[Chronon]

I agree with everyone posting here that the strategies will be extremely important in multiplayer, and that they need to be very flexible and user friendly (scriptable would be the best). For more flavor, I would actually like to see this take place in a special screen that pops up an Admiral's picture (or military title of your choice, depending on the empire file) and you almost have a dialogue with him/her/it. Admiral, your orders are to defend Planet X at all costs! Or, Admiral, take Gamma Fleet to Planet Y, destroy the enemy vessels there, and send in your troop transports to capture the planet. There could be some level of strategy at the ship level, too, which could remain in the design window. Or, there could be a separate window just for ship strategies just off the fleet deployment window (or whatever it's to be called).

I do hope there is a retreat option! That is one of my biggest frustrations with the tactical combat. I really wish my battlecruisers could outrun that battlemoon to the warp point and escape.