Dread Lords - wtf?

Minor update:
The homeworld is impossible to invade due to it being protected, and my fleet being destroyed. So I've wasted many hours for absolutely nothing except a burning sense of rage. I'm thoroughly disgusted. There is no way to uninstall "the Dread Lords" in the gold edition, so I imagine this otherwise excellent game will find itself in the crapper along with all the other garbage games I've got. I'll give it one more shot, but I imagine I'll have similar results.

What you are describing is a random event that they show up. Not every game you play will contain them, so don't fret.

As for their insane power...that's what makes them the Dread Lords lol.

If you look around these forums, you'll find some threads devoted to talk about the Dread Lords and the best way to defeat them.

BTW I think this event even was in the base game, not an addition by Dark Avatar.

Either you're playing the campaign, in which you actually -fight- the Dread Lords, or you're playing Dark Avatar and have Mega Events turned on...and have been "lucky" enough to have your Dread Lords not just roll over and die.

I don't remember the Dread Lords ever appearing in an ongoing game in DL, but I could be wrong...it's been a -long- time since I played DL.

If the first case is true, back down the difficulty.

If the second case is true, try playing without Mega Events -first-. They're intended to be unbalancing, and the Dread Lords, when they do what they're supposed to, are one of the biggest.

There's no need to toss the game just because of them.

Thanks for your input. It is indeed the barebones and not the expansion I'm playing. I was forced to scrap that game. It was not the campaign, just a random map so I could get the feel of the game before attempting the campaign. The difficulty was simply beginner. I think that the AI should check what stage of development the civilizations are in before springing something like that on you though. It was completely game ending.

There is no Dread Lord event in the base game. You will only see them if you play the campaign.
The most DL has is pirates, which were very powerful up to around version 1.1 and then got nerfed.

I had to abandon a game a few days ago due to the DL showing up too early. It was rather frustrating, I agree.

In general, I'm fond of most of the mega-events, but I don't like the way they are "intentionally unbalancing". By all means remove me from my comfort zone, but at least make sure it's still possible to win the game. DL showing up and building orbital defenders before any of the AIs or myself have even learned planetary invasion makes the game rather pointless.

Some of the other mega-events are even more irritating. I think I'll just keep them off from now on. Shame, really.

I don't get it. Every time I've seen them, I just take them out. It's like a joke the way the game says, "Woe the Dread Lords..." and then I easily kill them. What am I missing here?

Get the DL prior to having any Invasion Tactics, then lets talk.

I am replaying the same scenario. This time I had Pirates with Frigates when no one had large ship capability. They also had awesome beam wpn & def capability. that event managed to happen after a civ surrendered to me rather than their enemy & me colonizing the other previously uncolonizable planets, giving me 7 with which to research my way into kicking some ass since they have no troop ships. I continued making crap mass driver type cruisers in orders to weed them down. Long story short, when I finally created the best driver type large ship with sweet beam ahields, the pirates were done for. I had enough cash to buy the production in 4 planets in the Sol system % the logistical amount to make them a fleet.

Sorry if I seem whiny, but first impressions actually meant something.

You should try a sandbox game on low difficulty. That is the way to learn the game. The scenarios are never easy for beginners. Low difficulty level does not lower DL fire power and if they come after you early they are just about as bad on cakewalk as they are on suicidal

You might get 3-4 pirate ships in a sandbox game but they are never that hard to handle imo and they don't invade, they just pick off your starbases and your orbiting ships. If you beef up your starbases with offense and defense the pirates will kill themselves off trying to take them out.

The one time I got a DL event in TA, I rush built a transport and took out their undefended planet before they built their first ship.

I am replaying the same scenario. This time I had Pirates with Frigates when no one had large ship capability. They also had awesome beam wpn & def capability. that event managed to happen after a civ surrendered to me rather than their enemy & me colonizing the other previously uncolonizable planets, giving me 7 with which to research my way into kicking some ass since they have no troop ships. I continued making crap mass driver type cruisers in orders to weed them down. Long story short, when I finally created the best driver type large ship with sweet beam ahields, the pirates were done for. I had enough cash to buy the production in 4 planets in the Sol system % the logistical amount to make them a fleet.

I used that fleet to defeat any group of pirates near anything I was concerned with & left the rest to terrorize my neighbors.Then the "Jagged Knife" automatically took 5 of my worlds, they took a similar amount from everyone else also. Being the only Civ with construction ability (thanx to pirates), I invaded every one of their worlds and tripled my original size, *THEN* the DL invade.

This time they take second place to me even in the quarterly reports. I still have a feeling it will take 10 of my best ships (atm) to take on 1 dreadnought. I have 1 modified transport close to thier world for when they get nasty, but I'm currently making mass amounts of modified "constructors"

The odd thing is that even the "jagged knife" was in the diplomacy tab under "small races" or some heading like that. The DL have no such way to be contacted.

In this case, I took major advantage of a crap situation for *all*. I just recently destroyed the last pirate (only because they were in my way) I now have starbases on every galactic "hot spot" my latest large size vehicle, when in a fleet of 5, is a match for 1 dreadnought (i think). I've got bigger fish to fry than "massive building". Besides, on my most productive worlds, it takes 20+ weeks to make 1 custom large starship.

The thing about "mega-events", I think, is that the AI can't handle them well. Despite the initial "wtf?" you can adapt and overcome provided you have more than 2 worlds. Of course, DL parked on your doorstep annihilating everything is a game ender eventually, because they *do* invade.

And that is really the crux of this thread. It's not even a game ender if they don't camp on your doorstep. But in the initial case, they did. And I wasn't even the major threat in the galaxy. In the new game, they're not even bothering to invade the weakest guy. They DO demolish his ships though. Perhaps they camped on my step *because* I was the weakest (though I don't recall. I do know I was very weak with only earth & mars) but they also tried invasion with only 10 troops at multipliers in the hundreds.

Is there any way to diplomatically talk to them if they don't contact you? Hell, I sent a freighter to them this time for curiosity. It just trades with them. Do I need to make a new survey vehicle? The "Jagged Knife" showed up in "small races" (or whatever) when they were around. (you can't spy on "small races" btw. I think trade is out as well)

Anyway, I'm thankful for the replies. @ CraigHB: you've run the easy end of the random stick. I managed to get really crap events both times I've played. In my case, so far in case #2 I was able to turn it to my advantage.

There is no way to contact the Dread Lords, only wait until they contact you. Although, it is pretty funny when someone else is killing them and they come begging you for help   

You can't spy on the minors; correct, but you can sure as hell trade with them. And it's often a better idea, as far as income is concerned, as minor (other than the Snathi...rotten little squirrels!) will rarely if ever go to war with you.

Diplomatically, though, it's still a decent idea to have one trade route with each civ you're not going to immediately go to war with.