What is a good number of reachable planets to defend?

[Tridus]

Hi. Love Defender mode, it's great for a shorter game.

I'm having some difficulty finding a good setup to start it off though. The first time I tried I started with 3 planets that could be attacked. I wound up losing all 3 very quickly and didn't really stop the AI until I'd been pushed back to having a single attackable planet (with everything else behind it). I was able to hold that (difficulty isn't up that high).

So for a second game I tried starting with a single attackable planet (using the "Vines" map type that isn't hard to create). The AI will throw a ton of ships at it, but because I can also direct pretty much my entire array of defenses at it, it's actually really easy if you survive the first wave. So that doesn't seem great.

Any suggestions? Was 3 a good number and I just need to get better initial defenses?

[Fleet]

I've tried defender mode with my friend, for a total of 6 - 10 planets. In no games have we been able to defend even the first wave. The AI just sends too many ships, even compared with our max ship caps, I'm not sure how to hold them back. We have tried various strategies heavy on fleet ships, forts, and turrets, but nothing comes close.

[Red Spot]

Pretty much the same thing here, I just cant hold of the initial wave as I dont get enough time to enough ships/defenced pumped out early on.
I think the trick here is AI-difficulty, turn it down .. I think.
(Having too much of a blast with conquest that I just forget to try defender again

[Fleet]

Dang, this subforum has to be in the running for my least popular suggestions