What would be really interesting to see is 2 allied fleets that both have one player controlling one ship and ordering their part of the fleet around. Would cut down a lot on "ahhh the AI just doesn't know what to do with that special snowflake loadout/composition". Though I doubt that can be arranged.
That’s currently logistically impossible. While there is that mod which allows a second player to pilot a ship, the second player would have to be at the same computer as the first player, and they have to share a screen. And players are probably not located near each other.
Then you’d need each pair to record/stream their playthrough, and not everybody is prepared for that.
There could be an argument for a PvE tournament where the player takes personal control, but then you’d need everyone to record their own playthrough and you’d need some way to prevent cheating.
Why not make the fleet slots a random draw so everyone who wants to join has a chance, not just the same few lucky individuals?
I originally misinterpreted this as a lottery system, where 40 people could sign up for 32 slots, and the participants are chosen at random. (And then the participants get to choose which fleets they use, I suppose.) This might be more fair for getting into the tournament, instead of first-come-first-served? Maybe.
(It could motivate players to make many fake accounts to maximize their chance of getting in, but that could be fixed. )
The original slots idea, where many players can submit for a faction but one is chosen to display, seems like it would be unfair in terms of time commitment. There’s less motivation to create a fleet submission if there’s a 50% chance or less that your submission is chosen, and if your fleet isn’t chosen all that time would have be wasted. Consistent participants make more sense, in my opinion.