Fleet size limit

Wow, it has been a while.

Yes it takes a certain percentage out as you increase the level (from 9% t 75%)

It has been.  That feature was a game breaker for me, and I stopped playing after it made expanding beyond two stars in a 4 player/4star game impossible.

I've no idea what the second part of your answer is supposed to mean.

It is the economic componet to the fleet size. You start out with 100 supply points and 0% taken out of your income for fleet mantinence, as you progress up the line more is taken out of your income as the fleet gets bigger until you reach 2000 supply points which takes out 75% of your income. If you are careful you can expand your fleet size properly. A 4 player/4 star map could easily handle going to maximum fleet size.

OK.  I guess my question was poorly worded due to the amount of time since I played the game.  My problem was that after I killed one AI and occupied his entire system the two survivors were able to maintain max size fleet with one systems resources as I was was two.  I was never able to attrit the invaders significantly before they withdrew, and my fleet was constantly tied up shuttling between the two systems I had to repuslse one attack or the next leaving me utterly incapable of going on the offensive.

EDIT:  ... If I understand your post correctly, the current version of the game uses the same system as when I last played.

Yes most likely. I thought you had played a beta or something.

Entrenchment really fixes the problem you describe. You should try it only $10

Star bases and other improvements to fixed defenses are a big help in freeing up your main fleet.  A fully developed grav well (tactical structures) with a fully upgraded starbase (expensive, but worth it) routinely destroys enemy fleets worth 600 fleet credits, without your fleet being there.

Note: This is only against AI, against humans you still have to counter fleets with fleets.

Of course, you then have to attack those same kind of defences in enemy systems..........

if you control that much more territory than your opponents then the orbital structures based income you receive (from trade ports and resource refineries) should be immensely bigger than what your opponents receive. you ought to be able to leverage that economic advantage to buy more fleet upgrades than your opponent and maintain a bigger fleet on a permanent basis. 

the fleet logistics system in the game is designed to require you to expand your civilian economy at a rate proportional to your fleet size in order to maintain a constant income rate. you can build your income rate by expanding civilian but not military or you can expand military but sacrifice income. thats how the system is balanced. it works very well, even on large maps, once you've mastered getting the balance between civilian and military expansion. 

I believe he's also getting at the fact that your empire's size and breadth has little influence on what your max fleet size is aside from research centers allowing access to the standard upgrades.  IE, the person who controls 2 star systems has the same max fleet size as someone who controls just 1.

-dolynick

Hey summs.  I didn't know you'd ever played.

The base game is an extremely aggressive game.  It is heavily weighted towards playing manuever warfare over attrition warfare.  I'm not 100% convinced that was the initial intent of the game, but that's how it plays out.  Had I been in the situation you describe, I probably would have fortified the bejesus out of the conquered system with defensive structures and then not worried about it, using my fleet to bumrush one of the other AI, then sort of rinse and repeat.

Entrenchment on the other hand is awesome for setting up attrition style warfare.  Dropping 4 vasari starbases near the entry point from a phase lane is a great way to prevent somebody from jumping into your system with a devastating force.  As was said, you'd still need to get your fleet there, but you have a lot more time.  Anyway, if you're looking for a way to play defense then you'll need to play entrenchment, since defense in the base game is fairly nonexistant.

See you round.

I got a better solution, get the latest versions of original sins and then create a mod for yourself, enabling you to get insane income and no supply limit or no upkeep

That hardly seems worth the effort, especially if you intend to play online.  Maybe I misunderstand that you already have this mod and you're advertising it?

It still is the same system, however in a 4 player 4 star system you shouldn't reach max unless you are turtling for a long time. It seems that the main problem was that when an AI was outmatched (even by a scout) they would run and make you chase them through the galaxy. that also made me stop playing for a while. that seems to have been fixed in entrenchment. they still run but that is usually after you double their strength. they might have also fixed that in the original (vanilla?) when they launched entrenchment.

AI's dont run anymore unless they are obviously outmatched in the same grav well. they're pretty good at judging this too, its entirely reasonable. they actually will fight you now, its extremely different than the cowardly AI of Sins 1.0. aggressive AI behavior actually makes them slightly reckless as well, they'll try to attack from multiple flanks at once even if it means losing alot of their attackers. 

As for catching AI fleets as they attempt to leave what they think is a hopeless situation, a Phase Jump Inhibitor will slap on a 700% phase jump charge rate penalty. Combine that with abilities that can stop phase jumps (Vasari has the best abilities for this) or the Guardian's Repulsion to keep them away from the gravity well edge, fleeing ships won't go anywhere soon.

That was exactly my issue with the game at the time.