BearishMouse

[quote who="Darvin3" reply="1" id="2968877"] In any case, if you're trying to put on the finishing blow, the key is to hit him in the wallet. At every turn just try to incur expenses for him. Blast his stuff, force him to replace it, just keep up the pressure. Even if he captures a planet, just blast it, and he'll probably end up losing money overall. Eventually you'll bankrupt him and he simply won't have the money to do anything anymore.&nb

Wraith89 speaks words of great wisdom here. If you can find a good choke point the AI will insist on barging through it rather than circumventing. I used this stategy and was able to hold the line with a quarter of the number of enemy ships. Also trade ports are a good way of making income is you have nothing better to do with your logistics slots.

I'm not sure about this; the usual counter to something like this is a few big ships with a lot of defense, but in the early game I know I don't have the cash for that kind of approach. Research for shields and armor might help you frigates last longer in a protracted fight but I think my stategy would be to lure the enemy fleet into a ridiculous number of defenses and while they are chewing on the hardened platforms sniper them with my own ships.

Found where it was hiding its response fleets. If the AI does this to you then check some of the asteroid fields, this is where my AI was hiding his ships. Easy to win now, sent my main fleet to lock down his supply depot and set my raiders loose on his worlds; sub fleet idea works really well here.

Cheers, I'll try these now.

Also, I have an unfortunate problem. There is one particular problem system that I have. It: 1. Allows for one jump access to almost every palnet in my empire. 2. Is an asteroid belt so I can't plaster the area with defense. 3. Has attracted the AI's attention for the former reasons. I am suffering horrible losses in this system to keep the enemy fleets away from my core worlds. Any ideas?

Yeah, I had the starbase idea too, but the AI quickly countered by simply staying away from them. Most irritating. In terms of splitting the fleets, what would you recommend in the smaller sub-groups?

I am having serious problems against the Vasari AI; it is fielding fast response teams of capital ships, light carriers and heavy cruisers as well as upgraded starbases. After 3 hours I have only captured 1 planet off of it because it simultaneously defends its planet while hitting a couple of my worlds to draw attention, and the distraction forces aren't small. I have a fully working economy capable of sustaining the maximum number of ships and I am fielding a simi