Combat

COMBAT PROCEDURES

ATTACK

The method of fighting with other ships/worlds, the Attack order is a very complex one, that allows you very flexible control over your fleet. The order has several forms, all of which will be determined by your choice of action.

1) Fleet to fleet attack.

You may engage enemy fleets at any location. The engagement will take place between a maximum of 10 fleets on each side. All fleets at a location will take part in the conflict if an attack is made. The fleets involved in the battle are selected by the fleet number, starting at the lowest number (if you have fleets 1 to 20 inclusive at a location and you are attacked, then only fleets 1-10 will fight). All fighter actions take place before the main fleets engage in combat.

The attacking ships and defending ships fire simultaneously and all damage is calculated BEFORE any ships are removed by destruction. The fastest ships (manu not hyper) fire first and will engage the fastest ship they can target. Groups of similar class and versions of design will fire at same targets. The firing rounds will continue until only the ships of one player remain. Orbital ships always fire first. Damage is first taken off a ship's shields and then off it's hull. Once a ship's hull is breached it is considered destroyed. Ship speed (manu) is an important attribute in ship to ship conflict. After each battle, provided the hull is not breached, the ship shields are recharged and any minor damage repaired by the crew.

If an attacker initiates fleet to fleet combat over a planet that has Planetary Missile Bases, they will fire maximum missile each combat round. These missiles will be split as equally as possible between like groups of enemy ships (not fleets). The attack value will be added to the defending ships attack value. As long as a single defending ship is present the PMB's will continue to fire missiles at the attacking fleet.

There are various attack modes that can be selected for combat each of which has an optimum range associated with it. The following table details each mode and it's range:

Mode Type
Cone, Wave, Line, Astern, Hinder, Bulls Head Normal
Stand-off, Disengage, Retire, Evade, Fighter Long
Swarm Medium
Globe, Encircle, Split, Half-sphere, Wedge, Ambush Short

Two opposing fleets engaging with like range types will attack at that range. For instance one fleet in globe engaging another fleet in Wedge will meet at Short range. If the two fleet range types differ, the fleet with greater overall speed determines the combat range. If both fleet speeds are identical, the defending fleet determines the combat range. Some combat modes interact in surprising patterns, for instance Drone mode and Fighter mode will not come into contact at all.

The range of a combat mode determines the distance at which the battle is fought. Each combat is divided into 20 distinct rounds. The following table details the range each combat round is fought at:

Range Type Long Medium Short Medium Long
Normal 1-3 4-16 7-13 14-17 18-20
Long 1-20        
Medium 1-3 4-17 18-20    
Short 1 2-3 4-17 18-19 20

Cone: Your ships form up into a cone, the lighter ships in the front, the heavy ships in the base. This formation is useful in that it provides reasonable defence as well as a powerful attacking structure.

Drone: To use drones the launch and destination co-ordinates must be specified as well as the empire number to be attacked, all drones with sufficient range will be launched. The drones must run the gauntlet of defending ships and PDF's on their own - all defending ships in orbit will fire short-range weapons at optimum range. Drones will target PDF's, spaceports, computer centres, IND, Mines and population centres, if no targets exist for any remaining drones, they will fall harmlessly to the planet surface.

Hinder: A stance in which your ships retreat before the opposing fleet leaving occasional groups of ships in their path to slow the advance while taking the minimum damage possible. This mode offers a reasonable offence, but a poor defence.

Globe: Good defensive formation, especially with heavy ships in the Fleet. Each ship will provide supporting fire for every other ship. It is very difficult to break this formation, though it does have limited offensive uses.

Bulls Head: An offensive formation in which 3 groups of ships approach the enemy, just prior to contact two groups manoeuvre to the flanks of the enemy while the third group attacks head on. A good offensive tactic with reasonable defence.

Evade: A combat mode which attempts to minimise contact between the two fleets, it offers very good defensive capabilities, but fails terribly in offence.

Fighter: A Mode that uses fighters only. Attackers launch fighters, 1 round of fighter combat is executed and any surviving fighters are recovered. A defensive fleet that utilises this mode will engage attackers with fighters only, no other ships will defend the planet.

Split: A single group of ships splits into two at the last minute to attack either flank of the opposing fleet. Good offensive capabilities countered by a tendency to suffer many loses in defence.

Wedge: The fleet forms into a flying wedge with shields overlapping to increase the overall defensive value. The large frontage of this formation gives it a good offensive rating.

Ambush: Just as the name suggests, your fleets hide in wait for an opposing fleet, when a victim comes within range, your fleet execute a lightning attack. Very good offensive formation, but heavily reliant on surprise, as such quick reactions on the defending fleets part can cost the attacker dearly.

Wave: Suitable for attack with overwhelming numbers. Provides wave after wave of ship attacks. Provides maximum fire power for ships not overly concerned with defence.

Encircle: Useful if you are trying to prevent the escape of enemy ships. Will provide good attacking formation if you have sufficient ships (It's rather difficult to encircle your enemy with just one ship!).

Swarm: A very similar combat mode to encircle, but with a more offensive bent. Where encircle holds the opposing fleet at bay, swarm advances to push the attack upon the encircled fleet. Very good offensive capacity at the expense of defence.

Half-sphere: One half of an encircle formation. A semi-sphere of ships attempt to box in an opposing fleet. Only really used if too few ships are available for a full encircle. Good offence, poor defence.

Line astern: Only really effective with fleets of large ships - battle ships are nice. Can be very effective against wave attacks. Some losses are assured but at the expense of the defending fleets.

Disengage: A defensive stance designed to inflict damage on an enemy fleet without exposing your own fleet to too much damage. The fleet will attempt to break off battle after the first three rounds of combat. A tactic that suffers on attack, but makes up for it in defence.

Standoff: The ultimate defensive stance. Fleet attempts to keep distance from opposing forces while firing with long range weapons. Best used with large numbers of small ships.

Retire: The fleet will try to escape all forms of combat, no offensive action will be taken. An attacking fleet will have one round of fire before the defender tries to disengage and flee. The overall success of this manoeuvre depends heavily on the relative speeds of each fleet.

[If you have ideas for a new formation, submit them on a separate sheet of paper and they will be considered. If suitable they will be added to YOUR options.]

The Attack order for Fleet-to-Fleet attacks has the form:-

Attack, battle location, player number, formation

e.g. Attack at [1,5,12],6, attacking player 4, Wave

2) Fleet attack planet.

This has two forms: Attack planet (to destroy ground-based fighters, PMB's and PDF's) and Land troops (attempt to take over planet). If there are no opposing troops present then the take-over is automatic if you can land but a single trooper! What sort of population is going to argue with even one armoured man carrying a gun the size of a small car?

a) Attack planet. This operates in stages, and assumes that the defending planet has none of it's own fleets in orbit. First any fighters on the attacking fleet will attack. Any defending planet-based fighters will defend with the help of any PDF's. If there are no fighters present in the attacking fleet, then the ships themselves will be attacked by defending fighters and PDF's if present. After this the attacking fleet will then fire upon planetary PDF's and PMB's. The attack will be continued until no more defending or attacking forces remain. You CANNOT attack a planet if there is an opposing fleet in orbit over it - this must first be destroyed using the "attack fleet" option. Planetary Missile bases will fire on any ships that attack the planet, fighters will not be targeted due to the size and speed. Maximum missiles are fired each round and will target the first group of ships to attack the planet, if missiles remain after destroying the first group of ships, the next group is targeted and so on until either no enemy ship or no missiles remain. Attacking ships will usually target PBM's over PDF's since they are a more potent force.

b) Land troops. This can only be done if all other defences are wiped out. The only possible remaining planetary defences are its troops, if it has any. If you can wipe out their defending troops then the planet is yours!

Troop combat takes place over 5 battle rounds only, if both sides still have surviving troops the attackers are withdrawn to regroup and re-supply.

Both sides of the combat can be assigned attack types that can influence the outcome of a battle considerably. The following is a list of possible defence and attack types:

Defenders:
1) Defend - default value, defend the planet using standard tactics.
2) Retreat - Take as few losses as possible, retreating as and when necessary. More collateral damage will be sustained by the defending colony.
3) Skirmish - Keep losses low but sally out and hit the enemy where possible. An attempt to maximise attacker losses.
4) Ambush - Attack in force from ambush. This can cause a lot of damage, but heavy losses may be taken.
5) Hold - Hold at all costs, no retreat. Can cause heavy losses on both sides, but minimises collateral damage.
6) Surround - Hopefully with superior forces you can contain the invasion. This can work well... assuming you have SUPERIOR forces.
7) Frontal assault - Throw caution to the wind and kill the enemy. A very nasty tactic.

Attackers:
1) Attack - default value, attack the planet using standard tactics.
2) Frontal assault - All out assault, normally results in heavy casualties on both sides, heavy collateral damage.
3) Surround - A very effective tactic if you outnumber the enemy, but could cause problems otherwise. Collateral damage is reduced.
4) Outflank - This can be a very effective tactic where prepared defences are well placed and heavily manned. May cause greater collateral damage than normal.
5) Hold - This attempts to hold the landing site with minimum casualties. Reduces collateral damage.
6) Probe - This attempts to find a weakness in the defences without exposing your main force to attack.
7) Pincer - Effective when evenly matched and can be useful in heavily populated planets. May cause great collateral damage.

The Attack order for Fleet attack planet has the form:-

Attack, fleet no, planet name, location and attack type.

e.g. Attack with fleet 12, Eden II [20,10,5],2 Frontal assault.

3) Fleet attack if...

The conditions can be as complicated as you like, such as if any fleet of a certain player is found at destination, or if fleet found is smaller than your fleet. Please try to be very specific as if the conditions are not clear they might be ignored and battle will commence regardless!

e.g. Fleet attack with fleet 12 at [23,12,4],3 if ANY other player fleets present.
OR
Fleet attack with fleet 12 at [23,12,4],3 if fleets from player 3 present, ignore other players.
OR
Fleet attack with fleets at [2,14,7],4 if other player's fleets present are smaller than attacking fleets.

If the conditions are not totally clear (in the above case, what constitutes smaller? by how much?), then it will be interpreted as the GM see's fit. Knowing the GM's sense of humour it would be best if the orders were specific!

In all ship-to-ship battles you will receive a reasonably detailed battle report. It is not intended to charge anything extra for battle reports but they can be pretty lengthy. A small surcharge for extra postage costs may be levied (at cost).