Combat

Assault |  Plan Alliance Assault:

* Valid targets are *Stations*.
* Valid Fleet types are *Any*.

 Raid:

* Valid targets are *Stations*.
* Valid Fleet types are *Any*.

 Sabotage Station:

* Valid targets are *Stations*.
* Valid Fleet types are *Scout* / *Recon*.

 Sabotage Outpost:

* Valid targets are *Outposts*.
* Valid Fleet types are *Scout* / *Recon*.

Fleets that are scheduled to arrive at the same time, *even if from the same Station*, but that do not move together ***fight independently***.

An *Alliance Assault* is a single combined movement for this reason.

* Assault
* Alliance Assault
* Raid
* Sabotage
* Tactics
* Station Bombing
* Station Capture
* Plunder

### What Is It

 Assault movements are intended to destroy opposing assets:

* Defending Fleets
* Hangared Ships
* Station Buildings

These movements can be either a single player Assault or a multi-player Alliance Assault.

### What Do I Need

Any combat capable ship type can be used in an Assault movement and ensuing **Combat**.

* Industrial ships are generally *not* combat capable.

If your intention is to damage or destroy the target Station, then you will require some form of Station Bombing.

If your intention is to capture the target Station, then you will require Station Capture capability.

### How Does It Work

Right-click a Station and:

1. Select  **Attack** \  Assault
2. If desired, schedule the **Assault**.
Note that Sabotage should be scheduled accordingly to support the **Assault**.
3. Select the Fleets to be used in the **Assault**.

Note that the Operating Station the **Assault** launches from will determine the Tactics used.

Combat consists of 3 rounds.

1. Long Range deals 100% of Firepower against Opponents.
2. Medium Range deals 50% of Firepower against Opponents.
3. Short Range deals 25% of Firepower against Opponents.

Tactics are compared in Assault combat.

* The loser of this comparison does not apply their firepower bonus in each combat round.

Damage is applied to fleets relative to the amount of Hitpoints each fleet brings to the combat.

* If your Gunships make up the bulk of the Hitpoints, expect to lose more of them.

Fleets that remain capable of doing Station Bombing damage target 2 random Station Buildings at the end of each Combat round.

* Can be the same building twice.

Fleets that remain capable of doing Station Capture damage apply that at the end of the 3rd combat round.

### What Is It

Alliance Assault movements are intended to destroy opposing assets:

* Defending Fleets
* Hangared Ships
* Station Buildings

This movement is a multi-player combined movement.

### What Do I Need

Any combat capable ship type can be used in an **Alliance Assault** movement and ensuing **Combat**.

* Industrial ships are generally *not* combat capable.

If your intention is to damage or destroy the target Station, then you will require some form of Station Bombing.

If your intention is to capture the target Station, then you will require Station Capture capability.

### How Does It Work

Right-click a Station and:

1. Select  **Attack** \  Plan Alliance Assault
2. Schedule the **Alliance Assault**.
Note that Sabotage should be scheduled accordingly to support the **Alliance Assault**.
3. Add details to the *Briefing* panel to assist Alliance members in determining assets to bring.

Note that the selected Station of the *Planner* of the **Alliance Assault** will determine the Tactics used.

Combat consists of 3 rounds.

1. Long Range deals 100% of Firepower against Opponents.
2. Medium Range deals 50% of Firepower against Opponents.
3. Short Range deals 25% of Firepower against Opponents.

**Tactics** are compared in **Alliance Assault** combat.

* The loser of this comparison does not apply their firepower bonus in each combat round.

Fleets that remain capable of doing Station Bombing damage target 2 random Station Buildings at the end of each Combat round.

* Can be the same building twice.

Fleets that remain capable of doing Station Capture damage apply that at the end of the 3rd combat round.

### What Is It

Raid Fleet Movements are intended to gather resources.

* Metal /  Gas /  Crystal
* Module Cards from NPC Stations

### What Do I Need

Every ship type in the game is capable of *Raiding*.

* The return in resources however is very dependent on available cargo space.

As a result, Corvettes and Industrials are often the ship types used.

The prevalence of Container Ports across Stations can require that you increase the Plunder values of your fleets engaged in *Raiding*.

### How Does It Work

Right-click a Station and:

1. Select  **Attack** \  Raid
2. If desired, schedule the **Raid**.
Note that Sabotage should be scheduled accordingly to support the **Raid**.
3. Select the Fleets to be sent on the **Raid**.

Fleets on a **Raid** Fleet Movement first fight any defenders.

The **Combat** consists of 3 rounds.

1. Long Range deals 100% of Firepower against Opponents.
2. Medium Range deals 50% of Firepower against Opponents.
3. Short Range deals 25% of Firepower against Opponents.

The defender automatically wins the *Tactics* comparison and gets the +10% firepower bonus.

Damage is applied to fleets relative to the amount of Hitpoints each fleet brings to the combat.

* If your Destroyers make up the bulk of the Hitpoints, expect to lose more of them.

At the end of combat, surviving ships fill their cargo space with resources from the defending Station.

* The defending Station may not **have** any resources to loot.
	+ Spies are your friends, able to let you pick the best targets before launching your fleets.

The defending Station may have *Hidden* resources.

* Regular *Spy* reports do not reveal the available amount of *Hidden* resources.
	+ Faction Tianchao or policy Little Birds are required for this information.

The average *Plunder* value of your fleets is applied to see how many *Hidden* resources can be gained.

**NOTE:** **Raid** Fleet Movements against Player Stations in the Starting Zones do ***NOT*** gather any resources from the Target Station.

### What Is It

Sabotage Fleet Movements are a means of disabling opposing Stations and Outposts.

Sabotaging Outposts and Stations can be a big help and is nearly a requirement for effective Assaults in the late-game.

### What Do I Need

Only fleets of Scout and Recon ship types can engage in **Sabotage**.

* In that same fashion, only fleets of **Scout** and **Recon** ship types can defend against **Sabotage**.

### When Can It Be Done

While all Stations are visible on the Map, Outposts can only be seen if their Stealth values are overcome by a high enough *Scan Strength*.

Thus your **Scouts** may first need to drop **Probes** around the target Station to find target Outposts to **Sabotage**.

### How Does It Work

Right-click a Station and:

* Select  **Attack** \  Sabotage Station

Or right-click an Outpost and:

* Select  Sabotage Outpost

If desired, schedule the **Sabotage**.

* Note that **Sabotage** is often scheduled to support Assaults.

Sabotage is a special attack movement for exploration fleets.
It triggers a battle with the exploration fleets of the targeted station or owning station of the targeted outpost.
If the target outpost is owned by a station under the influence of a Logistics Hub, or if the target station is under the influence of a **Logistics Hub**, all exploration fleets from the station owning the **Logistics Hub** will defend against the Sabotage.
The battle only has **one combat phase**, after which your remaining fleet does one attack against the outpost or station.
If they do more damage then the targets *sabotage defense*, you succeed.

Sabotage Combat occurs only if there are defending **Scout** / **Recon** fleets.

* 1 round of Combat at 100% Firepower.

Tactics are compared in **Sabotage** combat.

* The loser of this comparison does not apply their firepower bonus in the combat round.

**Tactics** bonuses are not applied to the sabotage calculation itself.

Damage is applied to fleets relative to the amount of Hitpoints each fleet brings to the combat.

* If your Recons make up the bulk of the Hitpoints, expect to lose more of them.

The target structure is successfully sabotaged if the firepower total of any surviving sabotaging units exceeds the *Sabotage Defense* of the target structure.

* Outposts that are successfully sabotaged are taken offline until repaired by an Industrial fleet.
* Stations that are successfully sabotaged are unable to launch **Industrial** fleet movements for 5 minutes.

#### Sabotage Defense Values

1 Mining Facility
2 Missile Battery / Scanner / Trading Port
3 Logistics Hub / Stargate / Fortress
4 Heavy Ship Assembly / Habitation Dome / Mining Colony

Sabotage can be be improved by using the Faction Tianchao, which adds the following penalties:

* Stations are sabotaged 50% longer (overall 7.5 minutes).
* All outgoing movements are disabled, not just *Industrials*.
* 50% chance to destroy the equipped Station Character Card.
* 50% chance to destroy the equipped Station Rune Card.
* All Station Buildings suffer a 20% health penalty.
* NPC Stations suffer a 20% firepower reduction penalty for docked fleets.

### What Is It

Tactics can add a bonus of +10% Firepower to your Fleets at each stage of Combat in the following combat types:

* Assault
* Sabotage

### How It Works

Tactics is a *Rock, Paper, Scissors* style system:

* *Pincer* beats *Turtling* beats *Flanking* beats *Pincer*

The tactics of the Station the attacking fleet movement launched from is compared to the tactics of the defending Station.

* *Alliance Assaults use the tactics of the Station that was selected by the Alliance Leader during the planning of the Alliance Assault.*

If the tactics used by both Stations are the same:

* Both attackers and defenders gain the tactics bonus.

Otherwise only the winner of this RPS maneuver gets to add the tactics bonus of their Station to their firepower.

### Default

Stations default to *Turtling* when constructed.

### Changing

To alter your Station Tactics:

* Select Tactics from the bottom of the Main UI.
* Pick one of the Tactics that your Station is not currently using.
* Click on *Confirm* to switch to those Tactics.

Switching tactics takes 8 hours.

* This can be concluded instantly at the cost of 2x Commands.

Switching away from your current tactics incurs the 8 Hour timer, even if you switch straight back to the tactics that was previously in use.

### What Is It

Station Bombing is a specific requirement for destroying Stations.

### What Do I Need

The primary method is the use of Gunships, which are specialized **Station Bombing** Heavy Ship Units.

* The other Ship type that has inherent **Station Bombing** is the Dreadnought Capital Ship unit.

**Station Bombing** can be achieved for other *Heavy* and *Capital* units through the use of Cards or Policies.

### When Can It Be Done

**Station Bombing** damage can only be applied during Assault movements.

* In Dead Zone, some Factions can apply **Station Bombing** via other Movements.

### How Does It Work

In each of the 3 Combat rounds, after the battle between fleets, if there is one, surviving ships in fleets with **Station Bombing** apply their damage to targeted Buildings. Every fleet's **Station Bombing** gets split into two halves, and in the 1st round, each half randomly targets a building.

* As a result of the RNG process, both halves and multiple fleets can end up targeting the same building.

Fleets will continue to target the same building(s), applying their damage again in each subsequent combat round, until either a target building is destroyed or combat ends.

* Like firepower, **Station Bombing** is affected by the round damage modifiers (100%, 50% and 25% in rounds 1, 2 and 3).

If a target building is destroyed, fleets with that building as their target will acquire new target buildings in the next combat round, provided there are any buildings or combat rounds remaining.

* Any excess damage in the current round is wasted.

Buildings are destroyed level by level, so a single assault may not destroy the entire building.

* A building level that is only damaged and not destroyed gets fully repaired once combat concludes.

If all buildings in a Station are destroyed, so is the Station.

* Destruction is visible from the Main UI with custom effects if obtained and configured.

Building levels in the construction queue cannot be targeted in combat.

* A building level pre-requisite such as the prior building level can be destroyed.

Destruction of a pre-requisite building or building level will pause the current construction.

* Destruction of the station will cancel the current construction without a refund.

### What Is It

Station Capture is the specific requirement for capturing opposing Stations of all levels.

#### What Do I Need

The only method is the use of the specialized Troop Carrier units.

* At a cost of 250,000 of each Resource and 13 *Infrastructure Points*, they can be a costly alternative to building your own Station.

With a base Speed of 3, *Troop Carriers* gladly accept anything that improves their movement speed.

* Each additional Fleet Level adds +1 Speed.
* Fleet Card Thorspear Thrusters adds +2 Speed.
* Fleet Card Ki-Ran Thrusters adds +3 Speed.
* If you own both the *Troop Carrier* Fleet and the Station you are launching the Assault from:
	+ Station Card Hologram System adds +2 Speed.
	+ Station Card Jade Lotus adds +4 Speed.

### When Can It Be Done

Station Capture can only be applied during Assault movements.

### How Does It Work

At the end of the 3 rounds of **combat**, surviving *Troop Carriers* inflict their Station Capture damage.

* If the target Station's Capture Defense value reaches 0, the Station is captured.

*Troop Carriers* are expended on Capturing a Station.

* 10 of the *Infrastructure Points* used in constructing the *Troop Carrier* are now used to administer the Station.
* The remaining Infrastructure Points are ***never recovered***.

The Fleet returns to the Home Station if empty.

*Troop Carriers* have a base Station Capture strength of 20.

* Fleet Card Viking Squadron adds +20.
* Fleet Card XAOC Strike Team adds +40.

Stations have a base Capture Defense of 40 per Level.

* Module Card Space Marines adds +40.
* Tier 3 Military Building Barricades adds +4 per level.

Stations that have been damaged regenerate Capture Defense at the rate of 1 per hour.

* Module Card Disarmed Garrison adds +1 per hour.

#### Example

A Level 4 Station has a Capture Defense of 160.

A single base Capture Strength *Troop Carrier* will need to Assault this Station 8 times to remove the base Capture Defense.

Given the movement speed of a base *Troop Carrier*, it is likely that the Capture Defense on the Station will regenerate, requiring a 9th Assault to actually effect Capture.

### What Is It

Plunder is expressed as a percentage of the *Hidden* resource capacity you can obtain from a Raid movement when the target Station has a Container Port.

* Plunder percentages are ***averaged*** across all fleets on the same movement.

The Plunder percentage also determines how many *Hidden* ships can be destroyed in **Combat** when the target Station has Military Hangars.

### What Do I Need

Plunder percentages can be gained in multiple ways within the game.

* Both Timed and non-Timed Cards can be used to directly boost fleet Plunder values.
* Some Buildings directly boost Plunder values.
* Some Policies directly boost Plunder values.
* Some Factions boost Plunder values directly or indirectly.
	+ Indirectly by making multiple *Military* **Policy** slots available.

You are also encouraged to use Spies to discover what Stations have available for you to Plunder.

### How Does It Work

Any Station with a **Container Port** has the ability to hide resources.

* Spy reports usually do not display how many resources are *Hidden*.
* Not having recourse to better **Spy** reports, to thus know what is hidden, should not stop you from raiding a Station.

Faction Tianchao and the policy Little Birds both offer a way to obtain *Hidden* resource values.

* One of the advantages of being in an Alliance is that *you* do not need these, you just need access to someone who does...  :)

Similarly, any Station with **Military Hangars** can hide how many ships are in the hangar, preventing an attacker from destroying them while they are vulnerable.

* The same methods for uncovering *Hidden* resources also work to uncover *Hidden* ships.

Corvettes usually develop the best Plunder percentages in the game, making them the go-to for such work.

* They are also relatively cheap and quick to build.

The Plunder percentage indicates how many of each *Hidden* thing your fleets can expose.

* Resources.
* Hangared ships.

### Examples

Some would have it that a **Container Port** is a *Honey Pot* and your Raiders the spoon you stick in. The *Plunder Percentage* determines the length of the spoon. If your spoon is not long enough, you get no Honey...

#### Example 1

Fleets with an average of 30% Plunder and 10,000 cargo space raid a Station with 8,000 of each Resource *Hidden* behind a Level 2 **Container Port** which can barely hide that amount, so it is full at 100%.

* 30% of 8,000 is 2,400.
* 2,400 Metal + 2,400 Gas + 2,400 Crystal totals 7,200 cargo space.
	+ leaving them with a further 2,800 cargo space empty on the return trip.
* The remaining 70% of the resources, 5,600 of each type, remain successfully *Hidden* by the **Container Port**.

A subsequent trip would likely result in even more empty cargo space until the resources had enough time to refill the amount that can be **Plundered**.

#### Example 2

Fleets with an average of 30% Plunder and 30,000 cargo space raid a Station with 8,000 of each Resource *Hidden* behind a Level 3 **Container Port**, which can hide twice as much as the Level 2 building in the earlier example.

* 30% of 16,000 is 4,800.
* The remaining 70% of the resources, up to 11,200 of each type, are successfully *Hidden* by the **Container Port**.
* Thus the fleets return with ***No*** resources as their 30% Plunder was not enough to reach the *Hidden* resources.
	+ Even 50% Plunder would have returned empty...

#### Example 3

Fleets with an average Plunder of 20% attack a Station with a Level 2 **Military Hangars**, hiding 2,000 **Corvettes**, 1,800 **Patrol Ships** and 400 **Carriers**, and no defending Fleets.

* 20% of 2,000 is 400.

The defending Station loses 400 **Corvettes**, 200 **Patrol Ships** and no **Carriers**.

* the other 80%, 1,600 of each ship type, remain successfully *Hidden* by the **Military Hangars**.