I would love a testing ground or simulator where I could pit my new ship designs and fleets against either ships similar to the ones I might be facing or against other ships I might design. That would make it much more clear whether I should include a carrier or capital ship or support module horse in my next fleet. It would also help make it clear what the action of the other fleet will be when we get together, such as will they fly past my capitals to get to my carrier which has more "threat" than the capital ships despite not being heavily weaponed (other than the fighters from the carrier module)?

Basically I just want an arena that I can simulate battles in. My concern is only single player and ship design, but it could conceivably be a multiplayer arena as well where each player can create and field their own fleet to fight to the death based on a set of rules.