Greetings!
I came across this post while looking up information on what is (for me) new invasion metrics. I haven't played for the better part of a year or two, came back, and all of a sudden my Ingressors (invasion shuttles) are being slaughtered! 'Back in my day' shuttles didn't take damage unless their invasion attempt missed. This really took me by surprise, and forced me to hold off my xeno extermination for a full ingame year as I reassessed my strategy.
I eventually decided what I refer to as my balls to the wall strategy, that I would like to share with you.
We began to change our training regimine with our invasion pilots. They now understand the dangers of their responsibility. The xeno represent a clear and present danger to the health, safety, and future stability for the Clans. They must be removed. And their removal will require pain, they will not go quietly into that good night.
I decided on a full suicide approach. When I felt the colonies were ready, I did a mass switch from infrastructure to PI ships (what I name Ingressors) and built up an invasion force of 30+ ships over a 6 month in game timeframe and began an assembly line of death. The colonies continue to build Ingressors, massing new ships in orbit of the nearest human colony to the current target. 9 Ingressors surround the target, with 15 Ingressors in orbit nearby (12 on one side of the planet in a 3x4 grid, and 3 on the back side for full coverage) and the invasion begins. As Ingressors are lost, the 15 ships in orbit move in to fill the gaps, and Ingressors in reserve around my closest planet move into the assembly line to wait their turn.
This strategy typically takes 20 ships to purge each xeno world, and as you can imagine having plenty of spice and keeping populations in the green are requirements to keep moral from becoming an issue. But it works like a charm. With defensive ships nearby to keep xeno ships busy? The infestations fall quickly.
I have only run this strategy on one map against two xeno races, and I expanded so quickly that both of the races were pidgeonholed to civilizations of 7 planets each, so I didn't have to keep the pressure up for very long.
I had considered a similar hit and run strategy that has been touted in this thread, but initially rejected it due to the sheer amount of ships I would need to maintain for a vastly extended period of time. Just because my civ may have the income for that doesn't mean they are interested in doing so.
My current game is with the Great Houses (I'm not a big fan of mixing and matching, for the most part) and I am attempting to play more of a democratic style. Keep to myself, don't intentionally encroach into xeno systems, and only defend my colonies after they have been attacked first. Invasion will only become a necessity when one of the xenos declare war on us by assaulting our space a second time. I may try the hit and run strategy with this game, as the Great Houses are more loathe to throw lives away unless there is no other choice.
I am considering a similar assembly line strategy with 45 total ships (5 separate invasion fleets), with each individual ship pulling out when it loses half or more of its total hull for repairs, then returning to the back of the line after repairs are completed.
I will let you know how this strategy works. I have a system (one colony of each House very close to one another for support) right on the doorstep of the Bollish Empire.
I foresee war. Very. Very soon.
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