Will we ever be able to choose which starlane we retreat down? It seems odd to me that one is selected at random, or more likely the one that is probably going to lead into more danger.

Yes, I also think it is quite odd that sometimes you retreat nearer to a foreign imperium than nearer to one of your systems, even if both are equidistant to you.

To have a choice where to retreat to would be good, and interesting.

I'd also like to see a possible retreat accross country (outside starlanes), once the appropriate tech has been researched.

Another thing I'd like to see with battles where you or the enemy are blockading, is no retreat, as it's being blocked.  A particularly annoying trait is Vodyani retreating to a nearby system and immediately hooking a u-turn and ending up back at the original star system.  This means you are mostly obliged to wipe that fleet out (which never seems to be more than 1-3 small ships), preventing you attacking another system the following turn.  They shouldn't be able to do this when you're blockading the original system.

The whole retreat business really needs a brainstorm and update, to improve it's realities.  

(Note: I don't want to block the Vodyani arks and fleets from sensing your approach and immediately going to the system you've just come from, that's good AI writing: it may be infuriating, but it's good tactical nouse by the AI).

The_Quasar wrote:

To have a choice where to retreat to would be good, and interesting.

I'd also like to see a possible retreat accross country (outside starlanes), once the appropriate tech has been researched.

Another thing I'd like to see with battles where you or the enemy are blockading, is no retreat, as it's being blocked.  A particularly annoying trait is Vodyani retreating to a nearby system and immediately hooking a u-turn and ending up back at the original star system.  This means you are mostly obliged to wipe that fleet out (which never seems to be more than 1-3 small ships), preventing you attacking another system the following turn.  They shouldn't be able to do this when you're blockading the original system.

The whole retreat business really needs a brainstorm and update, to improve it's realities.  

(Note: I don't want to block the Vodyani arks and fleets from sensing your approach and immediately going to the system you've just come from, that's good AI writing: it may be infuriating, but it's good tactical nouse by the AI).

this game really needs the no retreat feature, because at the current stage, the AIs are abusing the retreat option. especially the pirates and the Vodyani. you figth the pirates, fail to kill them all, they fly back to their layer, and then come back with more ships. the Vodyani is especially annoying because the Ark have lots of hp, and a lot of time you just cannot kill it in the first engagement, and they run away. then you have to chase that ark a couple of times until it reaches the point of little hp, and will be killed even if the AI chooses to retreat.