Combat in AstroLurch

Sending a fleet

Fleets launch from a planet you own. Fuel is Helium-3. Speed is the slowest ship in the fleet, including drive research, times the throttle. Throttle runs from 10% to 100%. Ships with speed 0, including Solar Satellites, stay on the planet.

Missions you can give a fleet:

• Attack
• Transport
• Deploy
• Espionage
• Colonize
• Recycle
• Expedition
• Hold Position
• Missile Attack
• Exploring

• Transport arrives and holds with its cargo until you unload, recall, or resend it.
• Deploy stations the ships at your own planet. The fleet is then removed.
• Hold Position waits 1–32 hours, then returns.
• Colonize needs a Colony Ship and an empty position.
• Recycle harvests a debris field and needs Recyclers.
• Expedition can return resources, Lurchium, ships, delays, or losses.
• Exploring needs Espionage Probes and scans systems for hidden missions. It is a separate mission from Espionage.
• Missile Attack spends interplanetary missiles against defences.

Distance and travel time

From [1:1:1], the distance rules give these results:

• Another galaxy, [2:1:1]: 25,000
• The next system, [1:2:1]: 2,795
• The next position, [1:1:2]: 550
• The same coordinates: 5

Travel time is at least 60 seconds: distance × 3,000 / effective speed + 10. A universe fleet speed above 1 divides that time and still keeps the 60-second floor.

How a battle resolves

Send the Attack mission. A planet or moon with no ships and no defences is looted at once, and the fleet returns. A defended target opens a combat. One round is fought each combat tick until one side is gone. The attacker shoots first. When that universe has return fire turned on, a defender destroyed in the attacker’s volley still shoots with a 60% chance in the same round.

• Every shot is multiplied by a random factor from 0.85 to 1.15.
• After 50 rounds, the defender wins only when they have more firepower left. Otherwise the attacker wins.
• The attacker can retreat and bring the surviving ships home. The defender’s ships stay in the battle.
• Loot is up to 50% of the defender’s Metal, Silicates, and Helium-3, and only as much as the surviving cargo can carry.
• Debris is 30% of the Metal and Silicates from destroyed ships. Destroyed defences leave no debris.

Before you attack

Beginner protection blocks attacks in both directions. Sending an Attack or a Missile Attack ends your own protection for good. Espionage probes can look at a planet before you send the fleet. They cannot scan moons. There are 18 ship types. The Shipyard builds them. Each Atomic Assembler level halves ship build time and building construction time.