i dunno if this is already common knowledge or anything, but i only just got the game today (stupid australia), but i have seen posts on the forum which mention that they have problems countering sickles and stuff i think
I play empire too. The prob is not really sickle spam vs sovs imo. Its flaks + terror drones + those sov tanks (which can own tsunamis when well microed).
but yeah i found the solution i thinks