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.
Merge Fleets	Merge a nearby fleet into this one.
Split Fleet	Break off one or more ships into a separate fleet.
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.
Bombard	Initiate orbital bombardment against a surface target. Requires being in an interface orbit. Bombardment will last up to two weeks. Defended bases and regions will return fire. Armies must be engaged in hostilities to be targeted.	Weapons that can bombard
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
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 solar-powered platform with a construction module in the fleet's current orbit. Requires at least one free Mission Control.	Solar Platform Kit
Found Platform (Fission)	Found a platform with a fission pile and a construction module in the fleet's current orbit. Requires at least one 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 at least one free Mission Control.	Fusion Platform Kit
Found Outpost (Solar)	Found a solar-powered outpost with 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 one free Mission Control.	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 one 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 one free Mission Control.	Fusion Outpost Kit
Found Automated Dupply Depot (Solar)	Found a solar-powered platform with a supply depot in the fleet's current orbit. Requires sufficent local solar flux to deploy and two free Mission Control.	Automated Solar Platform Kit
Found Automated Dupply Depot (Fission)	Found a fission-powered platform with a supply depot in the fleet's current orbit. Requires two free Mission Control.	Automated Fission Platform Kit
Found Automated Mining Outpost (Solar)	Found a solar-powered automated outpost with a mine. Requires sufficent local solar flux to deploy. The fleet must be in an interface orbit or landed at the site to perform this operation. Requires 2 free Mission Control.	Automated Solar Outpost Kit
Found Automated Mining Outpost (Fission)	Found a fission-powered automated outpost with a mine. The fleet must be in an interface orbit or landed at the site to perform this operation. Requires 2 free Mission Control.	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.

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.