I'm glad you enjoyed it!
I guess you're right about the strategy v. action thing - I really wasn't focused on making the game as strategic as possible; Instead I was more interested in finding a basic common ground between some of my favourite big strategy franchises - Age of Empires, Master of Orion, Homeworld, Risc etc.
It's quite interesting that you bring up defender's advantage though - because as far as the game is concerned, there isn't any! However, the fighting system isn't completely deterministic; There is a lot of chance involved. I guess you just had a streak of bad luck :/
The problem is: I don't think I can change a lot about that. The randomness is there on purpose, to give players (and AI alike) at least a chance at surviving an unfavorable starting position.