Is delcaring war required? I wanted to just see what a battle was like so I made a game on the FIGHT map so I can get into an engagement quickly. I sent one of my fleets with like 5-6 ships in, clicked STRIKE mission. I selected my ships and alt clicked on the enemies when I saw them but they did nothing. I thought maybe they don't have turrets but I looked at the designs and they seem to have turrets up the wazoo? So I don't know what I am supposd to do.
Yes, you need to declare war for Strikes to work. On the other hand, if you pick Invasion it'll say it's an act of war and let you pick to go for it or not.