(October 6th, 2015, 15:02)Ianus Wrote: I don't think that this is aggression. This is like the Psilons sending all those large ships everywhere. The AIs are done with Scout blockades and are out to explore all uncolonized worlds they can. Of course that doesn't solve the problem of a Huge ship hanging out over our new colonied but it is not there specifically to bomb out our colonies. At least not yet. It is most likely there to hold the planet until a colony ship can arrive. Kill it if you can, but killing a huge is serious business, especially when we are trying to expand.
No worries: That's just a cruiser (large) - not a dreadnought - and I agree with your assessment of its strategic purpose. I wouldn't build a cruiser of our own to face it until we see what its loadout looks like though. If it's an unshielded missile boat, warp-2 fighters are definitely a good answer. If it has shield 2 or better, good targeting, and beams, we may just have to let it have its way for now and find a way to work around it - and prioritize weapons research a little more! (Heavy lasers can cut through shield 2 and even 3, but not very efficiently - and it takes a lot of basic lasers to scratch a shielded cruiser.) There's also a chance it'll just continue on its way if we ignore it, or evaporate since it's surely relying on an alliance with somebody. We know we have a use for the Dead colony ship whether the Sakkra hang around there or not. (Can we get it there before the Jug - sort of like your earlier suggestion for Dolz, Psillycyber? Might be worth a try...) I can't really say the same for a laser cruiser at this point in the game.
[EDIT: Also, my crude screenshot-read and guess about its destination agrees with Thrawn's.]
[EDIT 2: Unless it's coming from Sssla, which I think is more likely actually, unless you saw it moving last turn.]