[geoschmo]

I don't know if calling them "tricks" is appropriate. All of these methods have drawbacks as well as advantages to them. It's not as if they are perfect or (I HATE this word) unbalancing.

I suppose some people wouldn't be happy unless sats were all treated as individuals with no kind of grouping at all, but then wouldn't they be pretty close to useless? It's the safety of numbers that makes them at least semi-useful. And even then they are sufficently easy to destroy with just a little bit of planning and a few decent capital ships. They really only serve the purpose of denying your enemy what I would call "cheap" victories. That is, a one or two ship fleet being able to get behind the lines and glass numerous lightly defended planets. And they are after all static defenses. Defenses should be tough afterall.