Mutually Assured Destruction (Yaki Plot)

[Drylce]

So odd question... I completed the Yaki plot early enough that the Xenon were able to group up a ton of ships in one go and it ended up being something like 19 capital ships, ~50 M ships, and ~120 S ships - I didn't exactly count the numbers but that's what I saw in the "command group" of the newly spawned I.

This giant group of Xenon then gathered in Savage Spur I and instead of proceeding on to Getsu Fune they're splitting off small groups that go attack the gate and get massacred by the combined ANT/TER squad camping it.

In theory I could see this being a way to reduce the group size so it's manageable if you see it in person but it also seems to take a lot of the teeth out of the potential swarm meant to damage the TER economy? Also, not so different than the usual "Xenon show up at gate, get massacred" that you usually see.

Anyways, the question is whether this is new behavior or did something get messed up when ANT claimed the system before TER did in my game and thus the Xenon aren't advancing? Should I sabotage the ANT defense platforms so TER claims the system before pulling the trigger?

*Edit* Testing if leaving it running overnight will cause the ships remaining to attack if it turns out to be a bug I'll try to figure out how to submit a save file;
- Time at start 2D 3H 40M, Ships still in group 19 Capitals (5x I and 14x K), 1 H, 40 M, 19 S which is where it seems to have stopped for the moment.

*Edit 2* So they did go somewhere overnight but as far as I can tell did absolutely nothing to the Terrans or Antigone in Getsu Fune. Both even have all the factories they did previously. I'm going to do some play testing and see if having TER in charge of Getsu Fune changes anything.

[X-Tie]

You could always end up finishing the... Terran plot I believe it was, and make it so Terrans are at war with ANT and ARG ! I enjoy watching them fight over those border sectors all the time. Add in the Xenon and you've got a threeway.

[Drylce]

True, so far I've played through again and it repeats. Giant ball of doom just outside the accelerators between Savage Spur I and II. Starting to think the best way to do it is to wait for a big attack and then hit the button which will cause the big swarm to reinforce the attacking fleets. Do this after starting the ANT/ARG and TER war so they're at their weakest and it might be enough to snowball through asteroid belt at least? One more thing to try which is going back to before the MAD mission is assigned and make sure TER owns Getsu Fune before it is (I noted that it didn't ask for a nav beacon in Getsu Fune).

*Edit* So apparently it takes 3 hours for the ball of doom to decide to head for Getsu Fune. After which it does it's best to destroy everything on it's way to Earth (slowly after getting to the Asteroid Belt because it gets distracted by laser towers, random ships, police patrols...).

So, to maximize the potential destruction (and impact on the Terrans) I feel the following steps are good;
1) Finish Covert Ops with ANT/ARG at war with TER
2) Wait for the fleets occupying Getsu Fune to exhaust themselves on each other's defense stations (or you know, skip this because the next step takes 3 hours...)
3) Unleash the ball of doom once there's a substantial amount of Xenon I's and K's in the systems (maybe wait until there's already some destroyers attacking Getsu Fune?)
4) Maybe baby the ball of doom until it reaches Asteroid Belt (disable defense station turrets, stay about 60 KM out so the fleet is in high attention instead of low attention)
5) Profit! (Or just watch the other Xenon enclaves do a tiny bit more damage without the Terran Intervention Corps being able to pass ANT/ARG)