Whilst I'm happy in principle with having a simplified combat system I think that there is currently little strategy possible. All ships must be designed with the view that they will be closing in to melee range at some point, however in reality you would have long range ships that stay at distance whilst others close in. Granting ships roles and allowing them to stay at different ranges opens up much greater possibilities for design and strategy without a major overhaul of the combat system:



Fleet screen

* List of all ships in hangars for easy fleet construction

* Ship design roles (e.g. short, medium, long range, non-combat) to affect combat behaviour.



Combat

* Ship role affects behaviour. Long range stays at distance, short range closes to melee.

* Have specific cards for each role (Long range could have close to medium, Short range to keep distance etc)

* Non-combatant ships (colony) should auto retreat/remain at distance.

* Card selection should pause action to allow time to think, or have a specific card selection point at phase start.

* Alternative views of battle - fixed overview, follow fleet (yours/enemy), cinematic, free?



End of turn

* Fleets with remaining movement (& not doing something) should be highlighted

* Fleets that reach a new system and with remaining movement should have the option of moving on/performing an action.

Expanding on the combat sounds like a good idea to me (I am in favour of tank/dps/healer setups too).



At the moment (playing at normal difficulty) most of my ships are set for max damage on beams with a view to killing off the AI before end of phase 2 - I am finding this isnt working so well later on in the game but by then I have the systems established and time to research the correect defense. I am a casual player and still finding it fun, but I would like a little more control/options during a fight - that said, some of these suggestions could be for future versions as they require quite a bit more than just balancing before launch.

For me it seems to be a good idea, too.

But there are much ideas in the suggestion threads.

What you mean by Tank/dps/healer setups? Not come across that idea (or heard it called that anyway!)



I'm sure a lot of people want expanded combat - i've also seen suggestions of ground combat & ship boarding too.



A thought just occurs actually. Has anyone suggested fighter craft?



I think the problem is that, as you say, they won't be able to do it all before release! I'm happy to wait for updates though. It's actually just refreshing to be involved in actively influencing a game before it's released rather than having to point out obvious flaws post release!!

This has been roughly suggested like that already, as well as the fighters.

Someone specifically suggested formations and maybe a second row of cards with the mentioned formations, and I think that would be very valuable.