For me, the "tie rule" introduced in galciv2, which makes the most powerful attack ship win in case of a tie, doesn't make any sense. (even if I can somewhat imagine other reasons why it would have been made like that)
So for elemental I suggest a lot more randomness in case of ties, sometimes one can survive but quite frequently both "units" could be destroyed pure and simple.
After all why could a ogre die from a sword sank into its heart but still have enough strenght to smash the head of the opponent knight with a single last swing of its enormous mace...
often adrenaline itself can sustain the life of a doomed soul ... 