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:

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.

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 high acceleration and Delta-V.

Orbital Bombardment
A fleet equipped with magnetic or laser 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.

Certain weapons, such as lasers that fire in ultraviolet wavelenghts, cannot bombard through thicker atmospheres, particularly that of Earth and Titan.

If a targeted hab or region has defenses, they will fire back at the attacking fleet.

Space Combat
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. A maximum value of 30 for example, will limit each side to having a maximum of 15 active ships at any time. 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: 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:

Heat Management
Running the ship's power plant to recharge the batteries or operate the drive creates heat that is normally expelled by the ship's radiators, which cannot be armored. In combat, radiators may be retracted to protect them, but the ship must put all its heat into heat sinks, which have a limited capacity. The heat level will lower automatically when the radiators are extended. If the heat level stored in heat sinks reaches maximum, the ship will start to take internal damage. In combat, the radiators will automatically be extended to start radiating heat if possible. Keep in mind, without proper heat management a ship will experience catastrophic failure.