Movement is a big thing for me. Formations don't stay formed if ship speeds are different. Movement must be micromanaged to chase a ship down, when 'follow this ship' should be easy - and automatic, considering how tedious it is to chase down rocketeers.
You should be able to chase an enemy ship - give enemy ships a button or something. Micromanaging a missile-ship chase is boring, especially when you need to get in gatling range. Ideally, I'd like a set of chase orders that maintain different distances. One order to try and stay in range of your longest-ranged weapon, and keep your distance, (for rockets and missiles,) one to stay in range of your shortest ranged main gun, but out of small-gun range, and one order to get right into the enemy's face so you can pummel them with small guns.
Ships should move in formation - I have lost more than one colony ship because, while chasing down a rocket/missile ship, the colony ship charges ahead to the move point. Ships in transit should move in formation, not beeline to rendevous into a formation.
There is one big problem I forsee with this. Weird manuevering. When turning to face your destination, ships will try to swing around your ship to stay in formation, resulting in some wasteful and odd manuevering that may be frustrating.
The easy way to address this is to add a couple of simple rules to current manuevering. One, If ships outpace their formation slot, cut their speed to the speed of your flagship. Two, add a slight thrust in the direction of their assigned spot in the formation. (Manuevering thrusters.) That will let it catch up, or back up, or nudge themselves sideways into their slot.
This will also permit ships to begin turning to face forward in the formation before they reach the exact final point, and nudge themselves into place this way. This wouldn't change the balance of their handling much, but it might make their handling flow a little more naturally and organically. Right now, movement can seem robotic.
