My suggestion is that players should be able to choose a tactic for combat. Tactics would have a variety of effects. Each race/profession would have a different tactic set, and there would be different tactics for attacking, being attacked, and invading.

Starter races:

Konqul:
Organised strike: +0.5% attack for every loyal Konqul in the legion
Charge: +10% attack, -5% defence
Precision: Crit rate 2x, Crit effect x2

Aerlen:
Decoy: +0.5% defence for every loyal Aerlen
Evasion: 5% chance to avoid all damage
Agility: +10% defence, -5% attack
Sillixx:
Intimidate: Enemy -0.5% attack for every loyal Sillixx in legion.
(Their ships are big, no?)
Charge: +10% attack -5% defence
Target lock: +5% attack

Vygoid:
Cyborg Combat Link: +0.1% attack and defence for every loyal Vygoid/Zolazin
Precision: 2x crit rate, 2x crit effect
Tactical Maneuvers: +2.5% attack+defence

Human:
Improvise: +0.5% boost to enemy's weakness (ie. Say a ship has 100 attack, 20 defence, 900 cloak, 6 scan you get a scan boost) for every loyal human.
Evasion: +5% to avoid all damage
Tactical Maneuvers: +2.5% attack/defence

Inergon:
Absorb energy: Reduces energy cost by 1 for every 5 loyal Inergon. When used defencively, you get +1 energy per attack per 5 Inergon. Caps at 2 energy to attack and 3 added.
Target lock: +5% attack
Expose weakness: Enemy -10% defence

That should give you an idea of what I mean.

EDIT: Formatted it better.

cool