[GALACTIC WAR SUGGESTION] Make the current faction leader fights the norm, make F.L's even harder.

One thing that's become unfortunately apparent is the fact that Galactic War is pretty much just a meat grinder with 3 interesting fights tossed in.
This is... not good.

It seems like everything that isn't a faction leader is incredibly easy to kill unless the RNG decides to be a *****.

I have an idea to fix this, and it's a 3-step plan.
NOTE: This idea does NOT fix the luck-related issues.

1: Make ALL enemy engagements match the amount of commanders you have, this makes it so that the odds aren't insanely unfair for the AI.

2: Make faction leaders match the amount of commanders, plus a number relative to the chosen difficulty
normal: 1
hard: 2
ruthless: 2
absurd: 3
If you have too many subcomms to allow this, then add commanders until the limit is hit, however this shouldn't be an issue because...

3: Limit the amount of sub-commanders. This should've been a no-brainer the day G.W. was conceptualized. It makes G.W. more about actually getting out of situations and less about hoarding all the subcomms and clicking from system to system watching the game play itself.
The same sort of method is applied, the amount of subcomms limited is relative to difficulty.
normal: 3
hard: 2
ruthless: 2
absurd: 1

BONUS 4: Scale planet sizes to the amount of commanders that will be present.
I'm not really sure if this can be done, but if it could be it'd be a very nifty way to balance the combat that goes on in G.W.
System sizes can stay the same, as can moon planets, but main planets should be scaled accordingly so that it's not a cramped situation where moving your commander two feet in the wrong direction causes his to be eaten by an army of infernos.

And that's basically how I think G.W. could be bettered combat-wise, waddya think?

Ooh, also BONUS 5: When sub-commanders die, they stay dead. Not sure if this does actually happen or not but if it doesn't it should.

totallynotabump

Also, allowing the AIs some time right after planet generation to just expand as normal and build eco, defenses, factories, etc. before the player drops in would make battles both much more difficult and make the planets feel "lived-in".

If only one thing on this thread was added, I would vote for this one.

I completely agree, especially when it comes to the stories about the planet, it can be described to be such an alive planet yet it's not. Also it gives the AI a good advantage against the player, which is great to add some challenge.

I don't think GW should arbitrarily change to match what you have.

If GW is gonna go in a more rogue-like direction, then, there should be more variety in planets, and you should be able to see how many commanders, planets, fortification level etc. of a planet before you move there. Sometimes you'll get unlucky, and be essentially impossibly outmatched early on. Sometimes, there will be difficult planets, but you'll have the opportunity to attack and take down easier targets first, to build up and take on the harder ones.

The chances of systems to be more heavily populated/ defended should increase closer to the faction leader planet.

All 3 other factions maybe should be able to make attacks or grab vacant systems similar to your own, and their tech unlocks should work the same way as they do for the player. though this brings up the question of whether the faction leader should be mobile and attacking, or sitting on the leader planet.

Maybe have some way of earning points to spend on upgrading the defensiveness of your own held systems? make it harder for attackers the more you invest. Maybe have each planet apply some unique bonus? or have tech linked to specific planets, so that losing a planet also means you lose the tech associated with it, multiple planets having the same tech would thus allow multiple factions to match each other, and allow for backup tech if you lose a particularly important planet.

Maybe de-couple the main planet of a faction and the leader of a faction? maybe the main planet of a faction holds their tech for building MEX and/or energy? so losing your main planet is essentially fatal. If the faction leader is the attacking force though, you'd have figure out how to allow an attack to fail, or for a leader to be pushed back without it being an instant kill for the entire faction. You could get around this by having your faction leader live on the main planet, and attacks are made by sub-commanders, but that feels somewhat less dramatic.

EDIT: you could also have sub-coms become a second unit on the GW game board, maybe you can't defend a system unless you have either your leader or sub-com present to defend. this would also be good to use instead of a defense point system, you can take key systems and leave a sub-com there to defend the systems behind it. This also allows you to use Sub-coms for attacks, meaning a single failed attack will lose you a sub_com, a huge loss, but wont be instantly fatal. The faction leader might have some advantages that regular sub-coms dont have, meaning attacking with your leader will give you advantages, but also be a huge risk if done flippantly.