[DirectorTsaarx]

I agree that mines are the best first line of defence at a planet. Since there's a minor bug with the "units per sector" setting (i.e., if the setting is 100, and you have 99 mines in that sector, you can launch as many mines as a single ship/base/planet can launch, even if that will violate the 100 max mines per sector setting), you could have a minefield of 99 + maximum mine storage on the planet (well, a planet can only launch 999 mines per turn, but if you can store more mines than that you should have LOADS of weapon platforms for defense). Anyway, put as many mines up as possible, so that even if the enemy sweeps a few you can take out and/or damage the rest of the fleet. After that, you should probably have a mix of missile and beam weapon platforms. Most fleets will shrug off small waves of missiles; but if even one or two get through, it's a bit of damage done, and if you can do internals and wipe out point-defence you're in better shape. And don't forget point-defence for the planet! I might also suggest putting a couple weapon platforms with all shields and/or all armor on the planet to soak up damage. If you add fighters to the mix, the enemy's PDC will get overloaded trying to handle both fighters and missiles; although many other weapons will also target fighters, so be prepared to lose your fighters.

Satellites, IMHO, are not as useful as the other options, as you run the risk of having them on the wrong side of the planet during combat, and they'll never get a chance to fire. Bases are a little better, since they get range bonuses on their weapon mounts, but if you have time to build bases you have time to build ships.

Obviously, you should also focus on using the longest-range weapons possible on weapons platforms. The AI can be good at staying just out of range if it's weapons are better than yours.

BTW - the other good tactic is laying satellites at warp points. You get a shot at point-blank range to start; if you use high-damage weapons (especially shield or armor skipping weapons) you have a chance of taking out a few ships. This is a case where missiles might work; 30, 50, maybe even 100 or more missiles in a single volley at short range would overwhelm the defences of most small to medium fleets (say, under 20 ships).

Obviously, mining the warp points is a good idea too. But minesweepers will ruin your day.

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