I'm in mixed minds about this. In a way I'm glad they arent so decisive. But I suppose they do need to be a bit more decisive than they are currently. Still... I'd say it's better than in MTW.

I remember in MTW how I'd take an enemy ship on, and be killed. The enemy ship (which is the smallest type) would get a star in command. So I send a larger ship to defeat it. The star in command means this little enemy ship beats me, and gains another star. I now send a big fleet of a few ships against this one ship... and it beats me again! Now I have an enemy ninja ship, able to take on entire battle fleets alone, and it was fast enough to flee from my large fleets. I don't care how many stars that tiny ship has, he shouldnt be able to sink several other ships in a single battle!