Sacred Haven of Debauchery

From a gameplay perspective, this makes perfect sense. Before, it was a terrible exploit that allowed you to win most wars even with a significant numerical disadvantage against the enemy.

I agree with that, but splitting the fleet fixes this from my point of view. Or does the AI split the fleet, but still doesn't know how to lift blockades?

If you bombard with a couple of corvettes, of course, it will slowly decrease. It used to fall quickly, and it still falls quickly now. With zero fortifications, the defenders receive x2 damage. Just like before.

Yes, that's right, the defense is fine. But it seemed to me that destroying the defense to zero and bringing the army to roughly the same size as the defending force still didn't help much, as there were some other bonuses for the locals. And in general, ground warfare in the space age is like the Poles using cavalry with sabers when they were attacked by German and Soviet tanks...