I wish people would stop asking for tactical combat in this game in posts about what people want for the updates/expansions. It seems like those people just want to play MOO/MOO2 in a GalCiv format. Don't get me wrong I love the MOO games and still play MOO2 to this day When I first bought this game I thought to myself "Its good, but it doesn't have tactical combat" and I wanted it to have tactical combat. But after playing it I realized that its current combat system is a much better fit, not to mention more elegant.
If you really think about it, its hard to describe MOO combat as tactical. Someone else posted somewhere that most (if not all) of the combat was resolved in the same way as if the computer was resolving it, I move and fire weapons, they move and fire weapons.
Compare this to a real tactical game (XCOM: UFO defense, Jagged Alliance, etc.) and you'll see that a so called tactical combat system would pale in comparison and just be a clunky annoyance in this situation.
I hope this isn't an inflamatory posting, I'm not trying to critisize any particular game or gamers prefrence, I'm just hoping that people will realize the strength of the combat system implemented in THIS game, a strategical combat system, one in which you can tank advantage of your oppenents specialization in a particular weapons / defense field and use it against them (not to mention engines, sensors, and hull sizes) should be more than enough to make up for a comparativly shallow tactical system.
Ernst
