[Forest]

yeah even more of 'the more money you have, the easier it is'.

Totally abusable in a variety of ways and would end up having LESS planets.

Reasons being:

People like me, who are now not hardcore just would stop playing. It is hard enough having little net access without having no chance of any decent rank.

People would get more incoming due to more attack fleets, burn out even quicker and stop playing.
That then leads to even more incoming for the few that are left, meaning they will burn out quicker.

People wouldn't necessarily buy more credits. For instance, player 1 buys 3 credits, uses 1 and gives two to friends.
This time though, he buys 3 credits and uses them for himself. His two friends have no credits and don't play. This then makes the two reasons above happen even quicker.

I think this idea could have worked in a universe of 200k players, but in such a small universe it will have the reverse effect of what you are wanting to achieve.