*AAR1 at 55min is where I reloaded back an hour. Taking Fleet research hadn't worked out, and afterward I instead went for the Zenith energy with a GCA and battlestation in a single planet. It's a pretty represenative save with my offense force clearly having wrapped up a planet (with turrets built) and readying for the next march, an attack on my econ from hunter that came after a wave that wiped out the mines.
*AAR2 at 1h23 is a stable situation where I quickly picked up from the AAR1 and grabbed multiple important planets. It's a time of slowing down though, as afterward it took till 1h50m before another planet was taken (apparently the second MDC). I still never got to max metal at that point, despite a robust economy and a zenith matter generator. This is explained by the building of many turrets (notably spiders) on the military held planets. 48*30k in just spider turrets for 3 planets was a major metal investment, plus clearing Mark 3 planets for MDC and hacks nearby (of ARS).
*AAR3 at 1h50 indicates a major shift with a second MDC taken and the AI going up in mark. A 64 strength wave is coming to Taroa and you can see the process of preparing for the wave, with force 4 moving into position and mines being shifted to the wormhole with Dismal Minelayer battlestation. Notice that huffman remained a logistical rather than econ even after GCA was hacked there. Indeed, doing so kept the AI focused on my two econs, which made swapping force 4 easier.
*AAR4 at 2h9m with the GCA hitting in twenty seconds for 273 strength. This moment was pivotal since, as can be seen on the recently taken planet, I just acquired a Hive Golem that is still building its drones. As I was low on metal this thrust me into the defensive for a while, but at the same time I was perfectly prepared to defend against the GCAs: all defences built, a shiny Hive Golem to secure any front, my main fleet free to move everywhere and enough science to respond to crisis. Energy was somewhat tight, but by scrapping all turrets from the nervous guard I could free 170k energy which put me above the 500k needed to avoid a brownout if a station died or needed swapping. By this point, the AI is in serious troubles.
*AAR5 at 2h20 with the threat back to pre-GCA level, a mere eleven minutes later. I do remember some heavy attacks on lazowska that proved the AI downfall. The mass of Spider turrets that prevent the threat from fleeing and dividing itself in multiple attacks across my planets proved a bad decision for the AI. Even the warden fleet got slaughtered, as it chose to meet my forces between Tichy and Vostea, nicely tucked between my planets and their factories and safe-repairing spaces. The dominance is so blatant that you can see my metal reserves going up and my main transported fleet 1 planet away from the instigator and ready to kill it before the instigator triggered once. The Hive Mark 4 helped, certainly.
*AAR6 at 2h52 with enormous progress having been made. In the south MeersTens has been taken at around 2h35, giving me both the Augmenter for turrets (an enormous damage and defensive boost) on top of a Generalist vault (maxing the tech) and a fleet with a few ships. In the North Makassar was taken for a nearly as important boots with the Strikecraft augmenter, with a minor GCA and a disruptive vault that I don't think got ever hacked. Vostea was taken due to the rising energy constraints first, and secondly to boost the movespeed between my main axis and Lazowska and AI-held Ix. A 98 Strength wave is about to hit the planet and you can unload the Hive Golem or just let it die against both my defences and Force One "Act Sissy" ready to wipe out the 0.3 and 0.7 albedo ships with a tons of Ablative Gatling and Spider Turrets Mark VII. As an aside, taking both north planets blocked the Warden and threat from passing north, giving me addtional security.
*AAR7 at 3h9 show the setup for the AI homeworld assault. The 400 strength planet of Neumann was cleared since 3h1m and Levin 551 strength fell within apparently seven minutes. The Hunter fleet is attacking back but that's what I want, to encourage the AI to move forces away from the homeworld, while having cleared neighbors let me drop some spider and tractor turrets to catch the leaving armies in a trap. There I can thin out the threat before it can truly hurt me in the rest of the galaxy. Some leaks, but not enough.
*AAR8 at 3h21 has the battles truly happening. The AI threat remains low due to heavy shifting of AI forces into guards near my homeworld, as those planets were depleted of AI ships. Near the AI Homeworld however, the provoked guards of Core Guard Posts are lashing out. However as you can see they are caught in the trap, barraged and locked in place by turrets with my forces ready to pounce on them and my metal remains sky-high. The AI Homeworld has lost near 400 Strength by this point.
*AAR9 at 3h27 marks the second step of weakening the AI Homeworld. More Guard posts have been drained from their guards and the threat trying take a safe path through Levin ends up in Vostea, which unfortunately for them has just been turned into a military station to face the threat. My metal is maxed out and my forces are waiting, deliberately waiting for the threat to drain from the AI Homeworld rather than risk having them retreat inside the AI planet. The Homeworld strength has done down again, losing in total another 100 strength.
*AAR10 at 3h30 for the final showndown. With my metal sky-high my forces went a full breach, taking advantage of the time needed before the Praetorian and Warden come back to set up the beachhead. over 55 spider turrets Mark VII are up by the time the fight seems to turn in my disfavor, 15 more coming up bringing me to a nasty total of 71. My Hive Golem sends its drones to soak up the initial blasts of the AI, reducing the climb of counter-attack as they do not count toward it. Meanwhile my main fleet play back and forth with the AI forces, ignoring the Guard Posts in favor of pushing back and paralyzing the incomers so that the beach can grow. Outside this violent battlefield, an AI Hive Golem has appeared and is coming to join the fight at the Homeworld, while Helicon is under attack by another powerful wave. The turrets on Ix are dying, but they're holding over 100 strength worth of AI units away from the only battlefield that matters, metal well spent.
*AAR11 at 3h32 is an intense moment where things seems to be headed a terrible way. The AI Hive Golem has joined the fray and the AI strength isn't wavering. All the threat from nearby planets has joined the fight, accounting for why the AI strength hasn't really gone lower. Metal remained unchanged but things look dicey... almost. Almost. Unpause and the 15 subverter turrets open fire, the zombie slowly but unwaveringly growing into a buffer that kill any hope of the AI reaching the spider Backline. The Hive Golem tries to flee so that its drones may continue the fight, but Force One is already ordered to kill it and despite its best effort, it dies a mere two seconds away from the Wormholes. With its death, all the drones vanish and the subverted hordes becomes unstoppable. The AI tries to drain hunter ship away from the planet to Levin, likely guessing things aren't going its way, but even those ships are getting overwhelmed.
*AAR12 At 3h36 where the AI is losing the strength battle with 80 strength worth of zombies on top of the 400 of the humans. The Guard Cores are dying with only three remaining, the counter-attack remains stalled at a surprisingly low 284. Blood is in the water.
*AAR13 At 3h37 there is only a meager 14 strength of the AI left. 38 Nucleophilic turrets are built and ready to catch the second phase of the Overlord in its final struggle, the 600 Ablative Gatling with bonus damage against the Phase 2 are here to ensure it won't get away. Soon the Overlord dies. Immediately, I built a military command station outside its fight range, behind my Nucleophilic, and I upgrade it thrice. Everything on the planet gain double damage and it can only stop that if it's willing to run into my killbox of Nucleo. Before the clock reach 3h39m, it's death. Humans have won!