I find this funny, because I've dealt about the same amount of damage as I've recieved, yet, one guy I'm fighting is nuclear capable, and has also launched three nukes as well.
As a side note, another guy of yours is just going inactive, and the OTHER one gives me a ground attack about every other day, and loses. So I fail to see where this 'VE isn't fighting as hard as they could' sentiment is coming from.