Yeah BHM's cost AIP on death, but you seem to forget that you don't have to kill them. Just capture the planet and the BHM is yours.
I'm not forgetting anything.
Where ever you go AIP will basically increase by 10*hops. Capturing the planet would increase the AIP even more (by 20). Sure Raid Starships are immune to BHMs but you can't destroy AI Homeworld with only Raid Starships.
To get to the AI Homeworld I'd have to destroy 9 BHMs. To get to the other AI Homeworld I'd have to destroy 3 or 1 depending on which route I choose. My homeworld-->ai homeworld = 3. If I take the long way.. which is partly the same way as the way to the other AI Homeworld.. 1. That's a minimum of +100 AIP just because of moving from place to place. That's as much as destroying an AI Home Command Station and that's only 1 One-Way Doormaster AI
(Orange (The black one is Stealth Master)). In addition to that capturing all 4 ARSs I'd
have to
destroy 8 BHMs. That's +80 AIP. =+180 AIP just from moving around. It would probably be half impossible to win One-Way Doormaster with CSGs turned on (On difficulties ~9+). I've won One-Way Doormaster long time ago but that was 7 or 8 diff.
The other AI which
forces you to increase AIP is the Raid Engine
(Neinzul Nest things can be ignored). By far
the most brutal AI combo is One-Way Doormaster and Raid Engine. I'm about as "scared" of One-Way Doormaster as Raid Engine.