Quote Originally Posted by The Glyphstone View Post
If your enemy gains Exhaustion slower than you, it is because they had one or both of those techs and you didn't. That's it.
He said that occupying planets raised his exhaustion more than theirs, and that's entirely possible if his armies are significantly weaker than theirs, because he'll lose more armies in the landing and that will mean significant war exhaustion. Of course, the answer there is to either beef up your armies or not bother occupying the planets.