Compaign: Siege

You may just want to go to the alternative mission.  You can lose missions in the campaign and take an alternative route.

I just won Siege totally by accident when the Drengin surrendered to the Yor, giving up control of that key planet. I was holding my own against the Dread Lords, though. I was using fleets of ships loaded with a high-level Mass Driver weapon that the Arceans stole the plans for when they took back one of their own planets from the Dread Lords. I was on my way to developing lasers just as powerful, though. I got the ships up to a really high level, too, so a fleet of four of them had something like 200 HP and 125 attack total. Just two of those fleets took half my income just to maintain, so I wasn't actually building much at that point, but darn it I was bouncing back!

This was only on "Normal" difficulty level, though.

if its the mission were u start of with constructors and stuff and need to invade a planet on the opposite side.

well I read how some1 did the following:
-mainly went labs on the starting planet(he invested alot of his starting money into them), then used 100% spending into research to get planetary invasion asap.
-at the same time used the constructors to make a line of starbases to get close to the planet you need to invade.
-get some ships and 2xtroop ship.
-invade the planet before the dread lords even attack.

I did something similar to it and it worked, although I knew the map quite well from previous attempts.

I didn't find this mission that difficult. I played it through once and started getting pummeled by the dreadlords. The key is to militarize FAST. Don't worry about the speed of your ships. I played this on normal difficulty, and they weren't that diffiult to take down.

Focus on weaponry...you can easily build a small fighter with 5 beam attack if you forget about engine upgrades. You'll never outrun the dreadlords anyway, so stick with what you've got...build speed. I just grabbed the one sector closest to me and didn't bother about the one that's closest to the dread lord world, figuring they'd conquer it rapidly anyway. They did, but it was the altarians loss, not mine. Many turns later I recaptured it with a single troop transport, and it hadn't built a single thing! It was working on an industrial sector which said it would take 250 turns to finish.

Those first few ships they send at you don't have a lot of punch. 4 on 1 will take most of them down with 5 beam attack per ship. You might lose 2 ships in the engagement, but you can replace them far faster.

I played the game this way and they didn't attack me again for a long time. I built a couple sensor ships so I could see their transports coming. Other than that just sneak through your allies territory with a few transports and a fleet of 4-6 ships and you'll have no trouble conquering that one world.

I think I'm going to re-load that map and see if I can conquer the main dreadlord world...I bet it has all kinds of goodies on it.

If it's anything like the next mission, the DL homeworld only has a bunch of industrial sectors (high-tech factories) on it.

The trick, at least on harder levels, is to look at your starting wad of cash. It's HUGE. Pump out an invasion fleet, go straight for the target planet. Grab one on the way if you gotta. Game over, you win.

You aren't really meant to fight the Dreadlords. Just run like hell!

The trick, at least on harder levels, is to look at your starting wad of cash. It's HUGE. Pump out an invasion fleet, go straight for the target planet. Grab one on the way if you gotta. Game over, you win.

How can you do that? You don't start with that tech...

This walkthrough is for v1.0X. It may not be viable in v1.1 and/or on high difficulties.
First turn:
Design a new constructor with 1 constructor modules, 1 impulse drive, 2 general life supports. Design a new colony ship with 1 colony module, 2 impulse drives, 2 general life supports. Design a cargo hull fighter with atleast 2 general life supports, atleast 2 impulse drives, and atleast 1 laser.
Move your colony ship into orbit and relaunch with 500 population. Move all your ships left full movement. Upgrade all your constructors to the new design, and upgrade your colony ship to the new design. Buy a lab on your capitol and starports on the two planets that don't have it. Buy three of your new colony ship design.
Set spending to 100% and Research to 100%. Begin researching planetary invasion.

Turn 2:
Launch your 3 new colony ships with full population. Buy 3 of the fighter design. Buy a lab on each planet. Move all ships left full movement.

Turn 3:
Launch you 3 fighters. Buy 3 more colony ships (to be safe). Buy 3 more labs. Move all ships left full movement.

Turn 4+: Keep moving your ships left. Try to colonize the planet in the middle of the map if possible. If you reach a limit on your range, use a constructor to build a starbase. When your fighters arrive at the drengin planet, take out any ships they have. When you research Planetary invasion, design a new troop ship that has atleast 2 general life supports, 1 troop module, and engines. When your colony ships reach the drengin planet, upgrade them to the new troop ship design (you may have to wait for the tech to finish).
Invade and win!

This took me less than 20 turns (i didn't count) on the default difficulty. Most all of that was moving across the map.

Hi syneris,

your walktrhough works great woth 1.1Beta2. Many thanks.

I didn't realize that you have so many cash before. The trick is to buy everything and rush for the Drengins. No need to fight the DL

The second thing which was very valuable in your walkthrough is the trick to upgrade colony ships to transports. You don't have to wait for the technology and still have the soldiers on the move. Thus you arrive at the Drengin world before anything really starts

Thanks again

I just started the Seige mission and have been trounced twice by the DL. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one!

I was wondering, has anyone tried exploring/colonizing around the star in the far corner of the map? I'd assumed that's where the DL's were coming from - but I'm begining to think it may be a good place to hide/rebuild forces.

I think I'm going to re-load that map and see if I can conquer the main dreadlord world

What a great idea for a mission! by goodies i take it you mean tech, init.

does anyone know if the campaign plays better with 1.1?

To Race - If thats the star in the top right then yes, its where the dreadlords build from.