Some people complain about the stupidity of the AI. While i do not think that the current AI is a deep blue, neither do i think anyone can be completely dismissive of him.

Especially at Godlike (with all his bonuses) the AI will give you a nice fight. However there are some things with which the AI can be tricked.

I will not go into the already known exploits (like the 3 constructors to colonizer conversion) because they have been discussed to death on the forums by now.

Therefor some of my tricks (exploits?) that you guys (and SD) might not know. (Ab)use them like you wish. Or until Frogboy makes them obsolete.

1) Do i have a tech for you...

Sell less valuable specializations to the AI to prevent him from researching the valuable ones.

Example: in the beginning of the game speed is everything (get to those planets before someone else), so you want "Hyperdrive Specialization", to prevent the AI also getting this (ship)speed boost sell him "Transportation Specialization" or "Advanced Recirculation". Do not sell these if he already has the "Hyperdrive Specialization"

2) Chasing the sacrificial scout...

Attach a rallypoint to a shipyard. Place the rallypoint as far away from your empire and in his empire as you can. Build a stream of scouts (preferably 1 each turn), sending them to the rallypoint (and their death). The enemy fleet(s) will go for the opportunistic kill. With proper placement of the originating shipyard and the target rallypoint, the enemy fleet will never arrive at your doorstep. Leaving your fleets to murder his defensive fleets and taking his planets. You may need to build multiple shipyards and rallypoints to pull this one off.

3) Bleeding the populus...

Invade and take a planet (or use one of your own bad planets for it), depopulate and leave it undefended. Move your fleet back so that you can re-invade the planet within one turn. You depopulate a planet by sending (near) empty transporters to transport the population of the planet. Send the transports back to your own planets or keep them with your fleet to re-invade the planet. Wait till the AI invades and takes the planet. Most of the time the AI will not have a capital fleet with his invasion fleet, therefor the invasion fleet becomes a defending fleet that is probably weaker than your invasion fleet. So retake the planet, thereby killing some of his ships and getting the population he just put on the planet. You can keep repeating this for quite a while, sometimes with multiple planets at the same time. At the all-time-low price of only one transporter per rinse.

4) No trade like a (un)fair trade...

The AI will quite happily trade an useless resource for an useful resource, and call the trade fair.

Example: he will give you Prometheus Stone (moves + 5%) for your Xanthium Deposit (HP + 5%). Did i already say that in the beginning of the game (and during a war) (ship)speed is everything?

Example: Laughing all the way to the (research)bank after trading your Crystallized Elerium (Shield strength + 5%) for his Hyper Silicates (Research + 5%)

5) Am i in your way?

When you see an enemy colonizer heading to a planet or a constructor to a nice spot and you happen to have a ship there. Then place your ship in front of his ship and let him waste movement points, maybe the few of his lost moves gives you time to get your colonizer/constructor there first.

Or simply park your scout on an artifact: (cue McHammer) You can't touch this.
Sometimes this does not work, since the AI can enter tile while you are in it and take the artifact from under your ship.

6) Fishing for the bad guys...

When you have a ship that is faster (and weaker) than pirates you can lure them with you by keeping one step ahead of their movement range. When you get them in range of an ai object move behind the ai and let the pirates do the dirty work.

Oops, was that your shipyard those dastardly pirates did blow up, dear AI with whom i am not (yet) at war?

No counter ai tricks below here, but some game play tricks anyway.

7) This land is mine...

(Useless) Planetary resources can stand in the way of getting a good adjacency layout. The solution: Destroy it. Who need another Thulium Catalyst (sensor range +5%) when you can build a manufacturing capital with six factories around there, and your sensor ships don't really need that extra range, do they?

8) No contact, no contract...

Send an invasion fleet, even when you know you can never prevent the AI from retaking the planet, to his trade route origin planet. If you can successfully invade the planet and hold it for just one turn then the trade routes from that planet are broken. It might not be a lot but every credit he does not get is a credit he can not spend on trying to defeat you. And the standard freighters are slow as hell, so it will take the ai quite some time to reestablish another trade route.

If anyone else has any tricks (exploits) that are unknown, post them so that others (and the mighty AI-creator) might learn from them.