One of my issues with the game is about how often it feels like combat doesn’t really move the needle towards overall victory. I’ve been thinking about this for a while now and one thing I’m realizing is that I actually don’t understand how each battle works.
I thought I’d reach out to clarify how the game treats each battle and learn more. Here’s my current understanding:
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The game currently seems to announce 2 types of battles, Critical and Non-critical.
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A timer is set and once it reaches zero AI fleets from both sides spawn in at the specified location. Ship to ship fighting ensues, but I very rarely see the AI directly attacking the base/station that is at the heart of the battle.
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At some point the battle is either won or lost.
I’ve only seen a “win” once where a base was actually damaged enough to turn white (which is called Conquered I believe?) and end the battle. Otherwise, the battle just seems to end for no clear reason.
Is there a timer involved? Does a certain percent of a fleet need to be destroyed? What are the criteria that determine whether a battle is won or lost? The game seems to declare battles constantly, yet only rarely does it seem to matter. I seem to be reading an endless stream of messages about “Battle X was won” or “Battle Y was lost” yet nothing changes on the starmap and the red/blue line at the top of the starmap hasn’t moved an inch. Hours into a game it does seem like bases/stations start to be removed from play and then things change, but how it gets there isn’t obvious. At least to me.
I’d love to hear some details on what’s going on to determine these wins and losses as I think it’s a key part of the meta game.
Thanks!