Sorry, what's the name of the mission. If you tell us that I am sure you will get some tips.... I just can't remember the name of the planet!

One cheesey way that is possible in most missions is to let the Dreadlords take one of your planets then reconquer it to steal high end techs.

Since your playing mode is beginner, It is a good start for you. Be on the quick move to colonise all planets and try to protect the fews closer to the enemy with attacking ship especially the planet in the middle and to it right, not forgeting that the starting 3 planets is also a target. You start with a fair sum of money, use wisely but remember 1 trick to earn fast, that is to sell your researched tech to the allies immediately. They will buy it and you can recover some cost or even make profit and even trade for other tech. If you manage to trade a tech from 1 of the allies sell it to the other too if it does not have. This keep you cash flow healthy. It is not very important to keep the approval rate high, just a bit over the green is acceptable so as to maxmise income too. Well, here the vital tactics, Speed is important in this game and particularly in ship. So at start of the game, colony ship should go all out to grab all planets available. then planets mention above are to be protected by fast moving ship, ie a ship that have few good engines at least with a weapon. Once you have a foothold, You should concentrate to reseach till Wrap dirve 4 if possible, then get research till shock troopers. With this, you are ready to go. In a few turns it will be game over! build 3 ship to go conquer the enemy planets. This ship should use the first hull design. You may be worry about it hit point as 1 but you will soon understand why that is not a problem. Remember that now your research your engine, put at least 4 on it with life support and 2 adv troop module, you should made it able to move fast like at least 15pc/week. If you have traded your tech, you should have some money still so use 3 planet with starbase and buy the ship. Launch it when it available. merge the 3 ships into a fleet. fly it to top right first. Now, it very important that you avoid enemy fighters. 1 way is to keep extreme right the about 3rd sector, fly left 1 sector and move into into the enemy planet on the top right. you should be able to reach it in about 4 turns and then unload your troop and attack with the best option available in the invasion. You should easily win the battle and steal a tech on a missle. Load back the troop onto the ship and now head left. With the new tech, build a fighter with that and a beam weapon on the left most planet and flew to Tiniath. When your troop ship and fighter is near the planet, send in the figther and destroy the only ship that should be guarding the planet, then sent in the troop ship and choosing best option again, you should win the invasion. This should be enough, if not, send in more troop from the nearest planets again, till it done. It should not take more than 2 invasions to end.

Bottomline:
1) Colonise all planets, maximise planets bonus, remember farm should be used to increase population and remember that main source of income is still taxes. Protect planets near to the enemies as mentioned.
2) Research tech as mentioned like engine, invasion mostly. the rest branches just 1/2 item will do you good. Remember to trade tech for tech and money. Be aware that Ally will offer tech trade, but reject it first, then trade the techs with some cash.
3) Build fast moving ships, fast fighters can take out Troop ships, fast ship can avoid enemy ships.
4) Use the tactic of fast moving ship to zap past defenders and invade unprotected planet. Use fast fighter to gain first hit on enemy ship which is vital to defeating enemy fighter.
5) It is not very important to destroy the enemy fighters except the 1 guarding Tiniath. Leave them alone, but avoid their attack on your ship and fighter. Don't worry if you lose 1/2 planets to them.

I hope this can help you.

God: i've managed to beat them using your tactics. great tactics thank you very much.
Cubar: you're right, some of their planets were completely defensless, and yea...i got some great techs!

thanx for the tips guys..

The Dread Lord ships have lots of firepower but they don't join up in fleets. In my first mission against the Dread Lords, playing at level Tough, I lost only 1 ship, a constructor!

The key is to attack one of their ships with a fleet and take it out in the first round before it can fire back. When choosing race bonuses, I selected 50% attack bonus and +2 sensor range. Initially I attacked their light and heavy fighters with my fleet of 3 Star Hawks A1 (heavy fighters with basic miniaturization, life support, warp engine, and 2 plasma I beam weapons), with my attack bonus this fleet had attack 18. Later with more advanced logistics and Plasma III, I pitted fleets of 4 Star Hawks A2 (heavy fighters with basic miniaturization, life support, warp engine, and 3 plasma III beam weapons), with attack 36 against their frigates! The few times the Dread Lord's ship survived my initial assault and returned fire, my Star Hawks had leveled up enough to withstand one hit, and then destroyed the target with the next round of fire. I had one fleet of fighters to defend each of my solar systems, once I had "Eyes of the Universe", I could move my fleets away from my systems and hunt down the Dread Lords!

Good luck!