[dogscoff]

I only use strategic these days- either in PBW (Where you don't get the choice) or in single player (Where tactical gives you an unfair advantage over the AI).

I like the idea of giving different parts of your force different strategies. Just the other day I sent a fleet against a heavily-defended enemy planet. I had a load of well-armoured troop transports capable of wading through the planet's defensive fire, and more than enough warships and boarding craft to take care of the defending ships. What happened? The warships went to attack the planet, and were destroyed. The boarders milled about uselessly and were destroyed. The troop transports hid in the corner and were picked off by fighters and enemy warships. If I'd been able to give one set of specific orders to the transports (charge straight for the planet) and a different set of orders to my attack ships (attack ships, NOT the planet) I'd have won that battle.

I also like the idea of some kind of code-like scripts: I've often wished for this on a strategic level (ie out of combat) and it would be great if it could somehow extend into combat as well. Maybe it could be coded so that one script governs a ship's behaviour both in and out of combat..?