With the 5.0 expansion, I finally decided to play real games instead of quitting 2 hours in.
On level 6 vanilla, I lost the first 2 games. Then on my 3rd try, I was on my way.
The first AI homeworld wasn't too bad (I had only around 130 AI progress just before that homeworld blew up). The guardpost that launched 120 100,000(?) hp damage beams every 6 seconds (I had to kill 4 or 5 of those) threw me for a loop, though. I really like the graphics of the beams, btw.
Then ridiculous waves started coming in. I was able to hold those off while beginning my push on the final AI home a couple hours later. Then I had a 3100 ship CPA! Oh come on!!
After diluting that some (with help from the devouring golem) and seeing that the remaining CPA ships lost heart and loitered, I resumed my attack on the homeworld.
Even though the homeworld threw some cheese at me with the cockroach guardpost thing (I was like, "...da f*%k!!"), I beat it. So exciting, my first win!!