Locust are underpowered

[Sebastian]

I detected a locust hiveworld and 2 years
later exploded it like a rotten melon using a single Liir dreadnaught armed with HCL... The drone fighters didn't even leave a scratch on my "Huron" class DN. With magnoceramic lattices and a smattering of meson beams I revoked that thing's navigational garmin license and annihilated it from the galaxy with literally no effort.


My theory is either this "grand menace" needs a more sneaky, "Cylon Style" infiltration strategy or the Liir are simply too powerful after about turn 120 and need a zuul style nerf to level the playing field.

[Sebastian]

For reference it took me 60 years to hunt down and annihilate the last nearby zuul colony... 60 years... And that's just one of them

[ZedF]

You have meson beams and “HCL” (let me guess, you really mean cutting beams since you are clearly in the late AM era by your other tech), and probably have PD phasers to boot. All this by T120, which suggests you are playing with an advanced start and your play experience is non-typical.

Most GMs are not meant to present a serious challenge once you have access to late-AM era technology. You should be wrapping up the game by that point so you can start a new one.

[Sebastian]

I have 2 clusters and my morig allies have 1, there are about 7 left! Also it is HCL because I ignored the laser tree because lasers are a waste of money against zuul. I dont usually play liir but clearly I'm too efficient in the research... Putting the lie to those ppl who think the ai cheats.... No phasors but I do have AM torps... Truly a powerful weapon

[Sebastian]

Honestly they're probably more dangerous once they multiply. I'm so keyed up by dealing with my AI habit I'm 24/7 ready to wipe out an AI rebellion at shortest notice. A more complacent empire might get wiped out by locust.... That being said I expected at least some kind of advanced weapon system not just the drones

[ZedF]

You are missing my point about end-game tech levels. AM era tech is meant to end the game; the real meat of the game happens before you can easily get whatever tech you want. I suspect you like playing on very large maps; these will tend to give you a huge economy and a very fast tech pace, which the game is not balanced around. Calibrate your expectations of grand menaces accordingly.

Re locusts:

The sphere itself does have several neutron beams, but the drones are the main threat from the locusts. If you can deal with them and have enough firepower to down the sphere within the combat timer, then that’s most of the battle.

They are more dangerous when you are playing on settings where your economy and/or tech tree is more limited and you can’t get the nifty tech toys needed to deal with them easily.