[PvK]

Yes Space Empire III allowed disengagement for ships with strategic movement remaining. I liked that but apparently many players of SE3 asked to have that changed. Too bad it isn't an option.

In Gold anyway, I've seen the AI successfully run around and escape with a +1 speed advantage. I'm not sure if it was lucky, or if this is an AI improvement in Gold.

One approach is to change the number of combat turns in space to say, 20 rather than 30, meaning there will be less time to chase down fleeing ships. (See Settings.txt)

PvK