Yep it was a T1 game. Looking again at their fleet, I think it might actually be 6 scouts, 8 destroyers and a Transport. I can't be sure though, I can never remember the pictures. Cardies are so poor that it's hard to do anything. I should have just paid the Klingons though, even though I'd have been in debt forever. I could have scrapped my transports I guess, to pay for it. As for buying minors -- again, Cardies have no money. That seems too hard when I can barely afford to buy the essentials.
Anyway, I think I can pull this game out, I'll make an outpost on Deneb to buy time, then another on Cardassia with the remaining transport, and just build some destroyers and probably fight off the storm. Other option is scrapping the transports and going with all destroyers, I could be more offensive that way, but destroyers die easily. I'm just worried about my morale going in the toilet if they take 3 undefended systems.
As for going for Construction 3 right away... I guess that's an option. I don't think it would have made a world of difference though. I went for Construction 2, then all the other 2's, and Construction 3 as the first 3. The other 2's were pretty quick really, and I didn't even spend time upgrading to T3 production, just T2.
Pay the Klingons if you have no fleet. That's the real lesson.
Update: Tried a new game (old one is still waiting there though... heh). Same deal, Cardassians, Average, figured I'd modify my strategy. This time I was closer to the corner, thankfully. And of course -- Klingons AGAIN! They didn't even bother with demands this time! They just started building outposts straight into my space and sending in destroyers everywhere. When they finally made a demand, I was so !~@#$ed I just wanted them dead, refused and kept building my fleet. Luckily I had decided to hang out in the corner and build some outposts and destroyers of my own. I narrowly avoided invasion of a large system, Lemma (only one without an outpost), also was lucky that they were stupid and kept sending only 2 destroyers against my outpost I's. Still, they had some ships roaming behind my lines:
My destroyers next to Rubicun had just blown up their outpost there, finally cutting off their range. Earlier (right after I met the Klingons) I had decided to not try to expand into Corban and Tethys, but instead focus on my closer, better systems and making defenses. Definitely smart. Following that screenshot was the destruction of their outpost in Tethys, and then membership of the Edo.
I've never had these kinds of early game problems with aggression, and now I realize it's because Klingons are pitted against Cardassians in this game. Cardassians really have tons of disadvantages. If I think back to the dozens of games I have played, and the galaxy was dominated by me and 1 other empire, I can't think of one single time when the other empire was Cardassian. Federation often has the largest empire, often it's the Klingons, once in a while the Ferengi or Romulans. But I've NEVER seen Cardassians be the big force in the galaxy. I really can't think of a single time! They're usually the galaxy's whipping boys. And since Fed or Klingons dominate most often, Cardies have it even worse - those are their main enemies!
I contend that playing as Cardassians is equivalent to at least 1 higher level of difficulty.
