Hrm, I noticed that a change in the upcoming patch notes that excess reinforcements now go to the Strategic Reserve, then waves.
How much faster does the Strategic Reserve refill if this is happening? And is there any indication of it happening, other than the SR going up or the waves getting bigger? I guess vs very high difficulties you'll tend to die before the AIP gets high enough for this to trigger, but it seems like having a rapidly-refilling strategic reserve could still stonewall the player at the AI homeworlds.
Maybe the excess should be split between the SR and waves based on how low the SR is? If a player can get the SR really low, that means they're probably not actually stonewalled, so its fine to pour the excess into the SR to keep harassing them. If the SR is pretty full, seems better for the AI to prioritize hammering the player.
Based on what I remember of how CPAs get populated, 50% is the threshold above which the SR is used aggressively for offense. It could switch there. Or it could just give a % of the excess equal to the current SR % to the waves.
This also means whittling down the strategic reserve reduces the size of incoming waves. Makes sense; if you hit the AI, it redirects resources to defense. Incoming waves are way easier to deal with than strategic reserve ships, but SR ships never kill you, so it balances out a bit.
Also, if you neuter a planet down to just an AI command station, that reduces the reinforcements that planet gets, right? As I understand it, those reinforcements are just lost, rather than going to the SR/waves, yes?