K looks like this thread and the Mantis issue were solved.
It seems that my ignorance of these new Guard Posts (they must have been added since the last time I played) combined with my incredible bad luck is what caused me so much concern.
1. I had played two 10 hour games prior to that, where the first AI Homeworlds attacked also had a Core Raid and CPA Guard Post (what are the chances), causing me to get frustrated and start over the game, upon realizing the force spawned was insurmountable.
2. In my current game, I was facing Zenith Autobomb spam, Spire Rams, and Gravity Drains, plus an uncanny number of EMP Guardians as well - A pretty nasty combination of units to be honest, especially when included in waves of over 2,000 MK3 and 4 units. This is what made it seem so overpowered.
3. I didn't realize that the Core Raid and CPA Guard Posts were random (like I said, I had never seen them before, and since I had seen them in 3 different games, I just assumed they seeded on every Homeworld). Upon further inspection, I understood that 1 Homeworld is devoid of this threat (*facepalm*).
4. I didn't know that the second time you trigger the CPA Guard Post, it sends practically nothing at you - because I had never survived the first wave lol.
So all of those factors combined made something seem extremely wrong, but now that I understand it a little better it's been very easy to handle. I realized I can just turtle into my base + chokepoints and send in a teleporting unit across the map to ignite the CPA. 30 minutes of defending later I'm in the clear.
Thanks for your help guys.
