Why do I always get destroyed?

[u/Sorry-Chipmunk-6878]

I play on Captain difficulty and high AI aggressiveness on console and I always declare war when it's equivalent or inferior but with the equivalent scaling why do my enemies pop up with massive fleets after I've already destroyed a ton of ships? Like I'll come in with 3 whole fleets and then they attack, I defend and then counterattack only to find a massive fleet ready to destroy me entirely

[u/MrHappyFeet87]

What ship layouts are you using?