The AI in general got a upgrade in Diplomacy. They are harder if your not use to them actually doing things. Depending on the speed you play your games at @ 10 mins you should have more that 10-15 Light Frigates.

Play a bigger map if you want more of a buffer zone between you and the AI. But you wont get an hour alone anymore. Sorry.

Hmm.. sounds like you're having economic issues; you seem to be afraid of overextending yourself and going bankrupt.

What Faction do you play? (I assume TEC) Regardless, here's some tips on how I normally get the game started.

Scout. Alot. Find out the planets that have the highest amount of extractors, and then find the planets that are chokepoints (very little phase lanes out of the planet).  Blitz your way to the chokepoints, colonize and fortify them, then focus on the planets inside your protective ring of fortified planets. (Normally, 1-2 hangar defense and about 5 turrets w/ a repair bay fends off most attackers long enough for your fleet to arrive.  Hangar defense needs MORE fighters than bombers, as fighters kill other SC and bomber frigates) Capture Asteroids and Terran/Desert planets first, if possible.  Then focus on Ice/Volcanic worlds.  Normally it takes a few minutes for the population on most larger planets to grow, especially if you can't fund the infrastructure (ALWAYS, however, make sure you're not losing credits to underdevelopment).  So, sell excess metal or crystal to increase revenue. 

As for your Fleet; I typically start out with just a Carrier Cap(one Fighter, two bombers) (they're all good, but the Skirantra and Halycon are far better than the Sova) and two (yes, TWO) colony frigates.  Always keep one frigate in reserve to save antimatter, two jumps away from your carrier, and one in action, one jump away. Since jumping requires 100 antimatter, often your colony frigates will run low.  Build some light frigates, but research flak frigates ASAP (especially for the TEC) Flak Frigates not only let your carrier cap rule the skies in a SC fight, but also have large firepower and hull strenght for their cost (I call them the most cost-efficient units in the game, 5 of them can often take out low-level Cap ships) However, you have to manually tell them to engage other ships, if there's no SC they just follow the Carrier around. (If you play as TEC, LRM's and Hoshiko's should quickly follow the Garda's, as well as an Akkan)

As for fending off attacks: choke points and fortification.  Fortifications aren't permanent, they just buy time.  If the AI is rushing you, if you manage to kill off their attacking fleet, you can follow up with a counterstrike.  You don't HAVE to take their planets, just ravage their economy, set up defenses closer to their Home Planet (A star base on an enemy home world w/ full SC points is always hilarious to watch when bored) to stall them while you build up your forces.  Pirates also greatly  help early on, but you HAVE TO KEEP UP W/ THE BOUNTY! If the pirates change targets, the enemy's experienced and hardened fleets stop defending and start offending.

Xer0 \^/

No problem, although mine was more of a guide than an answer.

Xer0 \^/

Oops, I just got out of a game now and i'm exhausted (man, the game requires such a serious time investment :-/) so maybe another time? I dunno how we'd do it, or even what ICO is but my game was epic! Okay so i realise that everybody and their moms probably always have epic games in Sins, but my MO was always- bunker down, get enough planets to have a thriving economy, get biggest armada, win game. This one though, i had like 4 or 5 planets colonised on Doppelgänger, then just parked my fleet in the sun's orbit (best chokepoint EVAR) cause i KNEW they would start trying to rush me. And boy did they. At first i kept holding them off with superior numbers, then i researched some cruisers and just kept sending them to autojoin the fleet. Of course, instead of fighting each other like you'd expect (or at least hope!) they were ALL trying to invade me (seriously, everybody's ships are in orbit and mine are the only ones being attacked?).

Eventually i got some starbases up in there and that settled it. Then, out of the blue one of them offers a cease fire which i agreed to, spammed him with envoys and made him my bff, then he took one guy out and as soon as i took the other guy out... he broke ALL our treaties and pacts (No allied victory and we're the only ones left). Now the relationship is around 13-15, but he hasn't actually declared war and I've still only got the planets in my home system (loads of resources though).

I'm now trying to decide whether to create a new fleet for home defence while i'm out, or trust the starbases to hold the sun... I'm playing Advent so they're mobile, and all three of them are fully upgraded with strike craft. Come to think of it, they're probably a more dangerous than my fleet... I'm proud of it for winning so many battles and skirmishes but would you believe I've only got 3 capital ships in it? I've got 10 of all the frigates and cruisers I thought would help lol, so it's about 43 or 53 ships total. I have a bad feeling it's not gonna cut it, but in the mad rush to expand i just sorta never got round to beefing it up.

I have SO many questions about Sins in general, it's not even funny anymore. Okay it is a little bit lol. First, when i set up a trade route and then hover over my empire economy, what does the white line mean? Is it showing the most profitable route or planets or something else? If so, how is it the most profitable route? I've seen it change as well, and even extend across solar systems. And then, occasionally there's an eye over a planet i'm viewing, either mine or someone else'. Who or what causes it, does it have any effects (detrimental or otherwise) on the planet, and how do i get rid of it? Also sometimes there'll be other stuff appearing on the planet, can't remember what they look like right now. Just stuff like that really