i too enjoy using a DS as bait. i usually have it fully stocked and ready to rock. do you ever have that one sector that is completely under Allied control? yeah, i scout out all the planetary defenses and find out which planet has the most resources with the least defenses. bring a whole fleet along with a DS with a ompliment of ISDs, Escort Carriers, and the like. protection of the DS is top priority because of costs involved. i time the arrival of my fleet with the production of a DS shield generator. after i immediately sieze the planet, i change the destination of the shield generator to the planet that i have just reclaimed for the Empire. before i sent my fleet to claim the planet, i made sure that the planetary garrison was built and ready. this includes troops and fighters. one way to decimate an enemy fleet quickly is to have tons fo fighters. in the past, i have built a dozen tie fighters, and any number of tie bombers and defenders, but i build interceptors like crazy (i mean like 500 or so, but i only built that many once...it was great. but i digress). as long as you have four types of fighters, each fighter type will have its own color group. so it you have a TON of tie interceptors they will be in one massive fighter group. i defend all of my key planets this way. large fighter groups like this are very quick to destroy most any group of enemy ships, capital of fighter. so immediately after i capture this new planet from the alliance held sector, i send this bee's nest of fighters to the planet. So my fleet would be a fully equiped DS and 5 or 6 interdictor cruisers, with a good admiral (Thrawn is my fav). My planet would be stocked with lots of troops, espionage droids, Commandos, a general, a commander if possible (someone with high diplomacy or espionage), and a TON of fighters. as for planetary defenses, all i put is the DS shield generator. the lack of planetary defense mixed with the large troop concentration always draws an Allied fleet. as long as your shield generator remains unscathed, the legions fo fighters will smash the allied fighters. using the navigation cube, spread your interdictors out and keep them moving. with a HUGE HUGE fighter force, the nav cube will be ginormous, so the playing field will be nice and big. move your fighters to one navigation point away from the allied fleet if you want to get good use out of your death star. Headlines read: "Death Star destroys entire Allied fleet single handedly!" as an experiment, after i had complete popular support in the inner systems and most of the outer systems, i wanted to see if i could use my Two Death Stars to bring the galaxy under my control. with one DS on each side of the galaxy, i started to just blow up Allied planets until all planets were under my control. the results: the inner systems mostly rebelled after blowing up an entire sector. but after blowing up planet after planet that turned to the rebels, the galaxy came under my control. i blew up about half the galaxy. "Unlimited Power!"