Larger Tactical Combat Area???

[skigrinder]

Is it possible to expand the tactical combat area?

Large fleets that attack my planets often get to start right next to the planet (greatly limiting my planetary defense abilities).
I have all the coolest sensors so it's not a cloaking issue.
It seems to happen most with races that use the arrowhead fleet formation (several ships in a large fleet start very close to my planet).

Also, it would be nice if fast ships could be given a chance to get away instead of getting pinned in a corner (pretty unrealistic). Lowering the combat turns would help this but I like having 30 turns for other reasons.
A bigger tactical combat area would be a cleaner solution.

Sorry if this topic has been beaten to death but I didn't find much info in my search efforts.

Thanx in advance,
skigrinder

[1FSTCAT]

This is a good reason to suggest to Malfador, enlargening the combat maps.

I can't tell you how frustrating it was, pre-gold, in a PBW game that I was playing, where the enemy always fired first, had religous talismans, and attacked with 100 ships, to lose several space stations with extremely long range weapons, because the battle group spread all the way to the station, at the beginning of the round!

I know the grammar in that sentence is horrible, but my head hurts and I don't want to try to fix it.

--Ed