defending your empire's borders: what do you do?

[Will]

Large satellite stacks on warps, concentrated around the choke-points first, then all warp points within my space. Rotate older satellites out to the borders, and have newer designs produced both on borders and deep inside.

Big fighter stacks (usually 100), and several carriers dedicated solely to ferrying fighters from one system to the next. A few of these are usually enough (with satellites) to repel any AI attack.

Small fleets (no more than 15 ships) attacking targets of opportunity wherever possible. I've taken to putting a cargo container on ships and keeping some troops in them, and setting secondary strategy to capture planet.

Larger fleets always available to go into an enemy system, seal off with fighters and satellites, and proceed to destroy all enemy units and capture all planets.

Several BSY's in the core always producing ships, mothballing when they're completed. Just lost some ships? Unmothball the older designs and send them off as replacements.

[TerranC]

Originally posted by Stone Mill:
--The AI never really figures out mines.

That doesn't apply when fighting against TDM AI. Why? every ship is a minesweeper.

[Rojero]

So whats the point in having minesweepers?
Never played the TDM ...

[TerranC]

Originally posted by Rojero:
So whats the point in having minesweepers?
Never played the TDM ...

Having a specialized ship is more effective and efficient rather than having a fleet of mediocre minesweeping/attack ships.

[Master Belisarius]

Originally posted by TerranC:

quote:

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Originally posted by Stone Mill:
--The AI never really figures out mines.

That doesn't apply when fighting against TDM AI. Why? every ship is a minesweeper.

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I don't think it's true for all the races...
Most of the best races have attack ships without minesweepers, but include an offensive ship design that works as sweeper.
The advantage, is that the AI include these designs into the fleets... then, the AI will have fleets with minesweeper capabilities.
Using the AI these kind of designs, after some point the mines became less effective against the AI (only with 2 of those ships, could clean a minefield with 100 mines).

[Stone Mill]

True, I admit the TDM does better, as you say.

But when you start breaking the AI down, I found that I can constantly replenish minefields, and they will constantly bash ships against them for losses.

In this way, you can whittle them down constantly. Now, in certain areas where the AI comes with decent fleets, the mines will be swept. But that is no reason not to fill 'em right up again after you take care of that fleet. There is no guarantee the next fleet (or ship) will have minesweepers. The AI does not think like a human in this manner.

[Master Belisarius]

Originally posted by Stone Mill:
The AI does not think like a human in this manner.

For sure you're right!!
But if the AI have game bonus (specially with high), think the AI can compensate their lack of mind and go over the human player's planets just using the "force brute".
At least in my games with small galaxies and high AI bonus, after the 40 first turns the mines over the warp points and/or planets, doesn't helped me so much to stop them.
Like with the humans, the mines works great in the early game... but think late in the game are less effective against good AIs.

[Taera]

Here are some thoughts i can offer:
First and most importantly - as someone (Sun Tzu?) said, best defense is offense. Your systems will be well defended if nothing is coming on them.
Now i know it is difficult to mount a sizeable assault fleet againt bonused AI's and it is extremly difficult to overrun it with earlier attacks but a planet here and planet there is still a loss - of the colony, its production, colony ship and ~0.2 years of construction, plus time for movement. For that my favorite is a destroyer/lc armed solely with PN, rad bomb and a plague bomb. Nasty little thing, leaves a colony completely useless. put ECM, stealth and scattering armor on it, plug in some ressuply storages and/or solar panels and add in a solar sail.

Now for passive defenses, for one - have you tried using the crippling weapons? a single hit from a shield distruptor (say, massive mounted ) can realy leave a ship helpless. Same with a well-shot ID or even tachyon projector.
Then if your the defender you need to work for bigger numbers - torpedoes, WMG, NSP, even GH or some heavy racial weapons. It does not matter how large the reload time if you wont need to reload. Remember, you get the first shot and you start up close - so its a likely hit, and weapons like GH or WMG can be nasty in WP defense.
Something to consider is constructing a BSY on top of the WP and making it build sats, and set it to "launch sats, repeat order". Make it well-shielded and here you go. Or better, build three of these. You get the point.

Overall being stuck on the defense is a dead end - because while your not, the enemy continues to develop and expand, and unless it is finite resources even superior fleets that you put there will be overrun by the sheer numbers that a medium/high bonused AI can produce.

My 2 cents

[Stone Mill]

Originally posted by Master Belisarius:

quote:

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Originally posted by Stone Mill:
The AI does not think like a human in this manner.

For sure you're right!!
But if the AI have game bonus (specially with high), think the AI can compensate their lack of mind and go over the human player's planets just using the "force brute".
At least in my games with small galaxies and high AI bonus, after the 40 first turns the mines over the warp points and/or planets, doesn't helped me so much to stop them.
Like with the humans, the mines works great in the early game... but think late in the game are less effective against good AIs.

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Well said. If there is anyone that has experience with AI behavior... it is certainly you, M_B!