Look, combat is super boring and very bland.  It looks cool when the auto cam works, but it is not engaging or interesting.  It becomes another rote step in the process of galactic domination.

Are there any improvement plans for update 3 to help fix this?  The issue hasn't really been on people's minds as of late.  However, it is vital to the survival of the game that we fix combat.

PS I had a text wall that turned into a thesis paper based on all my experiences with es2 across 5+ playthroughs.  I can list details if necessary, but I feel like this is a common concern.

There are numerous and lengthy explanations from Mysterarts in this thread over in the game design forum. Feel free to weigh in there, but I'd suggest you check out the dev posts on the matter beforehand:

https://www.games2gether.com/endless-space-2/forum/66-game-design/thread/21403-early-access-space-battle

Thanks Frog.  I'll go back to that thread, I missed it completely.  Lol.