That's a good point. So it would be in my best interest to make a habit of regularly reviewing the alert panels at the bottom.

Also, while Starbases are somewhat self sufficient, I usually keep a small support force nearby as well; I have found that a few of the respective repair/support cruisers for each race as well as 4-6 Flak Frigates help prolong Starbase life EXPONENTIALLY. Its a very small investment to protect the funds you have sunk into a fully upgraded SB.

Indeed. Choke points are much better strategically than any other option. But only on the military front: at least in 1v1s I've noticed a tendency for players to focus on fortifying and defending their main front world while continuously expanding and colonizing in the other direction, even up until bumping into the enemy's civilian front.

It depends on where the enemy combat fleet is and how fast it could get to your other front-line worlds. If it can get there quickly, you're in trouble: if there are a few phase jumps in between often it's OK to have a "wide" empire front, as long as your combat front is limited to one planet or two.

That said, another possibility is to be continuously on the offensive in which case your front doesn't matter much... but that's a very risky bet, and you might have to be facing a significantly less skilled player to do that confidently.

Why not? That's less fire on the Star Base, and more time for your fleet to arrive.

FYI--if two or more "event sounds" happen at the same time, one will play over the rest--most have a text prompt at the bottom of the screen as well even  when that happens but it's easy to miss.

I think a klaxon or short, harsh sound works best, no?

Gwag to you too.

Last night, I got to watch the starbase I rebuilt get destroyed by a very powerful Advent fleet. I had a fleet guarding the starbase consisting of 10 carriers (10 fighter/10 bomber), 20 heavy cruisers, and 3 capital ships. Their fleet was more powerful apparently and hit mine so hard that I pulled them back to a neighboring world. When they arrived, they were greeted by 10 more carriers I recently constructed. I merged them with the fleet. I also had two Dunovs on the production line. I like having two Dunovs for a better boost of shield strength, but also so they can boost each other as necessary. It's worked great for me so far. Once the Dunovs were constructed, I added them to the fleet, along with those 10 carriers (bringing my strike craft count to 20 fighter squadrons and 20 bomber squadrons) and sent them back to the gas giant. (I also have several Hoshiko cruisers who will be joining the fleet soon.) Meanwhile, I watched the enemy fleet, clustered around my starbase, ripping it apart like it was a brand new (downgraded) starbase. It wasn't. I think I had 2 points in armor, 2 in weapons, 2 in a fighter bay, and 1 in a frigate bay. Their firepower was such that they fried it very, very quickly in spite of my upgrades.

My new fleet arrived just as the starbase blew up and they jumped back to one of their planets. I was a little unhappy so I told my fleet to follow them. After jumping, I ripped through their planetary defenses, sent their fleet running to a neighboring world (they didn't even attack my fleet), crushed their starbase, and bombarded their planet. Yeah, maybe unhappy was the wrong word. I was ticked off. And that's where I saved before going to bed.

I just relayed this to one of my friends at work and he said three words: safety override protocol. I snapped my fingers. That would have been perfect especially given their tight formation around my base. He suggested that since I was going to lose the base anyway.

They actually are set to Easy, I believe. I'm trying to become a better player. If I'm playing a LAN or online game with friends then we kick it up to Normal or Hard, but when I'm solo, I set them to Easy. Eventually I'll progress to Normal and Hard.

I'm not familiar with those, so I couldn't tell you.

https://www.sinsofasolarempire.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

Great site to brush up on the basics of units etc

I did read a breakdown of every TEC ship, but I haven't read up on Advent or Vasari yet. I need to. To coin the popular phrase: know your enemy. Long ago, I briefly glanced at the other races and noticed that only two of the races have torpedo cruisers (TEC and Advent) while the Vasari do not. I understand that their mobile starbase serves that function. That was one thing that bothered me a little. Thanks for the suggestion. You inspire me to continue my research.