How do you pick your enemy?

I usually pick the enemy that's being the biggest jerk. That is, ones that are extorting stuff from other races or trying to do so from me. Usually, I launch a very fast assault force which includes spore ships. I beeline for their planets and destroy the defenses, then quickly use the sporeships. Sometimes, if I plan it right, I can take out an entire race in one turn.

I usually wait for them to attack me,,, and or wait for the dominant AI to consume other races and become strong enough that they WILL attack me because i am so weak in comparison.

I do that beause it is a way of making the game more challenging without bumping up the difficulty level.... since an increase in difficulty late game is much more fun than an increase in difficulty from day one!

Really depends on the game and what race I am playing. If I am going heavy research from the get go playing as most any race I will wait for someone to attack me then go full out ship building and steam roll them with my superior tech in a month or two. If I am playing as the Altarians I like to just smash minor civs until someone attacks me and then of course half the galaxy turns on them and they are free food for me. It usually only takes two or three dead minor civs for someone to get cocky and since this is pretty early in the game most majors are leaning neutral and join my side. If I am playing as the Yor I kill whoever is closest quickly and try to make sure everyone else is at war with someone first so they don't come to aid and then I wait a few weeks and move my fleet to take the guy on the other side of me. If I am Terrans I like to avoid war until I can influence my way to supremacy but if someone is getting stomped I will jump in and get some of their planets before they fold or have their agressor attacked by everyone I can buy into the war this way I don't really have to fight until I can take everyone on. I don't play Drengin much but the few times I did I just made war with all the minors as soon as I had all the invasion techs and used my massive dominator force to quickly dispatch everyone nearby while I researched better weapons and hulls. It was kind of a cheesy way to win though and I doubt it would work on a larger map, I think it was medium map size? I don't really play Korath either but I have a custom spore race where I end colonization really early and just spore my way to an early lead. Its kind of risky since usually four or five civs declare war on me as im finishing off my first target but I can get a massive lead early on and if I can make peace with all but one of my attackers I am good till I can upgrade my ships and start building transports instead of spore ships.

Hi!

First target: weakest & close (I go for a fast kill, usually it's a race without military, taken in 1-3 turns with some single weapon fast cargo ships and troop transports). If there are other non-militarized AIs, I go after them next.
Next targets:
- If I'm strong enough, I attack the closest bully (ususally Drengin, Korath or Yor).
- If I'm not, I incite war among bulies and after they lose some military, attack the losing side.
- If I can't incite war among them, I try to incite war with bully and my strong neighbour, and attack him after he loses some military.

In any case I go for a quick kill - the war shouldn't last more than 5 turns, else I risk surrender to some other civ, or "war has expanded" event. This approach takes serious preparations: gatering info on target, placing econ starbases to extend range (and lately support production), counter-designing his ships, placing proper amount of troop transports and ships to his border and rear area. When I actually attack, I go for his planets, not fleets. This way he still has good military score, and doesn't surrender too fast, despite losing a half of his empire in one turn.

BR, Iztok

Whoever I can reach the fastest with my transports. I'm an impatient emperor, I want some new planets now. NOW NOW NOW I said

Thank you for the response guys! Very informative. Especially Iztok gave some nice insights. I hope some other players join this discussion. Do you guys attack enemies from different angles or just one frontal approach? Do you escort your transports? Do you attack enemies with similar military rankings? What do you consider a weak and strong target? Where do you build up your armada?

Usually, even more so in the later stages of the game, I have far superior fleets. When I attack, I try to get about one fleet for each planet my enemy has, bring them in position and quickly destroy all fleets my enemy has. After that I'll send in the transports.

However, I usually make the same mistake, I leave my planets and transports totally undefended. I'm working on improving that though
The problem with that are enemy transports and enemy fleets which somehow manage to escape my attackers, or are donated from other AIs friendly to my enemy.

The military rating doesn't say much about the strength of an enemy, it's more like the strenghs of his individual fleets compared to mine. Furthermore, soldiering rating is what makes an enemy strong.

I almost never attack anyone. Usually my game goes like this:

I research all kinds of social/research/trade/moral techs. I trade tech with minor races so that I have SOME weapons when I get attacked. I pay off most races that try to get money from me.

When it seems like i'm not going to be able to hold off an AI, i try to pay off another race to attack them. then i put my sliders to 100% social, until most of my building projects are finnished (sometimes I abort some of them). Then do another trade for the best weapons I can get.....start building defensive units based on the weapon/def type of my soon-to-be-enemy. If I have good production, i will make a quick military starbase to enhance my most important plaents and economy star bases.

Then I let him attack!!! I hold them off defensively, while going after the troop transports. When the first major wave is over, I research the invasion techs. Usually during that the second, weaker wave of attack comes. Sometimes I lose a planet or two in these attacks, but by that point my economy is so good...due to early social/moral/trade research, that I can outright buy troop transports. I quickly take back my planets and fortify them with stronger ships.

By this time he has much lower populations and economy than when he started attacking me. I go after him and take over. Usually another civ wil jump in and take some of their planets as well....and my enemy will surrender. This might not be the best outcome, but it serves me well.

Because of my defensive tactics, "micro repair bots" is always a priority for me, both for ships and star bases.

ALWAYS attack the Drath first (if you are playing DA).

I had one game where I left them alone, and in the space of five turns the managed to get about 13 races (major and minor) to declare war on me. Every game I play with them they are a nightmare (unless you ally with them).

Pooff that's very defensive man! Are you sure you want to go down that road again? Is it fun actually to play this way?

I rarely go to war unless a race is becoming too big of a threat to ignore (Like the Altarians were in my current game - if i left them alone, I would literally have the entire galaxy against me if things went south.) and the AIs i have paid off to attack them are getting whooped, or a race attacks a weaker race that doesnt act like a backstabbing bastage to me. I rarely go to war solo, however, since 99% of the time whoever is a threat can usually annihilate me in a straight up fight. When I do fight, I will send my nearest fleets to their almost guaranteed deaths while i pull back my heavy and huge ships to planets, then start pumping out light & heavy fighters. I usually lose 2 fleets for every 1 of theres, but it doesnt make much of a difference since they are so expendable.

When i am not at war, i build fleets with just weaponry and no defences. I will build fleets consisting of at least 2 weapon types, half and half in each fleet.

At some point, it will become fairly easy to predict which race will be declaring war on me, at that point i will start building ships with appropriate defences. Usually i will not upgrade older ships... mainly because it is impractical because of the 20' economic penalty,,, you just cannot save up enough money for majour fleet upgrades.

I never said I wasnt a wimp! hehe

I just play a more diplomatic game. What I've been trying to do lately is be diplomatic, but stay strong enough to then attack all the friendlies and win. Usually I'm a little too week and I have to ally with somoene for the diplomatic victory.

ok