Combat depth: currently, combat zones are instances where you enter, and spawn ships of various sizes. All there is to do there is kill every enemy ship in sight until you get bored. There are no specific mechanics of any kind, and if there are any, we are not aware of them.



But we can go further, and add depth to something bigger than combat zones: War Status, for instance. The only thing we see when a system is in war, are combat zones. We should see a Navy Report page with the general war status, a balance of forces, latest events in the war, battles fought (each battle a combat zone), etc.

Combat zones would represent a battle in progress in that war. Each combat zone should be spawned with a fixed force for each side, and optionally, with bases for each side. You may have a planetary base spawning ships on one side and a carrier spawning ships on the other side. (Yes, I know they are different instances, but I'm sure units should be spawnable/despawnable in each) Each base should have combat facilities for rearming and repairing, and spawn missions which you can take part on, and if you're in the navy, those missions should be the ONLY way of increasing military rank. Missions would be varied: provide CAP (combat air patrol) against enemy fighters while you escort friendly bombers attacking the enemy base... or maybe being the bomber yourself, with the task to eliminate the artillery pieces of the enemy base/ship... maybe a ground mission with the SRV to hack the base and leave it defenseless for 30 minutes, so other players are capable of bombarding it... Those missions, if accomplished, would add or detract points to the general "war status" mechanic, until one side finally wins the combat zone, and ultimately the war, changing the planet status. Combat zones should be visible in the system map, and there should be news in Galnet in every system 30LY around the war zone. There should even be bigger wars with many combat zones, with news around the galaxy talking about them. Wars should have a meaning and real consequences, decimating planetary economies or the entire system if the war is big enough.



That's one of many ideas about adding depth to something. It would add a meaning to fighting (you can see results), it would add variety of missions, it would add a meaning to being in the navy, it would add varied cooperative gameplay, it would add a meaning to galnet (which it lacks now)...