The definition of insanity...

[superspeck]

80 planet map. I'm bottled up in two arms of the galaxy with a level IV planet that has 4,779 enemy units as the "gateway" to the rest of the free galaxy. (There are 18 planets in my "arm", and I've taken all of them.) AI progress is up to 330. I had to invest in some turret upgrades and there was only one Adv Research Ctr in my accessible area, so my selection of ships is a bit limited.

Even if I put all of my ships, all of my starships, and all of my transports through the wormhole, I barely scratch the surface of this monster level IV planet. I have Level III and IV fighters, raiders, and bombers. I have flagships and raid starships unlocked, as raiding was initially a great tactic... but this backfired eventually as I can't even get in the wormhole now before I go poof.

Besides "start over and don't get bottled up"... (wouldn't have been good advice in this case, as I had to battle through a half dozen level III planets until I could strike at the Level IV)... is there any suggestion on ways to break this blockade?

Hell, I can't even get scouts through it, at this point...

[superspeck]

Oh, and ... "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." 

[triggerman602]

can you post i save? i want to see how bad this actually is.

[superspeck]

Gimme a few, I just realized that I haven't tried with missiles yet.  I'd like to get it on my own. I'm a complete and total noob, but ... I was just looking for some things (i.e. -- missiles) that I didn't yet know to check.

Um, besides brute force and ignorance. Tried that one already.

[Rod Serling]

Well really, if you give us the full scope of everything going on, we could give you a great way to do it on your own, we're not offering to beat this part for you, just an opportunity to view the entire battlefield first hand.

Missiles, imo, are a bad idea. A last resort at best.

Example, in my current game I have a key defensive location that absolutely, under no circumstances, can fall. In preparation for it falling, I have a nuke strategically placed to buy me more time. If it comes to that, I know I'm already in a horrible spot however.

Missiles on the offensive makes the AI mad, and often doesn't achieve the effect you want, and really, can often make your entire situation worst, or lose the game for you outright right there. None of these being a good solution.

Let us take a look, we might have a different perspective that could give you a good hand.

[Lancefighter]

Keep in mind that once you get by that single world, every other plant is ludicrously easy comparatively. I say hit it with missiles, either emp and blow the shit out of it, or light it up with a nuke and move on?

If really moving in a combined arms assault doesnt work, just blow the shit out of it (NUKE FROM ORBIT muhahaha ) and move on

[Atrieus]

Transports can solve your issue in a couple of ways.

First note that the AI will abandon reinforcement points and chase transport indefinitely. 

First method.

Take 5 or so empty transports. (Also works weel with 5 or so Raid StarShips)
Thru the wormhole, send them away from the centre as far as you can.
  Most of the enemy AI vessels will give chase.  Seeing as they are mostly slower, they wills string out and separate by speed.
In about 60 seconds or so, send thru your main force.
Clear wormhole, send in mobile builder and reinforcements.
Setup Defense and start terminating guard posts, special ops, etc...
Kill Comd Station, be prepared for all vessels in system to attack your beachhead.

Second Method

Take 10 or so transport, load them with vessels.
Go thru the WormHole
Move to a location outside of turret range, disembark all vessels
Kill any free roaming AI vessels
Secure Wormhole
Send in mobile builder and reinforcements.
Setup Defense and start terminating guard posts, special ops, etc...
Kill Comd Station, be prepared for all vessels in system to attack your beachhead.

Atrieus

[superspeck]

I got frustrated last night about 2am, started the map over, and since I name my games by the date i start them I accidentally saved over the old one without thinking about it because I was up so late. Sorry. IRN00B. >.<

The map seed was 1972656250. You can see the tactical POV. I think my problem was making poor choices with my knowledge points.

[Draxis]

Dont be afraid to use missiles - Me and a buddy were probably going to lose the map we were on, 4 nukes later, we were killing the last AI command station.

[Doddler]

I thought the cap on planets was 4000!  I guess I heard wrong.  I've been hoping that they make AI reinforcements cap at a certain level based on AI progress, but for now it's pretty easy to get stuck if you let them build up too much too early in the game.

Anyways if it's not actually an AI homeworld, you should be able to EMP, or even Nuke the place if you have to.  EMP raiding works on almost any non homeworld system, send in EMP, sneak something fast in while everyones asleep and blow up the command post, pray that you can handle the bazillion ships that come back at you.  It means you can fight on your turf instead of theirs, meaning any and all toys you have in place (jammers/inhibitors/etc) are fair game.  Still, 4700 Mk IV ships is scary as heck, it might be easier just to nuke the thing.

[Rod Serling]

Blowing the command post right off the bat is very risky. I much prefer to knock out two or three guard posts at a time with raptors so they trickle in, then once their force is cut down, take out the command post. Saves the trouble of being bum rushed by 4700 IV's

[Awod]

I don't mean to hi-jack the thread but I also need some advice on this subject.

It's my first time playing against lv. 7 AIs so I've tread lightly and have been playing it off and on for some time now. I'm 11 hours in and have only found 1 AI homeworld which is very far from any base I have established thus far.

I currently have a IV scout at one AI homeworld and think the other homeworld is at Mejifi, not sure if I should move the scout to check or not. There's a lot of IV worlds on that path so my other scouts can't seem to get by.

Here's where the problem arises though, to get to either AI homeworld I have to pass many IV worlds and/or regular worlds covered in ion cannons, orbital mass drivers and other evil abominations. And frankly, I have no idea how to approach this. So any help would be appreciated.

To give a brief overview I have most of my fleet at Murdoch because that's where I was last active at, 2 worlds nearby had some important facilities. My homeworld is Robul - Nitro and Miow are the major planets (connected to a lot of others) I control. I also have some screens and a save below.

[Draco18s]

Here's where the problem arises though, to get to either AI homeworld I have to pass many IV worlds and/or regular worlds covered in ion cannons, orbital mass drivers and other evil abominations. And frankly, I have no idea how to approach this. So any help would be appreciated.

Transports.  A transport can travel through up to 7 enemy systems and still have positive health.  Given the distance between you and the AI homeworld, you should be able to assault it directly from your closest base.  If the distance is more than 5, you might want to find a midpoint, take it, drop down a command center, let your transports repair themselves, then keep going and eat the 15 AI progress for a destroyed command station.

[Velox]

Here's where the problem arises though, to get to either AI homeworld I have to pass many IV worlds and/or regular worlds covered in ion cannons, orbital mass drivers and other evil abominations. And frankly, I have no idea how to approach this. So any help would be appreciated.

Transports.  A transport can travel through up to 7 enemy systems and still have positive health.  Given the distance between you and the AI homeworld, you should be able to assault it directly from your closest base.  If the distance is more than 5, you might want to find a midpoint, take it, drop down a command center, let your transports repair themselves, then keep going and eat the 15 AI progress for a destroyed command station.

     (Just for pedantry's sake, it'll be 20 AIP - the warp gate will autodestruct when the command station goes down.)

[Draco18s]

Here's where the problem arises though, to get to either AI homeworld I have to pass many IV worlds and/or regular worlds covered in ion cannons, orbital mass drivers and other evil abominations. And frankly, I have no idea how to approach this. So any help would be appreciated.

Transports.  A transport can travel through up to 7 enemy systems and still have positive health.  Given the distance between you and the AI homeworld, you should be able to assault it directly from your closest base.  If the distance is more than 5, you might want to find a midpoint, take it, drop down a command center, let your transports repair themselves, then keep going and eat the 15 AI progress for a destroyed command station.

     (Just for pedantry's sake, it'll be 20 AIP - the warp gate will autodestruct when the command station goes down.)

I was actually referring to the 15 AI progress from losing the system after you take it.  So 35 AI Progress to have a temporary stop-over.