Let's say it's a 4X in space where the player controls quite a lot of star systems (like 30-100) even at the erarly stages of the game.
I'm thinking of some sort of "military regions" mechanic. Like, the player can build up to 8-12 military bases total on certain planets. Then military actions are done by those bases depending on the proximity to those. So, the player does not concern with defending individual planets, but rather strengthen "northen secrtor military base" if the planets in proximity to rthis base is in danger. Such miliary base would station troops, fleets, special forces, officers, equipment, fuel, that is used by nearby planets. The base would also perform offensive operation vs target systems in their proximity.
The main advantage of such system is that the player has to deal with up to 12 "military entities" so it's all manageable even in case of huge empires. The disadvantage is of course lose of a direct control (the player would not be able to control those forces directly), but that's the price I'm willing to pay
How exactly such system of military bases could work?
Things to consider: How to "move bases"? The player would need to move those as territory expansds, but it can't be too easy (otherwise the player could move all bases to the most dangerous front and then move those back; so there must be a mechanic that allows moving those but prevents them from being "mobile reaction forces"). What happens when a planet changes miliatry region (military base that protects it) due to moving bases, does it mean that temporarily that system is not protected (when forces from the old base retreat and from the new one have not arrived yet?)
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