Newbie question - fleet strength early on

[scofflaw]

Hi All,

I was just getting going with a new game with tutorial enabled, year is 2209, have a colony setup and what i thought was OK resource generation. I had war declared on me when i didn't cowtow to their second set of demands. They jump into my home system maybe a month later with a fleet of strength 44.8K (battlecruisers, escorts), my strength was about 260 (corvettes)

Is this an indication I am horribly behind, or is the need to submit to the demands of vastly stronger civs a normal part of the game?

Thanks!

 

[GC13]

You angered a fallen empire. The xenophobes are very, very touchy about how close they'll allow you to settle to them. If they come calling, you do what they want.

 

[scofflaw]

That's pretty cool. thanks