I don't really care about what other people have done in the past. I just care about one hostile faction making it impossible for me to grow. I think this problem should be addressed if you want more people to play, since it is a real turnoff when you play a game and cannot get anywhere. Like I said, extending troop pod protection time would be a good option, or adding a time delay between attacks. Remember that bug that was deleting resources every hour? A game where your progress keeps getting erased is no fun, and people who find this happening will just quit.