Currently in Endless Space 2 combat is fairly bland as far as player input goes. You put ships in a fleet, pick a strategy, and let the battle go and have fun watching. Evertually there will be a reinforcement mechanic and I suspect there will be many more battleplans and weapon fuctions (based on what I gather from the GDDs). However there are some things that need to be adressed that I believe would make the combat system much more enjoyable and allow for more player input while still remaining a mostly cinematic style.

Warning: Wall of Text Follows

1. FLOTILLAS:  Flotillas have some of the greatest potential currently in the game. At the moment flotillas are pre-designed by the game for what appears to be maximum cinematic impact/effect (not sure if they also separate for maximum survivability). This can be so much more. My idea is to offer the player a list of all the ships they control participating in a battle, and allow them to separate them into flotillas. Essentially players would click a button to add flotillas to the battle. Each flotilla would have a maximum and minimum number of ships within them that would be represented by a CP cap on both extremes. There would also be different types of Flotillas available which would serve different roles. For example one flotilla containing a battleship and a couple of cruisers would act as long range fire support, while another flotilla consisting of several destroyers would try to close the distance between themselves and the enemy as fast as possible in order to use powerful short range weapons. These artillery groups and wolfpacks and other such formations would allow for much greater strategic depth on the part of the player, as putting ships in the wrong roles could devastate their ability to win. This would also allow for the implementation of ships speeds in battle, which would also change how tactics are used. For example if you are using powerful long range cannons faster ships will not be within optimal firing distance as long as larger, slower moving ships would. Ship speed would also increase the usefulness of missiles as they would be able to alter their course to intercept fast moving ships.
2. Battle Plans: I'm pretty sure that more battle plans are in the works, however I still think I should put this here. Having a good sized selection of battle plans that are each as useful as the last is integral to making sure that the battle system does not become to boring. Having only 3 kinds of formation is not a good idea.
3. Boarding: This is more of a wishful thinking entry as there are (as far as we know) no plans to implement it. Boarding actions would allow players to either disable enemy ships or capture them as their own if they win the battle. Boarding comes in two varieties, Assault crews and Breaching crews. Assault crews are launched by dropship at the begining of a battle alongside fighter and bomber craft and can be intercepted by enemy small craft and flak. Breaching crews are launched by pods at close range and are less likely to be intercepted due to the short distance. Each of these crews would be a module which would draw a set amount of manpower from the ship they were launched from. once onboard the enemy ship the attackers would fight against the defenders onboard. This would be represented by the total manpower values of both sides, and the stats of each empires ground troops. Basically these are ground battles taking place on ships. Ships could have special modules which would add defensive bonuses against boarding actions as well.
4. Dynamic Targeting: Players should be able to assign high-priority targets to their flotillas. Basically Players should be able to assign major threats for their ships to target as soon as possible.

That's all I have for now. Please leave suggestions and critiques below. If your suggestion is sound I will try to add it to the above. If your critique makes sense then I will change the above. Thank you for your time.

I do like the idea of boarding, but that is wishful thinking and might be too much to implement this late in development. Also feels too much Warhammer 40k-y

As for Dynamic targeting. I feel this completely negates the 'protector'-class star ships.  Why have front line tanks when you can just tell your ships to target the ones behind them. It doesn't conform to how they have the balance system.I like being able to have a front line style ship. They don't attract ALL the fire, but they eat quite a bit of it.

DA_Corporation wrote:
I would have to agree with the ability to assign what ships are in what flotilla. I think we also should be able to assign them a different battle plan. I feel this might be adjusted and fixed in the future, or at least able to adjust shape a battle plan is given. I believe there will be a manager implemented and this might allow us to customize our battle plans.

I do like the idea of boarding, but that is wishful thinking and might be too much to implement this late in development. Also feels too much Warhammer 40k-y

As for Dynamic targeting. I feel this completely negates the 'protector'-class star ships.  Why have front line tanks when you can just tell your ships to target the ones behind them. It doesn't conform to how they have the balance system.I like being able to have a front line style ship. They don't attract ALL the fire, but they eat quite a bit of it.

I agree with boarding being wishful thinking, I just feelt I should include it anyways. The dynamic targeting thing is meant to be more of a "this ship needs to go first" type thing. Protector class ships would still be needed to protect because enemy ships would simply be allocating more fire towards the priority ship. Targets wouldn't change in the battle.

Boarding is an excellent idea. 

I like the thinking.  Not a fan of the boarding idea though.

Hmm...

Boarding an Ark...How would that work exactly?

If I recall the official stance on boarding was "we like the idea, but it won't be in at launch".  I could be wrong though.