[Captain Kwok]

Space Empires V needs to have a real-time combat system where all the ships are moving at the same time.

The game for certain MUST remain turn-based - but using real time combat in place of the current strategic combat will solve all sorts of player's pet peeves re: iniative, who gets first shot etc, and will go a long way to evening out combat.

Of course, the ship strategies must work very well to maximize this system so I think a lot of work will need to be done in this area.

Like Fyron suggested, solo game "tactical combat" could be paused to issue additional orders (like target priorities, withdrawl, etc) and then unpaused. I don't imagine it turning into a clickfest as long as the strategies work well and require minimal user input. It will also help resolve tactical much faster as well.

You cannot compare Star Fury to combat in SE:V, because Star Fury focuses on a single ship and requires a lot more direct user input and so is more clicky by nature. i.e. Fire weapons bank 1 at ship X and then weapons 2 at ship Y, switching targets etc. Tactical combat in SE:V would be more of setting target priorities (nearest, most damaged,etc), holding formations, and things of that sort.