The game is delightfully frustrating.

Trying to get the right combo of government, civic points, and racial traits that fit my play style is part of the fun.

My last attempt was going well. My empire was the largest, and while the religious zealot empire was failing badly on its second attempt to attack me, the Fallen Empire that had been on my border since the beginning decided to come out swinging...

I was prepping for such a confrontation. I had set up 3 defense fortress at the 2 choke points of hyper lanes between our space. 3.2k for each fortress. I figured between that and the space station there as well worth 2k of defense, they would be enough of a speed bump to bring my 30k fletcher to bear, and have reinforcements constantly generating nearby.

They rolled in with a 233k fleet.

Well that game is over.