Conquest of Solar Systems

[Celarious]

Honestly, I believe what Norm said about returning to the original loyalty system is the best option. Remove building damage entirely, unless the flags have been captured and the defender's city is under "conquest" as they'd technically be in for a bit when the loyalty flipped over. Yes, it will allow military buildings to fire at the attackers in safety, but I don't see this is a huge issue considering how much of an advantage attackers currently have

So you mean you want the old-style city conquest returned? But that wouldn't stop an attacker from capturing a whole empire within hours at all.

The old-style city's conquest and loyalty system was very much based on the attacker capturing the city, and then the defender login and capture it back with ease if loyalty hasn't flipped yet. Sure loyalty was nice for giving the defender time to retake what was lost, but it was not a fun way of doing war.

Yes, it wouldn't stop conquest in a few hours, however it would make it slower than it currently is. About it not being "a fun way of doing war", if we're going to look at it that way, that's inevitable if we're going to stop players from wiping out cities in minutes. Everything else you and Yurk have suggested in this thread is the same way - less "fun" for the attacker, and intentionally so as Yurk said here:

I mean, either way, both your take and mine would impose a severe time constraint on sieges, and force even powerful empires to think "Is it worth it?" before attacking a random noob empire two sectors away from their border. Pragmatic thought might be summonned more often when it comes to the reasons for capturing a world or system: basically, strategic value for the enemy or ourselves.

Unfortunately the most fun is what we currently have, and making it less fun is a necessity for discouraging quick empire stomps. This includes your suggestion about system sieges. Hence I don't think it should be considered as a part of the conversation, it's not helpful ultimately.

In terms of the actual suggestions themselves, I do think a planetary shield of some sort is the best option, as it gives a "physical" representation of some sort. Having to arbitrarily "siege a system" for x hours before you're allowed to do anything would feel a bit weird and abstract, which I don't think most players would enjoy