When you absolutely need hold that planet!

[Entrenched Homperson]

So I'm really enjoying this game. After playing around with all the buttons, if I where to go all out I would do this, cause it worked

What it needs:
Mark II Forcefields
Mines
Tractor Turrets
Other turrets

So I tested this on Doom with 2 sledgehammer and put them up to 110 AIP through cheats (Only 1 I used). It held pretty well, still went down after a while do to lack of expansion, but If you had a gateway system, this would be great!

Step 1: Build a circular path around the warphole there coming through. Fill this to the brim with mines. It will be a circular path of destruction.
  * Try to make the exit facing away from your Command Center, buys you a little time.
Step 2: Build turrets outside of the FFs still in range of the path.
Step 3: Use a "Gateway FF" to leave open the circular path so the AIs ships percieve an opening, here is where it gets tricky. When the AIs ships reach the exit of your path, close the "Gate" by moving the FF into position, the AI has just ran through 200 mines and ignored alot of your turrets/ships in an effort to rush you for nothing! This gives you a huge advantage when they eventualy break free (If they break free )

Try having a crapload of remains rebuilders and 50 engineers around. I did this with 2 caps of missile turrets  mark 1 and II, 2 caps of mark 1 and II forts, Heavy Ion cannons 3 Sniper turrets (Dang, there THAT expensive?) for raid starships which get REALLY irritating. Zenith Bombers to the rescue. (I really love that unit, alot of fun. Mini Starships! Yay!). Alot of firepower. I had to build a Zenith to power it all, and take 2 EXP, leaving me with a nice defense of 1 wormhole guarding 3 planets. I kept uping AIP till it keeled me >< But it was very effective!

What does you do in the dire straights of AI onslaughts??? (<--- Bad grammar for comedic purposes only. Not necessarily funny however. )

[BobTheJanitor]

In the normal game mode, heavy planet defenses are usually not something you use much. There are a lot of turrets and mines and other static defenses to use, but once you spread that over 20-30 planets by the end of a full game, they're stretched pretty thin. That said, defender mode might be more the game type to try this in, although I haven't really tried it out since getting creamed in it once. It's been rebalanced since then, so I guess I should really give it another shot.

[Suzera]

The trick with static defenses is to minimize how many planets you even put them on in the first place. You can even get away with having exposed somewhat-defenseless planets if you just take your fleet to clear out all the neighbors near them now and then.

[Entrenched Homperson]

I'm definatly eager to get my paws on Defender mode, I just have to get my lazy butt around to it. I'm onto my first home planet assault now... and it's not going well. I've even gotten and advanced lab, but I guess I'm going to have to prepare a bit more.

[BobTheJanitor]

Just remember that the AI doesn't rebuild. If you can go in and take out just one guard post per attack, and not die while you rebuild your forces for the next attack, you are still winning. It may take a while, but you're getting there.

[Entrenched Homperson]

I assume guard posts are where the AI spawns most of its vessals. Is this true? If so why can't I merely wipe out every guard post in the galaxy without destroying guard posts. This would allow me alot of time as far as AIP goes.

[BobTheJanitor]

You can wipe out all the guard posts but leave the command station (and possibly warp gate, possibly not) behind so that you don't have to get an AI Progress increase. Often this is a good tactic to use on a world that you don't want to take but is too close to strategically important worlds of your own that you're worried about reinforcements getting ugly on it. As long as you leave the command station though, the AI can still reinforce there somewhat, but not nearly as much as it could with all the guard posts still up. The reason you wouldn't want to do this for the whole galaxy is that it would take a ridiculously long time. I suppose you could do it if you wanted to, but while you are systematically wiping out guard posts, the AI is going to be putting those reinforcements somewhere. So it's going to become a longer and harder slog to wipe out each planet as you move forwards, until there's nothing left but the AI homeworlds... which have been reinforcing the whole time. Probably not going to be pretty at that point.

[Entrenched Homperson]

Ah, I see. So where do Alerted AI Planets come in? If I attack behind enemy lines, and even fail to destroy an target raising AIP, does that result in greater waves?

[BobTheJanitor]

I'm still relatively new at this myself, so I can't even say I'm 100% correct on my answers. As far as I know, though, wave size is going to get bigger and badder as the AIP gets higher. And waves, specifically, don't have anything to do with the numbers already on a planet. They get warped in by the warp gate directly to a wormhole on an adjacent planet. So they don't appear on the planet first, they just come straight out of the wormhole. Killing the warp gate on that planet stops it from being able to warp in any waves on nearby planets, but it doesn't stop it from getting reinforcements. Once the reinforcements on a planet get high enough, the AI may decide that it has enough firepower to take out your planet, and then it will just pop a fleet through the wormhole with no warning. And for a planet being on alert, that specifically means that the AI knows you have taken a planet next door, so it's feeding more reinforcements to that planet than it does to others. Planets can also go on a temporary alert status when you have ships there but don't have any planets nearby, so if you're fighting a deep strike somewhere the AI is also trying to add more reinforcements there when it can. If your ships all leave or die though, the alert status there will eventually clear. Planets that are adjacent to planets with no AI command station will stay permanently on alert, though.

[Red Spot]

Put an mk2 fort or 2 mk1 forts on any planet not directly in line with your homeplanet and you wont be seeing much hostilities from the AI. And when they do send in say 100 units, they get creamed, just leave 5-10 sniper turrets in a far corner to take down any bombers, just incase they do actually ever attack you with more than 3 bombers. (note that the AI seems more agressive towards attacking planets with fabricators/fabs)
Do stay on alert for cross-planet attacks, they tend to group everything on those adjacent planets and dump them on you all at once. 1800 mixed units is a bit to much for a mk2 fort, specially when your main fleet is fighting an other 2k mixed fleet 
(cleaning those planets out is also a bad thing as than everything will come in 1 big ball .... you dont really want that either ...)


Bob is right, couple of things to add.
When you nuke a planet, the adjacent planets go on alert, but the buildup like when you occupy the planet wont be there, at least not at the same degree. This can buy you time, just nuke planet A, dont colonize it so planet B wont reinforce, than nuke planet B ... and so on.
Some planets, perhaps all, but with some you will feel it, you will not get the desired effect when putting the planet on alert when having a large fleet next door ... I wont spoil the surprise 

[Entrenched Homperson]

I keep reloading the save. I'm getting creamed >< I stirred a planet thats neighybors with a level IV Planet. I found a way to micro the computer to death, but its a looooong. Slow. Grind. Even with 2 Spire, 2 Zenith, And all the flagships. Zenith Bombers Mark III and Zenith Beam Cruisers Mark II and 4 Mark 1 Forts. I got 2600 Mixed Mark IV, V and lots of guardians... UHHHHH. So much hurt.

I danced their forces by building 20 Colony ships on a bordering planet and building non stop bases, so they kept trying to focus kill them, even when they weren't built. After 3 hours and killing only about half the units with more reinforcements poring in, I activated a hellstorm of cheats. Which did nothing. The Armoured Golems got eaten by this army and my forts where overrun. I have 1500 Mark 1V Bombers and they still got to my homeworld and wiped me . And I never got to free my bordering Dyson Sphere.

So many things wrong with this day :****

Lol.