This page is about Tactical Combat, the kind of combat where you control individual ships. The Strategic Combat is a different mode of the game.

Below 'turn' means 'overmap turn' while 'round' means 'combat round'. Overmap turns are for economy, assigning research, dispatching ships, etc. Combat happens between overmap turns, and consists of rounds.

Tactical combat automatically ends in a draw after max_combat_turns = 50 rounds, the attacker retreats. Each fleet can attack only one target per turn.

Combat Action Order

The ships act one by one in combat. The order in which ships act depends on initiative setting and may depend on ship designs and various immobilizing effects.

Classic Action Order

Active player can move their ships in any order. When all ships spent movements and shots the opponent becomes active and does the same. The attacker always acts first. This mode is alternatively referred to as 'no initiative' or 'initiative disabled' mode.

Initiative Action Order

One common complaint about the classic order was that the attacking player is chosen at random, and who gets to move first defines the course of the battle in a major way. Probably due to this the optional 'initiative mode' has been introduced in 1.31. It works by assigning initiative value to each ship, the ship with the highest value moves first. In general the ships with the highest speed, better computers, and more experienced crew would move fist. See Initiative for details.

VDC Action Order

The VDC mod community devised their own turn ordering scheme deemed optimal for multiplayer. This ordering is not facilitated by the game, players just disable initiative and press Wait when they are supposed to.

Combat Objects

The combat happens on a rectangular grid populated by:

  • Combat Ships — take 1x1, 2x2, or 3x3 squares depending on the Size Class,

  • Combat Satellite — a planetary structure that can be built by a colony, manifests in combat as an immobile ship,

  • Planet — present when the battle happens at a colony or an outpost, may have multiple defensive structures that stack,

  • Fliers — Missiles, Torpedoes, Interceptors, Bombers, Heavy Fighters and Assault Shuttles, temporary objects launched from ships or a planet. They exist on a finer grid.

Ships (including satellites) can’t take positions overlapping other ships or a planet, but can fly 'through' other entities if there’s enough space for positioning on the other side. Fliers are unobstructed by other objects.

Colony Ships, Outpost Ships and Transport Ships don’t participate in combat. If the fleet consisting only of such ships is attacked it is automatically destroyed even if the attackers are unarmed scouts. If a military fleet containing such ships is destroyed, they retreat automatically.

Movements

Each ship has speed which is a number of cells it can move forward per turn. This number is determined by the ship design. The effective speed in combat also depends on racial trait trans_dimensional, ship drive damage, and special effect like tractor beams and black hole generator. See Combat Ship Movements.

You move ship by clicking into an empty space. The game highlights the valid moves. You can turn ship by right clicking at the target instead.

Weapons

The types of weapons are:

  • Missiles — delayed strike, massive damage, limited ammo.

    • Fighters — similar to missiles but technically unlimited ammo.

    • Missiles — an odd twist on missiles, also unlimited ammo.

  • Beams — immediate strike, meager damage, unlimited ammo.

  • Bombs — anti-planet heavy hitters, limited ammo.

  • Special Weapons — a collection of oddities.

It is possible to achieve a mutual destruction during the battle, in that case combat is decided in a draw.

Damage

The applied damage sometimes destroys internal systems. In particular destroying ship’s drive leads to explosion. See Applying Damage for details.

Retreat

Retreat is an option in combat:

  • Retreat is initiated by pressing retreat button when the ship is active. Actual retreat happens in beginning of next round.

  • Retreat is impossible when enemy warp_dissipator is active.

  • If all of your surviving ships have retreated from the battle, and you have no other presence in the system, then they will be automatically redirected to the nearest colony or outpost. These ships are subject to Communications rules, you won’t always be able to redirect them.

  • If some of your ships retreated but you still have won the battle, then the fleet won’t retreat as a whole. This is a good way to save damaged ships while still winning the battle.

Aftermath

Surviving ships normally retain all damage. The damage is repaired immediately if any of the following conditions hold:

  • the fleet is orbiting your colony or outpost,

  • if you have advanced_damage_control tech,

  • you have a leader with the abilities:engineer skill in a fleet.

  • if a ship has functioning automatic repair unit.