(A partial rephrasing of the email i sent Matt)
I quite agree, the placement and orders ARE the crux of the issue. I’m rather curious to see how you handled the ship builds themselves
Just to document a thought that rose whilst discussing the scenario off line with Ikohime.
The fighters in this scenario have lost thier Vulture orders, but gained the Cautious order. According to Cliff AI Fighters always had the Cautious order, and obviously they also had the Vulture order. It seems something has caused one to switch on and the other to switch off. Is it possible that the code is limiting the AI Fighters to one order at a time?
This makes the challenge MUCH easier. My first try i hit 99.7k, and only lost then because my fleet got trapped on the other side of the map (ie, the enemy side) and had cruisers spawn on it at 52k, causing me to lose my first cruiser at 65k. Whee, first trys! I’ll post the results of my try overnight in the morning
Made 2 more attempts, #2 was over by 74k, but #3: first died at 65k, next two were at 102. I maniged to hang on until ~140k, when it started to slide. final for today: 154k 
Expect a new score tomorrow morning
Just for clarity Okohime is using a Rebel fleet, vs my fleet that was Federation.
Good starts there. Its kinda fun getting up in the morning and seeing how your ships did while you were sleeping 
Yeah, it really is. 149k. I’m plateauing around 150ish, need to really mix some stuff up to push into a higher bracket. I might try alliance, their hulls might be slightly better for this.
@Matt
Thanks for upping the ante - we all want to replicate your success. I WANT your ship designs but that would take some of the fun out of figuring it out myself. I can’t get how you build 11 ships on 30,000 credits. I can only build nine.
The screen shot you posted - 4 tanks on the Eagle frame and 7 Panthers doing damage. I’m wondering if Order wouldn’t be better because their tanks can have multiple weapons with the same or higher armour values than the Federation (capturing ships in the campaign is great).
My best is 57,461 not even on the board.
Over 100k, no losses yet. Biggest threat so far is the Disruptor Bombs from frigates
82,981 - at least I am improving, albeit slowly.
This post contains updates from my 5th attempt at this mission
133k, still no losses 
EDIT 1 161k, STILL no losses. One ship is down to it’s last repair module, though 
EDIT 2 196k, the wave that gives me the most trouble just spawned. Curse you disruptor bombs!
EDIT 3 New 20th PLACE with 244.621 and still going with no losses
EDIT 4 258k, new 16th place. Two of my ships are down to ~1/20th health, but nice thick shields. CURSE YOU DISRUPTOR BOMBS!
EDIT 5 287k, lost my first ship. R.I.P CHAOS, you have been added to the List of Honor. Your courageous stand shall be forgotten in minutes.
EDIT 6 329k and lost another ship, first one of my combat ships to die. CURSE YOU DISRUPTOR BOMBS T_T
I’m starting to REALLY like this mode!
Nice! This mode is really addicting, isn’t it?
FINALLY died. Final score, 345,071!
more then doubled my last highest score, let’s see how much higher i can go xD
That screen shot must have had a casualty… I started with 12 ships 
Keep going with them, it gets better :-). The advice I gave Ikohime was watch for when and how your first ship dies and aim to improve that point. The longer your formation is intact, the better your end score will be.
@ Ikohime
Whoo hoo! keep it going
I’ll be running another one overnight. I won’t be happy until i’m in second place with at LEAST a million points.
The funny thing is, all i did between my 340-some and 154k run was change ONE engagement range, and move my fleet maybe 2 squares xD Going to play around with the placement of a single ship, hopefully get it to live a lot longer 
193,087 !!! No tanks.
196,266
209,205
Excellant
It was a struugle to get to 2-300k after than it was easier if time consuming to let the games play out.
My problem is with rebels, I can tell i’m being hurt by the hull bonuses. I can get, consistently, over 200k. i’ve broke 300 three times, although my intial break was highest.
Should i switch to another race, radically restructure my build, or what?
UPDATE: Last night i tried shifting one of my ships 1 place, no change to orders. Guess who has a new high score!
8th place, 455k. Up 101k from my last high score.
Lol, at this level it doesn’t take much to get that improvement Keep it going, you are not far from a multi-million point fleet.
I’m trying out running a second fast-recharge. if i shuffle things around a tiny bit i can drop one ship’s survivability a little and boost the first ship’s lifespan a LOT
What killed me last time was my top right corner lost it’s high-resistance shield, and was taking armor damage when hit Not much, but over the course of 150k points of destruction that used up all it’s repair points
EDIT Also, i figured out how to keep your formation exactly the way it is at the start ^^ not posting how, though
4 1/2 hours 501,190…
I have not lost a ship yet (other than fighters)…
Game is slowing down with hundereds of wounded fighters hugging the enemy side…