Wish I could look at the source code - it doesn't make sense:
I attacked Vycos:
Offense rating: 114474
Vycos Defense rating: 170543
It says I failed, but...
Troop loss (me): 7233 Troops
Troop loss (Vycos): 9628 Troops
If he has a greater defense, I would have expected me to lose more. I suspect it takes into account army size (I had over 100k troops, he had over 60k).
I can't attack anyone, and I'm untouchable (well, to the extent where everyone in every nation would have to attack me, everyone suffering greater losses than me individually, but collectively bringing me down to 0). No one is working together, which I think is the point of this game system.
But I'm not sure there's a way to tweak it to avoid this scenario, it's inherent in the game design.
I miss tradewars 2002.
-Adam