

So expect to have systems dotted all over the place.

If you can skip ‘ahead’ of the enemy’s own expansion you can instantly settle. Remember that once you get a group of vine ships together you can vine faster - so group them in fives and they will divide the time by five (so a ten-turn vine becomes two-turn). The idea with Unfallen is to look passive while you gradually spread. This can net you some powerful boni like snatching black holes or asteroid fields that, because they are part of your vine network can be half way across the galaxy and they count as yours. Try to make Peace with everyone you come across (not necessarily an Alliance, unless it’s a particularly strong competitor), because you can vine their systems and not get attacked. As Unfallen, you’re a Pacifist group that utilises key alliances and being perceived as a limited threat - that’s a huge strength of yours. If you’re playing Unfallen, your strategy isn’t to play the same as, say, Riftborn or UE or Horatio. Take advantage of the science/dust gains and their special abilities. Once found it should be easy to gain the influence lead of the minors and keep it for a long time. You might even want to consider equipping a few ships (or your starting hero ship) with just movespeed modules to speed up your search for minors. Build some empty exploration ship hulls and upgrade them with dust. Exploring with the Unfallen can be somewhat tricky as their exploration ships only have 2 utility slots. Finding a warmonger minor and getting them to 50 approval will give you the ability to recruit strong fleets for a handful of luxury resources. Their guardians give them a huge early influence advantage that you should use to "secure" key minors. The best way to get a fast army (and to play them in general) is to aggressively search for minors. Their vine-expansion method makes them extremely vulnerable to pirates and aggressive/expansive AIs (and shitty starting spots). First of all you shouldn't be too hard on yourself- Unfallen are by far the weakest faction.
