I started up a game to check out these "Viral Shredders" everyone's raving about. Going vs 2 7.6 SF Captains, no waves. 60 planet grid map too!
First step, research some stuff. Got missile turrets, exo shields, and a rally post. Deployed 5 tractor turrets and 10 shredders to each wormhole and started scouting.
Scouting report on the nearby planets are in (i'm part of a 5 planet "island" with only one connection to the rest of the map): 1 has fortress but distribution node; another has a Zenith Reserve; the other two are interesting. I'll crack the reserve first with a band of shredders, then trundle back to my planet and use them for launching strikes (both the shredders and the reserves) on the other planets.
Small kink in my plan; i got a "wave" of incoming ships so i sent my viral shredders to defend, they did great on everything but fighters. I built some firgates to take care of those; my system is now secure for now. Running out of energy so i'm waiting for an MkIII reactor to come online so i can support a fleet of shredders. Also reasearched Shredders MkII.
Further updates will come as i play more; game's going right now.