Hi all,

first of all, gratz for this great game. I haven't felt that "one more turn" feeling for a long time, and I was hooked. And it feels good lol .

However, Here are my proposition:



Trade: being able to chose trade lanes would be nice. A small, risk free, fast to max brume lane, or a far, risky, slow growing, but big max possible lane.



Ships bonus/malus according to range:

Small ships should be harder to hit at long range ...



Targeting:

Possibility to choose primary target for the fleet...



Strategy: at the beginning of the fight, possibility to choose from a number of "strategy" cards, that would directly influence the process of the whole battle.

Number of cards would be admiral dependant (1 or 2 with no admiral, +1 for 5 levels of the admiral, for example)

Strategy would have a chance to fail/succeed.



Some examples of cards to choose from:

Ambush : 1 free middle attack (ennemy doesn't respond if the ambush is not countered), 2 close fights. Normal battle if failed. Medium difficulty.

Line battle : standard battle. Easy difficulty

Take cover : only on some systems, use the rocks or destroyed ships to provide cover/bonus to defense. Medium difficulty.

Scouting parties : prevent ambushe.s Easy difficulty

Keep your distance : two long range rounds, 1 medium. Medium difficulty.

Encircle : ennemy cannot escape, or has a malus to escape. More damage received in case of success. Medium difficulty.

Charge: no firing at long range, normal firing at medium range, bonus firing at close range. Medium difficulty.



So, at the beginning of a fight, a fleet could have to choose from (randomized) :

Line battle (no bonus/malus)

Ambush

Keep your distance.



What do you think ? This is a first draft, I think the system could be improved (admiral's "strategy" attribute, effect of countered cards, failure/success system, and so on).

Sounds grate, it would be fun if some cards made available because your position on the map.

"Take cover" well it should not be a option if its nothing to use for cover.

And Ambush only a option if your ships been in the system for some time.

Im thinking of Rome Total War, where you could in some parts use the map for strategy purposes. So that not all battles are based on who has the strongest weapons and best defense.



And I also like "Keep your distance" combined with the "small ships bonus", then you could have some use for smaller ships later in the game. Like irritating interceptors making some small damage and then retreating. The way it is now, all ships fight under the same rules witch make the battles always the same

I fully agree, I think the battles feel a little dull, the better technology/ biggest ships will mostly win all the time...



Some well played random srategy cards could add a little challenge to this.



And indeed some cards could have increased chances of appearing if certain conditions are met: time stayed iddle in a system, presence of space rocks or wrecks in a system, whatever.



A clever use of strategy cards could/should help turn the tide of some battles.