No, that's not it. It's somebody 2x bigger than me who drops in and out of range. I figured best avoid him and take the hit on the military points, get some breathing space and think on how to catch him up militarywise. I capitulated after an attack. He went out of range for a few days, I spent on building infrastructure in the colonies and then bam, after 3-4 days, he's back attacking.
??