Help cure my analysis paralysis

[Fluffiest]

So, I've returned to AI war after a long, long period of not playing it, and I'm trying a nice gentle base-game-only 6/6 against an Entrenched Homeworlder and a Fortress Baron. I seem to be doing ok, I'm within striking range of the homeworlds and I've scouted almost the entire map, but I'm finding myself unable to to decide what to do next.

AIP is at 114 (really should be 110, but I've been killing special forces posts), and I think all the data centres are dead (although there might conceivably be one on the 1-2 unexplored planets between Vardoorcen and Terror). I seem to recall AIP should be around 200 before staging an attack on the homeworld, because with Lazy AI off, low AIP doesn't make the HW attacks all that much easier.

I've captured four of the ARSs, obtaining Shield Bearers, Bulletproof Fighters, Teleport Raiders, and a choice of Tachyon Microfighters, Snipers, or Parasites (I carried out the hack and capture immediately before coming here, and haven't actually selected which ship type I want to go for). I have Vorticular Cutlasses as my starting ship, and I've captured mkV fabricators for Tachyon Microfighters, Vorticular Cutlasses, and Zenith Starships; plus an Advanced Factory. I've unlocked mkIII bombers and cutlasses, mkII shield bearers, frigates and scouts, mkI Heavy Beam Cannons and Hardened Forcefields, and I have 22,000 knowledge left to spend.

I've gate-raided pretty extensively - only the three worlds that link to Ios-Ra can still launch waves at me, and that world is pretty heavily defended.

The worlds with something I might want to capture are marked with the green priority numbers from 3-5, with 3 being least interesting.
Nu-Japan has a Raid Starship V fabricator.
Enan's Profit has a Space Plane V fabricator.
New Dubai has a Starship Constructor IV.
Gorvinmich has a Laser Gatling V fabricator.
Rainbow has a Sniper V fabricator.
Yogin has a Teleport Raider V fabricator.
Bakiller has a Starship Constructor IV and is slightly closer to the AI homeworld on Quintus than my current staging area.
Blasphemy has a MLRS V fabricator and is slightly closer to the AI homeworld on Terror than my current staging area.
Erasto has an ARS.
Isca has a Raider V and Plasma Siege Starship V fabricator.
Harcourt has one of the remaining D-network CSGs, and is very, very easy to capture and hold, since I've already neutered it.
Lineback also has a D-net CSG, and provides a handy stepping-stone to capturing Erasto, but is very well defended with a Superfortress.
The other D-net CSGs are in pretty worthless positions (Burnein, Lacklaw, Jerrod) or actively foolish to take (Xinar).

The AI has Shield Bearers, Munitions Boosters, MLRSs, and has recently unlocked Vampire Claws and Infiltrators. I'm worried about those last two. I've taken a peek at the homeworlds: Terror doesn't look too bad (Fortress II, Fortress III, Ion II, pair of FF Vs covering the command station and the larger Fortress, one Neinzul spawner guard post), while Quintus is frankly intimidating (Core Threatening Eye, mkIII fortress lurking under two FF Vs next to the command station, three Neinzul Spawner posts - one with a FF V and one hiding practically underneath a Zenith Fortress - Ion II, core missile GP under a FF V...). I know this is nothing next to the kind of things Ancient Shadows can throw at you, but I don't have any superweapons at all and I think this is going to be brutal.

I'm currently leaning towards capturing Lineback and Erasto, then abandoning them - I really don't need the resources, and I'd rather not blow up more warp gates than necessary.

The Starship constructor on Bakiller is an obvious target, and it's really lightly defended. However, I haven't spent ANY knowledge on starship unlocks yet, and I might be better off sticking to fleetships at this stage.

Oh, and a CPA was launched immediately before taking the screenshot, if you're wondering where all that threat is.

So... advice? Any of those targets seem particularly tempting? Is it worth taking the Star Con IV even though I'd have to spend a lot of K to get any use out of it? Would I really benefit from getting 1 hop closer to the coreworlds?

[Kahuna]

At the beginning of the game I would have captured Risav and Sudo to protect Murdoch (your homeworld) from CPAs. I'd have made those take all the waves (whipping boys). About 33% of turrets to Risav, 33% to Sudo and the rest would be saved for beachheading.
Anyway..
Looking at the Galaxy Map you seem to be in a good spot to attack the AI Homeworlds. All you have to do anymore is to get rid of the CSGs and destroy the AI Homeworlds. But before this use the left over Knowledge. Use the Knowledge to fix your biggest problem(s).. whatever the problem might be.. offense, defense, mobility, stealth, CPAs, Exos(powerful high health ship/targets). You should also predict what might become a problem as the AIP raises.

How should you destroy the AI Homeworlds? Well. You could try starting the attack immediately after CPA. Immediately after CPA because some of the CPA ships are taken from Special Forces and Core Reserves. So when you attack the Core planets your life will be a bit easier. If possible neuter Jotunheim and Vader/Amadan without beachheading. If it's not possible then capture Igoboom and Bakiller 4/Xinar/Bagoor and beachhead and neuter Jotunheim and Vader/Amadan. After that destroy the homeworlds. Beachhead if you have to.

Here's an example of a small beachhead. (ignore the upper screenshot)


EDIT:
I just made a better example of a beachhead. This is me hacking a Super Terminal.


^^It's basically a whipping boy. (This is a whipping boy)

[Tridus]

AIP is at 114 (really should be 110, but I've been killing special forces posts), and I think all the data centres are dead (although there might conceivably be one on the 1-2 unexplored planets between Vardoorcen and Terror). I seem to recall AIP should be around 200 before staging an attack on the homeworld, because with Lazy AI off, low AIP doesn't make the HW attacks all that much easier.

What happens now is every core post you destroy increases the AIP floor by 10, so it very quickly pushes the floor up without really raising AIP itself (the home command stations do that). So yeah, it's worth it to already have enough that the floor increase itself won't cause your effective AIP to go up.

I've captured four of the ARSs, obtaining Shield Bearers, Bulletproof Fighters, Teleport Raiders, and a choice of Tachyon Microfighters, Snipers, or Parasites (I carried out the hack and capture immediately before coming here, and haven't actually selected which ship type I want to go for). I have Vorticular Cutlasses as my starting ship, and I've captured mkV fabricators for Tachyon Microfighters, Vorticular Cutlasses, and Zenith Starships; plus an Advanced Factory. I've unlocked mkIII bombers and cutlasses, mkII shield bearers, frigates and scouts, mkI Heavy Beam Cannons and Hardened Forcefields, and I have 22,000 knowledge left to spend.

Parasites are going to be pretty lame in a HW assault since core stuff is immune to reclamation.

Plasma Siege Starship V's are pretty awesome. The Starship Constructor is great because mk IV Starships are quite powerful, and really handy if you need to pack a lot of firepower into a small ship count (say to deal with Eye worlds). I'd go for those personally, sounds like you have enough fleet ships already.

The Starship constructor on Bakiller is an obvious target, and it's really lightly defended. However, I haven't spent ANY knowledge on starship unlocks yet, and I might be better off sticking to fleetships at this stage.

I wouldn't agree with that necessarily, some of the Starships are really effective. Higher mark Flagships boost your fleetship attack power, higher mark Raid Starships are missile immune, higher mark Neinzul Enclaves spawn their own little drone armies, the Spire Starship line packs serious DPS against stationary targets, etc. There's quite a lot to like in that line.