Are there ever going to be space ships that can battle?

Did you even read the message your linking?

1. The "at the moment" part means it may be subject to change, right?

That was posted May 20, while the livestream were Neutrino mentioned the possibility of space combat as a way to "deal with in transit commanders" was just a while ago...

(Off course, as i said before, it might have been meant as a joke and it was just mentioned in passing).

2. Even if it isent changed, who said that it has to be "homeworld style space combat"?

Conclusion: I wouldent say its 100% certain there wont be any space combat anymore. I still consider it "unlikely that there will be", just not "certain that there wont be".

I'm afraid your hopes are forlorn.

There are already space battles people:

Orbit = Space

It's not really much of a stretch to go from orbital to deep space, simply allow units to shoot each other when in transit between planets and allow them to move to any point rather than just other orbital bodies. Done. With a little bit of art rework, orbital laser platform becomes Artillery Spaceship. Avenger doesn't need to change, recon satellite -> Recon Spaceship.

This would be essentially a really easy transition, without the orbital mechanics so many dolts assumed would be in the game for satellites, satellites are simply regular space units with restrictions on how they move about, i.e. you can choose destination but can't alter their movement path.

If they wanted to change it up, it wouldn't be really be as much work as some people are claiming, nor would it dramatically change the dynamics of the game. In fact it would probably be a good change, being able to intercept a huge army of "satellites" before they come into range of your commander, for example. At the moment you can only intercept them upon arrival, and predicting the exact point they will appear around your planet doesn't seem possible at the moment.

that's a bit of the problem in these "space battles" discussion, people tend to be unspecific how they define that term.
For me there are 3 levels of space interaction:
1. just orbital level, with option of some interaction orbit of planet A to orbit of planet B
2. shot something in transit in deep space, with the restrictions: a) the shooting side is in orbit/on planet b) the transitioning party is on a more or less fixed path (e.g. no direction changes in deep space)
3. ability to move units on arbitrary paths between planets/orbital layers with arbitrary interaction (then you could have classic "Homeworld" style space battles)

There might be additional distinctions but that would be my set.
And from my interpretation 1) is in/currently worked on, 2) might fit the issue "something to deal with incoming commanders" garatgh from the live stream while 3) could still fall under the generic no to Homeworld style battles.
As a side note, apart from the conceptual differences there probably lies a huge amount of implementation work between those concepts (UI- and internal system model-wise).

I doubt we'll see space combat independent of planets. The most I can think of would be using Orbital Fighters to intercept enemy transports moving between worlds.

I would like to see a more advanced version of the Orbital Laser Platform that could move between planets.

The Orbital Laser Platform can already move between planets.

Though it would be an interesting balance move to have a basic orbital laser platform that can only shoot at the planet it originated on and an advanced one that can planet hop.

Did not know that. I think we should have a basic OLP that is restricted to one planet and an advanced one that can move between planets.

Of course, there's my OTHER idea for interplanetary warfare - mounting Halleys on multiple axes of a moon, combining that with interplanetary weapons, and now you've got yourself a giant spaceship. Just park it in orbit of a planet you want to capture and bomb it until there's nothing left but ruins, mexes, and shattered dreams.

Not to mention the possibility of dodging an incoming planet...

It does look like this will be a thing. Where you can use planets as mobile artillery and staging platforms. Pump out a bunch of units on a moon/planets, put unit cannons and interplanetary nukes, fly it by, send a barrage of nukes and follow up with eggs and unit cannon fire.

(Although interplanetary nukes are not confirmed, just likely.)

Awesome. And frankly, I don't want interplanetary nukes. What I want is something with greater range but lower damage. Like an interplanetary Catapult. Or something in between. I want to see sustained slugging matches between the Death Stars (which is what the mobile armed planets will be called) and the actual inhabited planets. Or fighting between two Death Stars. And when one side realizes they're going to lose, they try to use their engines to ram the other side, while the victor has to destroy the other side's engines quickly...

Yeah. It'll be epic.

Really looking forward to some of these epic scale games.

Now imagine how these will be like when they're 10v10 Army matches. It'll be so epic.

I think when Mavor refers to the "commander in transit problem" he is talking about the bug where if you send a transport to a planet very close to the sun, it will orbit forever. I'm thinking the most likely solution is letting orbital fighters fetch those transports. What I don't want to see if the solar system view being used as another plane for combat. Subs, naval, land, air and orbital. You want space too? Ever heard of less is more?
Sorry, I guess I'm just worried about 1v1 not being fun, or being screwy. Hopefully, they follow the FA model.

I belive that the "commander in transit problem" isent "commanders getting stuck in deep space" (thats just a bug, not a problem).

If i understand it correctly (Its only mentioned in passing so i admit that i may be mistaken), its simply a commander traveling from place to place endlessly to stay as long as possible in deep space, making it allmost impossible for another player to kill it (space trolls!).

Theres more then one solution to the problem, but space combat was mentioned (again in passing & it may have been meant as a joke) as one possible solution (Neutrino said something like this (Do take note that its NOT A EXACT QUOTE): Maybe space combat that so many of you seem to want).

which could as well be a ground/orbital based cannon, without the need for being actually in space (orbit not counting)
let's call it "space detroll-ifier"

Yea, as i said there are plenty of other solutions, but space combat was mentioned.

The issue doesn't need to end in polemic. I see both sides of the argument and like everything else it's about balance. Brianpurkiss is right that it would require team games to control in most cases.

They did mention it in a stream and they certainly didn't come across as if they were joking. I would like to see it but that doesn't mean I want everything to be taken away from planet based war so people's concerns about it are justified in that sense. The answer is likely a 'yes' either in the game or with all probability a mod.

There are greater priorities so don't 'expect' it... but do expect a mod if it's not in.

But hey, really, even if they don't make it in THIS game, that doesn't mean they won't make a sequel...