That's about what i have thought is going on. Thanks for the info, most helpful.

At the moment i am fighting 2 very powerful AI's. They tend to send large powerful fleets.

From what you say, i am much better off sticking with tiny ships. Yea i picked up on the trick of using large hulled ships with the same weapons outfit as used on tiny ships. However there aint a large enough hulled ship available to make any difference in that regard against these guys. Their firepower is just too high. Pluss i would still get the logistics penalty.

Yea, tiny ships rule supreme!

This is my current strategy too. It is a little frustrating in the sense that every little piece of crap lone ship that attacks my fleet, takes one of my tiny ships down with it. It is quite a drag on my recourses going one for one against the Ai like that. It is actually better for me that i am attacked by fleets rather than lone ships.... quite a bizzare fact??

I only have 3 fleets. Just enough to defend my starbases.

I am only just able to build enough ships to keep them going, although that will change since my production is too high and money is looking yelow.

I have well over 30 trade starbases along my trade route but it seems to be inadequate.

Money is probably going to force me to loose in the end since i won't be able to build an offensive fleet let alone maintain the ones i have.

Aside from money being stupid, it is a great game, nicely ballanced. I am allied with the Alterians who are allied with my two enemies, the thalans and the arcaens. The Drath are the only other race still standing but are very weak.

Also, in order to use the quote function first highlight the text you want to quote, and then press quote. At first it seems confusing, but it's really the best way of doing quotes that I've seen.

This is the advantage that tips the scale in favor of the player's huge ships. If you can't hit me, you can't hurt me. This applies to any size and strength of ship the AI can throw at you. Swarms of tiny hulls, or a few dreadnoughts, the outcome is the same; the only difference being the length of time it will take to destroy them all.

(Thanks Geff Graw for tip on quoting! hehehe i thought it was doing it automatically all this time... silly me).

Interesting theory, how would you defend against all 3 weapon categories at once? Since the AI is most happy to change it's weapons, creating an invunerable fleet seems impossible?

I try to not rely on trade routes for income. At best, they are only a means to an end, as you eventually will lose ALL your trade routes. Instead, I focus on tax income and morale, and have no problem having idle planets. If your facing a large expence, shut down those constructor pumps for a number of turns.

I know for your current game it's like closing the barn door after the horses got out, but I try to plan my wars a little bit, in that I not only want to design and build/upgrade ships to match/counter theirs, but I also try and bankrupt them first, so that they can't counter-upgrade without totally killing their economy. Selling them a bunch of useless techs is a good way to do that.

Try using off-world population before hand also. Before I attack, my transports are already in space and full, with the planets full as well. The loss of tax income trying to fill up transports during wartime can be a killer....or so I have heard   

Stringing trade SBs along the entire trade route is an expensive endeavor. Watch you route income per ship. I will set up several trade bases near my economy planet and reaching out 2-3 sectors. Once the trade ship is no longer in range of those SBs, destroy it and re-create the route. This maximizes your trade income, and keeps those trade ships in your sphere of influence and protection.

I have decided to convert another planet over to stock markets and see if that gets me out of trouble.

Remember that farms are at least as important as stock markets, as they increase your taxable population. Also, with higher populations you need moral buildings to keep your people happy.

Very wise. not sure it would work in my case tho because i am under attack from 2 enemies. one is using lasers and mass drivers, the other is using lasers and missiles!

Ouch! 60/20/20 might work with shields being 60, or you may just be better off with smaller ships. The best way to find out is to experiment and use your findings in a later game.

it seems as though two farms is the maximum (from an efficiency point of view), any more and the moral factor starts getting pretty horrific.

Also, with higher populations you need moral buildings to keep your people happy.

Also, with higher populations you need moral buildings to keep your people happy.

Seems as though a second or third moral building has much less effect (as a percentage of population) as the first one. Meaning more than one moral building reduces efficient use of your planet squares?

When you are putting defenses on a ship try to maximize their efficiency, too. For example when defending against beams with shields, put 1 (or 4, or 9) units on the ship. Then they will give you 1 (or 2, or 3) units of defense against guns & missles (according to the manual pg. 46). I've seen the AI ships do this.

Do you mean that beam weapon shielding also gives some defence against mass drivers and missiles?