I bought ES months ago but never went far in it, mainly because it's overwhelming. The other reason is I don't know how to cap a planet or how to defend it. It usually goes like this: an enemy fleet arrives and my planet stops working. I send in my fleet and battle ensues, enemies retreat but another fleet arrives. My fleet is locked in perma-combat. Or I send a fleet (with planet bombing capabilities) to an enemy planet. An enemy fleet arrives. I defeat it, then another arrives. My fleet is locked in perma-combat.

So, what should I do to successfully engage my civilization in warfare?



Also, I usually disable non-conquest victory types. Does this influence my chance to convert a planet with my influence?

You either need to make more fleets to defeat the enemy ones or, if they only move in fleets after you moved in, you can try sieging their system before they moved their fleet there. Also, if you use Long-Range Kinetc Weapon Modules, you can do damage to the enemy before they can retreat, so you should at some point be removing their ships even when they're retreating.

I'll try that, thanks: damaging them when they retreat should improve the situation. Usually they move in with 2 or 3 fleets when I attack, rotating out damaged ones, so that I can attack one per turn with a fleet, and then it takes 4 turns to get productive again with my siege, but then they come back again. Even when I try to divert their attention they usually have more fleets or better ships, meaning that I need to concentrate my fleets to be able to do something.