Battles

Depending on whether you are attacking or defending, you will have different objectives
during a battle. Table VII.1 shows the differences, including battle objectives, between
the attacking side and the defending side. Each battlefield contains several locations
of tactical significance. Each type is outlined below.

Points of Contention (POC)
Points of Contention are the primary
objectives on the battlefield (see Figure
VII.12). Defending factions must prevent
attackers from capturing their POC. Once
attackers control all POC, they achieve
victory and the battle ends. To capture a
POC, move any ground unit onto it. The
POC then lights up, segment by segment.
When the POC has entirely lit up, your
faction’s symbol appears on it, meaning
you have captured it. Defending units
can recapture a POC in the same manner.
Aerial units cannot capture POC.

Refueling Stations
Energy plays a large role in most battles. If a unit runs out of Energy, it is unable
to move or fire. All battlefields contain refueling stations--methane springs for
methane reactors and recharge pads for batteries (see Figures VII.17 and VII.18).
These stations have great tactical significance because a unit with the appropriate
type of power supply can increase its Energy by simply standing on the refueling station.

Equally important is understanding
how your units arrive at and retreat from the battlefield.

Battle Spawn Location
When you enter Battle Mode, the location of your units varies according to the
specific circumstances through which you joined the battle. If you enter an ongoing
battle, or enter a battle as the initiating attacker, your units appear (spawn) on
the battlefield next to the portal through which you entered. Whenever you
reinforce the battle through the in-battle reinforcement feature (see Section
VI.B.4 [page 47]), your new units also spawn at this location.
If the province you are in is attacked, your units spawn in the location you are
standing. Whenever you reinforce the battle through the in-battle reinforcement
feature, your new squad appears at a portal near friendly territory.

Retreating Your Units
If ill prepared for an enemy assault, the prudent decision may be to retreat from
battle.
When engaged in a battle with your squad, you can click the
"Retreat" button to quickly retreat (see Figure VII.19). All of your
units will move to the portal through which you entered the
battle (or the nearest portal if you were attacked). Once your
entire squad has retreated from the battle, reinforcement options
will appear in the top right of the A ction Window. You can either
deploy new troops and reinforce the battle (see Section VI.B.4
[page 47]), or you can retreat completely from the conflict.

You can also manually retreat one or more units. To do so, move
your units to any portal that leads to a faction-controlled province.
When a unit reaches a portal, you receive a message via the
"Incoming Message Indicator" (see Figure VII.20), notifying you
that that unit is trying to escape from the battlefield. Click the
"Incoming Message Indicator" and then "OK" to retreat the unit.
Once one of your units retreat through a portal, your remaining
units may only retreat from that battle through the same portal.
There is no penalty to your units for retreating.

In-Battle Reinforcements
If your squad leaves the battlefield, either by retreating or being destroyed, you
can choose between reinforcing the battle with a fresh squad or retreating
from the battle entirely. When the last unit of your squad is destroyed (or retreats),
you will see a message in the top right corner of the Action Window that
indicates the time remaining before you can reinforce the battle (see Figure
VII.21). While waiting to reinforce, you can utilize the Unit Deployment Screen
to configure your next squad. Unit deployment is discussed further in Section V.F

Once the timer reaches zero, you can reinforce
the current battle with your new squad by
clicking the "Reinforce" button. If you decide
not to reinforce the battle, you can retreat by
clicking the "Retreat" button.

Battlefield Commander
For each battle, the hero with the highest Tactics on each side assumes the
role of the Battlefield Commander (BC). Battlefield Commanders
manage the flow of reinforcements into the battle. They can
access the Battle Command Menu by clicking the "Acceptance"
button (see Figure VII.22) or by pressing Ctrl+F7.The possible
acceptance settings are

Auto-Accept
When auto-accept is employed, any faction hero can join the fight if the
maximum number of heroes (see Section VI.A.1.a [page 42]) is not
exceeded. This setting is the default and is generally preferrable. Any
hero on your Ignore List (see Section IV.C.1 [page 27]) is rejected
regardless.

Auto-Reject
When using the auto-reject
setting, no members of your
faction can join the fight. This
choice is best when the battle is
lost and you wish to prevent your
allies from suffering the imminent
defeat.

Manual Select
Battlefield Commanders can screen heroes who wish to join the fight by
selecting the manual select option. When manual select is chosen, the
"Incoming Message Indicator" lights up whenever a hero asks for permission
to join the battle. Click the "Incoming Message Indicator" to view the
hero requesting entry and decide if he or she should be allowed into the
fray. This setting can be used to keep troublesome or abusive heroes out
of battles.

spoils of war

Initially, it is through battles that you and your position in the galaxy are defined.
Combat yields many rewards for the victorious (see Figure VII.24). Except as noted,
spoils are divided evenly among the members (units or heroes depending upon the spoil
in question) of the winning side. If you disconnect from the game while in a battle,
whether intentionally or not, you suffer a loss as if you had been defeated.

Experience
All units of the winning side gain experience points based upon enemy unit
experience and the value of the province in which the battle occurs.

Additionally, destroyed units from either side lose a very small percentage of their
experience. A portion of the experience that destroyed units lose is awarded to
the units that destroyed them. The remaining portion is divided among those units'
allies. Note that units on the losing side also gain experience for their kills in battle.

Remember that because experience awards are based upon the experience of
your opponents' units, it is possible to win a battle and/or destroy many enemy
units and gain very little experience.

Battlefield Commander : The Battlefield Commander gains a +10%
experience point bonus.

Relative Difficulty : If the sum of unit levels of the winning side is greater
than the sum of unit levels of the losing side, the winners' experience point
gains are reduced proportionately. For example, if you defeat someone
half your strength, you get half of the experience you would have received
if they were the same strength as you.

Time Involved : Heroes who arrive late to a battle receive reduced, or
even zero experience. This policy is to encourage heroes to earn their
advancement themselves and not overly rely on others. Furthermore, the
experience each unit receives is dependent upon how long that unit
remains alive in the battle.

Initiating a Battle : For their bravery, there is a small experience bonus given
to heroes who initiate battles.

Whenever one of your units achieves a new level, you receive experience points
equal to the level the unit reached squared. For example, if your Infantry unit
advances from level 9 to level 10, you receive 10\*10 = 100 experience points in
the Infantry Division.

Record and Prestige
All battle participants gain either one win or one loss, as appropriate. Additionally,
the winners gain prestige and the defeated lose prestige. The amount of prestige
won or lost is based upon the prestige of your opponent. For example, a very
prestigious (and presumably powerful) hero gains little, if any, prestige for defeating
an undecorated opponent.

Territory and Tribute
The winning faction gains control of the province in which the battle occurred. If
multiple allied factions comprise the winning team, the first faction to attack the
province gains the territory. The controlling faction extracts tribute (money and
resources) from each province and distributes this wealth (after deducting taxes) to
all of its members every 15 minutes of real time. Note that heroes who have not
been actively fighting against other factions receive a smaller portion of their
faction's tribute. Besides tribute, capturing provinces can also yield strategic
advantages.

aliens sims traning

The preceding sections about combat have concentrated on player-versus-player
combat for provinces. Battles against aliens (with and/or against other players)
and simulated battles are also possible.

Aliens
A seemingly endless supply of aliens (see Figure VII.25, on the next page) pours
from the subterranean realm, conquering any faction-owned provinces that are
not constantly inhabited. Provincial battles against aliens are very similar to those
against other players except prestige is neither gained nor lost.

For reasons only their dark minds can fathom, the aliens respond proportionately
to threats. Should another hero join your battle against the aliens, more of the
foul creatures will rise from their subterranean homes to deal with the greater
threat. The quantity and difficulty of aliens you face increase as you travel further from
your own capital. Battles against aliens in the subterranean lairs tend to be more
difficult than surface battles. Often, aliens not seen above ground lurk in these dank
lairs. These underground regions cannot be conquered.

Simulated Battles
Combat in the Simulation Center (Sim) is excellent for testing new unit designs and
strategies. You can also utilize the Sim for analyzing unfamiliar provinces before
an attack. To participate in a simulated battle, simply go to the Sim (with units
deployed) and click the province to use as the simulated terrain. Only one
instance of a simulated combat for a specific province is possible at a time
throughout the entire planet. Heroes do not need to be from the same faction to
fight a simulated battle against each other.

The first hero to enter a province in the Sim is the leader of that simulated
combat and can ban disruptive heroes as seen fit. All heroes must then walk to
either the blue (defender) or red (attacker) areas of the simulated map. The leader
then begins the combat. Nothing is won or lost in simulated combat and,
because simulated units are used, your actual units are not damaged.

Combat Training Battles
Battles in the Combat Training Facility (CTF) are designed to let you experiment with
different chassis without having to buy them. Instead of using your own units, a
variety of pre-made units with various chassis are provided. You can even experiment
with some chassis you may not be able to purchase because of the Influence
requirement (see Section V.A [page 34]). Unlike battles in the Sim, CTF combat is
performed alone and against computer-controlled units.

Cadet Combat Field
The Cadet Combat Field (CCF) allows low ranking players from every faction on the
planet to engage in a large battle. Each CCF battle has several POC. All combatants
entering the CCF are designated as attackers and must fight against all other
factions in capturing the POC.