[AgentZero]

I always liked the warp point system better. It allows for the use of strategic chokepoints to defend your space, which allows you to defend with fewer ships, since in an open system you basically just fortify the bejeebus out of every single one of your planets, because if you have a few fortified planets, they get passed over and your undefended planets wind up glassed.

That being said, an open system could be very interesting if implemented properly, but I don't think SE5 has the capability for this. What you would need would be a mixture of very fast, decently armed ships and slower heavy-duty pounders at each of your "chokepoints". When any enemy ships came cruising by, your fast ships would zip out and engage them, tying them up long enough for your heavier ships to arrive and do the smashey-smashey.

Of course, for this to work, you would have to have something that would funnel enemy fleets to the general area of your chokepoint, otherwise you wind up with one fleet defending each system, which is a slight improvement on one fleet per planet but not by much.

You could do something along the lines of what the 4X mod for Civ4 does, and use damaging nebulae and storms so that ships can't come at you from any direction. It's terribly unrealistic, but it would wind up being one of those fun-for-realism trades.

What would also help would be the inclusion of some sort of "supply line" system. This would not necessarily prevent, but make it very inadvisable to bypass fleets stationed at planets, even if you could, since said fleet could then cut off your supply line, and then crush your crippled fleet at it's leisure.

Anyway, I'm supposed to be studying right now, so I'm off!