[AgentZero]

Few things I'd like to see....
1) Custom Fleets. Basically, as it is, when you create a fleet in SE4, you just throw a whole bunch of ships together and off they go. What I'd like to see is several layers of fleets. The first, call it a Combat Group, would simply be several ships of a similar type grouped together so they could be more easily controlled.
The next step up would be combining two or more different Combat Groups together to Create a Task Force. In a Task Force (TF) there would always be a lead element which would be the one under the players most direct control. For example say I have one Combat Group (CG) of 4 Destroyers armed with PDCs and Interceptors (see below) and another CG of 2 Cruisers armed with heavy beam weapons. The Destroyer CG would have orders to Guard the cruisers so in combat, the player just clicks on the TF on the TF and maneouvers the whole thing as one unit. When giving orders to fire, the player can select each cruiser indvidually if they want to spread their fire between multiple targets, while the destroyers would autmatically target incoming fire.
The third step would be the Fleet which would consist of multiple Task Forces grouped together, opperating in mutual support. Obviously the Fleet would not be controlled as a single unit but could be given general orders in terms of movement and target priority. Another benefit of the Fleet would be the ability for the TFs within it to 'loan' ships to other TFs. Eg: WIthin a fleet I have a TF of 5 Dreadnoughts and 8 screening cruisers Cruisers and a 2nd TF of 5 Battle Cruisers with a 6 Light Cruiser screen. Once engaged in combat, the Dreadnough TF comes under heavy fire, but the Battle Cruiser TF is being almost ignored. The player could order the BC TF to Assist the DN TF which would cause the BCs to shift their fire to whoever was attacking the DNs, but also send their LC screen to help provide defensive fire.

2) Little one: Interceptors would be energy based weapons designed to disrupt incoming energy weapons fire. Unlike a PDC, an interceptor would only have a certain amount of damage it could disrupt. So say in Interceptor I can disrupt 10 points. If used against a weapon that does 5pts damage, then a succesful hit means no damage done. If used against a weapon capable of 20pts damage, then 10 damage is still taken.

3) Reactors. A ships reactor would give it bonuses to things like shields, speed and weapons power. Reactors in larger ships would provide larger bonuses in smaller ships. So your standard Fusion Reactor in a Destroyer wouldn't provide any bonuses, but the same reactor mounted in a Battleship would provide, for example, a 10% bonus to weapons and shields. Better reactors would give bigger bonuses, naturally.

4) Last two: Real-time combat is fine as long as it can be paused with a whack of the good ol spacebar (or any other conveniently located key). And, I'd really like to see SE3's tactical combat screen (the one where you gave all the targeting orders) make a come-back. That thing was great.