Fleets

Fleets consist of one or more ships that are directed by one of the human factions or the aliens. Fleets conduct operations and fight in space battles.

Fleet Operations

Fleets may undertake various operations, typically only when they are in orbit and not in a transfer. They are:

Operation	Effects	Required components
Transfer	Launch this fleet toward the selected orbit, station, or fleet.
Split Fleet	Break off one or more ships into a separate fleet.
Merge Fleets	Merge a nearby fleet into this one.
Merge All Fleets	Merge all nearby fleets into this one.
Land on Surface	Set down at a friendly or undefended enemy base, or an unimproved hab site. Fleet must have sufficient acceleration to take off again, and access to enough Delta-V to reach an interface orbit.
Launch	Launch the fleet into an interface orbit of this space body. Requires the fleet has Delta-V greater than the body's escape velocity.
Undock	Undock from this station and assume a matching orbit.
Scuttle Ships	Scuttle ships from this fleet. If docked at one of your shipyards, gain 25% of the ship's construction resources in your stockpile. If not docked at any hab, pay Boost to send any crew home that can't be absorbed by the rest of the fleet.
Resupply	Refuel and rearm ships in this fleet. Requires being docked at a hab with a supply depot or shipyard and a sufficient resource stockpile to cover at least a partial resupply. Ships with the capability to resupply from the local environment may do so for free.
Repair	Repair damage and restore exhausted modules to ships in fleet.
Repair and Resupply	Refuel, rearm, and repair all ships in this fleet.
Set Homeport	Sets a home habitat for this fleet. A station, or an interface orbit above a base, will become the default destination for the fleet when initiating a trajectory when the fleet is not already docked there and no other space object is currently selected.
Clear Homeport	Clear this fleet's homeport.
Cancel	Cancel the fleet's active operation.
Share Propellant	Transfer propellant between ships in this fleet to increase some ships' Delta-V.	Drive with the same propellant
Low-Level Bombardment	Begin orbital bombardment against a surface target from 200km altitude. Requires being in an interface orbit. Defended locations will return fire. Earth-based space facilities and armies typically must be in a nation at war to be targeted. Targeting large civilian facilities is an atrocity.	Weapons that can bombard
Mid-Level Bombardment	Begin orbital bombardment against a surface target from 400km altitude. Requires being in an interface orbit. Defended locations will return fire. Earth-based space facilities and armies typically must be in a nation at war to be targeted. Targeting large civilian facilities is an atrocity.	Weapons that can bombard
High-Level Bombardment	Begin orbital bombardment against a surface target from 600km altitude. Requires being in an interface orbit. Defended locations will return fire. Earth-based space facilities and armies typically must be in a nation at war to be targeted. Targeting large civilian facilities is an atrocity.	Weapons that can bombard
Destroy Hab	Destroy the hab this fleet is docked at. Commits atrocities when destroying certain hab modules. We will recover salvage. Duration is 15 minutes multiplied by the sum of hab module tiers.	Marine Assault Unit or Rangers Weapons (stations only)
Assault Hab	Assault and capture an enemy hab with our Marines. We can seize a station we have docked with, or an enemy base from an interface orbit above it. Habs with Marine defenses will be harder to capture.	Marine Assault Unit or Rangers
Survey	Prospect mining sites on a planet, moon or asteroid. The fleet must be in an interface orbit of the space body to perform this operation.	Mobile Space Science Lab
Found Platform (Solar)	Found a platform with a solar collector and a construction module in the fleet's current orbit. Requires 2 free Mission Control. The solar collector must produce at least 10 power in the current orbit, enough to power up the construction module.	Solar Platform Kit
Found Platform (Fission)	Found a platform with a fission pile and a construction module in the fleet's current orbit. Requires 2 free Mission Control.	Fission Platform Kit
Found Platform (Fusion)	Found a platform with a fusion pile and a construction module in the fleet's current orbit. Requires 2 free Mission Control.	Fusion Platform Kit
Found Outpost (Solar)	Found an outpost with a fission pile and a construction module at a prospected base site. The fleet must be in an interface orbit or landed at the site to perform this operation. Requires 2 free Mission Control. The solar collector must produce at least 10 power at the target base site, enough to power up the construction module.	Solar Outpost Kit
Found Outpost (Fission)	Found an outpost with a fission pile and a construction module at a prospected base site. The fleet must be in an interface orbit or landed at the site to perform this operation. Requires 2 free Mission Control.	Fission Outpost Kit
Found Outpost (Fusion)	Found an outpost with a fusion pile and a construction module at a prospected base site. The fleet must be in an interface orbit or landed at the site to perform this operation. Requires 2 free Mission Control.	Fusion Outpost Kit
Found Automated Supply Depot (Solar)	Found an automated platform with an automated solar collector and an automated supply depot in the fleet's current orbit. Requires 1 free Mission Control. The automated solar collector must produce at least 3 power in the current orbit, enough to power up the automated supply depot.	Automated Solar Platform Kit
Found Automated Supply Depot (Fission)	Found an automated platform with an automated fission pile and an automated supply depot in the fleet's current orbit. Requires 1 free Mission Control.	Automated Fission Platform Kit
Found Automated Mining Outpost (Solar)	Found an automated outpost with two automated solar collectors and an automated mining complex at a prospected base site. The fleet must be in an interface orbit or landed at the site to perform this operation. Requires 1 free Mission Control to deploy. The automated solar collectors must produce enough power at the target base site to power up the automated mining complex.	Automated Solar Outpost Kit
Found Automated Mining Outpost (Fission)	Found an automated outpost with two automated fission piles and an automated mining complex at a prospected base site. The fleet must be in an interface orbit or landed at the site to perform this operation. Requires 1 free Mission Control to deploy.	Automated Fission Outpost Kit

Transfers

A transfer is the term for a fleet moving from one place to another while staying in space. Fleets may transfer to orbits, stations, or other fleets. A fleet needs enough delta-V to make a transfer, and longer transfer will require more delta-V. If the cruise acceleration of a fleet is too low, they might be unable to make transfer to fast-moving objects.

When initiating a transfer operation, a fleet will receive one or more trajectory options if it can reach its destination at all. If multiple trajectories are possible, the player may choose between trading off arrival time and Delta-V expenditure between them.

Trajectories might be microthrust spirals, which are typical for fleets with low acceleration; impulse conics, for fleets with high acceleration but low Delta-V; or torch chords, for advanced fleets with both high acceleration and Delta-V.

Assault Hab

Valid Targets

First, invalidate every Hab for which any of the following are true:

• The Hab is already currently undergoing an Assault Hab Operation.
• The Hab is owned by the Fleet's Faction.
• The Hab is owned by the Fleet's Faction's permanent ally (The Servants and Aliens are the only permanent allies).
• The Hab is the Alien Primary Hab (Alien Base Alpha).

A Fleet can perform an Assault Hab Operation on the following targets:

• If docked to a Hab that wasn't invalidated, then this Hab is the only valid target.
• If the fleet is landed on or in an interface orbit of a Space Body, then the valid targets are all of the Space Body's Habs that weren't invalidated.

Note: The Fleet needs to have marines in order to perform the Assault Hab Operation, but the marines do not necessarily have to be on the fleet itself, because the fleet uses all marines in nearby space assets (such as Barracks on habs) owned by the same faction.

Success Chance

Note: When starting the Assault Hab Operation, the game shows the success chance if the assault would happen immediately without any changes. But Assault Hab Operations are not instantaneous, and circumstances can change. The actual success chance is calculated using only the circumstances at the moment that the Assault Hab Operation completes.

The Assault Combat Value of a Spaceship is calculated as follows:

1. For each Utility Module: Add the Assault Combat Value of the module × Module Health %
   • Some Utility Modules only provide Assault Combat Value when defending against an enemy assault.
   • If the Module Health % is less than 0.1%, it does not contribute anything.
2. Add the Assault Combat Value of any Officers on board.

The Assault Combat Value of a Hab is calculated as follows:

1. For each active hab module: Add the Assault Combat Value of the module
2. If the Hab is a Base, then Add the Hab Tier.
3. If the Hab is being Advised, Multiply by (1 + 0.01 per Command).
   • Standard diminishing returns for multiple Advisors.

The total Attack Score of the Assault Hab Operation is calculated as follows:

1. Add the Assault Combat Value of every Spaceship in the Attacking fleet.
2. If the Attacking fleet is docked at a Hab owned by the Attacking Faction, then:
   1. Add the Assault Combat Value of every Spaceship in every other fleet that is also owned by the Attacking Faction and docked to the same Hab.
   2. If the Attacking Faction is not bankrupt on MC, Boost, or Money, then Add the Assault Combat Value of the Hab.
3. If the Attacking Faction is over its MC cap and is not the Aliens, then Subtract the amount of overcap.

The total Defense Score of the Assault Hab Operation is calculated as follows:

1. Add the Assault Combat Value of the Defending Hab.
2. If the Defending Faction is over its MC cap and is not the Aliens, then Subtract the amount of overcap.
3. If the Defending Faction is bankrupt on Boost, then Subtract the amount of Boost the Defending Faction is missing per Day.
   • This is the Boost Daily Upkeep - Boost Daily Income - Boost stockpiled
4. If the Defending Faction is bankrupt on Money and negative Net Money Income, then Add the Net Monthly Money Income.
5. Add the Assault Combat Value of every Spaceship in every fleet that is owned by the Defending Faction and docked to the Defending Hab.
6. If the Defending Hab is not being decommissioned, then:
   1. For each Councilor owned by the Defending Faction: Add Command / 6.
   2. If the Defending Hab is a Base and the Attacking Fleet is in orbit, then for each hab defense module: Add Module Tier.
7. For each Councilor using the Protect Target Mission on the Defending Hab, add Command.

The outcome of the Assault Hab Operation is determined by a standard Roll, using the difference between the total Attack and Defense Scores.

Post-Assault Damage

Whenever an assault hab operation (or Assault Enemy Space Asset mission) completes, marines on both sides may take damage depending on the outcome. This damage is determined as follows:

Damage Taken for by each possible participant for each possible outcome.

	Critical Failure	Normal Failure	Normal Success	Critical Success
% Health Lost by each Marine Module on Attacking Fleets	50% to 100%	25% to 75%	0% to 50%	0% to 10%
% Health Lost by each Marine Module on Defending Fleets	0% to 10%	0% to 50%	100%	100%
% Chance for each Marine Officer on Attacking Fleets to Die	50%	5%	0%	0%
% Chance for each Marine Officer on Defending Fleets to Die	0%	0%	5%	50%
% Chance for each Marine Module on Attacking Hab to be Destroyed	50% / Module Tier	10% / Module Tier	0%	0%
% Chance for each Marine Module on Defending Hab to be Destroyed	0%	10% if Defender has negative Money or is over their MC cap.	100%	100%
Attacking Councilor	If not Protected, Die. Otherwise, if target hab is not Alien, Detain for 5 turns	If not Protected and target hab is not Alien, Detain for 5 turns.	None	None

Orbital Bombardment

Bombardment Capability

A fleet equipped with bombardment-capable weapons may conduct orbital bombardment against targets on the surface of a Space Body. They must be in an interface orbit to launch attacks.

Above Earth, valid targets include Armies, space facilities, Regions, and any alien assets we have detected. On other space bodies, Bases and landed space fleets may be targeted.

The weapons capable of bombardment are:

• All Laser Weapons except for the dedicated point defense lasers that have no attack mode.
• All Magnetic Weapons.
• All Missiles that have nuclear, antimatter, or shaped nuclear warheads.

Furthermore, Space Bodies that have a sufficiently thick atmosphere cannot be bombarded by:

• All Missiles
• All Laser Weapons that have wavelengths less than 380nm or more than 740nm. (This means infrared, ultraviolet, x-ray, and gamma lasers are blocked, whereas orange, green, and violet lasers are still allowed to bombard.)

As of Version 0.4.90, only two bombardable Space Bodies have such thick atmospheres: Earth and Titan (a moon of Saturn).

Valid Earth Targets for Bombardment

A nation is considered friendly to a faction if any of the following are true:

• The faction owns at least one control point in the nation.
• The nation is allied to another nation that the faction owns at least one control point in.

A nation is considered hostile to a faction if any of the following are true:

• The nation is at war with another nation that the faction owns at least one control point in.
• The faction is The Servants.
• The faction is the Aliens.

Note this means the Servants can bombard anyone, but not that anyone can freely bombard the Servants. You have to declare war.

SPOILERS INSIDE!
All nations are also hostile to all factions if the Alien Nation owns at least 90% of the Earth's Regions.

Valid Earth Targets for Bombardment

Target	Conditions within Hostile Nations	Conditions within Friendly Nations
Xenoflora	The Bombarding Faction can see it.	The Bombarding Faction is not the Aliens. The Bombarding Faction can see it.
SPOILERS INSIDE!   Alien Facility	The Bombarding Faction is not the Aliens or The Servants. The Bombarding Faction can see it.
SPOILERS INSIDE!   UFO Landing	The Bombarding Faction is not the Aliens or The Servants. The Bombarding Faction can see it.
Regions	Always valid.	Never valid.
Space Facilities	Always valid.	Never valid.
Armies	The army is not controlled by the Bombarding Faction. If the Bombarding Faction is the Aliens or The Servants, then the army is also not controlled by the other.	The army belongs to a nation that is at war with the target nation. OR SPOILERS INSIDE!   The army is a Megafauna and the Bombarding Faction is not the Aliens.

Note that a nation can be both friendly and hostile to the same faction at the same time. But a bombardment target only needs to meet one side's conditions to be valid. For example, all regions are valid targets in a nation that is both friendly and hostile. On the other hand, if a nation is neither friendly nor hostile, then nothing within it can be bombarded.

Bombardment Mechanics

The Bombardment operation proceeds in rounds, once per orbit. Specifically, a round occurs every time the fleet reaches a specific position in orbit that is roughly over the target it is bombarding. Whenever a round occurs, all functional bombardment-capable weapons still possessed by the fleet and the target will shoot at each other in a randomized order, though weapons whose shooters have higher targeting and ECM bonuses are more likely to appear earlier in the order. Specifically, every weapon is assigned an initiative value that is equal to their Targeting Bonus + ECM Bonus + a random value between 0% and 100%, and then the weapons with higher initiative get to fire earlier in the round.

When the fleet's weapons shoot:

• If the target is a Hab, then a random hab module on the hab is selected to receive the shot, but the hab core can only be selected after everything else is destroyed.
• If the target is a Fleet, then a random spaceship in the target is selected to receive the shot.

When the target's weapons shoot back:

• A random spaceship in the fleet is selected to receive the shot, with the random selection being weighted by the bombardment value of each spaceship.

Note: Landed fleets are basically sitting ducks: they are unable to shoot back and cannot activate any point defenses. If the target fleet is landed at a hab, then that hab can shoot back, but it cannot use its point defenses to protect the fleet.

Missile Mechanics

Per the aforementioned rules regarding lasers, missiles, and planetary bodies with atmospheres, Earth cannot be bombarded by standard Missiles. The Missiles that ARE bombardment-capable have nuclear, antimatter, or shaped nuclear warheads with absurdly high damage values. As such, the game does not look at missile damage values and instead handles them differently from standard ship-to-ship combat:

When the Target is a Hab

If any missile with a shaped nuclear warhead hits, then the randomly selected target hab module is destroyed in one hit.

If any missile with a nuclear or antimatter warhead hits, then the entire hab is destroyed in one hit.

Furthermore, shaped nuclear missiles have a 20% chance to hit even if they are shot by the hab's point defenses.

When the Target is a Fleet

The entire fleet is destroyed in one hit.

On the other hand, missiles are incredibly easy for the target's point defenses to shoot: each missile bay has an Anti-PD value of just 1.

The chance that a projectile is shot by point defenses is equal to the Total PD value of the target divided by the Total Anti-PD value of the Bombarding Fleet's weapons.

Ultimately. bombarding with missiles will often simply result in all missiles being destroyed by point defenses, if any exist (keeping in mind that, again, shaped nuclear missiles do have a 20% chance to hit even if shot by the hab's point defenses).

Laser Mechanics

Laser Weapons function almost the same in bombardment as in real combat. The only notable difference is that Space Bodies with thicker atmospheres apply a penalty to the laser's damage. Specifically, the laser damage is multiplied by:

• 1 for Space Bodies with No Atmosphere.
• 0.99 for Space Bodies with Trace Atmosphere.
• 0.95 for Space Bodies with Thin Atmosphere.
• 0.8 for Space Bodies with Standard Atmosphere.

Note: Nothing on Earth has any armor. So the laser weapon's armor penetration has no effect whatsoever when bombarding targets on Earth.

For the defending side, each laser has a bombardment-altitude-dependent PD value that is calculated as follows:

Estimated Damage at Range X = Damage / Armor Effectiveness at range X

Estimated DPS at Range X = (Estimated Damage at Range X × 0.3 + Estimated Damage at 200km × 0.15 + Estimated Damage at 500km × 0.25 + Estimated Damage at 800km × 0.3) / Cooldown (s)

PD Value at 200km = Estimated DPS at 200km × 30 × 2 if Target is a Hab

PD Value at 400km = (Estimated DPS at 200km + Estimated DPS at 400km) × 30 × 2 if Target is a Hab

PD Value at 600km = (Estimated DPS at 200km + Estimated DPS at 300km + Estimated DPS at 600km) × 30 × 2 if Target is a Hab

The chance that each bombarding projectile is shot by the target's point defenses is equal to the target's Total PD Value divided by the Bombarding Fleet's Total Anti-PD value.

Armor Mechanics

Nothing on Earth has any armor.

Spaceships naturally have whatever armor they normally have.

For Ground Hab Modules, their armor values are calculated as:

Hab Module Armor Value = Heat of Vaporization (MJ/kg) of Best Available Armor / 10 × Module Tier

Combat Modules (Powered Marine Modules and Powered Defense Modules) have 4 times as much armor value.

Critical Modules (Unpowered Marine Modules, Unpowered Defense Modules, Power Plants, and the Hab Core) have 2 times as much armor value.

The best available armor for Habs owned by Human Factions is simply the best armor that the faction has researched, but excluding any armor that costs exotics.

SPOILERS INSIDE!
The best available armor for Alien Habs in the same Space Body as their Wormhole is the Alien Exotic Armor, which has a Heat of Vaporization of 70 MJ/kg. The best available armor for all other Alien Habs is the Alien Diamondoid Armor, which has a Heat of Vaporization of 59.534 MJ/kg.

Magnetic Gun Mechanics

Magnetic Weapons mechanics are the most complex: the game actually does several calculations, taking into account the target Space Body's mass, radius, sphere of influence, and atmosphere. Both gravity and air resistance are modelled, to compute the surface impact velocity of the Magnetic Weapons' projectiles:

Distance to Space Body Core (m) = Space Body Mean Radius (m) + Bombardment Altitude (m)

Mean Orbital Speed (m/s)= (6.67384E-11m³/kg/s² × Space Body Mass (kg) / Distance to Space Body Core (m))^0.5

Initial Projectile Velocity (m/s) = ((Muzzle Velocity (m/s))^2 + (Mean Orbital Speed (m/s))^2)^0.5

Initial Projectile Kinetic Energy (J) = 0.5 × Warhead Mass (kg) × (Initial Projectile Velocity (m/s))^2

If Distance to Space Body Core (m) > Space Body Sphere of Influence Radius (m), then:

Initial Gravitational Acceleration (m/s²) = 0

Otherwise:

Initial Gravitational Acceleration (m/s²) = 6.67384E-11m³/kg/s² × Space Body Mass (kg) / (Distance to Space Body Core (m))^2

Average Gravitational Acceleration (m/s²) = (Space Body Surface Gravity (m/s²) + Initial Gravitational Acceleration (m/s²))/2

Initial Projectile Gravitational Potential Energy (J) = Warhead Mass (kg) × Bombardment Altitude (m) × Average Gravitational Acceleration (m/s²)

Total Initial Projectile Energy (J) = Initial Projectile Kinetic Energy (J) + Initial Projectile Gravitational Potential Energy (J)

Base Surface Impact Velocity (m/s) = (2 × Total Initial Projectile Energy (J) / Warhead Mass (kg) ) ^ 0.5

If the Space Body does not have at least a Thin Atmosphere, then this Base Surface Impact Velocity (m/s) is simply used as the Actual Surface Impact Velocity (m/s) for the projectiles fired by the Magnetic Weapon. I.e.,

Actual Surface Impact Velocity (m/s) = Base Surface Impact Velocity (m/s)

Otherwise, the game proceeds to calculate air resistance:

Length of Projectile's Path Through Atmosphere (m) = Space Body Atmosphere Scale Height (m) × (Initial Projectile Velocity (m/s) / Muzzle Velocity (m/s))

Energy Lost to Atmospheric Drag (J) = Space Body Atmosphere Surface Density (kg/m³) × Length of Projectile's Path Through Atmosphere (m) × 0.001m² × (Initial Projectile Velocity (m/s))^2

0.001m² seems to represent the projectile's cross-sectional area as it flies through the atmosphere.

Remaining Energy (J) = Max(0, Total Initial Projectile Energy (J) - Energy Lost to Atmospheric Drag (J))

Modified Surface Impact Velocity (m/s) = (2 × Remaining Energy (J) / Warhead Mass (kg)) ^ 0.5

Terminal Velocity (m/s) = (2 × Warhead Mass (kg) × Space Body Surface Gravity (m/s²) / 4.0000003E-05m² / Space Body Atmosphere Surface Density (kg/m³))^0.5

Note: 4.0000003E-05m² ≈ 0.001m² × 0.04, where 0.04 is the Drag Coefficient of a Streamlined Body flying through the atmosphere.

If Base Surface Impact Velocity (m/s) > Terminal Velocity (m/s) then:

Actual Surface Impact Velocity (m/s) = Max(Terminal Velocity (m/s), Modified Surface Impact Velocity (m/s))

Otherwise:

Actual Surface Impact Velocity (m/s) = Min(Terminal Velocity (m/s), Modified Surface Impact Velocity (m/s))

Finally, now that the Actual Surface Impact Velocity (m/s) has been computed, it is easy to compute the kinetic energy of the impact:

Impact Energy (J) = 0.5 × Warhead Mass (kg) × (Actual Surface Impact Velocity (m/s))^2

In Terra Invicta, every 20MJ of energy is equal to 1 point of damage, so we have:

Projectile Damage = Impact Energy (J) / 20000000J

Furthermore, every Magnetic Weapon has a bombarding-altitude-dependent anti-PD value that is calculated as follows:

Anti-PD value = Impact Energy (J) / 1000000MJ/J / Average Cooldown Between Shots (s)

The chance that an bombardier's attack gets shot by the target's point defenses is equal to the total PD value of the target divided by the total Anti-PD value of the bombarding fleet's weapons.

But Projectile Damage is not simply used as is, because there is one last factor to consider: Chipping. Every weapon has a chipping %, and in normal combat, this % of the damage is done as chipping damage, while the rest is done as direct damage.

For bombardment, the same rules apply unless the target is on earth. If the target is on earth, then the direct damage is instead calculated as the max of (direct damage, total damage / 2). Which in the base game is just the direct damage since magnetic weapons all have at most 35% chipping, but may be important for mods.

Damage Conversion

So far we have discussed how the damage of each attack is calculated. But this damage amount is in point of damage versus a ship. Depending on the bombardment target, the damage is handled very differently:

Bombardment Target	Effect of X Damage
An Army	Take X × Health % / 18000 / Miltech damage. ×2 if Army is in Combat. ×0.75 if Army's Faction has researched Army Dispersion Tactics. Capped at 0.1875% for Magnetic Weapons and 0.125% for Laser Weapons. (Weapon Chip %) Chance: Region takes X / 500000 Damage. Capped at 0.001 Damage.
SPOILERS INSIDE!   A Megafauna Army	Take X × Max(10%,Health %) / 18000 / Miltech damage. ×2 if Army is in Combat. ×0.75 if Army's Faction has researched Army Dispersion Tactics. Capped at 0.1875% for Magnetic Weapons and 0.125% for Laser Weapons. (Weapon Chip %) Chance: Region takes X / 500000 Damage. Capped at 0.001 Damage.
A Region	Take X / 10000 Damage. Capped at 0.05.
A Boost Facility	(X / 10) Chance: Remove X / 100 of the Boost Production. Minimum: 1/10th of the Boost Production.
A Mission Control Facility	(X / 10) Chance: Remove 1 Mission Control.
A Space Defense Facility	Min(0.05, X / 1000) Chance: Destroy Space Defense Facility.
SPOILERS INSIDE!   A UFO Landing	Take X damage. Destroyed when total damage taken reaches 1200.
SPOILERS INSIDE!   An Alien Facility	Take X damage. Destroyed when total damage taken reaches 80.
Alien Xenoforming	Remove Max(0.005, X / 100) Xenoflora Growth Levels. (Weapon Chip % × Xenoflora Growth Levels) Chance: Region takes X / 500000 Damage. Capped at 0.001 Damage.
A Hab Module	Subtract Hab Module Armor from X Multiply X by 0.75 if Hab's Faction has researched Hardened Hab Shelters. (1 - Hab Module Tier / X) Chance: Destroy Hab Module.
A Spaceship	Apply damage as if Target was hit in the Side.

Related Links

See Laser Weapon List for information on the power of Laser Weapons, including the anti-bombardment lasers used by the defenses.

See Ship Armor List for information on the armor of ground hab modules in bombardment.

See Space Body List for a list of Space Bodies and their stats.

See Earth for a table of damage and anti-PD values for magnetic guns when bombarding the Earth.

Space Combat

Combat UI showing ship commands and fleet commands

When two fleets from enemy factions meet in an orbit, deep space, or at a station, a space battle begins. Players may elect to autoresolve combats.

Stations with defensive modules will take part in battles; they will be considered disabled if those modules are destroyed.

Very large space battles will have active and reinforcing ships. Reinforcing ships will join during combat at a later time to replace active ships when they are destroyed. You can adjust the maximum number of ships that can be active at any time during combat in the gameplay settings in the options menu. This is for performance reasons in very large battles.

When a fleet or station is attacked, allied fleets of the defender in the same orbit and less than 1,000 kilometers away will be drawn into the battle and join the defending fleet.

Before a battle begins, each fleet will select from one of three stances: Engage, Accept, or Evade. Fleets that are docked at habs or are unavailable for operations because of previous battles may only select the Accept option. Based on what each side picks the follwing will happen:

Choice	Engage	Accept	Escape
Engage	Combat	Combat	Pursuit
Accept	Combat	No combat	No combat
Escape	Pursuit	No combat	No combat

If pursuit takes place both fleets will attempt to outpace the other with a combination of fleet acceleration and bid Delta-V. If the fleet that selected Engage moves faster the combat will take place.

Once in combat, players plan maneuvers their ships by setting waypoints in 3D space. Ships will turn and thrust to reach their waypoints. Players may also rotate a ship's facing independent of its direction of travel to present certain weapons or armor facings to an enemy. Special maneuvers include persistent spins, rolls, and a padlocking-target command that keeps the ship's nose pointed at its primary target.

Any damage that penetrates a ship's armor is applied to its internal systems. Weapons and other modules may be temporarily disabled or permanently destroyed, requiring repair at a hab with a shipyard. Damage control teams will also attempt to restore function to critical systems in combat.

Fire Control

Weapons have one or more fire modes available to them. They can be set at the fleet, ship, or individual weapon level during combat.

Ships may also designate an enemy ship or hab module as its primary target. The ship's weapons will favor that enemy over others. Missile weapons require a primary target to fire.

Depending on their capabilities, weapons may also be set to only attack enemy ships, only fire defensively at incoming projectiles and missiles, or in "guardian" mode, firing first at threatening projectiles and then targeting enemy craft.

Ships or the entire fleet can be set to the following fire postures:

Posture	Offensive weaponry	Guardian-capable weapons
Focus Fire	Attack only primary target	Attack only primary target
Attack	Attack primary target if in range, otherwise nearest target	Attack primary target if in range, otherwise nearest target
Balanced	Attack primary target if in range, otherwise nearest target	Attack threatening projectiles if any, otherwise nearest target
Defensive	Attack primary target if in range, otherwise nearest target	Attack only threatening projectiles
Fortified	Preserve power and ammo	Attack only threatening projectiles

ECM and Targeting

The ECM Value of a hab module is always 0%.

The ECM Value of a Spaceship is calculated as follows:

• If the ship systems are depowered, then it is simply 0%.
• If the weapon is alien and the ship's faction has not researched the Alien-Adapted_ECM project, then it is simply 0%.
• Otherwise, sum up all of the ECM bonuses given by:
  • The ship's Utility Modules. (STO Fighters automatically have their faction's best researched ECM module built-in.)
  • The ship's Officers.
  • The ship faction's effects.
  • The ship's allied hab modules, if they are also present in this combat.

The Targeting Bonus of a weapon on a hab module is calculated as the sum of:

• The hab module's fleet Targeting Bonus. Counts only itself, not other modules on the hab.
• The Targeting Bonus from the hab faction's effects. (This is equal to the bonus from best Targeting Computer Utility Module that the faction has researched.)

The Targeting Bonus of a weapon on a Spaceship is calculated as follows:

• If the ship systems are depowered, then it is -200%.
• Otherwise, sum up all of the Targeting bonuses and penalties given by:
  • The ship's Utility Modules. (STO Fighters automatically have their faction's best researched Targeting Computer module built-in.)
  • The ship's Officers.
  • The ship's allied hab modules, if they are also present in this combat.
  • Penalty: Reduce by the missing health % of the ship's Fire Control system.
  • Penalty: Reduce by the missing health % of the ship's Sensors system.

Weapon Shutdown

Whenever a weapon changes targets, there is a chance for it to be forcefully shut down for a random duration. The shutdown chance and duration are determined by the weapon's total targeting bonus versus the target's total ECM value. In addition, each hab module and Spaceship records the number of ECM defeats it has suffered against each target: whenever a weapon finishes its ECM forced shutdown duration, the number of ECM defeats against the target that shut it down increases by 1.

The weapon shutdown chance and duration are then calculated as follows:

Weapon Shutdown Chance = Target ECM Value × Min(1, Distance to Target / Weapon Range) - Weapon Targeting Bonus - 2% × ECM Defeats against Target

If Weapon Shutdown Chance ≤ 100%, then:

Weapon Shutdown Duration (s) = Weapon Shutdown Chance × (Random value between 0 and 100 inclusive) × 5 × (2 if weapon is missile) / (1 + ECM Defeats against Target)

Otherwise:

Weapon Shutdown Duration (s) = (100 × Weapon Shutdown Chance - (Random value between 0 and 100 inclusive)) × 5 × (2 if weapon is missile) / (1 + ECM Defeats against Target)

Missile Negation

Whenever a non-AOE missile hits a target, there is a chance for it to be completely negated, doing no damage whatsoever. This chance is calculated as follows:

Missile Negation Chance = Target ECM Value - Targeting Bonus of the Missile Bay of the Ship that fired the missile

Note: If the ship that fired the missile has died, then the Targeting Bonus is set to 0%.

Power and Heat

Spaceships must manage their power and heat carefully in combat: many ship systems and modules do not function without sufficient power, and overheating causes the ship to take internal damage. Extending the ship's radiators generally prevents overheating, but extended radiators are not protected by the ship's Spaceships#Armor and hits on the radiators can bleed damage into the ship's internals.

For each ship:

Required Systems Power (GW) = 1.1 × (Crew × 0.000005GW + Ship Hull Construction Tier × 0.005GW + Sum of Utility Module Power Requirements (MW) × 0.001 GW/MW)

Required Weapons Power (GW) = Sum for Each Weapon that is NOT Self-Powered: Power Used Per Shot (GJ) / Min(Cooldown (s), Intra-Salvo Cooldown (s))

Required Propulsion Power (GW) = 0 if Drive is Self-Powered, otherwise: Drive Thrust (N) × Drive EV (km/s) × 0.5 × 0.000001(GW/KW) / Drive Efficiency

In addition to the Battery module, each ship also has an auxiliary power storage:

Aux Power Capacity (GJ) = Required Systems Power (GW) * 1s + Sum for Each Weapon that is NOT Self-Powered: Power Used Per Shot (GJ)

This Aux Power Storage naturally begins each battle completely full.

Every 0.25 seconds, if the ship's radiators are extended or extending or the ship's heat sinks are less than 98% full, then:

1. The Aux Power refills (up to its capacity) by:

   0.25s × Power Coupling Health % × (Required Systems Power (GW) + Required Weapons Power (GW)) × Systems Reactor Health %

2. If the Drive's power generation mode matches the current state of the thrusters, then the Aux Power also refills (up to its capacity) by an additional:

   0.25s × Power Coupling Health % × Required Propulsion Power (GW) × Power Plant Health %

3. If the Aux power actually refilled at all in the previous steps, and the ship's radiators are retracted, retracting, or dead, then the ship's heat increases by:

   Aux Power refilled × (1 - Power Plant efficiency)

4. The Aux Power is reduced by:

   0.25s × Required Systems Power (GW)

Every second:

1. If the ship's radiators are retracted, retracting, or dead, then the ship's heat increases by:

   Required Systems Power (GW) × 1s × (1 - Power Plant efficiency)

2. If the ship has a Battery that is not at full capacity, then the ship attempts to transfer power from the Aux Power to the Battery. The amount of power transferred is the minimum of the following:

   Battery Capacity (GJ) × Battery Health % - Current Battery Power (GJ)

   Current Aux Power (GJ) × Power Coupling Health %

   Battery Recharge Rate (GJ)

Whenever a ship weapon fires, if the weapon is not self-powered, then:

1. The Aux Power is reduced by the weapon's power consumption per shot. Note: The weapon will not fire in the first place if the power consumption per shot is greater than the current Aux Power + Battery Power.
2. If the ship's radiators are retracted, retracting, or dead, then the ship's heat increases by the weapon's heat generation per shot.

Whenever the Aux Power is reduced, if it is reduced below 0, then the underflow is drawn from the ship's Battery (if any exist). If the total power stored reaches 0, then the ship systems are depowered until the power stored increases. Having depowered systems has significant negative effects on the ship's ECM and Targeting.

Whenever the ship's Drive is thrusting, if the Drive is not open-cycle and the ship's radiators are retracted, retracting, or dead, then the ship's heat increases by:

Thrust Duration (s) × Required Propulsion Power (GW) × (1 - Power Plant Efficiency)

Whenever the ship's radiators are extended or extending, the ship vents any stored heat at a rate of:

Radiator Health % × (Required Systems Power (GW) + Required Weapons Power (GW)) × (1 - Power Plant Efficiency)

If the Drive is not open-cycle, then the ship vents an additional:

Radiator Health % × Required Propulsion Power (GW) × (1 - Power Plant Efficiency)

The ship's total heat capacity can change as it takes damage:

Current Total Heat Capacity (GJ) = Sum for each Heat Sink: Heat Sink Capacity (GJ) × Heat Sink Health %

Whenever the ship's heat exceeds its current total heat capacity:

1. If the ship's radiators are retracted and not dead, then they automatically begin extending and the ship's heat is simply set to the current total heat capacity without any problems (since it gets vented out the extending radiator).
2. Otherwise, the ship's heat is set to the current total heat capacity, and then the ship's core takes internal damage equal to:

   Excess Heat Removed (GJ) × 1000MJ/GJ / 20MJ

Mid-Combat Repairs

Every 15 seconds, every damaged ship will attempt to repair its damage. The total repair power of a ship is calculated as follows:

Hull Crew / 2	Base Value.
+(Hull Crew / 4 + Repair Bay Crew × Repair Bay Health %)	For each Repair Bay Utility Module.
×0.10416667%	Base Multiplier.
×Damage Control Health %	Damage Control System Multiplier
×1.5	Project Research: Rapid Repairing Materials
×1.5	Project Research: Damage Control Drones
×1.05	Possible Event Outcome: Hab Breakthrough
×(1 + 0.02 per Crew Chief Officer Rank + 0.1 per Damage Control Officer Rank)	Officer Bonuses

This total repair power is divided up into repair groups of 4.5454547% repair power, plus a leftover repair group containing the remaining repair power. Each repair group is then assigned to repair a specific (damaged but still repairable) ship system or module, in the following priority ordering:

1. Life Support Main
2. Damage Control
3. Bridge
4. Drive Coupling
5. Power Coupling
6. Vector Thrusters
7. Life Support Backup
8. Fire Control
9. Sensors
10. Radiator
11. Power Plant
12. Drive
13. Battery
14. Hull Weapons
15. Nose Weapons
16. Utility Modules

Note: The Ship Armor, Nose Structure, Central Structure, Tail Structure, and Propellent can never be repaired in combat, and so are not part of this priority ordering.

Note 2: Some Utility Modules can never be repaired by the ship (they need a dock). This includes all marine modules and all colony kit modules.

A part or system is usually repairable as long as it has not been completely destroyed (reached 0% Health). The following systems are repairable even if they are completely destroyed:

• Drive Coupling
• Fire Control
• Power Coupling
• Sensors

The following systems repair 3.5 times as fast:

• Drive Coupling
• Power Coupling
• Sensors

Post-Combat Repairs

After combat ends, any ship system or part that can be repaired by Mid-Combat Repairs is repaired until it cannot be repaired further (even if the Damage Control System is completely destroyed). Note that many ship systems cannot be repaired mid-combat, especially if they have been completely destroyed.

But Post-Combat Repairs can fix some of these systems, up to an extent:

Ship System	Repairable up to % Health
	Without Repair Bay	With Repair Bay
Power Plant	5%	25%
Drive	5%	25%
Radiator	5%	25%
Vector Thrusters	5%	25%
Damage Control	0%	25%
Bridge	0%	25%
Life Support Main	0%	25%
Life Support Backup	0%	25%
Battery	0%	25%

But any ship system that is repaired in this manner is henceforth capped at this health %, unable to be repaired further until the ship is repaired at an actual Space Dock, Shipyard, or Spaceworks.

Note: Repair bays only affect the individual Spaceships they are on. Not the entire fleet.

Note 2: Having multiple repair bays on one ship does not increase the repair cap.

Salvage

When any ship is destroyed in combat by any method other than an AoE missile, the winner of the combat will gain a fraction of its resource cost as salvage, excluding any fuel costs. Notably, this resource cost is always calculated in terms of space resources (), even if the ship was originally constructed using Boost and Money.

Note: The winner of the combat must have at least one surviving ship to collect the salvage.

The salvage fraction is calculated differently for each resource type:

• Water and Fissiles can never be salvaged.
• Volatiles, Base Metals, and Noble Metals have their salvage fraction set to a random value between 0% and 25%.
• Antimatter has only a 25% chance to be salvaged. But when it is salvaged, the fraction is set to 100%.
• Exotics have their salvage fraction set to a random value between 0% and 85%. This is then multiplied by 2, 1, ½, or ⅓ for Cinematic, Normal, Veteran, or Brutal Difficulty. Then divided by the Alien Progression Rate.

Then the total salvage is multiplied by (20% + the fleet's Salvage Bonus). The Salvage Bonus of the fleet is calculated as 10% per Salvage Bay + 10% per Supply Officer Rank, with a soft cap at 25% and hard cap at 50%. Specifically, when the base Salvage bonus is over 25%:

Actual Salvage Bonus = 25% + 25% × (Base Salvage Bonus - 25%) / (Base Salvage Bonus + 175%)