Defense against early-ish game invasion fleets?

[Burnrate]

I'm playing as the Teekans that I know have pretty weak infantry stats. There are a couple of nearby empires, one Dhayut and one Mortalen. I know they have very strong infantry.

I'm currently getting clobbered by these giant invasion fleets. I have a pretty sizeable navy with very effective ion attacks and I'm using the troop cloning to get troops with defend strength 198. I still have no way to stop every ship of these invasion fleets that come in with 15 ships and the enemy troops have a 1 to 2 advantage against me.

At this stage in the game there is no diplomacy advanced enough for defensive pacts. I have a stronger economy and more planets but can't seem to field enough ships to deal with the enemy invasions.

I'm not complaining that the enemy is playing smart and using their strengths, I just don't know how to counter this! Even pushing diplomacy early just won't stop these aggressive races. Is it just bad luck to be Teekans next to super aggressive aliens sometimes?

[fruitgnome]

Do you have defensive bases? Maybe if you upload your savegame I will have a look at it. I'm ill so only maybe.

[Burnrate]

Do you have defensive bases? Maybe if you upload your savegame I will have a look at it. I'm ill so only maybe.

No I don't have them yet. I suppose the right move would have been to focus down defensive military tech as soon as I found out I had a neighbor like that. I feel like doing that would have put me so far behind in other areas that it might not have made a difference.

Maybe it was just a really rough start.

[Nightskies]

Assuming you and the AI started at pre-warp, as soon as you discover aggressive neighbors, Long Range Sensors should become a high-priority tech. You need this in order to detect an incoming invasion, and immediately respond to it. Automation will be enabled to similarly respond, though they only will if you have forces awaiting orders. It is best to intercept any invasions, even with a token ship presence. LRS allows you to do that- without it, you could have tons of military ships and still not catch one in time.

That aside, the first thing to stop aggression before it happens is to have a strong military. Ion weapons do not register as strong- they're assessed as weak, even if they aren't. Blasters and torpedoes are strong weapons, according to force assessment. Check your military strength on the Millitary tab. If you are using Long Range Sensors, and you are setting them near their borders or in it with exploration ships (monitoring stations are currently a mere glorified LRS, don't use them for their intended purpose), you can get a gauge of their strength in the diplomacy tab. That's your target strength to dissuade them. You can also give your freighters short-range sensors, and they'll be little eyes for you.

Then, if you're not looking for a fight, try to butter them up as soon as you make contact. Get their corresponding diplomatic tech (espionage), bribery (gift location information), and ensure you do nothing that irritates them- including making friends with pirates or other enemies (pick only one neighbor if you have to). Give up your stations that end up in their territory and forget about the independents in their borders. If you can secure a LTA and NAP, the likelihood of them attacking drops dramatically, provided you have enough military. Even hostile races honor reputation to some degree, so go pirate and monster hunting in addition to diplomatic tech and peaceful independent integration. An ambassador helps, too, of course.

The last thing you can do if the war starts and you know an invasion you can't stop is coming is to make some transport ships (you have made at least a few, right?) and put your troops on it. When they invade, they'll only bring what they need to win the ground combat- well, at least a single invasion fleet's worth. When they land troops, land your own troops ASAP. If you can't match the force of a single invasion, well... that's a problem. Build more troops in that case. Next time. I'd call it an L if they take your capital early in the game, even if you could retake it.

[Burnrate]

... Long Range Sensors should become a high-priority tech. ...

I never managed to find sensor tech bonuses to be able to start researching it!

Regarding the other things also, I did have 8 full up transport ships and had researched several new troop and troop upgrades.

I think it was just a combination of a lack of focus on things like defense stations, the proper weapons that you mentioned, aggressive diplomacy, and just building more military.

Having two aggressive and strong neighbors really caught me off guard and I didn't really pivot hard enough to respond; I was still trying to be very Teekan.

[100thMonkey]

... Long Range Sensors should become a high-priority tech. ...

I never managed to find sensor tech bonuses to be able to start researching it!

To maximize the chances of getting those bonuses, and all other research bonuses, I suggest getting the exploration techs as soon as you can (the ones starting with "Basic Exploration"). Tiers 0 and 1 don't require any research bonuses, so try to get to tier 1 as soon as possible, and build many explorers. After that, get the higher tiers as soon as you can.

I used to neglect those techs in favor of others, but I don't anymore. They're essential to find research bonus locations.

[scotten_usa]

I'm in a similar situation and I either love or hate DW2 for making me fight so early.

I picked Tech Level 2 start and I already have Long Range Sensors. I'm unsure if this is the reason, but I can tell which enemy ships have troops on them and which ones are intending on invading my planet (since the AI sends 8-10 troop transports but only 2-3 have armies). I use this to pick targets for my fleets.