well we have load as attacker
load as defender
and acs slots
but we could add moon defend to and run simulator how many ships will you need to defend yours moon for poping .
what you think

http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g343/Akatcuki/Peinxd2323555.jpg

Not entirely sure about this one but I believe that rips have to go through your ships first as a regular attack before they can try to pop your moon.
So you just do a regular battle sim, but before they should add anything to the sim the sim needs to be fixed period.
I run sims and first time its a 0 loss and the next time I run it I lose 200 million units, I can understand a little variation in the results but not 100's of millions of units.
I have seriously abandoned hits completely because of the huge variations in losses, I still hit people but I have passed up on a lot of hits because of the wacky simulator results.
I say fixing the simulator should be priority #1 because without it a major part of the game is flawed.

Scag is right, RIPs have to go through your fleet/defense

I'm sorry but holy crap the sim is a mess.
I have a fleet on lanx right now, that on first sim I lose 40 million units.
Simmed a 2nd and 3rd time has me losing 300-700 million units.
I add more fleet, alot more, and first sim I lose 1.1 billion units 2nd sim I lose 40 million again.
So do I risk the farm to maybe only lose 40 million units or risk losing 1.1 billion units.
That is a huge difference and could be a nice profit or a huge loss, it is a little rediculous.
I know I am not the only person to have problems with the simulator, but with variations like this I am going to abandon this hit.
And isn't the whole purpose of this game is to battle fleet vs fleet, now the whole purpose is seriously flawed.
I suggest that all other suggestions be placed on the back burner and fixing the simulator should take precedent over all other suggestions, effective immediately.

Been suggested before Scag, it's not going to happen anytime soon. Veterans know that the sim is only good for a rough idea

Just seems like before the battle engine upgrade the sims were alot closer.
For example if you would sim the same hit 5 or 6 times with the old engine, your losses would range from say 10-100 million in losses.
Not that big of a difference, I would send enough recs for the worst case scenario and hope for the best.
But with the new engine, 5 or 6 sims of the same battle can range from 40-850 million in losses.
It is a huge difference, and it just needs to get a little closer together.
You can't always launch no loss hits.

as Zorg stated"the new Battle Engine is more realistic." so, their is no changing it back.

You can't always launch no loss hits " "

Ive refused a few hits because of unacceptable losses,since had a rethink and would now take some of those hits and losses.
The biggest isssue I seem to have with the sim is EC's.I can sim it to death never lose one then on the hit lose an EC or two yet have a large amount of the fodder return. Not that big a deal as you still get the res as if the EC's return,just a minor irritation .Mixed fleets with a good spread of ships seem to throw up the biggest variations on the sim,which does make sense I suppose,I do agree the variations in losses is a touch extreme.
As for moon defend option imo I don't think it would make much difference so probably not needed .