Don't be afraid to retreat on offense as well. Use that time to hit their engines and take out a few of their big ships.Īttack on multiple fronts, even if it's just a probing attack. It can come back when the enemy has their ground troops and they will likely retreat.
Also try to keep an open planet nearby to retreat your space force. You'll be bombarded by ground attacks, but after a few rounds, should be able to set up defensive turrets and troop placement to quickly take out their units. For key planets that are hard to defend the space above, make sure that you have a heavy ground force. If a planet is one that is hotly contested, when captured, don't pour resources into it, but instead uses the extra credits to build an attack fleet that can secure a more defensible planet. Hold current, non-definsible planets until overwhelmed then retreat.
Find key, easily defensible planets to fortify. I haven't played the CIS, but as the Republic, my strategy was retreat and attack.