Combat in this game is a chore.  Nevermind the huge amassing the AI does at the borders with that one giant fleet of doom, but trying to break the siege?  The AI focuses fire on each and every capital ship, one by one, making them incredibly fragile and rendering the levelling up part of combat nonexistent unless a lot of micro is used.  But my own ships don't similarly focus fire, so if I jump in with a superior force the AI chews up my ships and takes minimal losses on his own end.  The only way to break to siege is jump in with a hard to killcap ship (Kol) and focus fire on his ships, then jump out when the capship gets too damaged to go to a repair.  And do this multiple times.  It's very mindnumbing.