Warfare

Battle duration depends on the number of ships and their power.

A battle consists of waves. One wave is when both sides have fired all shots from all ships already allowed to fire.
A wave consists of salvos. Salvos alternate until no unfired ships remain on either side.

The attacker fires first. The Tactician skill chooses the ship that fires the salvo. The Strategist skill then chooses the target, and a shot is fired. If the enemy survives, the next shot of that salvo strikes the same target. If the enemy is destroyed or captured, the next target is chosen. When the salvo (all shots from the ship) ends, the turn passes to the defender.

If the fleet has battle waves from the Commander-in-Chief order, ships with a lower wave number fire in the current wave; ships with a higher number enter later.

One turn takes 1 second. If one side has no ships left to fire, the remaining enemy ships fire in turn without passing the turn. When all allowed ships on both sides have fired, the next wave begins.

Battle continues until one side has no ships (military structures) left.

In ship-to-ship combat the Sniper skill applies: without the skill 60% of shots hit; each level adds 2%, 80% at level 10. A miss deals no damage. Quantum weapons hit every ship on that side at once.

When attacking a planet or orbit the Bombardier skill applies. At low level scatter is large and civilian buildings may be hit. At level 10 there is no scatter; fire lands on the military target.

The planetary shield surrounds the entire planet with an impenetrable shell: while shield energy lasts, no building is harmed. If there are several shields, their energy is depleted one after another. The Planetary Defense skill increases shield capacity by 25% per level; after battle the shield restores with that capacity.

The shield of a surviving ship restores to its nominal value after all battles at that place end. If several fleets attack in a row while the first battle has not ended, shields do not restore between battles.

Laser Defense, Plasma Defense, Maser Defense and Quantum Defense strengthen the matching planetary and orbital guns. Orbital Coordination gives a 5% chance per level that the attacked ship or fleet is covered by orbital guns and the shot does not get through.

If a ship carries missiles, a missile launches with the first shot of the salvo. If there are several types, the type with the larger quantity launches first; if quantities are equal, the weaker missile launches first. Against a planet a missile deals damage only from a bomber; otherwise it returns to the hold.

Combat drones are carried in the hold as preserved kits. At the start of battle they deploy into the carrier fleet and fight as ordinary ships. How many launch is the smaller of two limits: the carrier capacity and the Drone Operator skill (2 drones with no skill, each level adds 2 more). Stronger kits launch first. Destroyed drones are lost; survivors are preserved back into the hold after battle. Drones have no anti-gravity engine, so only 10% of their power reaches a planet; against ships and orbit they deal full power.

Autonomous combat stations deliver 1% of shot power to a planet or orbit.

Attack methods:
Planets
Planets are attacked from orbit. All ships can fire, but ships without an anti-gravity engine cannot approach the surface and must fire from orbit: only 10% of the power reaches the target. At Bombardier level 0 the shell may deviate by up to 10 cells on each axis. At level 10 the trajectory does not deviate.

First the planetary shield is destroyed. If there are several shields they are destroyed one after another. Then military buildings are fired on. Civilian buildings may be hit because of scatter. A planet battle ends when shields and military guns are gone; civilian buildings remain, and the owner of the planet does not change from this battle.

Ships on the planet can be set to guard, so a fleet also covers the planet. A fleet on the surface is not under the planetary shield and is attacked as a normal fleet or ship.

Orbit
Orbit is attacked on approach. If "Attack orbit" was not ordered when moving to the planet, orbit is treated as undefended and approach is allowed. If during the flight the owner of orbital structures enables defense, the approaching ship is not notified and is attacked at once.

The Bombardier skill applies: scatter along the orbital ring. There is no planetary-shield analogue in orbit, so military structures are destroyed immediately. A guarding fleet in orbit fights separately: the attacker gains a power advantage but loses on time.

Another fleet or ship
When attacking ship against ship the Strategist, Tactician and Sniper skills apply. Some hulls resist laser, plasma or quantum fire, so equal salvo power does not mean equal damage.

Ships can serve as guard installations: orders such as "Attack everyone" turn on guard, and the ship attacks approaching ships of other colonists. Treat this mode carefully; there is a chance of striking an innocent ship.

Ship capture
Boarding runs only from a ship with the "Enable boarding" order, and only from a gun. A missile and a quantum strike on everyone at once do not board. The check is the moment a shot punches through the shield. If boarding fails, the ship is destroyed.

On success the ship passes to the attacker with all hold contents and leaves the battle. A ship already taken by boarding cannot be boarded again.

Titled hulls, corsair hulls, Confederation and Dolphin ships, and mines cannot be captured. Automatic pirates can be boarded only in hyperspace; not in a system, in orbit or on a planet. Tritite ships are boarded like ordinary ones.

Chance comes from the Boarding skill: each book level gives 3%, an implant or medal of that skill gives 2%. If status is below 0 (space pirate), a status bonus is added to the power. The defender's Valor skill removes 4% of the attacker's boarding power per level.

Status bonus:
below 0 through -10 inclusive = 5%
below -10 through -100 = 10%
below -100 through -1000 = 20%
below -1000 through -10000 = 30%
below -10000 = 40%

General tactics:
Attacking with two small fleets is worse than one large fleet.
Attacking sequentially is worse than attacking with a small time difference (when ships cannot be combined into one fleet).

Hulls and guns

A heavy gun without a shot series builds power over waves: silent in the first, then one fifth, two fifths, and so on up to full caliber.

Missiles leave with the salvo. An ordinary hull spends one. A pack is fired by the Bomber, Missile cruiser, Destroyer, Stranger destroyer, Confederation patrol and Autonomous missile station.

How they fire
The Bomber is the only hull whose missiles hit a planet; its gun deals a fixed 50 against the ground.
The Missile cruiser fires a pack: the weaker the missile type, the more rounds in the salvo.
Destroyer and Stranger destroyer split the salvo into ten shots.
The Autonomous missile station launches ten missiles per turn.
Autonomous laser, plasma, quantum and missile stations deliver 1% of gun power to a planet or orbit; missiles are not spent there and return to the hold.
The Confederation patrol fires a missile pack.
A3 carries no guns.
A mine fires once and vanishes.

How they take a hit
Hull resistance applies to guns: laser, plasma and quantum. A missile hits at full power unless the hull itself breaks lock.

Frigate, Frigate-M, Frigate-T, Hyper interceptor and Hot Trail almost block laser: about 1% of the shot reaches the shield.
Corvette and Corsair corvette hold plasma the same way.
Fighter, Fighter-M, Fighter-T, Stranger fighter and the FF series block quantum; a quantum strike on the whole fleet does not damage those hulls.
Battleship, Battleship-M, Battleship-T and Corsair battleship cut gun caliber in half; a missile still hits fully.
Battleship-S and Destroyer-T cut gun caliber to a third; the missile is again full.
Autonomous stations in a one-on-one fight almost ignore quantum (about 1%).
The Missile cruiser takes gun fire like an ordinary hull, but any missile loses its target.
In a fleet A3 is chosen first: it is a living shield.

Planetary and orbital guns
Missile protection launches a missile weaker than its level; if there are no missiles it fires a weak gun, shot count equal to level.
Laser protection and the Laser satellite fire many weak shots: power grows with Laser Defense, count is ten per level.
Plasma protection is stronger than the Plasma satellite; both fire rarely and hard, Plasma Defense skill.
Short-wave maser and Quantum Generator hit every ship on that side at once, Maser Defense and Quantum Defense skills.
The Planetary Shield does not fire: while it stands, only the shield is hit.