Like I said in other threads, I recently got back to play ES2 and I really enjoy it. The part I like the most is the fighting, thus I spend a lot of time designing my ships, assembling my fleets and finding some wars to use them in. After several games I can say I got quite the hang at designing ships and using them effectively, generally winning fights with few to no losses. One thing that has been bugging me is how the battle cards have been designed; I end up picking them for the formations rather than the bonuses they provide. I find most of the cards buffs to be a poor match the formations they provide or be rather useless due to the kind of fleets I'm using or who I'm facing. Personnaly I would replace most cards with new ones that provide combat buffs to the various formations and ditch all the bonuses that don't affect the battle itself.

So, what about you?

I also pick them for Formations first. Sometimes I switch out one card with one that has the same formation, but another modifier. But the Power to Shields/Barrage and Turtle Fomartiosn are my two most usual picks. 1 melee, 1 ranged. Perfect to counter every enemy.

Some cards like the "+70" Criticial Damage" or "Diplomatic Immunity" could work well in rare circumstances. But those did not happen thus far.