Fleets & Missions

Everything you can do beyond your own planets depends on your fleets. Colonize new worlds, raid rivals, harvest debris, run expeditions, transport resources across the galaxy - all of it requires ships in motion. Your fleet isn't just a weapon. It's your reach.

Mission Types

Each mission type has distinct rules for combat, looting, and fleet slot usage - choose the right tool for each objective.

Fleet States

A fleet moves through these lifecycle phases:

preparing → traveling → (combat: in_combat) → returning → arrived

A fleet that is completely destroyed transitions to destroyed. Fleets returning home (status returning) do not count against your outgoing fleet slot limit.

Fleet Slots

Each planet has a maximum number of simultaneous outgoing fleets determined by its Command Center level.

Travel Time

Speed determines how quickly your fleets respond, raid, and return. A fast strike fleet can hit and be home before your target can react; a slow capital fleet telegraphs its arrival hours in advance. Travel time is set by the slowest unit in the formation:

travelTime = (distance / (slowestSpeed × speedBonus)) × 3,600,000 ms

Fleet speed is capped at the slowest unit in the formation. Mix fast ships (fighters, spy probes) with slow capital ships and the capital ships set the pace.

Speed bonuses stack additively from:

• Astrophysics research (fleet_speed effect target)
• Commander archetype (Explorer: +20%)
• Specialization tree nodes (Commander Blitzkrieg: +30%, Diplomat Embassy Network: +10%)

Fuel Cost

Deuterium is calculated as:

fuelCost = Σ(shipCount × fuelPerKUnit) × (distance / 1000)

Deducted from your reserves at launch. If you lack sufficient Deuterium, the fleet cannot depart. Astrophysics research reduces fuel consumption via the fuel_cost effect target.

Combat Looting

If attackers win a combat, they may loot resources up to their fleet's total cargo capacity:

• Attack mission: up to 50% of target's resources
• Raid mission: up to 25% of target's resources

Both loot percentages are reduced for inactive targets (see below).

Inactive Target Loot Reduction

Protection Systems

Attacks and raids are bounced (fleet returns home without combat) when:

NAP (Non-Aggression Pact) - a diplomatic NAP between two players blocks both attack and raid missions entirely.

Espionage

Spy Probes are fast, fragile scouts. Mission success depends on probe count and target defenses:

• Each probe adds 25% base success chance (capped at 100%)
• Defense power reduces success: 50,000 defense power fully counters a spy mission
• With 1–2 probes: reveals resources, buildings, and defenses on success
• With 3+ probes: also reveals the target player's research levels

Failed spy missions do not alert the target automatically, but probes may be destroyed.

Expedition Outcomes

Expeditions sent to unknown systems return one of several weighted random outcomes, resolved by applyExpeditionOutcome:

Dispatching from the Galaxy Map

You can launch a fleet directly from the Galaxy Map without opening Fleet Command manually:

1. Click any star system on the map - a System Panel appears showing the system's name, coordinates, star class, and planet list (owner names visible only for systems within sensor range).
2. Click Dispatch Fleet Here - this pre-fills the destination coordinates and opens Fleet Command automatically.
3. If you already have a fleet in preparing state, the Dispatch modal opens immediately; otherwise the Create Fleet modal opens so you can assemble one first.

Pressing Escape while a system is selected closes the System Panel without changing any panel state.

Bashing Protection

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