I invariably play Gigantic games, I find the level of engagement and depth of thought needed far more satisfying than shorter games. One aspect that arguably affects Huge and Gigantic to a greater level than the smaller map sizes is watching ships/objects move after you point them at the target location, with upwards of hundreds of ships/fleets to manage, it is a time consuming business to sit and watch a mechanical move. Whilst various aspects in the control panel can be used to mitigate the "watching paint dry effect", they never really adress the problem.

I would suggest two new short cut keys, Shift-Left Click & Shift Right Click.

Shift Left Click the ship to move, move the cursor to the desired location, Shift Right Click to instantly place the object at the cursor point.

There would need to be a few sub routines to account for trying to place a ship too far compared to its move points etc, but that will not be a great problem, and much of that will already exist as part of the existing move functions. Those that enjoy watching hundreds of ships chugging along during their turn time, or during a game turn, can still get their masochistic fix by not using 'Shift'.

There are times when not using Shift Click would still be useful (eg watching the result when plowing through the fog of war), however the Player's would have the choice as to what move method to use. In the early game when there are fewer ships, it is always useful to uncover the fog of war etc. However, as the game proceeds, the fog of war dissappears, and the numbers of ships (on Huge/Gigantic) grow exponentially. Apart from the obvious time saving this can give, giving Players choices and options for the same event always enhances a TBS game.

In essence the Player is doing no different to what they normaly do, except they depress the shift key. Vertually all the consequential routines needed for this will already exist in the standard move functions. The time saving on Huge/Gigantic would be massive, and make the game far more lively and responsive.

Regards
Zy