Fighting Battles

## **Battle Generation**

Combat mission are generated each turn when your nation is at war. The types of battle offered are random but is influenced by force disposition in each sea region and ongoing invasions. The player can choose to accept or refuse most offered battle. Refusing a battle will result in a VP penalty, this is partially dependent on mission type, and can be as low as 100-200 and as high as 1500+.

The player can only accept one battle per turn at most, after the battle ends the game advances to the next turn. Consistently refusing battle will result in a prestige penalty. There are also "unexpected battles" that cannot be refused.

When there is an ongoing or planned invasion in a sea region, some generated battle may indicate that it is "In Support of Land Invasion". Winning these battle increase the progress of the ongoing invasion in the region(If player is being invaded, winning decrease enemy progress), or, if no invasion is ongoing, victory will trigger the planned invasion. Refusing the invasion battle count as being defeated for the purpose of influencing invasions.

### **Types of Combat Missions**

Each generated mission will indicate the size, location, mission type and forces present in the area. Please note that the force present may not be an accurate indication of enemy forces actually present in the area. Further more, mission type and battle size will have the most influence on what ships will be present for battle.

Small engagement size generally indicate lone ship with possibly a few escort, Medium will generally includes 2-4 squadrons. Large can include multiple capital ship squadron with extensive scouting force and escorts. Very unbalanced force may result in odd scenarios like lone Battlecruiser showing up in small cruiser action or only destroyers being present in a medium cruiser action.

Note that mission length/starting distance for some missions indicated below may change the late 20s to accommodate the advent of carriers. At time of writing(1.05) this is usually about 200-300 minutes longer depending on mission type.

* Cruiser/Destroyer Actions - Both fleet will be predominantly composed of Cruiser/Destroyers. The fleets will spawn fairly close to each other locked in heading for the opening part of the mission. It is very likely that if both fleet remained on course they will encounter each other. Note that battlecruisers and battleship with 27 knots or more speed will be able to show up during cruiser action, generally at Medium or higher size. **Mission Length: 500 Minutes**
* Battleship Engagement - Similar to cruiser destroyer action, but with a small number of battleship and their escort facing each other. The battleship present generally do not exceed 1 squadron. **Mission Length: Uncertain**
* Small Engagement - Seems to be used when very limited number of ships are present in a region. Usually ends up being a mix of whatever ship is present/random lone ship facing off against other ships. **Mission Length: Uncertain**
* Convoy Attack/Defence - A fleet of convoy consisting of anywhere between 10-20+ ships will spawn. The attacker will spawn some distance from the convoy and may have trouble locating it in poor weather. Battle size have very significant impact on the forces present. It can range from a raid by a single destroyer squadron to a full battle fleet sortie. Mission objective is often to sink a certain number of enemy ships, but surviving convoy ships also grant a sizeable amount of VP to the defenders. Ships on trade protection have a chance to be present during these missions, often AI controlled. **Mission Length: Generally 800 Minutes**
* Invasion - A special type of convoy mission where the attacker must escort a fleet of invasion transport to a specific coastal location. These transports are slightly faster than convoy merchants. These mission fire exclusively as mission "In support of invasions". **Mission Length : Uncertain**
* Coastal Raid/Coastal Raid Defence - Attacking/Defending fleet spawn very far from each other, coastal traffic of KE/Transport will be generated and move between ports of the defending faction. Attacker objective requires the sinking of 2(usually) ships of any kind, while defender gets VP for surviving merchants. Battle size again vary greatly as with convoy missions, but tends to favor fast force of cruiser/battlecruiser over full battle fleets. Non-player controlled friendly fleet are most common in this type of mission and Coastal bombardment defence. **Mission Length: 1000 Minutes**
* Coastal Bombardment/Defence - Similar to coastal raid, with attacking fleet instead targeting a "Land Target" that is generated in a coastal area. Land target are unarmed but maybe protected by coastal batteries if any are present. The target can usually absorb multiple heavy guns, and will take significant effort to destroy it with medium or smaller guns. **Mission Length: 1000 Minutes**
* Fleet Battle - Only triggers when significant number of capital ships are present in the area. Almost all available capital ships from both side will be present, with sizable scouting force and escort. The two fleet tends to spawn further from each other compared to Cruiser/Destroyer actions, but closer than coastal raids. There are no additional mission objectives. **Mission Length: I believe 1200 Minutes**
* Raider Interception - Special battle when a raider is intercepted by a ship(Does not need to be on trade protection). Can be autoresolved, otherwise the battle seems to only involve the raider and the intercepting ship. **Battle Length: Unknown**

### **Surprise Attack**

Surprise attack is a special type of mission that generated by a country with the Surprise Attack national trait. It only occurs at the beginning of the war with a roughly 80% chance of triggering. If triggered, the player will be give the choice to carry out the attack. The attack targets the opposing fleet as it is moored in port.(The port chosen is dependent on the relative importance of the port, so it maybe helpful to invest in batteries in important ports)

All defender ship will start the battle in a inactive state, and will not begin to ready themselves until the attacker is spotted. (This can take 15-30min) The attacker fleet will spawn several squadron of destroyers and light cruiser a short distance off the harbour entrance, with the remaining fleet (usually composed of the attacker's entire fleet) will spawn a short distance (Usually an hour or so away from the port) behind the destroyers.

In the late game (possibly mid-late 20s onward), the attacker will instead be spawned a longer distance away from the port and launch the surprise attack by air. As of 1.02 it seems that the surprise attack trait is not necessary for aerial surprise attack to trigger, and these can happen at any point during a war as well. However, these mid-war surprise aerial surprise attacks will not always catch the entire enemy fleet at port. The defender ship will mobilize as soon as attacking aircraft, including spotters are spotted. If aircraft operations are started before any turns have passed several stages are skipped.

**Battle Length: 200 Minutes**