I think the best way to describe the new ship combat is rather simple:  Admiral of the Fleet.

You decide which ships to bring to the battle, then will have the ability to issue general orders to the fleet (full attack, cautious probe, full retreat), possibly during the actual combat.

But you're not issuing specific orders to control individual ships. The captains of your ships are all AIs which follow your General Orders as best they can.

I personally think this is a awesome way to do battle with 100 other lesser empires.... 

Imagine how long a turn would be if we had to point, click and adjust 50 different battles a turn then have all of the AI's do the same :/

Plus I read somewhere that the Captains of the ships rank up! It will be like managing a bunch of hero units throughout the galaxy. Just the shear size of it makes it very tactical!

FROOKIE

reply 26

However, I am willing to bet a tidy sum on a hypothetical situation If tac combat had been included for Galciv3 I'm sure you would have all lined up to say what a brilliant idea it was, what a logical progression  

You just lost your money. I doubt i would have preordered if i had read TC on the feature list.

For some years now i find TC combat tedious, boring and just a waste of time. Even in AoW3, where it is really good, i wish i wouldnt be forcved to use it due to the AI loosing troops left and right when i am choosing autocombat.

You can send me the money now, but i am OK with store credit.

Word

I understand why tactical combat isn't going to be added. That said, I wouldn't mind a few changes to combat.

1) Have a time constraint on combat. By that I mean it isn't endless rounds until a ship/fleet wins. It could be set at say 10 rounds per turn (just throwing a number out). After that, both ships/fleets turn is over. This allows reinforcements to come in. This would also make it very hard to kill a starbase or starport with a puny ship. If you are dinging something at 1 hp a round, you shouldn't be able to destroy something that big that easily. So if you have a lot of firepower, boom, gone in one attack. If you don't, it will take more attacks/turns to kill the ship/fleet/base/port.

2) Combat stance. For example, I may want to have some skirmisher ships with long range and high speed. They would attack at long range and retreat. If the other ship/fleet is faster or has some kind of traction beam or other tech, they can negate that. Something similar to Endless Space but without the stupid cards. I am not saying it has to visually go to a new screen like ES for battles, but the idea of fighting at range, hit and run, closing to point blank or just retreating would add depth IMO.

"We don't need someone crazy. But one step sort of crazy, what do you get?"

"Obsessed?"

"Passionate."

Great news!

I have to say, I'm not that excited about this - for me, 4X games lose a lot without diplomacy.

I feel similar.  I am still excited to play it though.

Diplomacy will happen, just not this month. 

<rant>

I gota say control makes TBS fun there is so much strategy that if it was real time you wouldn't be able to function or win.

The ideology, colonization, tech trees, and ship building are great. Diplomacy though is the very best thing in TBS gaming. for there is a different situation every game and anything can happen, its tactical combat of words. I actually love diplomacy more than a good TC battle. Although it would be nice to have it.

There is something about actually negotiating our nations Sovereignty to the Thalan that makes our empires seem real and immersive. Or talking with allies with about going to war with the Thalan.

</rant>

DARCA.

Oh, I know it's going to happen eventually. It's just hard for me to get enthusiastic about the release of a beta version that doesn't have it yet.

Hearthstone ? ? ? ? ? never heard of it let alone understand what it's supposed to explain.

Please do not rush diplomacy. I say the better the diplomacy the better the game. Please don't rush features just because someone wants them. As far as combat like endless space that is what i mean.i was thinking that sharing edited scenarios snd maps ships not just races is a good idea. 

A good diplomacy system and ai is rather important for immersion, I agree.