Ending combat

[Gandalph]

douglas said:
For ending tactical, there is also a "Resolve Combat" order accessible through the Orders button right above the End Turn button. This will turn on auto for all sides and fight the rest of the battle without waiting for you to click end turn. Double check that the speed and animation settings are what you want before using this, as it won't give you a chance to do anything but watch once it's started resolving until the battle is completely over.

It can still be very tedious. In a recent STM game, I sent a fleet of about 30 ships to kill a Homeworld. I used Tactical to take out the defense of the plane as I had already lost another fleet at this same Homeworld. When I got in Tactical mode, I checked and the planets defenses had apparently been knocked out by the first, now dead, fleet so I hit "Resolve Combat". 3 1/2 hours later, the combat finally ended and the planet was still alive.