Can I get that in English please - I cannot understand what was said

My $0.02... I'd be interested in hearing what others do. This works for me though, so I'll probably stick with it until I learn any better strategies...

 If it's FFA, you must, must, must watch your and other faction alliances. Concentrate on taking factions out one at a time, because when the other factions ally against you it takes a while to get back in the game after they rush you en masse.

 One of the strategies that I've seen on the boards here is to keep a large primary force and a secondary strike force. I typically keep my large force within 1-2 jumps from the nav lanes from system to system. The AI isn't that smart (in my experience) and they tend to concentrate on a particular planet / path. When you have secured your first system, the AI strategy and paths should be pretty predictable...

 I use my primary force to keep them occupied around their strike path and then move my strike force around the enemy core (usually undefended) planets. It's kind of a balancing act... They will pull their forces back mometarily and jump back to their system to defend it. when they do that, move your primary force into their system and start mopping up their nearest planets. I kite my strike force around the undefended planets until they break chase and go after my primary force. Then I continue harassing with my strike force (zerg). Eventually you can start to cap planets and use the choke points to gain a foothold in their system. You'll need to move your primary force around alot between systems, especially if you are fighting mulilpe hard / insane opponents, but the battles (once again) becomes predictable.

 I tend to go after a single system at a time and upgrade it to the max. I'd like to hear what others do. It might be faster not to upgrade, but then you'll have to deal with rebel attacks on your undefended outposts. The strategy above might take longer, but it almost always works.

Any thoughts or other strategies?

~ Scards

Yes, be more aggressive. I took a 20-30 planet star system in less than an hour and a half (look ma, no spammin'!)

Just quickly colonize planets. Once you get 4-6 planets, scuttle unimportant ships and structures on your home planet and build them on your borders. Once the game is about 20-30 minutes in, declare where your borders stand and build 3-7/8 defense platforms and 2 or so hangars (plus a small defense fleet, see thread Problems, in General because I'm too lazy to post here).

Once a system is totally yours, declare peace with another powerful empire. emember, keep an eye on their fleets. Once the systems are yours, plan a massive large-scale assault on their borders and crush them as fast as possible.

I agree with Mr_Fernandes, jump to the farthest star system as fast as you can and fortify. Also, you can never have too many trade ports, economy is the key in the long run. I also play as the Advent, usually in 13 star systems w/9 opponents on hard. This strategy has worked very well for me but it isn't for the impatient, you have to be willing to hang in there for the long haul. Another strategy I use is to make my Capital ships Rapture heavy, usually 2/3rds or more. Once you get Domination you can exceed your maximum fleet size by Dominating ships on non aligned worlds as well as your AI enemies. It is also fun to Dominate a bunch of Pirates and send them against your foes.

Ghost

You were right in that the Mothership is involved: its Cleansing Brilliance and Malice (used by the Radiance and Progenitor, respectively).

If you have a Rapture at the same time, cast Vengeance on the Radiance after it uses Animosity. Ships that are forced to attack the Radiance will suffer a multiple of the damage they dealt to the Radiance in accordance to Vengance's level.

A Halcyon in the vicinity of a Rapture with Concentration Aura will have all her strike craft's damage put increased.

If you've got a Revelation hanging around, use Guidance to shorten the cooldown times of abilities.

See how much the abilties of Advent ships complement each other?

On this subject of capital shops, somehting else of note: not EVERY fleet needs a capital ship.

Lets say you ahve 5 fleets.  Having two or three fleets with a Prgeonitor, a Rapture, and a several Radiances is more useful than ahving 5 fleets with one or two fo the above.  The odd fleets out just make due without an "anchor".  If you need a big beat-stick that can take punishment and deal with many times of opponents, then a few heavy crusiers will probably get the job done.  I haven't looked into the other races, but I would suspect that eh same holds true there as well.

The disadvantage is, of course, taht without a capital ship you would have to build siege frigates to capture planets.  The solutiosn tot his rpbolemn are two-fold.  One: leave your non-capital fleets at home to defend (which is a goo didea anyway, really), and Two: capture Siege frigates from planetary militias with Dominate.

I have played a FFA match with 7 AI and myself, its really difficult considering how the AI works in SINS.

The AI has to be at war with someone at any given time and since you can't talk at the speed of the AI you usualy end up the odd man (or woman) out before you know it.

My advice for that is try to make friends with someone not close to you so you don't have to compete for worlds right at the start.

AND BUILD THAT CHOKE POINT!!!!!! very important. You can keep you fleet at somewhat small size so you don't get the huge income penalty with a massive fleet. That will allow you to research, research, research, till you get the doomsday weapons.  

Just one other thing I want to mention about using alot of Raptures w/Domination. I stop my Fleet logistic research at the max for Capital ships and my Fleet Upkeep at 47% (I forget what level that is exactly) This gives me an extra income of 33% which means I can Upgrade and build-up planets at an accelerated pace and still build past the fleet cap.

Really the best strategy depends on the way you like to play the game. If possible I would love to have a never ending game with a large amount of peace and prosperity with just enough war to keep it interesting. I'm just weird that way. Well thats one way at least.

I really doubt it can possibly hurt their economy worse than killing the bloody planet.  In the context of this discussion, novalith cannons are something of an "I win" button in the late game on large maps (where you can just build a whole ton of them and oblierate your enemy's planets 2-dozen at a time).  At the very least they will break a stalemate most effectively.

If you are fighting computer opponents on the easy difficulty you should try and recognize what makes them easy.  One of the big differences I have noticed between hard and easy opponents is how willing they are to fight.  Opponents on easy will only fight outnumbered if it is their last planet, will almost always run from offensive attacks when you have similar numbers, and are quick to run when they start taking losses while defending.  If they seem ready and willing to fight then go after their capital ships.  Capital ships are expensive to replace, and for the Vasari or trade federation capital ship experience is very valuable, while the advent just lose most of their fighting capability in a battle if their capital ships go down.

One thing I didnt see mentioned as a possible strategy above for defense: having empty fleet spots.  I use this when playing as the TEC, since they can build very effective defensive networks.  It sounds kinda crazy but it allows for a very versatile quick response to attacks.  You put enough turrets and tactical structures at your choke points to preoccupy any attacking fleet long enough and build a small fleet in that solar system and use it in conjunction with your defenses.  Again go for the capital ships, or more importantly if they are sieging your planet go for the bombardment cruisers.  This strategy again seems to work better against the TEC and Vasari especially in endgame scenarios.  It can work against Advent to though, since the advent is more likely to have a weak economy and wont be able to support a war of attrition.  With Defense in general you should remember that the computer can be sort of dumb and will just throw their fleet at a concentrated line of defense where a human player might have a little more discretion.  Use this to your advantage!  25 turrets between the warp in point and bombardment range of the planet is sometimes the most effective defense and I have turned back medium sized fleets without the intervention of a single ship by simply rebuilding turrets as the computer destroys them.

I like Conquering everything system by system, but if you just wanna win do what others have suggested.  Find a way to own a single solar system.  Defend the chokepoints, and save up enough to build a bunch of superweapons.  Blast away one civilization at a time until they are all dead.  (sadly this doesnt work with vasari), It works consistently with the TEC superweapon, but takes more micromanagement then the Advent weapon.  The advent weapon works best against Vasari and TEC, and can take longer but is a bit easier to manage.

Good luck fighting, and you will get better as you learn how the AI fights.

ok here's what you want to do,

1) secure yourself a foothold or system

    this is a sure fire way that everyone above is talking about. this will give you the economy you need to initiate full war production

2) NO SUPERWEAPONS!

    sure, you have a novalith, but what the hell are you gonna do with it? even if you place one on a planet in a neighboring system, they can always retailate with a fleet of ships that gets more bang for the buck.

3) Sacrifice

   build a "scouting fleet" thats not really meant for true fighting (i.e. Cobalts, Gardas,etc), but for hit and run tatics. undoubatly your opponent will have a superior force getting ready to fight this fleet you have, so while he's blowing up your guinea pig fleet you can bring in your (MUCH LARGER) main fleet

"there is a SPY in our midst"