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Last Updated: Year 25 Day 75
Space Combat
Note
Space Combat is currently in the early Alpha stages as we determine what type of system best fits with the Combine's development philosophy.

Space Combat features two parties attacking each other simultaneously according to a simple set of rules. An attacker can engage in one attack every 30 minutes (known as a "fire delay"), while a defender can be attacked and return fire automatically for each round of attacks received. A squadron in a fire delay can still be attacked by others.

Space Combat can be conducted against other ships in Deep Space, System Space, Planet Atmospheres, and at the Ground Level, subject to the restrictions below.

Outside of Space Arenas (see below), Space Combat can only be initiated by a player squadron against a Hostile NPC controlled squadron. Currently, Hostile Space Bandits can only be found in Asteroid Fields.

The following ship classes may be used in Space Combat:

  • Fighters
  • Gunboats
  • Light Freighters
  • Heavy Freighters
  • Corvettes
  • Satellites
  • Cargo Containers

Space combat involves the players ship, plus any allied squadded ships, and occurs against enemy ships with their party members (known as a squadron).

When combat involves a Corvette class (or larger) ship, all ships can select which weapons fire. The weapon selection also applies to counter attacks.

When combat does not involve a Corvette class (or larger) ship, all ships involved fire all weapons.

Space combat rounds and damage works similar to ground combat:
  1. Roll to hit:
    • Base Hit Chance (Maneuver vs Tracking)
    • Range Modifier
    • Length Modifier
    • Maneuver Comparison Modifier
  2. Roll for base damage
    • Apply armor reduction
    • Apply damage type modifier
    • Apply ship class modifier
  3. Subtract result from target shields/hull/ionic as appropriate

Mounted Weapons tracking stat (1-10) defines how effective a weapon is at tracking maneuverable enemies. The player Fighter/Capital Combat skill improves weapon tracking.

Equations
Actual Tracking = Base Weapon Tracking + (combat skill / 2)

Ships maneuverability (1-10) stat defines how effective a ship is at avoiding hits. The player Fighter Piloting (or Capital Piloting) skill improves or detracts from the ships maneuverability stat:

Equations
Required piloting skill = max(0, (ship maneuverability) - 5)
Actual Maneuverability = (ship maneuverability) + ((skill - required piloting skill) / 2)

This means that a highly maneuverable ship with a poor pilot could be worse in combat than a low maneuverable ship with a good pilot.

Table showing defender maneuverability after skill modification (left) vs attacker tracking hit chance (top):

Hit Chance 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
10 1% 2% 3% 4% 7% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
9 2% 3% 4% 7% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%
8 3% 4% 7% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
7 4% 7% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
6 7% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%
5 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% 55%
4 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% 55% 60%
3 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% 55% 60% 65%
2 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% 55% 60% 65% 70%
1 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% 55% 60% 65% 70% 75%

The attacker combat skill check, and piloting skill check can make the resulting value non-round. In this case, the value is derived by linear interpolation with the two closest known values.

The chance to hit is next modified by a range penalty. As with Ground Combat, this factors in the attacker's distance from the defender, the optimal range of the weapon used, and the weapon's drop off value.

Equations
deltaRange = abs(optimumRange - currentRange)
hitChance = max(0, (1 - (0.95 / (1 + e^(-2 * (deltaRange - weapon_drop_off))))) - (0.003 * deltaRange))

A smaller ship attacking a larger ship is given a hit chance boost, while a larger ship attacking a smaller ship is given a hit chance penalty. The ratio of lengths is used to calculate this hit chance:

When Attacker smaller than defender:
Length Ratio (D / A) Hit Chance Bonus
> 200 300%
> 150 200%
> 100 150%
> 75 130%
> 50 125%
> 25 120%
> 10 115%
> 5 110%
> 2 105%
When Attacker larger than defender:
Length Ratio (A / D) Hit Chance Penalty
> 200 55%
> 150 60%
> 100 65%
> 75 70%
> 50 75%
> 25 80%
> 10 85%
> 5 90%
> 2 95%

A maneuver comparison modifier is applied using the following equation. This increases hit chance for attackers with better maneuverability, and reduces hit chance for defenders with better maneuverability:

Equations
deltaManeuver = attackerManeuver - defenderManeuver
maneuverComparisonModifier = 1 + (deltaManeuver / max(attackerManeuver, defenderManeuver))

Next, the damage is scaled by the weapon's firepower and the target's armor:

Equations
$$D = D_{\mathrm{in}} \frac{f}{f+p}$$
where
  • D: Resulting damage
  • f: Attacking weapon's firepower stat
  • p: Target's total armor stat
Note
Armour reduction is calculated regardless of whether the attack targets an entity's shields, hull, or ionic.

Damage is scaled appropriate to the weapon's damage type and the target type. "Personal (P)" damage types are typically on personal weapons and items. "Heavy (H)" damage types are typically on ships, vehicles, facilities and stations. "Orbital (O)" damage types are typically found on some facilities.

Damage Type Target Type
Vehicle/Ship/Station
Physical (P) 0.10x
Energy (P) 0.10x
Explosive (P) 1.00x
Ionic (P) 0.10x
Lightsaber 1.00x
Poison 0.10x
Nonlethal 0.10x
Energy (F) 1.00x
Physical (F) 1.00x
Bonus (F) 1.00x
Soft (F) 0.00x
Physical (H) 1.00x
Energy (H) 1.00x
Explosive (H) 0.50x
Ionic (H) 1.00x
Concussive (H) 1.00x
Turbolaser (H) 0.50x
Energy (O) 1.00x
Ionic (O) 1.00x

Weapons scale between classes of ship. Fighter energy weapons do more damage to other fighters, but do less damage to larger ships. Fighter explosive weaponry such as proton torpedoes do good damage to larger ships but less damage to other fighters.

Corvette weapons do more damage to fighters, but do less damage to larger ships.

Energy (H) Fighters (D) Gunboats (D) Light Freighters (D) Heavy Freighters (D) Corvettes (D) Satellites (D) Cargo Containers (D)
Fighters (A) x2.0 x2.0 x1.2 x1.1 x0.4 x1.0 x1.0
Gunboats (A) x2.0 x2.0 x1.8 x1.0 x0.4 x1.0 x1.0
Light Freighters (A) x1.8 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0
Heavy Freighters (A) x1.5 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0
Corvettes (A) x4.0 x4.0 x2.0 x3.0 x2.0 x1.0 x1.0
Satellites (A) x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0
Cargo Containers (A) x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0
Explosive (H) Fighters (D) Gunboats (D) Light Freighters (D) Heavy Freighters (D) Corvettes (D) Satellites (D) Cargo Containers (D)
Fighters (A) x0.3 x0.5 x0.5 x0.8 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0
Gunboats (A) x0.5 x0.5 x1.0 x1.0 x0.7 x1.0 x1.0
Light Freighters (A) x0.8 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0
Heavy Freighters (A) x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0
Corvettes (A) x2.0 x3.0 x1.0 x3.0 x2.0 x1.0 x1.0
Satellites (A) x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0
Cargo Containers (A) x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0
Ionic (H) Fighters (D) Gunboats (D) Light Freighters (D) Heavy Freighters (D) Corvettes (D) Satellites (D) Cargo Containers (D)
Fighters (A) x0.4 x0.4 x0.8 x0.7 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0
Gunboats (A) x0.4 x0.4 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0
Light Freighters (A) x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0
Heavy Freighters (A) x1.5 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0
Corvettes (A) x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x2.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0
Satellites (A) x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0
Cargo Containers (A) x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0
Concussive (H) Fighters (D) Gunboats (D) Light Freighters (D) Heavy Freighters (D) Corvettes (D) Satellites (D) Cargo Containers (D)
Fighters (A) x0.5 x0.3 x0.6 x0.2 x0.1 x1.0 x1.0
Gunboats (A) x0.9 x0.5 x1.5 x1.0 x0.1 x1.0 x1.0
Light Freighters (A) x1.2 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x0.3 x1.0 x1.0
Heavy Freighters (A) x2.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x0.5 x1.0 x1.0
Corvettes (A) x4.0 x3.0 x1.5 x2.0 x0.3 x1.0 x1.0
Satellites (A) x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0
Cargo Containers (A) x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0
Turbolaser (H) Fighters (D) Gunboats (D) Light Freighters (D) Heavy Freighters (D) Corvettes (D) Satellites (D) Cargo Containers (D)
Fighters (A) x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0
Gunboats (A) x0.2 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0
Light Freighters (A) x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0
Heavy Freighters (A) x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0
Corvettes (A) x2.0 x3.0 x1.0 x4.0 x3.0 x1.0 x1.0
Satellites (A) x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0
Cargo Containers (A) x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0 x1.0

Damage is first reduced by shields. Energy and Physical weapons damage is then applied against hull, while Ionic weapon damage is applied against ionic capacitance.

If hull reaches 0, the ship will be wrecked, and all entities inside will be destroyed. Any characters aboard will be evacuated into an escape pod (regardless of if the ship is equipped with escape pods).

If ionic capacitance reaches 0, the ship will be disabled for 24 hours.

Pilots engaging in space combat will earn a maximum of 40 XP per round. The XP earned is based on the percentage of shots that hit a target. Your ship must have a weapon and use it in order to earn any XP. You do not earn XP for counter attacks.

Note

All space combat XP gains are currently set to 130% of the normal value.

Combat tactics determine how entities target their opponents with the hits from their weapons. Combat tactics for the Player's ship and their Party can be changed from the Squadron screen.

Spread Fire is the default option for all combatants. Under this method, each individual hit from a combatant's weapon will target a separate member of the opposing party, chosen at random. A hit from a weapon will avoid a dead/invalid target until such a time as no other targets are available.

Focus Fire will have all the hits from a combatant's weapon target the same enemy, chosen at random, for an entire combat round. Under this option, even if an opponent dies or becomes an invalid target during the combat round, the combatant's hits will still target that opponent. Focus Fire does not allow you to select which member of an enemy squad you will target.

In a select few systems PvP space combat has been enabled. PvP space combat follows all of the above rules. You cannot die or be captured from PvP space combat. Those who find loopholes to do this will be punished.

All allowed ship classes may be used in Space Combat in a Space Arena system. There is no opt-out or opt-in for this feature. All ships in the system (of proper class) can be shot at any time by anyone.

Note

Escape Pods cannot be attacked.

Factions looking to compete against rivals can collect a group of players and request a Showdown match to be hosted by a Showdown Coordinator.

The following areas are Public Space Arenas and have space PVP enabled: