Okay, those are the basic units I thought of and weapons and shields. Only ships deal with sheilds, the rest just have armor. Here how I imagine combat going:
When a battle is declared by one player, he or she will choose how many of his or her units which are
currently in the system or region of the battle will participate in the battle. The defender does the same. Both the attacker and defender must have at least one unit fight in the battle. If the attacking player looses a battle, all his or her ships in the system retreat to a warp-gate, except ships that are in "ambush" mode and did not participate in the battle. If the defending player looses a battle, all ships in the system retreat to that system's planet and may not be used for the next turn. While on the planet, they may be fixed at the disgretion and will of their owner, but do not have to be. Defending ships given the "ambush" command that did not participate in the loosing battle may remain in the system without fleeing to the planet.
All players engaging in a battle e-mail a third party, either a GM or if there is no GM a nuetral player. The E-mail should have all their participating unit's stats. That player or GM will send the number of squads, tanks and men being used in the battle by the other team. Then all players involved send their commands to the nuetral player or GM.
Each unit/squad will be given a primary command, a secondary command and a third command. There are several "in-battle" commands. These commands are attack right flank, attack left flank, attack center, defend, move. A command rundown would look something like this:
Squad #1:
~Machine Gun, Right Flank, "The Enchiladas"
~Photon, Center, Ambushing Forces
~If Attacked, Defend flank attacked
The Squad you are commanding is on top, then beneath are three commands. Command orders go "Weapon, Region, Target" for attacks. the first command will be the command used in battle. The second and third commands are "back-up" plans. The will only be used in the situation that they describe, so in the scenerio above, the last command will ONLY be initiated if that squad is attacked. You could go into depth with your secondary commands, saying
If Squad #2 is attacked, attack: Photon, Left Flank, Squad attacking Squad #2.
Squads told to defend will only have the defend effects on one flank. This flank will automatically be the flank which would take the most damage.
At the beggining of the battle, both sides start at "long range." In order to use "moderate" or "close" range weapons, ships must move forward. To move, a unit's primary command must be move. If a moving unit is not attacked, its secondary command is ALSO carried out. A unit can move twice and attack if its primary and secondary command is move, it is not attacked at any time, and its third command is attack. If a moving unit is attacked, it still move, but does not carry its secondary command. A moving unit cannot have secondary commands that overide moving: for example, a moving unit cannot have "If attacked, defend" as a secondary command.
All flanks on all units have 5 health. If one flank of a squad is destroyed, it retreats from the battle. If it belonged to a player outside of a system he or she controls, destroy it. If it belonged to a player inside a system he or she controls, inside an ally's system or if the player gets permission to land from another player, it retreats to that system's planet*. It is not allowed to be used for the next turn, and may be fixed at the owner's wishes. If two flanks are destroyed, that squad is destroyed.
*If it is a land battle, forces retreat to a region they own that is not being fought in. If no such region exists, they are simply removed from battle.
A player wins a battle if one of the following occurs, if two of the following situations occur, the one highest on the list is the winning scenerio:
~He or she has at least four times more troops than his or her opponent at beggining of battle. If this occurs, the battle is not fought, and all the loosing forces are forced to flee.
~He or she removes from battle 50% or more of the opposing forces without loosing 50% or more of his or her own forces.
~He or she has more ships in the opponent's beggining zone than his or her opponent.
~He or she has double the amount of troops than his or her opponent at the end of the battle.
~He or she has lost no units.
If none of these situations occur, the battle is given to whoever owns the system or region. If one of the above scenerios occurs for both players, it is given to the owner of the system or region. If the battle is given to the owner of the system, the other players' surviving forces are not destroyed, but they are forced to leave the system via the closest warp-gate, or is pushed back to a region their forces control (for land battles).
Any surviving land troops on a planet that has been completely taken over by an opponent are killed unless there is a ship capable of flying that turn docked on the planet. If that is the case, they are put into that ship and sent ito the space around the planet. Ships who are docked on a planet taken over by an opponent but not allowed to fly for the current turn are also destroyed.