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[EnigmaticHat]

I actually managed to screw over my super colony, by getting an almost identical and slightly better planet further away.  This added about 5% to all my market shares, yet took vastly more upkeep.

Its okay tho, I found a solution.  I made two colonies out in deep space in a system with a ship containing millions of cryogenically frozen colonists.  The colonies' purpose is to unfreeze the colonists and also to have industries that use the inputs my two first colonies produce, without producing said inputs themselves.  The result is a highly populous market for the goods I was already making.

It would be interesting to make these kinds of decisions alongside an AI that was also colonizing.  Although then you might get to the issue that the system is slightly shallow, because from what I can tell each planet that exports can export infinite amounts of each good and each resource a planet imports can feed multiple buildings that need said resource.  On the other hand with NPC systems outside the core area, the accessibility system could be relaxed; right now the player has SO MANY options for increasing accessibility that it can get kind of silly.

[Zangi]

So... is there a limitation to an outpost spitting out fleets?

Subjugating Luddite Path outpost out in the boonies cause they are trying to be terrorists.  I'm trying to raid it first, but it keeps spitting out mid-sized fleets as soon as I down one and get near it. 
Either way, I can't smash it when it has escorts.

[Flying Dice]

By my knowledge every station type will endlessly produce patrols. What you want to do is go dark and wait until they all move away before you attack.

[Urist McScoopbeard]

that, although they may get smaller as you keep killing them. Not sure.

[Paul]

I managed to do an active sensor burst then went dark and flew around the other side. All the fleets went into search mode and I hit the station with no defenders. I have the sensor ability that doubles going dark effectiveness though, probably wouldn't have worked without that.

[EnigmaticHat]

I will say that I think increasing fleet size messes with game balance, and in particular it kind of kills the whole station = boss battle thing.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

That being said without increased fleet sizes I'm not sure how you're supposed to kill the nexus stations with the exception of a range boosted paragon.  Seems like a bit of a puzzle boss, its high intensity lasers make armor irrelevant and its inbuilt (AKA undestroyable) quad lasers make almost all forms of fighters and missiles... largely a symbolic gesture.
 Maybe the main cannons on an onslaught could do some damage, never had the pleasure of trying those out on a station.

[Zangi]

Hmmm... it does make easy work of a station when it is alone, but it also makes hitting a station with enemy escorts possible, so I'm cool with that. 

[Flying Dice]

Hmmm... it does make easy work of a station when it is alone, but it also makes hitting a station with enemy escorts possible, so I'm cool with that.

This. Fighting a station + full escort fleet is a lot of fun.

[Zireael]

Any Christmas discounts?

[Egan_BW]

Suppose I'd better PTW this.

[Blue_Dwarf]

Am I missing something, or are fleet battles a massive clusterfuck you can't really control? As in, neither the interface nor the available commands allow proper management of your fleet.

[Urist McScoopbeard]

Am I missing something, or are fleet battles a massive clusterfuck you can't really control? As in, neither the interface nor the available commands allow proper management of your fleet.

If you are trying to micro your fleet, then ya it can seem that way at first, especially before you get a bunch of command upgrades.

However, if you want a nice organized line of battle, then I suggest making liberal use of the escort command-- by designating only one ship to search and destroy and nesting your escorts like so:

frigate -> destroyer -> capital ship <- destroyer <frigate
*very roughly, obviously you can have a lot of nuance and fleet design than that.

You will find that for the most part (depending on a number of factors) your fleet will tend to sort itself out. Be aware that this usually slows battles down significantly as it essentially begins a long phase of maneuver warfare.

This in and of itself is already a pretty defensive battle plan, to go more aggressive you could have several separate sizable squadrons each operating on their own, however you can get even more defensive by not having any ship set to a search and destroy or engage order. For example:

  carrier x
x             carrier
  carrier x

where each carrier is escorting the next--then you daisy chain as many escorts to each carrier as possibly and you'll be left with a circular fleet cluster which will try to keep its space and engage opportunistically.

[EnigmaticHat]

I've found that the AI knows how to play surprisingly well.  I only interfere now when I really care about something.  So like if my fleet is outnumbered I'll usually give a move order behind a nebula so my fleet rallies and then once the enemy moves close to me I'll cancel the order, hopefully resulting in my ships being in normal space and the enemy ships being in a nebula.  I'll also occasionally order escorts, defend orders, micro having specific ships retreat.  Generally just let the AI do its thing.

My experience is that you want a lot of fighters and long range missiles/sabots, because the AI is really really good at not being killed by cannons, and pretty slow about killing other ships with cannons.  Sometimes both fleets will get locked in a cycle of advancing, exchanging fire and then retreating before permanent damage is dealt, usually if the weaker fleet is faster.  As long as you have the fighter advantage you'll win that kind of locked fight eventually.  Kind of like WW2 naval warfare I guess...

[Majestic7]

Hammerhead destroyers commanded by AI are actually pretty darn good at scoring kills, because they have the sweet spot of speed, endurance and firepower. But yeah, my fleets consist of carriers and brawling destroyers. My only bigger non-carrier ship is a Griffon, for the missile strike support. I'm annoyed about how close to enemy the AI carriers get, though.

[Nelia Hawk]

I'm annoyed about how close to enemy the AI carriers get, though.

hmm experiment with the fleetcomposition agressiveness orders... on that one screen where you can build ships there a tab for fleetcomposition or so.. and i think the agressiveness set there also counts for your fleet ai ships. not 100% sure though....  so maybe setting it more defensive in there might help keep your carriers away.

also not 100% sure (not played for a few weeks) but ai commanders that you assign to ships... dont they also have a "agressiveness" or so to them?  maybe your carrier guys are the agressive ones?

last idea i have might be to just equip your carriers with point defense or long range missiles... maybe they go to the frontline to try to kill stuff... well or give them their own waypoint behind the front... or maybe make them escort you? maybe they stay behind you then... but then maybe they go to your sides and escort you from there...

oh also the fighterwings have a "range"... maybe equip some with longer range?   think one wing has a ridiculous range of 2000 or something, where most have 600-800 or so

*shrugs* i usually never had much problems with carriers running into the front line