Hi! I'm obviously new here and bought the game a few days ago, but couldn't pull myself to come here as I was throwing hours away into the alpha . The game doesn't even feel like an alpha; very polished and stable so kudos to the devs. I had a suggestion to the end of traditional space combat. Many fights end before the "draw" at the end of the battle, but there are times where both fleets have a sufficient amount of HP to engage for another round. Here's where my suggestion comes in.



At the end of a full cycle (after close-range weapons) the draw phase is actually a navigation phase. In the navigation phase there are three cards that can be played: Withdraw, Re-position, and Pursue cards. Since most battles end before this I don't see something like this being priority, but it can certainly give more immersion from a tactical perspective. Further explanation below.



Tactical Cards:



Withdraw Card: Push all remaining energy to the thrusters, attempting to leave the battlefield. If the enemy pursues you suffer a -40% penalty to weapons due to power redistribution to the engines, and must fight one long-range (or middle) phase before you can successfully withdraw.



Re-position Card: Reposition the fleet back into battle formation, circling around back into long-range phase to fight against your opponent. You suffer no penalties with this card. If the opponent withdraws the fight ends in a tie. If the opponent pursues the battle will be joined in only two phases; the mid range phase and the close range phase. Your pursuing opponent will suffer a -25% weapon penalty and a +5% HP boost for one round.



Pursue Card: Push much of your energy into thrusters and minimal power into the hull, giving you the ability to chase down withdrawing targets for one long-range phase or to ignore the long-range phase against repositioning targets. If you play this card you get a -25% weapon penalty and +5% health boots of your maximum HP for one turn. Full HP pursuing ships gain a +5% health bonus if at full HP.



So basically:



Withdraw C vs Re-position C: Withdrawing fleet leaves the field ending the fight in a draw.

Withdraw C vs Withdraw C: Withdrawing fleet leaves the field ending the fight in a draw.

Withdraw C vs Pursue C: One last phase is fought (long/middle range). Withdrawing fleet suffers -40% weapon penalty and pursuing fleet suffers -25% weapon penalty with a +5% HP boost.



Re-position C vs Withdraw C: Withdrawing fleet leaves the field ending the fight in a draw.

Re-position C vs Re-position C: Both fleets re-position themselves into fighting formation, beginning at long range.

Re-position C vs Pursue C: Pursuing fleet is positioned much closer than normal, skipping the long range phase and starting off at middle range. Pursuing fleet has -25% weapon penalty and +5% HP boost for one turn.



Pursue C vs Withdraw C: One last phase is fought (long/middle range). Withdrawing fleet suffers -40% weapon penalty and pursuing fleet suffers -25% weapon penalty with a +5% health boost.

Pursue C vs Re-position C: Pursuing fleet is positioned much closer than normal, skipping the long range phase and starting off at middle range. Pursuing fleet has -25% weapon penalty and +5% HP for one turn.

Pursue C vs. Pursue C: Both sides suffer a -25% weapon penalty and +5% HP boost for one turn, and fight one (or two) close ranged phases.



Numbers, turns, and phase ranges are used as examples since it would require some balance; the rest is the prime idea behind this. What do you guys think?

I like this. You have the option to engage again and try to finish off a fleet that you couldn't quite kill, or to try and get away and out of the system before you own damaged fleet would be re-engaged and destroyed. And I liked the way you gave the new cards the rock-paper-scissors format the battle system has. Very nice.

+1 to this idea.

If the Devs (holy be thy name) adopt either this fantastic idea or let fleets engage more than once per turn, I'll be one happy Sophon.

Awesome idea. Maybe the bonus/malus is a bit too much high (Percentuals) and maybe need a bit of balancing, but the idea is very good. +1 from me.

I'm glad to see you guys like it. Yea, the numbers will definitely have to be tweaked for good balancing IMO.

+1 to this idea.

I love this idea. It would be a great improvement over the current system which although good did create one or two anticlimactic moments for me during gameplay.

It's a good idea but needs more balance.

And also, could this potentially become an endless chain or will their be a 1 time limit?

That's a good question; one I think would be based on what the community would want more (not negating balance however). My theory would be that it theoretically could be an endless chain, but cards and the system entirely would be balanced to a point where that would never happen. For instance nano-repair could allow both parties to gain more hull strength and then again for repairing their hull strength, so it may be possible to "tweak" with nano-repair over a period of time when using it consecutively. Granted in multiplayer a human opponent would be very likely to counter a nano-repair card, but the AI could be scripted to execute a counter as well if the human player abuses nano-repair consecutively as well. Balance on the cards would be a necessity to ensure that not one was too advantageous yet all ensure that both sides will be exposed to damage.



Or what if the amount of repeated cycles is based on the supply of the fleets engaging? There's a great deal of ways to approach this situation.