@Dalar and @Wyrmspawn Yes, I had that problem as well.
*Spoilers*
When you meet the alien mining convoy you need to open fire on them rather than trying to win them over.
This will then result in a weaker Alliance fleet when you retake your home planet.
I also kept my powder dry when talking with the Senator, and didn’t give him any reason to believe that I was anti-Alliance.
*Spoilers*
Hi, this is Jonathan! I designed “The Fleet”. @Protagonist is right, the rebels can succeed, which will lead to a military dictatorship on your home planet. (Even if you’re not on their side.)
But as suggested previously in this thread, if the rebels are to be victorious, you MUST weaken the Alliance, and the best way to do that is to behave badly in battle when in combat with the Outer Systems. A good rule of thumb is, do things that make Councilor Tayu berate you! Be merciless, ignore protocol, etc. There are three big opportunities for that kind of behavior in the game, all of them involving military encounters like the above one mentioned by @Protagonist.
And to resolve a frequently-asked question, there are five endings. One is the standard “fail” ending for players who aren’t able to win back their home planet, but there are four other endings that can occur AFTER you’ve won your planet back. Two of them are good, two of them are “bad”, but they’re all intended to be explored. Frankly, my personal favorite is a bad one! (It’s the one that occurs on Calpurnia, for those who have wound up with it.)
“The Fleet” is designed with many “schadenfreude easter eggs”. Whereas most games are all about avoiding peril, this one is also designed in part for people who like to see just how bad a situation can get. And while I’ll admit you should never “throw” the three full-on battle sequences once you get the hang of them, I recommend intentionally screwing other things up just to see what happens–you may be surprised.
At least once, for instance, try to stop Lieutenant Demian’s rebellion WITHOUT playing along with the Alliance’s plan to lie to her. Especially if you do that in a play-through where you’ve got below-average military support, and a powerful Alliance. It’s tricky to pull it off but there’s a disturbing payoff.
Good luck, and have fun exploring the dark corners of “The Fleet”…
JONATHAN
Oh no… Now I’ll have to spend another month playing through this game… But I WILL find all the endings!
@JonV - that the ending where you get hospitalised due to a certain weapon? Got that, was mortified.
The bad ending where you get jailed for leading the rebellion was ace though as was the bad ending where you just fail full stop.
I suppose that means I’m 2 endings short… =(
I think he means you CAN persuade the lt. To not attack the alliance, and I’ve been searching for four playthroughs now for that ending…
Daaamn, that last ending is hard to get. It’s next to impossible to simultaneously burn both bridges and still have enough firepower to win the battle.
Spoilers!!! But not ones that will be shocking to those following this thread!!!
@Wyrmspawn - I’ll come clean and admit that no, you can’t persuade the Lieutenant NOT to attack the Alliance–you can just refuse to trick her, and attempt to stop her another way. And yes, you CAN stop her another way, or more accurately, your CREW can stop her another way. It all depends on how much they like you. To come even cleaner, that chapter where the rebels are turning against the Alliance is very deceptive, by the time you’re in it your fate is pretty much sealed, but it’s written to make you think you have a snowball’s chance of making a choice that will save you from your earlier choices. Alas, as a fan of “Doctor Faustus” I could not allow that to happen.
@RVallant - Yeah waking in the hospital is the one I was talking about. I have a soft spot for that sequence because it’s so gory, and because it happens whether or not you like the Alliance, so you can be supportive of the Alliance the whole time and sweet on them, and try to do the right thing…and they still put you in the hospital. (I think it’s safe to say I’m a fan of BITTER IRONY.) The other two endings are the “happy” ones, though they can also turn out a little bittersweet if you play your cards right.
@Ramidel - Which ending was really tricky, the military dictator one? It definitely requires all your choices in battle to be ideal, because it’s harder to win back your home planet with no Alliance there to help. (You also spend an extra round in The Null Zone because the Alliance takes longer to get to you.) But once you win your home planet back, it should be smooth sailing, since the Alliance doesn’t have enough ships to stop your rebellion. I write that “should” hopefully–if I’m wrong about this let me know, I may need to tweak some stats if I am!
SPOILERS…ah hell, at this point everyone in this thread knows. 
Actually, the tricky one to get was the one where you are imprisoned by the rebels. As I said, you have to go in without Alliance support, win the battle, and yet behave incompetently enough that you don’t have the Military Support needed to stop the Lieutenant’s coup.
As for the Supreme Commander ending, that is rather difficult for a different reason. If you screw over the Alliance often enough, they’ll simply catch you in a trap even after you win (because they don’t trust you), unless I’ve somehow missed something. You need to weaken them enough to beat them, but not so much that they’ll be prepared for perfidy.
I just had another playthrough, attempting to take back the planet Zyorg-235 from the dreaded Humans (it adds an interesting perspective to the game, you have to admit) and, despite winning the final battle, and supporting the alliance, High Councillor (is it councillor or chancellor? I never get that right) Tayu didn’t like me, mainly due to the fact that I obliterated the droid-production planet (destroyed both planetary stations) and didn’t apologise for it. I didn’t go along with the plan to decide the Lieutenant, but I stopped her anyway by shooting her, and in the epilogue it mentioned people thinking I didn’t deserve my post (either Tayu’s influence or my attempts throughout the game to be mean to civilians) and the rebellion destroyed some statue and were still very active. I didn’t know how many different endings there were until I’d played a few times, but now I can never get the same one twice!
I have bought the game, and I enjoyed it, played through three times. The only thing I did not like is it seem very short. It does have a lot of play again value, but still to me it was short. Putting that a side it was worth the cost just on the good writing and story line.
Everytime I’m going 1 save my homeworld, no matter what, I always lose. I know it’s because I made bad choices, but last time, I had a moderate coverage of fighters and cannons and possibly skills as well. Am I missing something ?
“Going 2 save”
@MIGhunter Most of the combat decisions are about choosing between finesse and overpowering force.
Specialise in one, and choose the corresponding options, and you’ll win every time.
IIRC you’ll want to focus on building up your pilots’ and cannoneers’ skill if your strategy is to employ finesse, and on numbers if you’re going for force.
Actually, the choice of finesse vs. force is completely independent of coverage vs. skill. Generally, there will always be options for coverage & finesse, coverage & force, skill & finesse, skill & force. Best approach is to pick finesse or force, and stick with that throughout the game. Then choose either strikers or cannons to rely on skill, and the other to rely on coverage. That way you’ll be fully covered.
Isn’t there one or two options where mixing and matching is the perfect aim.
Cross-firing (coverage) with fighting moves (Finesse) = perfect 100% enemy kill with 0% kills on your side if I remember right.
It’s not always clear cut though.
Don’t forget that Force and Elegance also matter. Crossfiring is Elegant Coverage, for example (as opposed to Forceful Coverage…)
I guesting the guy who made it doctor who fan as it said Gallifrey is already a planet on it as I put it as my home world and it would let me have it
I know this chain is super old but can someone message me and tell me how to stinking win this? I played this a ton about 4-6 years ago and then stopped playing COG for a while and have come back to it and still cannot get the endings where I win back my planet without losing to the alliance. I:
Do I need to keep my civilians much happier so that the alliance trusts me more? Should I lie to the alliance and the lieutenant but join her at the end? Is there a way to sell the lieutenant out so they trust me but then trick them at the end? Should I botch my speech to the alliance so there is little group cohesion (I always get it right)?
I’m clearly not understanding something. Is there a way to weaken the alliance but keep them trusting you?
Thanks for any help!
I have a question on this too, actually.
When I play a neutrally aligned character and first meet with Tayu, I can either admit my neutrality or pretend I agree with the Alliance. But both scores bring up my Deception stat, even though the first choice has no deception seemingly involved. Why is that?