Right; it's more a question of me not seeing how it fits into things. I can see the "I can't be bothered right now" use case when there's other campaign stuff it's distracting you from (and when there's that campaign stuff to be distracted from in the first place.) I'd like to see how CR shakes out first, though, and if that really ever comes up with the new battle mechanics.
(Side note: I really dislike the idea of autoresolve being better than fighting it out in any circumstances.)
Well, a Lasher, 1-2 Hounds and maybe a couple Talon or Piranha wings. FP-wise, the same weight as something like a Conquest, thus why I get the engagement. In terms of combat proficiency, not in remotely the same leagues.
This is true, but that's also the kind of situation you don't want to use autoresolve in because it's likely going to produce bad results. It can't
not, it's basically impossible to tell apart situations where one side has overwhelming superiority due to how the fleets match up tactically. Oh, you could catch some cases, but not all, or even most. There's just too much customization possible.
(It's also not an obviously bad engagement for the other side to take, harassing your ship into a CR loss and an eventual defeat could be a viable option.)
So... I get it, autoresolve sounds like a good thing to have. But when would you really use it? When it has a chance of totally messing up the outcome, because the battle looks close on paper? Or when the enemy is so outgunned that they're trying to run away, and you're hitting "autoresolve" because it has a better chance to nab those pesky Hounds (and you already don't have to fight it out and can just let them go)? "Save/reload until autoresolve wins" is not a use case I want to design for, and that's about the only thing that comes to mind.
Hmm. Another case involves the player figuring out how autoresolve works and getting a fleet together that does will with it. I'm not keen on that as a core game mechanic, either.
It seems to me that it's mostly useful now either in the save/load case, or in the "over-aggressive weak fleets" one. The second should be addressed in the new release, they're much better about gauging their chances.
That said, I definitely want to hear what you guys think. Are there cases where you'd want to use it that I didn't cover in the above?