AP prelude to war mission 1 help

from Stardock Forums
Urk, spent the whole day getting myself whooped by the Torians on the very first mission (Tough difficulty, that's the balanced one right?)

I'm not sure if it's because I'm being overly greedy and trying to grab the horde of yellow planets around me that's causing me to lose, but after awhile, I just get swarmed by the AI once they manage to get some colony ships past me (I use my survey ship to kill colonies that I find). First time they frigated me while I was still using defenders, second time they battle hammered me, even though I had Battleships (that would still die 50% of the time to their Battle Hammers), and I don't have anything powerful enough to kill their Combat Transports.

I do manage to build a bunch of the wonder/trade goods, although I wonder if diplomacy even matters in this first mission (can you change your picks after each mission, or is it completely set? Since I have a maxed diplomacy pick, or is this useless for the campaign?).

I'm thinking of maybe only taking the two systems with the two planets together on my next run through (the purple system in the middle, and the system in the same sector as the starting system) which gives me a total of 5, and since the planets are in the same system, they can build defenses more quickly.

Any other tips?
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Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
First off, you are correct that diplomacy is a useless pick when at permanent war. Also trade picks are useless too when can't make trade routes.

My picks are:
Industrialist Party:
+20 social production, +20 military production

Weapons: +15
Defense: +20
Influence: +10
HP: +10
Soldiering: +20
Planet Quality: +5

My party choice was so I could build colony ships and soil enhancement, bank, etc faster.

The military picks are necessary so that your ships are better able to combat Torians.

The influence is necessary so that your border worlds ,especially that purple sun system, don't get flipped.

The soldiering bonus is nice for worlds that come under attack and for when you attempt to take Torian worlds.

The PQ bonus allows greater populations at higher moral ratings which produce more taxes. Since taxes are your only source of income, this is very important.

My early strategy is to take best PQ planet in home sector first, then settle closest system in sector above your home sector to increase your range and to allow you early access to that juicy purple system with great planets. I build a scout at the first colonized world followed by a constructor. The capital is used to produce colony ships with `300 million colonists. The third world colonized will also produce a colony ship followed by a defender. There after start colonizing some planets in all of the sectors in your area of map. At that juicy purple system build warships and eventually troop transports to put pressure on Torians.

I set sliders at 45% mil, 45% res, 10% soc. in the beginning with tax rate at 40%.

Research the first few medical techs followed by military techs. At this point the game will depend on where the Torians decide to colonize.