.
That's it. Not great, I know, but it's all I've got. Hope it helps somebody.
If you stumbled on my post, but haven't bought this game, I highly recommend BL1 and BL2. They're
great games, and you can't beat the price.
Edited by: Azvael
