I emailed the turn file to Aaron a while back. I didn't realize at first this was the same game. I didn't know you got it working running the turns offline. When I tried to run the turns offline back when it originally failed I couldn't get it to process.
If the problem is the Ayers Rock shipset it's probably the fact that Baron had the flags in the wrong folder when he setup his empire. I've reported that issue to Malfador already as well. I don't know what that would have to do with combat, but as I said I can't get any error messages. I can't exactly go willy nilly sticking files in different folders until I hit the right combination to make the game run.
If it's a problem waiting for the next patch you could restart the game using a different shipset or trying it with the Ayers Rock shipset in the proper folders when he creates his empire.
Geoschmo