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One of the best tactics I've learned from the best players is something I call the Pop Trick Defense.
How many times have you figured someone would be pop tricking and felt there wasn't much you could do? I tried building fleets, which included minesweeps, to .500 on maintenance and attacking the popped planet. Unfortunately, the fleets normally are made with one step lower battle rating (BR) than my foe. My enemies easily swatted away my ships (normally BR2 against BR1). But every once in a while, you get lucky and can use the pop trick defense. I will give credit to BigB and Voyager for having done just this tactic to me. Yes, it took two nukes before I figured it out. In the enclosed game, I met Marq at 32,10 and 32,9 simultaneously. This indicated he was to the northeast and his home world probably was where I eventually found it at 33,10. We knocked out each other's colony ships a couple times. Which was fine. I was exploring to the south. I managed to get a colony started under me and a science ship back up to 32,9 where I had some attacks. I lost another colony there but I did manage to get the science ship free. It would found his home world, a VERY important discovery. I figured Marq was at BR2 a turn ahead of me. He had slowed his attack, meaning he was trying to get to the next BR level before I could. His battle rating (BR) was confirmed when he landed at 32,9 with an attack that took out three of my attacks (a BR2 attack will take out four BR1 ships). Trailing the attack was a colony at 33,9 and one on his home world. I took a chance and overbuilt a fleet to .333 maintenance. It included a colony, two minesweeps and some attacks. On the update, sure enough he lowered his home world pop to 4 in preparation of pop tricking as he colonized 32,9 and 32,10. I held my breath as I moved into 32.9, where he had a colony and the attack. But BigB taught me looks can deceive. If possible, always try to keep some pressure on. Marq dismantled his attack as I charged forward, allowing me to easily take out the colony ship. Suddenly his pop trick did not look so good. I was able to head north with a fleet that was heading to full strength, something he could not match. The advantage of seeing his home world was huge - I was able to confirm his attempt to pop trick. When I landed on his nice builder, he had the classic choice of either building to protect it or building to protect his home world. Resources at 32,10 were double what you see since I nuked it as I advanced onto Marq's home world. Marq graciously waved a white flag and the game was quickly over.
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