Lost my first game

[Tringle]

So my first game lasted a measly 2 and a half ours give or take. For the first 2 hours and 20 minutes of the game I thought the AI wasn't so clever (difficulty 7), I was just taking over planets at a very slow pace maxing out all of my ship caps.  But then out of no where the ai seemed like it forced me to attack a planet to move my forces away from my main base and then maintained a good battle at that planet then hit me when my main base was more or less undefended.
I only had 4 planets by the end of this, and maxed out all of my ship caps.... Is maxing out ship caps the wrong thing to do and how do I not alert the AI to my overwhelming presence?

Great AI! I feel really dumb now for thinking the AI isnt as smart as everyone says it is... I sure ate my words.

[DakaSha]

http://www.arcengames.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=AI_War_-_Choosing_A_Difficulty_Level#Is_The_Difficulty_Really_Constant_Throughout_A_Game_Of_AI_War.3F

Prob one of the most important articles for a beginner

[Winter Born]

Well maxing out your ship caps is not necessarily bad. The AI does punish errors, but thats how you learn

AI is always on alert next to your planets and next to large groups of ships.

Raid engines and the Eye can both cause streams of ships to appear if you trigger them

 

[Tringle]

When scouting is it best to scout as much as possible early on or does that make the AI aware of my devious beginnings?

loving the game so many options are available!!! 

[DakaSha]

nah you can scout. I'm pretty sure the AI planets get set to alert status when you are next to them.

Read the wiki

[Frozen Critical]

The AI Will Freak out(Get Alerted) if you Either :

1.Concentrate a Large force at a Planet next to them
2.Take over the planet next to them
3.Cut off their Supply Line

Otherwise , You can Scout all you Want , It's not like the AI's going to Pay Attention to a Unarmed Probe

[Spikey00]

(Glad you're enjoying the game; you'll figure out how the AI works gradually.  )

[Tringle]

Thanks for all the help, I'm about to start my second game. But this time i'm not going to go in thinking the ai isn't smart cause last time tat made me cocky lol.
I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!!!

[superking]

maxing out shipcaps is fine, but only if you have very low resources. if you have lots of resources, you should attack & rebuild constantly until you have low resources again. the AIP increases over time, AI planets reinforce over time, you gain resources over time... if you dont capitalise on your resources, you are letting the AI get one up on you.

[HellishFiend]

I always keep spare resources and ship cap available so I can scramble defenses whenever and wherever I need them. Havent lost a game since my very first one.