Neutering AI homeworld

[mindloss]

Seems like given the huge AIP hit, the best strat would usually be to neuter the first AI homeworld as much as possible, then only go back and finish it off once you're ready to take both. I'd think the drawback of the small continued spawn of MkV ships on that planet is more than offset by not having everywhere in the galaxy ramp up. Does anyone take this approach by default?

[x4000]

Note that normally neutering a planet reduces the planetary ship cap substantially, which is why it is so effective.  That effect is miniscule by comparison on the AI homeworlds, so you'll be fighting almost as large a force, but concentrated all around the command station instead of spread out.  I don't think neutering is the way to go.

[mindloss]

Yes, but I find the hard part about taking the homeworlds isn't the swarms of badass ships... it's the even more badass guardposts that you have to take out. I figure if you take out all of the guards, all of the force fields... actually coming back in and killing the naked command center should be pretty easy, even if there are a thousand ships swarming around (kamikaze run... think final battle in Ender's Game )

[x4000]

Yep, that would certainly work.  And indeed, "the enemy's gate is down" was the primary influence on how I designed the original AI homeworlds for this game.   It's morphed a lot since then, but still.

[mindloss]

Yeah, I love using "It's like the buggers!" when describing this game to people, especially since I know that was partially your intent.

But about wormhole guardposts:

1) Does each one in a system raise the ship cap for that system?
2) Does each one in a system raise the number of spawned ships during a reinforcement to that system?

i.e., if I take out all the wormhole guardposts on said AI homeworld, am I just shooting myself in the foot, or would it trim the numbers some...

[x4000]

For the wormhole guard posts, the answer to both questions is affirmative.  However, for a homeworld, the answer to the first question is actually no, unlike for other planets.