Uh, actually the AI does "cheat" beyond the Normal skill level.  I think Hard gets a 1.5x economy bonus, Unfair gets 2x, Cruel gets 4x, and Vicious gets 6x.  The AI isn't smart enough to beat you without getting an eco bonus.  (It actually does some very silly and suicidal things.)

It sounds like you might be ready to remove the training wheels and try it against real human opponents in online multiplayer over Ironclad Online.  Come try a 4v4 or 5v5 sometime without any AIs.  The action is on the Diplomacy expansion server.  You'll find that real Sins games against human players are much more interesting, more intense, more suspenseful, more strategically demanding, and more meaningful.  So log onto the Ironclad Online (Diplomacy) server sometime and give it a try.  There are even some newer players around.

600 command in units, sorry.  I can't review the replay to find the exact number since it was an old version, but it was quite hilarious to watch.  I was sitting around scratching my head in-game wondering why the vicious AI was so feeble, then I suddenly realized how many factories it had and it all came together...

another question: is there a better way of dealing with size 150+ huge mine field farms except tanking the damage with capital ships? Vicious AI really likes mines and it takes forever to clear them out to secure the route for reinforcements.

a bit disappointing that even in super late game AI doesnt build more than 6 cap ships... 6 can be easily disabled in 1500 vs. 1500 fleet supply battle, enemy strike craft killed with my cap ship skills and then its over.

6 is actually about right for a massive late-game fleet.  Maybe even a little high if he's TEC.  Unless you're Advent, you're probably shooting yourself in the foot by getting more.  As TEC and Vasari in a serious match, I have never gone above 8 capital ships.

The problem is twofold.  First, experience is divided equally between capital ships.  This means that having more capital ships will result in lower levels overall.  This means your abilities will be weaker.  Secondly, low-level capital ships are relatively poor performers in combat compared to just spamming extra combat frigates.  This means having too many capital ships will weaken your fleet and leave you more vulnerable.  Unless you're Advent with mass transcendance (free promotion to level 4 plus bonus XP in battle to level up faster) it just stops making sense altogether to add more capital ships after 6 or 8.

Thats why I play Advent, not only they have cool looking lasers but their capital ships are great in mass battles

For me the main reason to have more capital ships is to be able to support the fleet and kill enemy fighters... no other 2 ships can pretty much one-shot 50 squadrons, and having 13-16 capital ships makes sure I always have the most important abilities in the fleet -- mass strike craft death, mass shield recharge, radiance battleship's disable and 6 lvl huge AoE gun + all the other less important good abilities

I mean, 1 good placed Cleansing Brilliance (lvl6 radiance ability) can do like 40k or more damage overall if you fire it from a side through the enemy fleet, add another lvl6 battleship and you got a half dead enemy fleet... and what if you got another 4 of those? theres no way frigates and cruisers can out-dps that... even if your ship dies because it was too far away from guardians/motherships/repair frigates to get in a good position to fire -- doesnt matter, damage still done, enemy almost dead already, make another battleship after the fight and lvl-up it with your lvl6 mothership...

also, that Perseverance ability of the advent repairing frigates is just sick, makes the ship immune to disables... not that I need it vs. AI but I can imagine how powerful that is when playing against another human.

but yes, in a serious match I suppose you never have the opportunity to turtle so much that money dont matter anymore and all you have to do is to get a clean victory so that the enemy just doesnt have time to rebuild his fleet while he loses his good defended colonies.

Yes I think point blank is only option to win against Vicious AI without exploiting AI weakness by building SB .......

On point blank I won him with all races in 1.19 version. I did win only 1/4 of games though. 

Yes a lot depends of what type of AI it is. Researcher, Aggressor, Defender, Economists....

I actually tried one time with seeker vessels to take out the constructors...problem was that they colonized the asteroid and built a factory on it, so they were still producing ships...

I would like to see reply of the game when human wins against 2 allied Vicious players.

To my knowledge either with SB or not it is impossible. I did beat 2 cruel AIs allied against me but 2 Vicious? I don't think its possible.

As of Vicious building ships from asteroid. Keep 5 scouts there to constantly kill constructor frigates....

Pity I lost mine. I did.

Exactly. And the DS mod helps a lot.

no, the 2 AIs have same planets as I do on their sides of the map, the idea is that you only need to defend one spot and you can fortify it so you can take out a larger fleet without losses

If you want to delay one (or 2) of the AIs from attacking too early - put a pirate planet right after his choke planet, this way its still kinda fair but he needs to kill pirates first while you hold off the second AI... And the first attack from the pirate-killer AI will be more fun cause he got a lot of exp on his cap ships (as did you after the second AI's attacks)