Hi,
I’ve got a few thoughts here to share and to cheer you up a bit.
I agree that the game lacks clear explanations and exhaustive tooltips here and there. Your best option is to dig yourself into guides and topics of your interest on forum. I know it does not help new players much without experience and it is a bit hard to extract all the info you need but if you ask players they will surely give you the answer you need. Sometimes more to the point answers than you would get from developers. Also, the latest version of the Sector Conquest mode was rushed to be introduced, I think, and its core has been left more or less untouched ever since so it is a little… umm… imperfect. But changes are coming… sooner or later. See info here: [Developer Blog](< base_url >/index.php?/topic/29583-developer-blog-from-february-4th-evolution-of-%E2%80%98sector-conquest%E2%80%99/) and [Patch 1.3.4](< base_url >/index.php?/topic/30039-star-conflict-134/#comment-358485).
However, it is not true that the game is not helping beginners. In fact, it helps newcomers more than ever. When I started playing there was only the tutorial for basic controlling and that was it. Now there is a whole series of official [‘Igromania’](< base_url >/index.php?/topic/28000-game-lessons-with-igromania/) videos that are very informative. You can find some of them here on forum (or on SC’s main page if forum is not updated with new contents).
Also, there are dozens of excellent guidelines made by players in the [Guides](< base_url >/index.php?/forum/234-guides/) section. The bests were rewarded and chosen for officially introducing after a guideline contest. See links of the works from the contestants [here](< base_url >/index.php?/topic/29821-guide-contest-guides/). If devs are backing these works then it means something. If you look around a bit you will find a lot of things for dreadnoughts as well. I would suggest checking this one out as well: [[PvP] Dreadnought Battle Mode Primer](< base_url >/index.php?/topic/29926-pvp-dreadnought-battle-mode-primer/) by Mecronmancer.
And finally, to make your loss feel less painful, here is STEEL’s story about building the dreadnought:
Dreadnoughts had been introduced with a month or so long contest among the corporations. The best 3 or so who have built their dreadnought ahead of others got awesome rewards. My corp was not in the race for the top spots. We never had a chance to get among the top corps. Our goal was to build it before the deadline and be noticed and given a humble text in achievements saying we did it. We did good until one rebel corp member in his rage (or at least so we think) blew about 40 000, all of our reserve iridium on boosting the speed of one single construction stage. It all happened after we launched a construction stage and we had only a few days left to collect another 25 or 35 ( I don’t remember) thousand iridium for the next stage. First of all we panicked. Then asked for help and info about the traitor but did not get what we hoped for which wasn’t unexpected of course. The thing is: as long as you lose something by your mistake, you cannot really expect for refund or reversed actions. If, the loss happened because of a game error then you can file a report and ask for help which you will likely get if possible. If not then maybe some other way. I think we all agree that this is the only fair way that cannot be legitimately dispute. So, we spent a lot of time in open space going after aliens, transports, and everything that moved in the most dangerous sectors and collected as many iridium from their loot as we could. And what we had to notice? The iridium loot drops got slightly better during the contest. Not sure but I think it was a little help from devs. Not only to us. It applied to everyone so they chose the most indirect and fairest way possible.
Anyway, what I wanted to point out here is that don’t judge the SC team or get disappointed so fast. Keep in mind that this game is made by a company that has rules and a conduct to follow. And above of all, they have to or should strive for being fair with all players and not discriminating or favoring anyone.
And if you asked. Yes, we managed to build our dreadnought in time. It was a close call though. How close? Well, we finished 5 minutes before the deadline and server shutdown for dreadnought patch.:)
So, don’t give up.
P.S.: I would suggest you and your corp mates spending as much time in Leviathan killing defilers as you can. You will see what I am talking about. Just take your time and you will get what you need.
P.P.S.: We have a section called [Galactic Library 1/2](< base_url >/index.php?/topic/29137-stellar-marines-steel/&do=findComment&comment=346262) and [Galactic Library 2/2](< base_url >/index.php?/topic/29137-stellar-marines-steel/&do=findComment&comment=346263) with useful info about the game. Feel free to use them.
