Strategic vs. Tactical

[jowe01]

True, but nevertheless, seeing how the combat actually evolved would tremendously increase the interest in multi-player games. A major element in SE is the development of components with one or the other particular strength. Afterwards, you spend some thoughts on the question how to design your ships. Finally, your fleets are composed in a way which optimises the performance of the whole battlegroup.
And all this just to see a couple of moving red points afterwards ? Very unsatisfactory.
I guess, or at least I hope, that the strategic battleengine functions exactly like the tactical engine on "Resolve combat" (otherwise the whole design process would be more or less futile. If this is the case, why not show the human players in a multiple player game how the combat actually evolved ? This would be so much more fun (or so much more teeth-grinding...)