Hi, first, thx for the game. second, i just started the game 2 days ago and playing round the clock, so yeah i am a newbi (which i hope won't grow into a noob), and maybe there is a working orbital defence strategy which i ignore. third, i am not taking into account mod, only the basic game, yes i did search the forum but not thoroughly My problem is : I can MEW (metal-equivalent-wise) defend from land, i can mew from air and sea. But i can't figure out how to mew defend from orbit, because of the instant pin point drop (ippd) of the attacker. ecample: the attacker ippd destroy the umbrella locally build a portal and poor in less than 5 second, whitout time for my defense fleet to intercept. i saw attacker whom don't even bother to move in orbit he ippd then jump back to another planet and ippd again rather than move around. current-game solution brainstorm: have a defence cover, ever umbrella or anchor, around all the planet : Even if i can mannage the time to build it, the ippd can just hammer locally mew destroy the defence and pass on land. have an intercept fleet : the time to reach the attacker he build the portal and is on land. I have a patrolling fleet or patrolling surface army : it's not mew at all, it will require a lot more ressource than the attacker to be strong enought to defend and it's slow the game until you can count the building particule. my opinion: Whatever on land, air, sea, orbit, space, there should be a mew possibility for the defender to defend. i speak of mew, because it's totally normal to be able to crush defence if you just have so much more metal and unit. But in the problem i expose even if the attacker have a lesser fleet than the defender he still can bypass orbitale layer easely. It should be possible in conventionnal warfare to make a fortress of a planet until the last resort of the attacker is to literally throw a moon at it rather than cheap trick. I love gas planet but because of ippd i think they are indefensible. my proposition: Add a second upper orbital layer, with active combat betwen the two layer and more importantly travel time betwen the two layer dependant on the unit speed. which will give time to a defence fleet to intercept an incoming fleet, at least with the fastest unit. the attacker still have the advantage of surprise, readiness and combat of his choosing. but the defender won't be powerless in orbit because several dozen unit popup over a tiny section of umbrella.
TL;DR, but in my oppinion having an orbital layers is already a display/viewing issue/mess, and a second orbital layer would be even worse.