Yes, the smidgen of a sneak peak of the battle viewer was very nice.  I recommend the hardcore among us check out the dev stream archive.  I can see where they are looking for a lot of polishing, but it is a darn good start.  I liked the shots obviously coming from the appropriate components.  Nice touch and it should work well with custom designs.  I liked the replay options, with attention to moment and angle.  Very decadent and self-indulgent eye candy.  I can see wasting a few hours with that.  More, please.

I still cannot wrap my imagination around an "arena" for space battles.  My conception of space battles is lots of elbow room in all directions.  Still, I trust the artists and wait, pretending to be patient yet again.

I am hoping there is more of a field tactics feel to it than a joust with multiple participants.  It looks like both fleets just head straight towards each other, every time.  Suddenly spreading or clustering formations would look good.  Small fast ships playing "Come chase me" would be visually interesting. I have no idea how ideal these tactics would be in space combat.  Who cares?  It should look good.  Besides, other races will think differently and different formations will make sense to them.  Use the third dimension more.  Your engine looks like it can handle it and it would help visually establish parallax.  Plus, it explains the lack of friendly fire incidents.  More angles to sneak shots in between allies.  Yeah, I believe that.

Is this going to have an output for 3D screens?  That could be something special. Not that I have the hardware for it, but dreaming and drooling is always available.

From: Administrator of R&D

To: DARCA

I have assigned the 2ed Aero-Space Engineering division and four Naval training and analysis vessels to test and document the performance off all weapons , engine, and other variables to better prepare for conflicts in the future.

I like'd the peak at the battleviewer in the stream. It already looks good and I think it will not disappoint in being yet another fun and enjoyable aspect to the game.

what about special conditions for fighting inside dust clouds/ nebulas/ asteroid belts?

Some shots and missiles may get blocked by asteroids, space dust might degrade the efficacy of beam weapons, damage the sensors, and hence the accuracy of the missile's guidance system, etc.

As someone who was generally on the band-wagon of wanting RTS-like control of the battles, I must say that I am pleasantly surprised and happy with the new battle viewer! 

loving the look and concept of the battles, my only negative comment was perhaps they were too short, its not as much of an issue when those Titans were letting rip on the cutters but in he fights between smaller ships and thus bigger ones I would have expected multiple volleys being unleashed in order to destroy the target. Maybe this would get dull but to me things seemed a little brief. Linked with that is that shields did not seem to do anything beyond being added to the ships Armour, I'd have expected something more like you see in Sci-fi with the shields protecting the hull but once depleted damage going directly. Otherwise I echo the comments about multiple ship targeting, using asteroids and nebula, along with more general movement but the combat system is looking rather nice and a great place to begin. Really can't wait to see Carriers and Star bases unleashing waves of fighters/bombers from the back of a fleet while the front destroyers, frigates and Dreadnoughts being to unleash various weapon system volleys I think it could create some fully epic battles.

Awesome sneak peek... I want more! Wouldn't it be even more awesome if one the the camera angles was cockpit. Imagine getting your ship destroyed while you view it from its fiery hull?

Quoting OPMmmGroup,

reply 15

Awesome sneak peek... I want more! Wouldn't it be even more awesome if one the the camera angles was cockpit. Imagine getting your ship destroyed while you view it from its fiery hull?

Agree, would (hopefully will) be way cool.

i think this would be hilarious, but of course it would really piss me off when my ships collided.  You bring up a great topic for discussion, namely how exactly will ship experience be implemented.  In GC2 all experience did was increase hit points.  No idea what Paul has planned or what will make it into the game  but i hope he is looking at things like ..

improved accuracy

better (smarter) maneuvering

coordination with other ships (formations, all ships target biggest threat )

smarter weapon allocation (what to fire against what defense i.e. use my lasers on ships with no shields and missiles on ones with no point defense)

lasers to shoot incoming missiles

giving pre-fight assessment ( ... Sir, i estimate we have a 80% chance of winning this battle)

higher firing efficiency (speed, targeting.. )

better damage control (HP boast, faster repair - HP/turn, repair during battle - Hp/round

As I see, there won't be tactic battle at all, yep?

Can I got my money back?

BTW, u can remember, that it were hard to win against enemies armadas(Kra'hens were really strong), but it was interesting, and, sometimes, funny. U could made your own armies and fleets, your own units and that was greatful. Every unit was really specific and you could use it in your way. At real, it wasn't "tactic" battle, it was deep, strategical battle and every decision in tactic, researching and building were significant. Now I playing in GalCiv III, and all races had declared war on me(just coz I am Yor). They had defeating my fleets with their overpowered ships with nice shields and lasers, and I couldn't give to my fleet some orders like "get them in a pincers" or "Use {Yors' curse} rockets, why u are still using beams?!". If I could command my bases and fleets by myself, I could defeat those enemy fleets. So, what I did? Yes, I made a ship with shields and rockets, then overcome my enemies. SO STRATEGICAL!

Everyone is telling me, that it is "deep" and "global" strategy. But war is as important as science, colony managment and diplomacy. Look at the Imperium Galactica 2 - nice game, all included. And yeah, it is global space strategy. Total War is global strategy. In Endless Space u can only use some cards, but them affects on battle result. GalCiv III - "no-no-no, it is global strategy, we would destroy it, if we made controlable battles". Why player can dictate his will to scientists, governors, diplomates and even engineers, but not to officers. As it seems for me, developers are just too lazy. As a fan of this seria I'm disappointed.