[Chronon]

Originally posted by Klebdog:
7. Finally, limit the use of Dreadnaught and Battleship type ships. These types of ships should be monumental under takings by a civilization and they should represent the true power of that race. Having a fleet of 800 dreadnaughts just cheapens them and doesn't really impress the manpower it takes to run a behemoth like that on the player.

Klebdog, I think you've got a very good point here. I would like to see much smaller fleets in SE5. Fleets of 100 ships should be very hard to build and maintain, and every ship should count. Perhaps a much steeper curve on the costs of the hulls and a higher cost for the larger mounts would help. Larger ships should be very expensive to maintain relative to the overall economy of the empire.

All the excellent ideas here about captains, crews, and admirals, would benefit from having smaller fleet sizes as well - each ship and crew would be more heroic and "real" and less of a statistic. And naming ships would be more rewarding, too (BB 0312 is just so uninspiring).

Plus with real-time combat, smaller fleets would be easier to manage (and easier on the CPU, too) - especially if there are going to be weapon arcs and directional shields, etc.