This game spits you in the face and the nkicks you in the nuts

[Wiaf]

I found the alien thing hard as well, untill I reloaded sold some stuff beforehand and bought 2x hvy capital projectile turrets for 150k each. (I got lvl3sys in my ms and 3 3rd gen pulse laser turrets, also 40% laser dmg reduction, 1500hp 2hp/s shield and 1hp/s armor rep)

For Fighters I got 2 Panther, 1 Tiger, 1 3rd level missile boat forgot the name. and i bought myself 4 mercs @5900 per jump.

After that it was a piece of cake.