Order Patrol
It orders the fleet to move to a certain subsector and patrol it for a certain time. The behavior of the fleet during the patrol will be determined by its patrol mode.
A patrol can last for several hours or days.
Type of mission
Reconnaissance
It orders the fleet to move around the subsector in a stealthy way and collect data from the area. The fleet does not need to have fighters to perform a
recognition. The objective of the mission is to find bases and fleets in the system that are hidden.
Defense
It orders the fleet to protect all the units of the subsector (bases and fleets). A fleet that is intercepted will receive the units of all the defensive fleets of the subsector as support.
The fleets in defense mode increase the defensive bonus of a base in case of assault, as long as the attack is not a bombing. See Order Attack Base for more information.
Interception
He orders the fleet to attack every hostile fleet that enters the subsector. If the fleet is intercepting in a subsector with hostile bases, the bases become blocked. An interceptor fleet supports the defense of allied units of the subsector if it has not detected the presence of a hostile fleet and this one makes an attack.
Border surveillance
If a fleet is put to patrol at any point beyond the border, it can detect hyperspace, and has the possibility of detecting an incoming fleet, even if it completes the jump in a different subsector. If the fleet is also intercepting, you can make a microsalto and try to intercept the incoming fleet.
Probability of interception
Before the interception:
- The attacking fleet checks the apparent firepower of the enemy fleet and if it is much higher, it will cancel the interception.
- If the attacking fleet looks stronger it will try to intercept, and it is possible that the enemy fleet "accepts" the combat if its firepower is sufficiently high. If this is the case, interception occurs.
- If the enemy fleet does not want to fight, a speed check is made between both fleets. If the intercepting fleet has been detected by the defending faction, the probability of interception has a penalty of 20% (no surprise).
| Relative speen attacker / defender | Probability of interception without previous detection | Probability of interception with previous detection |
|---|---|---|
| > 60% | 100% | 100% |
| > 40% | 100% | 80% |
| > 20% | 80% | 60% |
| Diference not greater than 20% | 60% | 40% |
| < 20% | 40% | 20% |
| < 40% | 20% | 0% |
| < 60% | 0% | 0% |
Mechanics of interception
The only way to attack a detected fleet from another faction is through an intercept. In order to intercept, a fleet must be executing a patrol command in intercept mode.
Events that trigger an interception
Case 1. Start Order Execution
It will occur when a fleet begins patrol execution in a subsector where hostile fleets are previously detected. If the hostile fleet has a defensive base, the interception will be aborted.
Case 2. System boundary interception
If a fleet is intercepting a subsector beyond the system boundary, it will make a detection roll when a fleet enters the system after a hyperspatial jump. If the fleet is detected and hostile, it will produce an intercept regardless of the fleet arrival sub-sector.
Case 3. Arrival to subsector
When a fleet ends its movement in a subsector where there are hostile fleets intercepting, an interception will occur. Defensive bases do not offer protection to incoming fleets at this event.
Case 4. Detection
It will occur when a fleet in intercept mode detects a hostile fleet that is in the same subsector. If the hostile fleet has a defensive base, the interception will be aborted.
Interception of moving fleets
You can not intercept fleets that are in transit unless the interception is made in the sector of start of the movement and not more than five minutes have passed.
Base Blocking
When a fleet begins to intercept in a subsector where there are hostile present. All bases in the subsector suffer a moral penalty for the duration of the block with the following effects in a colony:
- Penalty to increase wealth of the base.
- Negative modifier to happiness.