Combat Mechanics

Battle Structure

1. Attacker's fleet arrives at the target planet
2. Up to 6 combat rounds take place
3. After all rounds (or one side is destroyed), attacker loots resources
4. Debris fields and wreck fields form from destroyed units

Each round, every surviving unit fires once at a randomly selected target on the opposing side.

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Damage Calculation

Basic Hit

$$\text{Damage dealt} = \text{weapon strength} - \text{target shield}$$

If the damage is less than 1% of the target's shield, the shield absorbs the hit completely (Minimum Shield Rule):

$$\text{Minimum damage threshold} = \text{shield} \times 0.01$$

After Shield Absorption

$$\text{Hull remaining} = \text{current hull} - \max(0,\ \text{damage} - \text{shields})$$

Shields reset to full between rounds. Hull does not.

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Rapid Fire

Rapid fire (RF) allows a unit to fire multiple times against specific targets in a single round.

$$P(\text{additional shot}) = 1 - \frac{1}{\text{RF value}}$$ $$\text{Expected shots per round} = \frac{\text{RF value}}{\text{RF value} - 1}$$

RF Value	P(additional shot)	Expected shots
×2	50%	2
×5	80%	1.25
×6	83.3%	1.2
×20	95%	1.053
×200	99.5%	~200

See Rapid Fire Table for all ship vs. ship and ship vs. defence values.

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Hull Explosion Mechanic

Units do not die instantly when hull is depleted. Below 70% hull they have a probability of exploding each round:

$$P(\text{explodes}) = 1 - \frac{\text{current hull}}{\text{max hull}} \quad \text{when hull} < 70\%$$

At 30% hull → 70% chance to explode. At 0% hull → 100% chance.

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Tech Effects

Combat research applies as a flat multiplier per level:

$$\text{Final weapons} = \text{base} \times (1 + 0.10 \times W)$$ $$\text{Final shields} = \text{base} \times (1 + 0.10 \times S)$$ $$\text{Final hull} = \text{base} \times (1 + 0.10 \times A)$$

Higher tech creates a disproportionate advantage in repeated engagements. General class adds +2 effective levels to all three; Warrior alliance class adds +1.

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Honourable, Dishonourable & Neutral Fights

The honour system determines how many resources can be looted and whether you gain or lose Honour Points (HP).

Honourable Fight

A fight is honourable if any one of the following is true at the moment of battle:

• The attacker has fewer military points than the target, or
• The target has more than 50% of the attacker's military points, or
• The target is within 10 military points of the attacker, or
• The target is no more than 100 military ranks behind the attacker, or
• The target has a Bandit rank

Honourable targets are marked yellow with (hp) in Galaxy View.

Effect: Attacker can loot 75% of available resources (instead of 50%). Attacker gains HP.

Dishonourable Fight

If none of the honourable conditions are met, the fight is dishonourable.

Effect: Attacker can loot 50% of available resources. Attacker loses HP.

Neutral Fight

Attacks on alliance members, buddies, or inactive players are neutral.

Effect: Loot is 50%. No HP is gained or lost. For alliance members and buddies this only applies to 1-on-1 fights — if any other player is involved (e.g. ACS), the fight is no longer neutral.

Bandit Targets

Players with a Bandit rank have no loot protection:

Effect: Attacker can loot 100% of available resources. Even other bandits attacking a bandit loot 100%.

Loot Summary

Fight type	Max loot
Dishonourable	50%
Neutral (buddy / ally / inactive)	50%
Honourable	75%
Bandit target	100%

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Debris Fields

After a battle, a debris field forms above the target planet from destroyed ships:

• 30% of metal and 30% of crystal go into the debris field (standard universes)
• Some universes also include deuterium in debris — check your universe's settings
• Debris field percentage may differ on special universes
• Deuterium is never included unless the universe specifically enables it

Debris field deletion: All debris fields are deleted every Sunday at midnight server time. The only exception is a DF with an active recycling mission en route — those are preserved until the mission completes.

Invisible debris fields: If you attack a planet with no ships and no defence, the probe/unit is not destroyed and no DF is created — making the coordinate's DF slot empty and invisible in Galaxy View. Invisible DFs are useful as fleetsave targets since attackers cannot watch them disappear.

Harvesting: Send Recyclers on a Recycle mission to collect a debris field. Send recyclers ahead of time — they are slower than most combat ships and will arrive after the battle resolves.

Reaper: If the attacking fleet includes Reapers, a portion of the debris field is automatically collected immediately after the battle without a separate recycler mission. Does not apply to battles in slot 16 (expedition area) or against pirates/alien lifeforms.

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Wreck Fields

If your fleet suffers significant losses at a planet you own, a wreck field forms and some ships can be recovered via the Space Dock.

Conditions to trigger:

• More than 5% of your fleet is destroyed, and
• At least 150,000 structural integrity units are destroyed

Recovery:

• Requires Space Dock level 1+ — the higher the level, the greater the percentage of ships that can be salvaged
• Repair time: up to 12 hours
• Repair must be triggered manually in the Space Dock
• Wreck field lasts 72 hours; new wrecks from additional battles at the same coordinates are added to the existing field and the timer resets toward 72h

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Alliance Combat System (ACS)

Multiple players can coordinate attacks or defences:

	ACS Attack	ACS Defend
Max players	5	4 + the defender
Max fleets	16	16

• ACS Attack: All participating fleets arrive simultaneously and are treated as one combined attacking force
• ACS Defend: Supporting fleets hold at the defender's planet and fight alongside the defender's fleet
• ACS Defend fleets cannot perform tactical retreat
• Honour points in ACS are assigned proportionately based on each player's contribution

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Combat Simulation

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Fodder

The most common mistake among inexperienced fleeters is building too few cheap ships (fodder). Since every ship targets randomly:

• Fodder absorbs shots that would otherwise hit your expensive heavy ships
• Fodder also prevents the enemy's rapid fire from concentrating on your key units
• Light Fighters are the standard fodder: cheap to build, cheap to fly, rapid fire against Rocket Launchers
• Small Cargos act as secondary fodder that also increase raid speed by protecting Large Cargos

A fleet with no fodder loses heavy ships disproportionately — even if it wins the battle.

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See Also

Rapid Fire Table · Weapons Technology · Shielding Technology · Armour Technology · Recycler · Reaper · Highscore & Ranks · Farming