Quote:creeping rather than an immediate "I conquered your empire in a day" situation
That was the intent of the noncombatant state of an empire. It requires that players from both empires be on line so at least your stuff doesn't get snuffed while you are out. That really burns people because they feel they had no chance to defend or even to flee.
Quote:When the counter attack comes, the alt empire logs off.
<head smack> Blast you chess player.
What if an empire who has attacked any other empire remains in a combatant state for a minimum amount of time? At present, when the last player logs off, the empire becomes noncombatant after 3 minutes. That could be an hour or a day if they've just attacked someone.