I've been trying to figure out combat and this is what I've seen so far. Please feel free to add anything you have seen, or let me know if you have seen anything contradictory to what I have deduced.
What I think I know:
1. Defenses currently do nothing.
2. Combat goes in rounds with every surviving ship firing simultaneously each round.
3. Each ship can only target one other ship per round, and any overkill is wasted.
What I'm still trying to figure out:
Order of targeting/firing: I think ships are targeted lowest hp to highest and choose their targets highest attack to lowest. So the highest attack ship will target the lowest attack ship; if it does not enough damage to kill its target the ship with the next highest attack will target the same ship. If not, the 2nd highest attack ship will target the ship with the next lowest hp. Note that this is just the order of targeting, all damage happens simultaneously each round.
What it means:
1. Don't research defenses at all.
2. Because your opponents' defenses don't matter, specialize in one weapon-type
3. Any damage above the max hp of your opponent's biggest ships is always wasted. If your opponent is using all small and tiny ships, you don't need attack above 20.
4. Ideally you want to have at least the same number of ships in your fleet as your opponent so you can kill them off in one round. Superior numbers make it impossible for your fleet to be wiped out in one round.
5. Having hp above the attack of your opponents' individual ships is an advantage.
Example from my current game:
I have a huge hulled ship with 286 attack and 172hp. I attack an Iridian fleet of 3 small ships with 18 attack and 20 hp each.
Round 1: My ship does 286 damage to one of the Iridian ships, destroying it; the three Iridian ships do a combined 54 damage to by ship.
Round 2: My ship does 286 damage to the second Iridian ship, destrying it; the two remaining Iridian ships do a combined 36 damage to my ship.
Round 3: My ship does 286 damage to the last Iridian ship, destroying it; the last Iridian ship does 18 damage to my ship.
Result: The enemy fleet is destroyed and my ship has taken 108 damage.
