warships and troop transports disguised as grapeships

[Drashner1]

I wonder if a defender would have the amount of defensive weapons you outlined on hand, or would the defender order up the stuff if it sensed danger? How prepared might the defense be? How much lead time is required to build stuff as needed?

Stuff that is potentially needed in a hurry is likely to be built ahead of time and then stockpiled in out of the way (but strategically important) places. Even Y11K tech can't whip up entire battle fleets instantly (well, not usually) and the manufacturing systems for this kind of thing would be primary targets.

We have a thread on the forum that discusses manufacturing, but I don't have time to hunt it down just now. Will try to post it later if no one beats me to it.

4. The wormhole mind has to be deceived in order for the invasion to succeed.
However, I did not realize that a S6 archai might be present in the system. I'll have to think about that.

Oops I didn't explain that well. I wasn't saying that an S6 archai - or even a portion of one - would be present in the system (they spread their minds across millions of solar systems, actually). Rather, I was saying that the Nexus as a whole is owned/controlled by the S6 (even if they generally use S4 and S5 entities to expand and manage it) and so routing a warfleet through the Nexus with the intent of invading somewhere would either need their permission or indifference.

There are recorded instances of wormholes either being closed or refusing passage to vessels in response to war or other issues. But generally the archai don't appear to involve themselves in the day-to-day operations of the system. Basically, your characters would at the least be aware of the possibility of the archai intervening as a concern and have either addressed it as part of their invasion plan or are hoping they won't be stomped on.

Anyway, thanks again for the feedback.

Glad to help

Todd