Okay... I'm back from my camping trip and once again able to post semi-regularly. First I'll get the backlog out of my way.
Grundy: The reason I say I would have about 20% of my forces in 16 is simple, it's a choke point leading to my core systems, and it's right on the frontier with you. I don't really have enough ships to garrison every system, so it is more strategically sound to mass them at choke points. You will see from the fleet positions that I am posting farther down that I'm not treating 16 any different from other choke points in my territory.
I've talked to you about my opinions of your weapons, and I think we have cleared up one misunderstanding about the range of your PDS. The main problem with your post that I had was that you completely underestimated the number of ships and effectiveness of weaponry I would have had in system (see above). Also the way your post went my ships just sat around and let you attack at your leisure, when realistically you would have been under long range weapons fire within a few seconds of your entrance of the system. That would have been 45 Rail Gun shells a second flying towards your ships, and then when you moved closer another 88 Neutron Torps a second. This means I am firing 266 projectiles in the time your combined PDS can make 20 shots.
I don't think you realized it when you designed the system, but the fact that you only have one Splinter PDS per ship still leaves you vulnerable to mass attacks. I suggest you refit your ships to have multiple batteries per ship.
Unreal Centipede: Your "one way jumpgates" are revoked. The ones you have linking your 3 jumpgate systems are fine, but I won't allow you to have the ability to open an instant jumpgate to any system in the galaxy. Travel by hyperspace. Also, since you have already had extensive IC contact with the Avians I'll let that contact stand, but you don't have contact with any of the other governments in the game. You will have to send out explorers before contacting the Rebels, myself, KEX, or the Mechanoids. You also do not have instant knowlege of everything that goes on around the galaxy, ie Parnoids attack on the rebels. The Rebels don't even know about that yet.
Paranoid: Your ship is fine, but your claimed knowledge of Confederation and Rebel technology is not. If you want to use that tech you will have to spend a good deal of time reverse engineering it.
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Out ride the sons of Terra, Far dirves the thundering jet,
Up leaps the race of Earthmen, Out, far, and onward yet - Robert A. Heinlein, The Green Hills of Earth
"Saddam Hussein foregoes weapons of mass destruction (and) values human life." George W. Bush