I'm curious, if they could make it less tedious would you enjoy it? Do you enjoy those early wars, and it only bothers you after the cognitive overload kicks in from the additional compounded micro and macro management?
This is something I feel pushes a lot of people away from RTS'/MOBAs so it wouldn't surprise me it's a major factor in a game like Stellaris which bridges RTS with a bunch of other things to do; especially in multiplayer or for people who don't play 80% of the time paused like I do. It's a skill you can develop, but considering the most popular RTS games are mostly full of people just smashing blobs together it's understanably not something most people stick through the initial losses to overcome, and those that do tend towards brute forcing the problem and overcoming it with numbers/macro. It's also pretty demoralizing to find where you do stack up even after putting in some effort and a bunch of time.
I've suggested it before, but I feel Stellaris could benefit from something like they added in the Outlaw Sectors DLC for Sins of Solar Empire, or the TEC have in the sequel, where you have a separate portion of your military force controlled by the AI(or the Player with restrictions on these Fleets and some automated aspects) for home defense and border conflicts, leaving the big battles and fleet engagements for the player to enjoy. I find this make the conflicts and your Empire feel a bit more active and lived in, and removes the anticlimatic all-or-nothing doomstack, single battle wars. I'd have these Fleets linked to a Sector, where they would Patrol, and could engage hostiles in neighbouring Systems up to X jumps from that Sector, but otherwise function in a reserve role with only a bit of setup from the Player. This would alleviate a lot of the micro from multi-front Wars and leave you to decide where your big Fleets go, but also not leave one half of your Empire undefended or force you to be in two places at once with your limited Fleet Power. I think it would also solve some problems with the AI after they lose all their Ships in one engagement or war and then immediately get Vassalized or taken over by another Empire since they have a Pathetic Fleet value compared to everyone else after one near peer conflict; at the very least act as a few awnings to hit and slow down their fall.
Would something like that go far enough?
I love RTS games, and I love just about every aspect of Stellaris and the way it combines them all into something bigger than they are individually, but I also have an issue with multi-front conflicts, or being ganged up on by all my neighbours independently since I play Xenophobes, or just late game Galaxy spanning conflicts like WiH and Crises, and I would hate for them to just sweep this one under the Automation rug/toggle key and feel that's solved the problem for everyone. I think this is an issue that needs a deep dive, and not just a surface sweep for those dipping their toes.
