It prevents your empire from crumbling just because the AI managed to take your good planets.



Economy worlds. High population, morale structures, and lots of economy structures help produce large amounts of money. It might be worth considering making your homeworld an economy world. The civ capital provides many benefits, large population, higher base morale, strong base industry to help build it up quicker, etc.



I use larger ships. They have more room for defensive parts than smaller ships. I prefer to have ships strong enough to survive every battle, rather than having to replace ships after every battle.

I tend to keep my fleet composition of 3-5 ships of whatever hull size I'm currently using. Anything more, and I'm probally wasting money on defenses. The 100+ defense only favours the ship being attack, not the ones being ignored. You still have to pay for those defenses in terms of production, and upkeep.



I get serious about it after war is declared on me. Otherwise, I work on my economy, and ship designs until I'm ready to build a small, yet powerful fleet.

Thank you all for the comments. It's really helpful.

When I was talking about defenses I meant the starbases mostly. I mostly put starbases around the extent of my territory. Though in thinking lately I could also see just putting them where resources are and arming them... or also putting military starbases near key planet clusters so I need less ships to defend those planets throughout the game.

I always specialize every planet I have right from the beginning. If you read any of the strategy threads, this seems to be the overwhelming consensus of the optimal way to build.

I handle early game invasions, but not letting them happen to begin with. Dont let the transports make it to your world. I never fight a multiple front war, and almost always start a war on my terms and my time. Keep the galaxy in political chaos by inciting wars between your opponents. This will sow disension and occupy their military resources. I dont build any planetary defenses, but rather have strategically postioned fleets to intercept any interlopers. Id much rather have mobile defenders than static defenses. I almost never leave ships in orbit unless they are repairing.

Sentient species taste better...

Either way works, specialized or generic. One thing you need to consider is the number of habitables in your game. If each race only has a few planets, then losing one is a big deal. In a gigantic/abundant game with max habitables, you can lose a number and not worry about it, even if they're specialized. I play mostly gig/abun so my comments are oriented toward that.


I like to take advantage of what a planet has to offer. Higher class planets are my military production workhorses. Lower class planets are my money makers, but that's not always the case. Bonus tiles can determine whether a planet goes production or economy. I build a few research planets as well, but not too many. A planet with a lot of research bonus tiles may get all labs and a tech capitol, Research Coordination Center (DA), or Omega Research Center.


Build the biggest hull fighters I can. I run a balance of engines, defenses, and weapons, but defenses are a lower priority until I have a lot of defense tech. In DL I fleet them. The battle system does not favor fleets in DA so I run them solo in that game. Transports are cheap throw-aways consisting of a cargo hull with nothing but engines and a transport module. I do escort them with fighters sometimes, but not fleeted. My transports are totally defenseless otherwise. They totally rely on speed.


I don't defend them. I give them up because for every one they get, I can use that firepower to take 3 of theirs. Also, I try to intercept enemy transports with fast fighters before they can do any damage. Eyes of the Universe and scout ships are key for this.


I don't. Like I said, I use that firepower for offense. The thing is, the AI is pretty slow about taking planets. I can pretty much waste them before they can take enough of my planets to really hurt me.

Eyes on the Universe and scouts - good info - thanks

One other note, I do avoid early wars by working the diplomacy and military ratings pretty hard. That allows me to fight on my terms. However in DA, playing with the Drath messes that up because they're always inciting wars against you. You either need to take the Drath out of the game or make a special effort to waste them as early as possible. You can also disable super abilities, but that takes a lot of fun out of the game.

Eyes of the Universe ----- I haven't used it in a long time. With it, it seems that you constantly have to monitor the galaxy so that the AI doesn't sneak up on you.

Instead, I've been using scouts built on a cargo hull containing decent engines and loaded to the gills with my best sensors. Park them between you and the AI in guard mode. They will light up much of the galaxy and come alive when an enemy comes into view. You get a positive early warning of any incoming AI and can back off your scouts while constantly monitoring their movements. Haven't lost any scouts yet and they are a cheap alternative to the Eys of the Universe. They don't cost any maintenance either since they are unarmed.

Another type of ship I've found to be useful ---

This baby normally sits well behind the enemy lines.

I normally build this on a small or medium hull (depending on galay size). Equip it with the smallest weapon you have. Add enough life support for the amount of penetration you want and (maybe) some sensors to warn you if the AI is sneaking up on you while you are in guard mode. Then load it up with maximum engines because you want this thing to move. You don't care what it costs since you do not need many of these ships.

Park it behind the AI lines in guard mode and wait till you go to war. When at war use it to knock out the enemy's mining bases, miners, freighters, unguarded troop ships and other unarmed ships and starbases. You'll be coming up from behind causing considerable damage and its maxed out engines will allow you to outrun most any enemy persuit. Then go to a quiet area and throw it back in guard mode when you run out of targets.

You can build this ship on a cargo hull but then you may not survive an encounter with an armed troop ship or constructor. Also, to prevent it from becoming obsolete you can upgrade the ship as you uncover new technology. Just remember that this is a specialty ship so do not even think of engaging AI combat ships.