How to defend against massive attacks on your home system

[Draco18s]

Or for laughs I could replace their "mine evasion" flag with a "is about as evasive as a cow" flag that makes them hit the entire minefield all at once

Here we observe the AI Carrier on the player's minefield:
http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/A-Bull-in-a-China-Shop-57223.jpeg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk_zpMory-0

[keith.lamothe]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk_zpMory-0

I'd actually thought of hunting up that link, yes.

But in this case the china shop is inbetween the bull and something that bull has direct orders to kill.

Collateral Damage.

[greyhoundgames]

This response may possibly go under, best answer ever to some random person on the internet who asked a complex question....
I read over everything you said, and its so amazingly clearly superior to what I was doing. These placement hotkeys are also great. I have only been playing AI war for a few weekends now so I have much to learn. The only bit I was not clear on is why do you have transports in your "kill zone" and do you tech the turrets or just settle for tier 1 in regards to filling the gaps in damage types. In my game I was lucky to get a bunch of turrets but I spread out a lot to get that so normally i probably would only have the tier 1s for the most part.

I had never even tried area mines. I will have to get them on my next match.

Thanks so much, and to the developer on this thread, thanks for making this game. I also make games(ios) and I appreciate what you have done here in terms of the technical side of it.

<Edit> My next game has an exo wormhole fairly close to my home base. Is this supposed to be possible? Can I milk this for free 50% scavenge the whole game or will it just end up being the death of me?

Here is another question. The math on the economic command station doesn't seem to pan out as long as you get to say 8 systems vs just spending it on better harvesters. Is there incentive to go down these command station tech trees? They are pretty pricey too.

[Aklyon]

Military stations, they are exceptionally useful. They shoot ships increasingly well, they get increasingly-better tach coverage, and they boost allied ships. And apparently they don't get affected by forcefields?

 Logisticals are better now that salvage is a thing, but I haven't used them that much. If you're considering getting economic stations, get harvesters first and then see if you actually need one of the higher-mark eco stations.

[greyhoundgames]

I often have way to little money early and too much late. So I tech the harvesters and then later have lots of income going to waste. Does this mean I should be throwing ships into fights more or something or is it typical to sit at max money (without traders at least to buy mega projects)

[Aklyon]

If you've built all your ships and still have lots of metal left, build merc ships.

[Winge]

<Edit> My next game has an exo wormhole fairly close to my home base. Is this supposed to be possible? Can I milk this for free 50% scavenge the whole game or will it just end up being the death of me?

Here is another question. The math on the economic command station doesn't seem to pan out as long as you get to say 8 systems vs just spending it on better harvesters. Is there incentive to go down these command station tech trees? They are pretty pricey too.

You must be playing against a Backdoor Hacker AI.  You will probably have to turtle up your Homeworld just to survive.  If you have Golems Hard, Spirecraft Hard, or Fallen Spire (sources of "Exo waves"), you are probably in trouble.  Otherwise, tank waves on your Homeworld and enjoy the salvage.

Economic command centers are not worth the cost.  Haven't been for a long time.  They need a buff; Kahuna and I have suggested better energy gains.  Military are the obvious choice, unless you have to deal with Teleporters (even then, Military might be better than Logistics--Military IIIs are amazing).