[evan42]

Perhaps my original proposal of having a "fixed number of turns to retreat" can still be worked around by the attacker. But I think if we make some simple changes to it, it can still work.

You are worrying about the attacker having the ability to avoid decisive battles. And you made my proposal sound like a few turns of attacks won't even inflict any damages on the retreating side. But it will. Especially if the defender(attacker in the battle) is equiped with shield/engine zapping weapons.

And we can always increase the number of turns required to retreat, so it will give the other side more time to inflict damage. Perhaps the retreating side will not always be destroyed, but many of the ships will be crippled.

A decisive battle happens when BOTH sides are commited to the battle. (one side might not be willing to fight, but has no choice but to defend the HW for example) If one side chose to evade by taking some penalties, then they should have the right to do that. In that case, it will no longer be a decisive battle. We can make the penalty a little higher to persuade the retreater from retreating. But, they should have been given the option.

Also, what I have said is for normal space combat. But, if a battle occurs at a warp point, then it's a different ballgame. For one thing, the starting positions for both sides will be much closer together (if not right next to each other). In this case, the defender of the warp point should have enough time to attack regardless of the number of turns required to retreat.

In the case of battle at a warp point, I agree that the defender should be able to choose where to place their ships. So the defender will always have the upperhand by having their ships at the optimum firing range.