Crazy idea from a bored player...

[Makhil]

What if EMP, Cloacking, Stealing, Armour were not ships devices but tactics ?
Providing you have researched the new "Tactics and Strategies" branch and built the right amount of military academies, you could select on the mission page the way your fleet will fight.
The tactic you choose will affect your ships initiative, armour, damage with + or -
1. Cloacking : trying to hide your numbers by specific fleets formations putting the pods at the front... making your ships more vulnerable however. Initiative +, Armour -, Damage =

2. EMP : special manoeuvers enabling you to approach the enemy fleets at dead angles from their weapons with the penalty of your own weapons being much less effective.
Initiative +, Armour =, Damage -

3. Stealing : inflitrate enemy fleet formations and board ships to steal them (crews have to abandon their own ships though that's why you lose ships when stealing).
Initiative -, Damage =, Armour +

4. Armour : learn strong defensive tactics that maximize the effectiveness of your ships armour
Initiative =, Damage -, Armour +

The goal ? each ship (and race) can be either emp, cloack, steal or armour at will. Hopefully opening more tactic options and bringing more fun o the game.
Not sure if it would be more fun to have the capacity to order a change of tactics after launch (with some kind of penalty...).
Military academies would determine the value of ships you can command with these tactics.
Each race may start with a tactic already learnt... or not.