It's nearly impossible to progress

[FunkOff]

This is what happens:

Planet A is controlled 100% by enemy faction. You attack a few times, bring it down to 60%. Enemy counter-attacks, auto-wins because you cannot defend a planet you don't own, and undoes your hard-earned progress for free.

[Anaryl]

Yeah I'm really unsure why only half of a planets health is "playable".

The flipside to this, is that once a planet is at 60% controlled by you, the only way to cap it is to grind it which is 4 hours of doing nothing but clockwatching (since if you get up to make get a drink, GW will launch you in game at that precise moment for no reason). I must admit its pretty puzzling from a design perspective.

[Ze_PilOt]

I've told it many times, in many threads, it's an attack-attack scenario, that is not there yet.

Of course it's not normal. It's an alpha, you are currently only playing for seeking bugs, not winning anything.