A few Noob questions:

[RCIX]

Right now, i think it's Vorticular Cutlasses and Vampire Claws (though more may be added soon).

[Revenantus]

And which ships are "Melee"?

Any ships that don't have ranged weapons. Specifically cutlasses and vampires. The AI may or may not have access to those ships in your campaign (it's random), though it may gain access to them as the progress level increases.

AI melee ships spawn in a special mode called 'planetary defender' (this is distinct from free-roaming defender, though has essentially the same behaviour), which causes them to engage any enemies on the current planet. AI ranged units spawn as 'guards' which causes them to remain in defense of the guard post they spawned at.

Unfortunately, there's no way of neutering a planet entirely without raising the AI progress level, nor is there a way of setting up a base on a hostile planet that definitely won't require defense.

[x4000]

That's why i specify taking out everything else. On every planet where i've *only* left the warp gate intact, they haven't received any reinforcements.

Ah, I see.

As to why this happens:  reinforcements can only happen at the command station and the guard posts.  So if all of those are gone, then there's nowhere to reinforce to, even if the AI is allowed reinforcements.  The wormholes have "wormhole guard posts" that are perma-cloaked, and which die with the command station.  So RCIX is exactly right about what happens, though Rev is right that warp gates do allow for reinforcement when there are other extraneous guard posts around (such as those under a force field, or whatever, that you have not yet killed).

[JfpOne23]

Again, some great info there.  Another question:

During the tutorial, I remember seeing some text telling me something like "Cruiser target focus on Bombers", but I've yet to see it in my current game.  Is there a way to get that info displayed again in a regular game?

[x4000]

During the tutorial, I remember seeing some text telling me something like "Cruiser target focus on Bombers", but I've yet to see it in my current game.  Is there a way to get that info displayed again in a regular game?

I'm thinking you are referring to "Target Preference" for ships.  When you set an attack target for a group of ships, they will all then prefer to target that sort of ship until told otherwise.  So if you've just been moving your ships into range of the enemies and letting them autotarget, they wouldn't have picked up target preferences.  Not that you need to micro ships to have this work (far from it), but you do need to give one target order before ships will have that sort of preference.

[JfpOne23]

Yes back for more Sunday Surprises from the AI (and yeah I'm continually impressed).  And of course some questions to ask:

A)  I looked in the Manual but didn't find a definition for the symbols under the planets on the Galactic Map.  There are a few I can't make sense of like the one that looks like a Wheel.  And I'm sure there are others I've yet to see. 

B)  Also, what does it mean when a planet is blinking?  It's not under attack, not producing at the Space Dock...Probably something obvious I'm missing.

More later,
Thanks and Cheers

[Revenantus]

A)  I looked in the Manual but didn't find a definition for the symbols under the planets on the Galactic Map.  There are a few I can't make sense of like the one that looks like a Wheel.  And I'm sure there are others I've yet to see. 

Ah, good catch - that's something I haven't mentioned in the manual. The triangular icon indicates that the corresponding player has non-starship units on the planet, while the circular icon indicates that the corresponding player has at least one starship.

B)  Also, what does it mean when a planet is blinking?  It's not under attack, not producing at the Space Dock...Probably something obvious I'm missing.

If a friendly unit on the planet has been damaged within the last minute, that planet will flash in galaxy view.

[JfpOne23]

Thanks, those blinking planets had me checking for cloakers etc., and I won't be so likely to leave Starships at Wormholes I've forgotten to move.

[Phyrex]

I've got a couple of quick noob questions as well. I'll post them here if you don't mind. Don't want to make a similar topic.

1) Can AI recapture a planet?
In other words; does AI use colony ships or not?

2) At the beginning of a match you can see what special ship you can get. Do all of the other possible homeplanets/special ships also represent the ones you can caputure later in the game (if only choosing 1 homeplanet) or is it random after you pick the first?

3) Lastly, how exactly does AI resource management work?
- Does AI share between eachother?
- Is resource income global or spend more locally?
- Do they spend most of what they get or does AI at the end have near infinite resources (Because they reach the ship cap)?

Thanks a lot!

[Vaos]

1) Can AI recapture a planet?
In other words; does AI use colony ships or not?

No, the AI will never recapture planets it may have lost, no worries there.

2) At the beginning of a match you can see what special ship you can get. Do all of the other possible homeplanets/special ships also represent the ones you can caputure later in the game (if only choosing 1 homeplanet) or is it random after you pick the first?

The new ships types you get while capturing Advanced Research Stations are totally random, not related to the pool of ships you can choose in the starting planets.

3) Lastly, how exactly does AI resource management work?
- Does AI share between eachother?
- Is resource income global or spend more locally?
- Do they spend most of what they get or does AI at the end have near infinite resources (Because they reach the ship cap)?

AI doesn't use resources, they get reinforcements on their planets at a regular interval, the amount depends of the AI Progress, the difficulty level, and one special building (don't remember the name of it, but it's pretty rare). The AI will then dispatch these reinforcements on the most important places, most usually on the planets next to your territory. You can see witch planets are more likely to get reinforcements by checking their "alert status". If they are on alert, they are more likely to be reinforced.
For attacking, the AI get "free waves" at some points, can use it's garrisoned units to attack you (during a cross-planet attack or if you anger it by some way like destroying a Command Station or Raising an alarm when an Alarm post is near - Prerelease only) or you can be attacked by spec ops who roam the galaxy and sometime attacks you without warning. The spec ops aren't too dangerous however. Make sure to defend all your borders.

I hope that helped !

[Haagenti]

At least Vampire Claws and Cutlasses.

Zenith Bombs *may* also be considered melee ships, but I'm not sure. If not, they should be.

[Phyrex]

Thanks for the help Vaos!

Regarding the 'AI resources', lets say you have 2 enemy planets next to your planets and both have warp gates.
If you destroy 1 of the warp gates;
a- will it reduce the total amount of units the AI sends at you?
b- will the other warpgate send more/twice as much?
c- will the AI still get the units but are used on defence rather than offence?

[x4000]

Thanks for the help Vaos!

Regarding the 'AI resources', lets say you have 2 enemy planets next to your planets and both have warp gates.
If you destroy 1 of the warp gates;
a- will it reduce the total amount of units the AI sends at you?
b- will the other warpgate send more/twice as much?
c- will the AI still get the units but are used on defence rather than offence?

None of the above, on warp gates.  The only measure of how many offensive units the AI gets is the AI Progress -- so since that goes up when you destroy a warp gate, their power actually increases a tad.  Warp Gates are destroyed in order to limit where the AI can send ships, not how many.

[Vaos]

None of the above, on warp gates.  The only measure of how many offensive units the AI gets is the AI Progress -- so since that goes up when you destroy a warp gate, their power actually increases a tad.  Warp Gates are destroyed in order to limit where the AI can send ships, not how many.

I also need to add that worlds devoid of a Warp Gate aren't harmless at all : Spec Ops can still go through there to attack you (not as dangerous as the waves, but still) and when Cross-Planets attacks occurs the AI can send ships through these as well. Always put some minimal defenses at every border gate!

[x4000]

I also need to add that worlds devoid of a Warp Gate aren't harmless at all : Spec Ops can still go through there to attack you (not as dangerous as the waves, but still) and when Cross-Planets attacks occurs the AI can send ships through these as well. Always put some minimal defenses at every border gate!

Oh yeah, for sure.  Good points.