It wouldn't take too much to add a bit more character and high level tactics to the battle system as it stands; fleet formations and target priority being chief amongst the most common suggestions it seems. Submit ideas to the Design Proposals sub-section of this forum and you never know, someone might be listening.

Deadlock. And Deadlock II. That is what I think they should have aimed for.



If you've never played them, it's a turn based game where, when you have battle at the end of the turn and armies are in the same area, you can give some very simple, basic orders, then watch the battle unfold. You can see all the units fight, who/what they shot at, and exactly how the battle played out.



Lets face it, for the vast majority of us, we don't spend dozens of hours researching technologies; building ships; training generals and tweaking loadouts only to see an blandish video of ships going "pew pew pew" and little idea of what happend.



This game is SO beautiful, and I assumed that when it came to space battles (my first game I got three "friends" so never fought most the game) that they would be detailed and amazing to watch; with visual details and effects that would tell the story of what happened. I wanted to make a bag of popcorn, grab a soda, click "attack" and watch an fantastic show.



Sadly, so far, I'm straining my eyes and scrathing my head durring battles trying to guess what's happening, which is extremely anticlimatic to say the least, and such a waist of all the art and animimation that's in this game.

Hi,



i bought the game today, looking for a finally nice 4X Strategy Game. While I currently lack the knowledge to judge the late game, the combat system really...well, makes me scratch my head.

While the systme with the cards is quite unique and the presentation is nice it totally lacks depth. Choosing the right cards solely depends on luck. While it is a fast system, it is also boring.

All i do is build masses of destroyers with torpedos and BOOM they go

I'd prefer front lines, where i can send my close combat ships to assault the rocket ships of the enemy while my badly armored ships hold back and fire from a safe distance....kinda like that.



I know...it's long shot but it would be nice

One of the disappointing aspects of combat for me, was not being able control ship formation or know what ships were destroyed during combat. I think adding ship formation control might take more time, but in terms of ship identity I think adding the ability to customize ship color/tone, or make decals/markings on the sides of the ships would be easy enough to implement. I would like to see some physical differences between my USS-Enterprise-1/2/3...

At this time, I would just settle for a video that is showing the details of how the battle plays out. I want to see ships health bars; are they near dead or just fine? How much damage are those weapons doing? Are my defences working? Right now I just see "effects" and try to guess what's happening.



I agree about the card choosing seeming random. I don't know how to stop that "clock" so I can take my time and pick the cards I want; and I don't know even if I had all the time in the world if my choice would matter or not at this time.

bobarabara wrote:
One of the disappointing aspects of combat for me, was not being able control ship formation or know what ships were destroyed during combat. I think adding ship formation control might take more time, but in terms of ship identity I think adding the ability to customize ship color/tone, or make decals/markings on the sides of the ships would be easy enough to implement. I would like to see some physical differences between my USS-Enterprise-1/2/3...

I am going to shamelessly pimp this again because you might like it: /#/endless-space/forum/28-game-design/thread/12192-fleet-doctrine-an-additional-level-of-combat-interactivity

The only aspect of the otherwise beautiful and well balanced game is the really boring boring battle system. After playing the game for a whole week almost nonstop, I only ever use the automode, except for the fights in which I am only slightly stronger or even weaker. Picking the cards is like playing cards in a casino, completely based on luck. I want to be able to control my ships, like in Master of Orion 2. I want to use self-made strategies, I want to equip some ships with special systems that have very specific tasks in a battle. I do not even know which of my ships is which, because they look exactly the same all game, doesn't matter what kind of technology I have invented. In Moo2 every race had a different design, but additionally you could choose between different designs for each ship class. I can't do any of this in ES, and "boom" goes my long-time motivation. I really like the game otherwise, so I absolutely do not understand how the developers could have put so much energy and thought in everything except the battle system. Hopefully they will change it in sequels, if ES1 is successful enough, which I hope for.

The combat system is, indeed, flawed. I like the fact that I can choose my actions and then sit back and watch, but I have never liked any game that has a battle system that relies on luck. Couple this with the fact that the AI is currently unrelenting, even on Easy, and you have a game mechanic that actually makes you want to avoid it. It would be much better if you could just upgrade your ships, send them into battle, and just watch; no picking cards and hoping you picked the right one.