Spore

...there is an auto target. im assuming your using the laser on ufos, which it isnt exactly meant for.

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Kori Kori!

Slowly progressing through Space on Hard, taking one step forward and two steps back.

I *just* today got to the point in space combat where I'm no longer banging my head against the wall, dying 10 times to every alien attack. Now I fly in a circle with the WASD controls, keeping short range fighters at arm's length while using the mouse to concentrate my fire on the big ships that target my colonies.

So that's gotten me better results, though I'm pissed that flying in a circle is what it took, because it's convoluted and boring.

I can usually defend myself successfully now. My problems now are firepower related, I think. My main weapon is still the newbie missile, and one of my enemies right now uses 700 hp bombers which can do plenty of damage to my T1 colonies before I'm able to nickel and dime them to death with my 30 damage basic missile. That's one problem.

My other problem is that I have no counter to fleeing ships if they're large enough, and that might also be purely firepower related. When a ship turns to flee, I might get a final parting missile shot before they're off and running. If that doesn't finish them, it's usually impossible for me to catch up and end them before they get to their regeneration spot. That problem is keeping me from conquering enemy colonies.

What weapons should I be pursuing, and what tactics can I be using to improve my situation?

Just wanted to say I put together enough scratch for some upgrades, and that's all i needed! As soon as I bought the first missile upgrade, my game did a complete 180! Alien invasion battles were quicker, which meant I had more time to press the attack against my weaker enemy. I even managed to conquer his homeworld! That planet's bringing in a ton of yellow spice for me with its four or five well developed cities.

Attacking a homeworld was a lot of fun once I mastered the basics of space combat. It took awhile, though. It might help struggling players to read, so here's what I did:

My empire was about 4-5 systems. 1-2 of those were conquests. I've kept my empire small up to this point, and concentrated on military upgrades and terraforming my colonies up to T2 so they can take more buildings. Bigger cities take longer to destroy, so essentially this too is a military move in that it gives me more time to repel alien invasions.

I upgraded my spaceship with better missiles first, followed by lvl 3 health and energy, a Laser and Mini-Bombs. I should mention I'm playing on Hard, and my creature is Red, Red, Red, Red. So he has extra health, uses less energy, and can summon a Pirate attack.

Capturing the homeworld took several trips. I got low on health and energy many times, and in addition to Repair and Recharge, there was usually some disaster or attack to deal with before getting back to task. I didn't bother bringing allies because they don't usually survive past a couple fights, and usually end up eating one of my missiles at some point. I'm too much of a miser with my Sporebucks to carry health or energy packs.

The first thing you do once you hit atmosphere is take care of the attack group that followed you from orbit. Once they're down, eliminate as many roving spaceships as you can that you think will get in your way (usually all of them). Try to fight over the ocean or other unpopulated area to reduce the amount of flak received from cities.

Once the skies are clear, move to the cities. I'd recommend beginning with the isolated cities as they'll open up the most enemy-free real estate for you. Since I'm a Warrior philosophy, at this point (AFTER dealing with enemy spaceships) I'd summon pirates. If you let them go in first, they keep the city turrets occupied while you concentrate on maximizing your rate of fire. Deal with enemy spaceships quickly as they respawn.

Here's the way I understand city capture: The less buildings there are in a city, the more damage City Hall takes from each attack. Perhaps happiness plays a part in this too. Anyway, when I captured this homeworld, I destroyed Entertainment buildings and a few extras, but didn't destroy everything and kept a lot of infrastructure when I eventually got control.

After each city fell, I would take stock of my situation: Do I need health, energy, do I need to go address an emergency on another planet?

Ships will respawn when you come back, but it'll get easier as you make progress.
I don't know how long a surrendering city will keep its white flag raised. I'm sure it's gotta be on a timer but hey, it was long enough for me to do it in several trips.

Also, you have to conquer whole systems at a time I just found out. So if there is more than one colony in a system, all planets have to be defeated for the system to flip to you.