[PvK]

I usually prefer strategic and then viewing the replay in detail. This is because I almost never play hot-seat, and against the AI, it's not very fair since I'm so much better than it is, and it also takes a really long time to resolve a large battle.

However, I do find tactical fun sometimes. Also, one of my favorite ways to play single-player games is to let the AI run the empire until there are interesting ships, and then just take control of one fleet, and play as a fleet commander and try to make a difference with the AI controlling the rest of the empire.

And yes, there is a way to control each ship individually so they won't automatically move to stay in formation with their leader - you want to break up the "combat group" from the "Options" menu during tactical combat.

PvK