So, now that I can play the game again having been given the helpful Windows 64 fix, I've been fiddling with the settings through rebed to do my best to help out my friend, the AI. To summarise rebed: weaker fighters, cheaper ships for AI, more expensive spec forces and cheaper everything else for everyone but even more for AI, double power planetary defences, faster hyperdrives. I had edited so there were 8 core sectors; at the start of the game I abandoned all militarily occupied planets and conducted civilian bombardments such that 6/8 core sectors were under rebel control (apart from two planets). I took over the other two sectors rather quickly, and began to expand heavily into the rim. In the early game I experienced some pressure as the rebels had a superior fleet, but it didn't take long before I was attacking. In terms of AI ship building, this was a big success- I have never seen such large numbers of Mon Cal cruisers, assault frigates, ect. Would the fact that I was seeing more enemy capital ships in this game than in possibly all my other games put together impact the result? Not at all! It was even worse for the AI than in all previous games where they never managed to build a proper fleet (I typically never encounter a significant fleet after I start my offensive)! The AIs fleet handling is so bad that it didn't mean much in terms of putting up a fight- I mostly just annihilated individual ships or very small groups all arriving at a planet at different times. What made it worse was that when the AI had no significant fleets, gathering enough troops and waiting for planetary defences to be erected provided a substantial speed bump to progress. I at least had a sense of having to slog through. Now, everyone loves me because of killing all the alliance fleets! I can just bombard their planets and watch them turn green. Thus, the primary impact of more AI ships was to just gift me entire sectors worth of popular support! It turned out to be even easier, if anything, once I had my fleets. Its possible even lower AI costs would help, as I was able to concentrate superior fleets but I think the primary issue is that the AI's method of shuffling ships about individually is just far too vulnerable to interdictors regardless of their overall fleet. My new plan, therefore, is to totally remove interdictor vessels from the game. While this will, sadly, mean many less fleet battles, it will mean that the AI at least can't commit hari-kiri with its ships. In fact, by having its ships survive its superior production might actually allow its fleet to outnumber mine. I think the interdictor cruisers mostly work against the AI heavily- its totally incapable of handling its ships in a way that reflects the need to avoid being caught by them, so hopefully their removal will help a little. Interdictors were definitely the single biggest factor for me in this game. I wondered has anyone else tried a no-interdictor game?