I just had the most amazing idea for an expansion that would turn Galactic Civilizations III into the "Ultimate Strategy Game", Adding an RTS element to the battle viewer so players can controls their fleets and fight with them in real time against the AI or other players during the battles!
Edit:
After going deeper in the forums I've noticed that this has been touched on before so I think I should elaborate on it a little more, I'm not saying to focus the game on RTS battles between ships (I love the way the game is focused on building a star empire) but to have an option to play out the battles if the players want to. Best example I can give in a single player game is to give the player the option to: A.) Auto complete (basically roll the dice and continue as the game is in beta state right now) B.) Battle viewer (AI controls the battle based on a dice roll but the player can watch it in real time) or C.) Take command of your fleet and fight it out in Real Time. As for a multiplayer game make is so that both players have to agree on option C in order for them to fight it out and if both choose a different option make it default to option A (or B.).
I am also stating that this would be be best left for an expansion down the road after the game has been out for awhile and after some patches and other planned expansions are released and been through some balancing and patches etc, So that the game will still be focused on building a Galactic Empire and creating your futuristic Civilization in space but give people the option to purchase this as an add-on to create the Ultimate Strategy game in space.