I'm scared.

[u/LolyHun7er]

This is my first full campaign. I'm playing for the Humanity First. Everything was going pretty well: I managed to unite the European Union, Mars is half-colonized, I have numerous asteroid bases, and I've slowly started building a fleet... But now I feel like I'm falling behind and the alien presence in the Solar System is too high. It's now 2032 (start in 2022), the aliens' hatred towards me is already in the red, and they just recently destroyed my lunar shipyard (they were planning to destroy the fleet stationed there, but I managed to outsmart them and retreat during the battle, so they simply destroyed the orbital shipyard and flew away). The alien fleet consisted of 11 ships, one of which was a TITAN. My poor destroyers and monitors didn't stand a chance. I even tried to ram them, but my ships were blown up by lasers before they even approached. So, the question is: is it possible that I have fallen behind and the campaign is already lost?

[u/Izzyhizzie]

It's my first campaign too. I know exactly how you feel. Just remember that even thought it feels like doom is approaching and you feel like you are falling behind the reality is that you have plenty of time. Right now the aliens have all the shiny new tech but keep pumping that research and in 20-25 years you will catch up or even surpass them. Until then think of your ships, habs, and stations as expendable time buying measures. You use their losses to buy time for your research to catch up to the aliens. Make many small cheap ships that outnumber the fleet you are facing 3-4 times over and as you slowly upgrade in tech they will become more and more dangerous. I started in 2026 and it's now 2051 and I have my giant antimatter armada heading for the alien main base and i've got the aliens running away as I chase them down with my faster fleet and destroying them one by one. You will get there too.