Whats your warp point stratagy?

Depends on how I choose to play my Empire. If I go the "friendly" approach I try to settle in nicely with my fellow galactic neighbors and build within their systems and cooperate to win the game together. If I play the Xenophobe I try to prohibit entry into my systems at all costs. In early game I build mines, mines, and more mines. A favorite is to build a small space port ship, park it on the worm hole, and pump out mine after mine after mine each turn. Once I have enough mines I can post satallites and eventually a StarBase with Fighter Support.

Loyalty above all else except honor.

I defend warp points with fighters. They are easier to maintain and replace. When you advance, you can scoop them up and take them along to defend the next point. You can do so much with fighters that I don't even use sats or mines anymore (except for an occasional sensor sat).

On offense, I'll probe with a large fleet. If that isn't enough, I'll send an even larger fleet (my larger warships will usually have a mine sweep component on them).

More Mines .. more launching factories and build support from the systems planet

But I got two questions of my own
Whats A spaceport ship ?

And how do you define early game ?
( considered the rp you need for mines and the corresponding factory ships )

Remember : Pillage! then burn.
- Cpt. Kaff Tagon

Eventually, around mid-game Drones will start to change the picture. Ships come through a warp point faster than any weapon can reload. Mines would get sweeped before the combat begins.

So, theoretically a large number of ships (or something invincibly tough being the lead entry) should be able to breakthrough and start chewing up your defences - especially if you only rely on one thing. In practice... really depends on the state of the game and attitudes of the players.

---Sig---
Playing Touhou games (Go to this Wiki if interested. No, nobody else is that good/insane as that replay). No rush for SE

I usally use a few mines, sats with different loadout ( mostly spores and lightning rays )
and awfully huge bases with awfully huge guns and fighter bases with shipyards in the background supported by repair and resupply bases.

but i play against the a.i. all the time, so a guy with a stick who shouts "shooo! shooo!" would be effective

Remember : Pillage! then burn.
- Cpt. Kaff Tagon

In a recent stock game that several players exited just 8 turns before I could use my fleet:

First fleet (containing the obligatory minesweepers) of heavily armoured/shielded ships carrying Meson Cannons and Null-Space Projectors to absorb and damage defences, followed by a group of carriers to launch fighters to enact a mop up (or take care of outlying ships).

If I could I would have shoved in drones after the ships.

I like to mix sats with weapon destroying mines. Then I can hunt down the unlucky survivors and capture them for later dissection.

Another bad thing about mines is they don't move and they take up space in those games with limited unit usage (which you will want to do to save on your PC resources and processing time).
In a SE4 game I got stuck in the boring routine of constantly sending ships to replenish the minefield.

That would describe my DNs. I sometimes don't even bother with baseships. I usually like to build the maximum number of the largest ship possible that my economy can support. Nobody has been able to stand against that concentration of force yet.

My spaceport ships are basically the smallest ship hull I can put a couple engines on and a space yard. It's only purpose is to build mines, sats, and even fighters that can be directly launched at the warp point.

I rarely waste mines. If I need them elsewhere I simply load them up as cargo and move to their new home.

In an early game, first 5 years or so, I do not meet a lot of players who have even looked into mine technology until after they lose one or two ships to my mines. That allows me to know which warp points are subject to compromise, then I pack those with sats and fighters, and other ships. I generally purchase mine tech from the beginning of the game so I start pooping mines everyplace I go. Kinda like cooties. You know I have made it to a warp point before you if you hit one of my mines.

Loyalty above all else except honor.

All this talk is meaningless until you start thinking whether we're talking Earlygame or lategame, as well as which mod. That's before we get to player conditioning.

---Sig---
Playing Touhou games (Go to this Wiki if interested. No, nobody else is that good/insane as that replay). No rush for SE

Against people, not much. Against AI's it can be useful, atleast in the early game. Though even with people it can be semi-useful. I sometimes use scout ships and sometimes just use colony ships to scout - just depends. Either way, if a scout or colony ship comes to a WP I've mined, its toast and you are alerted to a breech in your defenses and where you need focus some attention.

WP defense, well for me in balance mod at least I'll try to get a couple of bases up, starting with a few sats then the BSY then use that yard to stock up on sats and a few heavy hitting bases. Early game I'll probably not defend my WP's so much, I'll just defend my planets and have a moderate fleet roaming my territory until I have the resources to lay an effective preventitive defense.

I like to establish forces on both sides of a warp point. The sat ring of death goes on my side, and fighters usually go on the hostile side.

Provides early warning, and cuts down on incursions by lone colony ships & freighters.

In low traffic areas, the rambush and capbush are fun alternatives. I haven't evaluated their overall effectiveness compared to "conventional" techniques - I just do my thing.