Combat Mechanics

Fleets do not retreat. Once combat begins, every ship on both sides fires simultaneously each round - no initiative, no taking turns. Either your fleet survives the engagement or it doesn't. You have at most six rounds to win.

Round Resolution

1. Target selection - attackers fire at defenders, defenders fire at attackers. Targets are selected by priority: smaller ships (lower hull) are targeted first.
2. Shield restoration - shields are fully restored at the start of each round before firing.
3. Damage application - raw damage is applied to shields first. Excess damage carries through to hull.
4. Survival check - ships with hull ≤ 0 are destroyed.
5. Repeat until one side is eliminated or 6 rounds elapse.

Type Effectiveness

Knowing the matchup table is the difference between a composed fleet and a costly one - wrong composition against a defended planet can double your losses.

Ships deal bonus damage against specific targets (additive bonus to base damage):

Dreadnoughts and other ship types have no special type bonuses.

Planetary Defense Bonus

Defense structures fight with a +25% attack multiplier on top of all research bonuses. This represents the advantage of entrenched static fortifications over mobile attackers.

Technology Bonuses

Research techs in the Warfare branch apply percentage multipliers to combat stats via the attack_power, shield_strength, and armor_points effect targets.

The attacker's stats are further modified by:

• Commander archetype - Warlord commanders gain +10% attack
• Civic policies - war_doctrine (+10% attack), iron_discipline (+6% attack)
• Faction bonuses - Iron Covenant grants ship_attack and defense_hp bonuses

Mission Types with Combat

Attack

The standard combat mission. On attacker victory, up to 50% of the defender's resources are looted (capped by fleet cargo capacity). The loot factor is reduced for inactive targets (see Inactive Loot below).

Raid

A lighter assault that bypasses full combat if defenses exceed 5,000 power. When defenses are below that threshold, combat proceeds. On victory, raiders take up to 25% of the defender's resources (half of a full attack). The raid loot factor is also reduced for inactive targets.

Inactive Player Loot Reduction

When targeting a player who has been inactive, the base loot percentage is scaled down:

Protection Systems

Attacks are blocked (fleet bounced home without combat) in three cases:

NAP (Non-Aggression Pact) - if a diplomatic NAP is active between two players, attack and raid missions are blocked entirely.

Wreckage Fields

Every battle leaves evidence. Beyond the resource value, wreckage fields mark the sites of your victories for anyone else to find - collect them before someone else does.

30% of every destroyed unit's total construction cost (metal + crystal + deuterium combined) is deposited as a wreckage field at the combat location. The wreckage is split as:

• 60% Metal
• 35% Crystal
• 5% Deuterium

Wreckage fields decay after 72 hours if not collected. Send a Salvager fleet on a Salvage mission to recover them. Engineering research in debris_recovery increases the salvage ratio above 30%.

Defense Refund

When planetary defenses are destroyed by an attacker, the defender receives a 70% resource refund of the destroyed defenses' construction cost. This partial reimbursement softens the economic blow of losing static defenses.

Retreat

Fleets cannot retreat mid-combat. If the attacker's fleet is destroyed, no resources are stolen. If the defender's fleet and defenses are destroyed, the attacker may loot resources up to their fleet's cargo capacity.

Bashing Protection

Repeated attacks on the same target are subject to bashing limits: a maximum of 3 attacks per 6-hour window, with a 30-minute cooldown between attacks. Both attack and raid missions are covered.