It was all going so well...
I just recently began a game with my personal favorite settings:
-9 AI, 8 minor
-Medium Galaxy
-Stars Common, Habitable Planets Occasional, Exteme Planets Occasional, Asteroids abundant, Anomolies abundant, Mega Events on, Random Events Random, Victory Conditions: Culture, Alliance, Conquest.
-Difficulty Masochistic or maybe the next one up...can't remember what I went with.
-Human Race (not actually my favorite) with econ and moral focus
The game in general is going great. Heavy lead in research...influence over nearly half the galaxy...MCC in place and doing its job...I hold around 12 planets with the Drengin holding 8 and the Altarians at around 6. This is where the problems came. I had this great idea to hit the Altarians by bribing the Drengin into combat then mopping up. A horrible chain reaction took place.
The moment the Drengin declared war on the Altarians, 3 AI races and 3 minor civs declared war on the Drengin (I have never seen minor civs do this before may I add). Their military was already in the lead, but I had built the proper ships to counter. These new wars created an armada of Drengin ships with new weapons (bad mistake on my part). The Drengin quickly took their newfound military prowess and declared war on me, leading all their ships to my sectors! I panicked and found the 2 civs between myself and the Drengin and quickly bribed them into war...All that did was add to the armada still coming my way.
I have managed to hold off the Drengin for a few months with only 1 planet being traded back and forth. The military around teh galaxy is still quite minimal: The Drengin are producing their average small ships with 2 laser and 3 shield. My counter has involved small ships with 3 shield and 6 missile, backed by a medium ship with 12 shield and 3 missile. The free ships the Drengin have recieved are another matter...4 ships grouped to form 12 mass driver attack. I have held off long enough as well as researched far enough in order to produce a few medium ships with 2 laser and 12 anti-mass driver....But to my amazement these ships are dying at a 1-1 ratio vs the Drengin fleets.
So I sit...surviving. Quite well actually, but not progressing. The longer I am stuck in this war the further I slip. Finally the time has come to open negotiations with the Drengin- Peace = ALL my techs + 3 warships + 1 planet. This is 20+ techs we are talking here...Warp drive I, II, III, IV...Harpoon I, II...etc...
So, a little help. The game is most definately salvageable. The entire galaxy is at war with the Drengin. I am able to hold him back losing 1 planet back and forth or declare peace at a severe loss. Where to go? Any little tricks?
This is a bit off but came up in my description...What rating of shields would I actually need to prevent all damage? I have a 12 vs 4...when fleeted 12 vs 12...yet still I lose more that 50% HP?! (My apologies...I am sure this is discussed somewhere around here...)
Edit- Pretty important. At this time my military is outnumbered around 4 to 1...My ships/fleets defending planets while his are nicely grouped and on the move.
-Scanian