[PvK]

Hmm, while I definitely know what you mean about maximizing combat bonuses being extremely important, I don't think this is the most important thing. It can dominate tactical direct-fire combat, but that's not nearly the only effective strategy. It does tend to dominate the late-game, when techs are running low. And yes, this is something I tried to counter in all sorts of ways in Proportions mod, from tuning down all to-hit mods, to adding many new ones and presenting a lot of different ship design and research options that weren't as useful in the standard game.

One issue is that in the late game, unless you're playing a mod or have high research costs, everyone has the opportunity to get the best parts of the whole tech tree.

However, even with the highest techs, I still don't think there is really one best design. Talismans are really powerful, though. But once you see your opponents' designs, you can probably find a design that can out-perform that design in some way, that isn't exactly the same as it. Go cheap, go expensive, go larger, go smaller, go faster, build more defense, go longer or shorter range, etc.

Also, in addition to designing the most efficient combat ships, there are a number of other tactics involving production, construction, maintenance, trade, intel, units, stellar manipulation, bases, deception, expansion, etc. Not all of them can be done at once, and are more or less useful in different situations.

Perhaps most important, though, is diplomacy. In a game with more than two human players, diplomacy can be the most important skill.

In the Universe Cup, I played two different types of empire. One geared for combat performance, and another weak in combat aptitude but impressive in other things (fast expansion). The two combat performance empires met similar opponents and had very hard fights, while the two combat deficient empires swept the map like Atilla and won before the enemies had a chance to get started.

Anyway, I think SE4 gameplay involves both art and science, as it were. Both aspects are important.

PvK