Offense vs. Defense

[TechSY730]

Are you a more offensive or defensive focused player? Consider your OVERALL game strategy, not your per planet or per game stage strategy. Note that there is no balanced option and there is no depends on the situation option. That is because what is a balanced offense:defense ratio is too hard to define, and thus would skew the results.
If you don't have a strategy that remains more or less consistent with offense:defense focus through the whole game, don't vote. Instead complain about the poll.

Note that the offensive option covers both BRUTE FORCE BLOB PUSHES and careful deep strike raids, despite the fact they are very different attack styles.

Also, the offensive option does not mean you won't use turrets, but rather you don't take the time and resources to build a bunch of turrets and thus they are not your primary defensive method.

[TechSY730]

Reset the vote count because I changed the first option some. Sorry about that.

[Panopticon]

I love all of the defensive options that AI War gives, so I spend a decent amount of time creating a core of fortress worlds around my Homeworld. I'll abandon a planet in place if it doesn't offer any long term strategic value either, rather than expend any resources on defending it. If I need it later, I can always recolonize.

I guess I really enjoy watching the AI break its teeth on my defenses.

[chemical_art]

Going to complain about the poll, because so far I am finding success with preemptive attacks. Preemptive attacks that always leave my defenses strained but not broken. Essentially my defenses wait out the enemy till I smack you back offensive wise.

Actually, that seems very offensive. There's my vote.

[Sunshine!]

I tend to be a very aggressive player.  I have a couple well defended planets, but it's only a priority so long as it has some semblance of maintaining my borders and keeps my home planet safe.  I don't care so much about AIP, generally maintain contiguous borders, aggressively neuter and gate raid surrounding AI planets, hijack as many AI implements as I can get my hands on (including golems), and take measures to keep AI threat down through launching my own frequent border incursions on AI attack groups and the like.

[TechSY730]

Going to complain about the poll, because so far I am finding success with preemptive attacks. Preemptive attacks that always leave my defenses strained but not broken. Essentially my defenses wait out the enemy till I smack you back offensive wise.

Actually, that seems very offensive. There's my vote.

I'm going to agree with you and say that preemptive attacks and keeping turrets on your planet to clean up any ships that manage to slip through is an offensive tactic. Good catch though, I didn't consider that case.

[Sonorus]

I am a very defensive player. (I've only played one game, and not even finished it at that, but 14 hours is plenty of time to recognize your play style.)  This ends up leading my game taking way longer than it should, as I am constantly doing things like draining my economy trying to get a SuperFortress built on my homeplanet, and also pulling my fleet back to defend against waves.  (Okay, I admit, the SuperFortress is just for the lulz.) I can't seem to defend adequately with just turrets.  I know I should gate raid all but one warp gate, so I can concentrate turrets there, but there's a couple problems with that.

First, one of my AI's happens to be the type where it builds a black hole machine on every freaking planet.  This is very annoying to deal with, as I can't just destroy them or it gives +10 AI progress.  It means any warp gate raid is a one way trip for the ships that are raiding.

Secondly, ships keep streaming into my planets that I don't have warp gates near.  I know in theory I can defend those with just a few turrets here and there, but the ships are often mark III and IV, and the few turrets I can spare is not enough to defend all my planets.

So, my fleet often is sticking around helping to defend instead of off attacking.  It seems like I just send my fleet into a planet, ready to take it out, when a warp is called full of Zenith Bombards on an inadequately defended planet, and my fleet is stuck where it is because of a black hole machine. 

[TechSY730]

I am a very defensive player. (I've only played one game, and not even finished it at that, but 14 hours is plenty of time to recognize your play style.)  This ends up leading my game taking way longer than it should, as I am constantly doing things like draining my economy trying to get a SuperFortress built on my homeplanet, and also pulling my fleet back to defend against waves.  (Okay, I admit, the SuperFortress is just for the lulz.)

Once you finish that superfortress, you can be pretty much assured your home will be safe.

Just don't forget the rest of the game while you are building it up though.

[BobTheJanitor]

First, one of my AI's happens to be the type where it builds a black hole machine on every freaking planet.

Ah yeah, the one-way doormaster. That's going to change anyone's strategy. You should probably play another game with some more standard AIs because some of the harder ones can really drastically change how the game plays. Doormaster is one, and the Scorched Earth AI is another. Every AI type is a different game, really. Sometimes I'm still amazed by how many different games you can get out of this one game.

On topic, I'm very much an overly defensive player. Turrets around every wormhole, tons of tractor beams, force fields around everything. And I only tend to attack worlds with massively over-sized fleets that I'm guaranteed to win with. Quick strikes to take out one guard post at a time just ain't my style. If there were a way to defend yourself to victory, I would probably spend knowledge only on static defenses. Maybe I should go play defender mode more.

[Sunshine!]

One Way Doormasters are fantastic.  Steal all their planets, then steal (and scrap) all their black hole machines for money.  You don't incur AIP by scrapping black hole machines, and One Way Doormasters are seeded with double the data terminals of a normal AI type, so even with taking more planets you can still keep your AIP low-ish.

[zoutzakje]

I think I'm both offensive and defensive. probably a bit more offensive. I build turrets on most of my planets but not so much that they vaporize everything in no time. I build just enough to survive until my raiders arrive and save the day. I only build fortresses if there is really something important to defend or when I just can't be bothered to build just enough turrets, and never higher than mark 1 fortresses. If I got a few spare golems, leaving a golem on low power on some planet until a wave appears works fine too.
For offense I like using raiders a lot. killing datacenters 1 or 2 hops away has never been so easy. I also like using those spire starships really early in the game, despite their 7k knowledge cost and their huge impact on my economy. great for killing lots of enemy ships and for tricking hordes of enemy ships into following me back through the wormhole where my minefields and the rest of my fleet is waiting for them.
I don't use parasites and leech starships often.... I only use them when I have golems disabled... otherwise I just wait till I find a botnet golem somewhere. the amount of zombie ships a botnet golem can make in 10 seconds is insane.
I don't use cloacker starships often coz I don't like sneaking around lol. I only use warheads when they're nessecary (some1 correct me on the spelling there), but I will use warheads BEFORE I will use cloacking ships lol. (scouts are exception of course.... can't do without them).
I gave up on trying to beat every AI on every difficulty lvl, starting by 1... because 5/5 is just as easy lol. playing a 7/5 now... really looking forward to be able to play the higher difficulties, so that I really have to develop some serious strategies with both offense and defense (instead of just blobbing my fleet the whole time and randomly putting turrets here and there )

[Varone]

I voted defensive because i think that's what i am

Usually i would identify 3 choke points in the middle of the map. One at the bottom one in the middle and one near the top. I then neuter every single planet on my side and take the choicest planets. I then defend my 3 heavily defended chokepoints and launch incursions into the AI side of the map, neutering and taking a planet near the AI homeworld. Whilst my offensive worlds near the homeworlds will get overun occasionally my 3 heavily defended worlds are almost impenetrable. Black hole machines work well here combined with armor inhibitator. My homeworld has a large amount of sniper turrets and usually 1 golem as defence just incase something sneaks through. Viral shredders on my inner systems helps as well.

[Red Spot]

Voted defensive, should have pressed 'balanced' though.
I, at some point, will have some very reinforced planets. Full caps of Forts build, and most mk1 turrets build to their caps.
That said, once that is up, and that will not take that long in gameterms, I am brutally aggressive...

[TechSY730]

Voted defensive, should have pressed 'balanced' though.
I, at some point, will have some very reinforced planets. Full caps of Forts build, and most mk1 turrets build to their caps.
That said, once that is up, and that will not take that long in gameterms, I am brutally aggressive...

That is turtling, which I consider defensive. Notice the second part of defensive option, going on the attack after you defend heavily, which is exactly what you described.

[Red Spot]

I will be on the offensive before that a lot as well, but once I have some defensive perimeter set up I just turn nasty on the AI