Combat Overview

Battle System Overview

(by Nix, edited and updated by Forgothrax)

Basics: Battles are split into phases, and phases with actual combat proceed in turns. A turn is not a fixed interval of time but rather an opportunity to for some ship to shoot at another. The more ships there are in battle the shorter the length of a turn in terms of elapsing time. In particular shield regeneration is calculated every 5 * turns. Turns only start after the prelude of the battle when shooting at the enemy becomes possible.

Scoring a hit: The exact mechanics depend on the phase of the battle, but first which ship among those eligible is shooting at which other ship is randomly determined. The probability of the shooting ship belonging to one side instead of the other is based on the number of eligible ships on both sides, modified by their respective fleet positioning values, the probability of a particular ship on a side being chosen is influenced by its firing priority, which can be influenced by doctrines and attack patterns, and is also increased by having fired recently. Which of the eligible opposition ships is targeted is influenced by attack pattern and target priority, with increased probability for targeting recently targeted ship. After both ships are selected evasion is rolled, with evasion chance in (%) being + -. If a ship has fired upon a particular enemy vessel before, there is a chance that targeting will be "sticky" and the ship will fire upon the same target again. Certain doctrines affect this.

Dealing damage: If a hit is scored two random values between 0 and 1 are generated and the higher one multiplied with the combat stat of the attacker. This is the hitpower. The full hitpower is dealt as damage to the shields, and if their remaining strength is reduced to 0 the remainder is dealt as hull damage. If the shields are still up it is also possible for burn-through to be triggered (base chance seems to be about 2%, but can be raised by technology). Burn-though deals hull damage equal to hitpower * ( - ) /, in addition to the damage already dealt to the shields. Hull damage proportionally reduces the effective combat stat. Hull damage also has a chance to trigger sub-system damage, which can instantly destroy the ship or temporarily reduce the value of a stat. Critical hits that cause damage out of proportion to the hitpower are also possible.

Deployment is split into up to 4 groups: scout, skirmish line, vanguard and heavy metal. The commander and the circumstances of the battle determine which ships are deployed in what group. Capitals and fixed defenses (Outposts, Starbases, Weapons Platforms) may apparently only be deployed as heavy metal, which appears to have no advantages over vanguard. Cruisers may be deployed as vanguard, at least small cruisers may also be deployed in the skirmish line depending on doctrine, and frigates may be deployed anywhere. Rather than a special deployment the scout may also be drawn from the skirmish line, and, at least if there is no skirmish line, the vanguard/heavy metal.

Phase 1: Minefield

Only happens when there is a minefield.

The skirmish line ships roll science tests for themselves to detect and avoid mines, with frigates (or perhaps screening ships in general as small cruisers deployed there also seem to benefit from it) receiving a bonus (appears to be +3). Other ships get two chances to avoid mines, one based on the average science of the skirmish line (including the bonus), one based on their own science.

Relevant stats:

Science critical, hull and shields help survive hitting a mine anyway.

Phase 2: Scouting

One ship from each side functions as scout and they roll opposing science checks. The aggregate margin determines the relative advantage (fleet positioning value) for the skirmish phase, each point corresponds to 0.005 on both multipliers, so for example winning by an aggregate 5 points means 1.025 : 0.975. The number of opposed checks seems to scale with the number of ships in the battle but not in any simple way (insufficient data points for exact formula).

If the scouting ship was drawn from the skirmish line it continues the battle there as normal, if it's a deployment group all of its own it doesn't participate in the battle any further.

Relevant stats:

Only science matters.

Ships large enough (Definitely Excelsiors, possibly anything >1050kt frigate) can be ambushed and suffer penalties

Phase 3: Skirmish

Each round one ship from each side is randomly selected, they roll opposed D/reaction checks and one of them fires at the other (this appears to be independent of the result of the check and apparently based on the result of the scouting phase). The aggregate margin determines the relative advantage for the vanguard phase. Damage is halved and evasion appears to be about twice as effective as in other phases of combat. The skirmish phase lasts 3 * turns, and the ships initially remain in the battle when the vanguard phase starts.

Relevant stats:

Defense/reaction critical. Combat, and shields useful, but typically the phase doesn't last long enough to get through the shields so hull is less relevant. Depending on how exactly the higher evasion in this phase works science may be much more useful than usual.

Phase 3: Vanguard

Each round the side that fires next is selected, based on number of ships and the modifier based on the results of the skirmish phase, and then a firing ship and a ship being fired on is selected and the attack processed as normally. The vanguard phase lasts 2 * turns. Ships from the skirmish lines retreat at the end of the phase, the vanguard stays for the main battle. The vanguard phase also determines the relative advantage in the main battle, based on raw damage dealt by both sides.

Relevant stats:

Combat, shields and hull, in that order. Combat is essential for gaining advantage for the main battle, and also helps damaging skirmish line ships before they retreat. Evasion is especially useful in that it denies the enemy the oppoortunity to inflict damage that would count towards gaining advantage.

Phase 4: Main Battle

The heavy metal joins the vanguard. Combat continues with the same combat mechanics as in the vanguard phase and lasts until all ships of one side have been disabled (ending the battle), or one side retreats (retreat threshhold is set by GMs).

Relevant stats:

Combat, shields and hull, hull being a bit more important than in the vanguard phase due to influencing whether a ship is disabled or destroyed. Science continues to be moderately useful due to effects on evasion.

So far there has been no example of a ship fighting in both the skirmish and the main battle, presumably doing so deliberately would come with penalties and keeping opponents from pulling back during the vanguard phase is not at all easy, if either of these is even possible. It seems reasonable to design ships and fleets with the assumption that they won't fight throughout entire battle multi-phase battles with any significant regularity, and even if we did design a class for that we don't have any way to make commanders actually deploy it that way, rather than deploying half of those ships in the skirmish line and pulling back along with it, and the other half in the vanguard.

Derived Battle Roles:

In general a ship only suited to one phase of the battle that is not the main battle is highly undesirable because that weakens the fleet in other phases. Doing well in two phases is better than doing excellently in one phase and then leaving, or worse, not being able to leave yet and be a liability, like Oberths were in the skirmish phase due to low reaction whenever they were used to help us move though a minefield (and therefore required to be part of the skirmish line).

Vanguard

Participates in vanguard phase and main battle.

Fights for the longest time and faces capitals in the main battle, so any ship here needs to be either durable, cheap and expendable or a combination of both. High combat (for dealing raw damage) and high evasion (for denying the enemy possible damage) are useful for gaining advantage for the main battle.

Stat profile: high C, L and H relative to other stats, cheap.

Example classes (and how well they fit):

Jaldun(A-, based on known crew cost and estimated resource cost of 120BR 60SR), Combat Takaaki(A, ignoring cost because unknown), Renaissance(A), Amarki heavy frigate(A-), K'tinga(A), Miranda-A(B), Constitution-B(B-), Turteship(B-), Klingon Bird-of-Prey(A).

Veterancy: Veterancy is useful in that it raises all stats that are relevant, but ships in this role are the most likely to be destroyed and/or take serious crew losses so using experienced crews here means a high risk of losing them, particularly if the ship design is on the cheap rather than the durable side.

Importance: Absolutely critical, the most important combat role and the one you can do without the least. The main battle is by far the longest phase, and the vanguard determines fleet values for it.

Skirmisher/Minesweeper

Participates in Skirmish and vanguard phases and also functions as minesweeper when needed. High science critical for passing minefields, high reaction very important for the skirmish phase, hull and especially shields important for surviving hitting mines, as well as skirmish and vanguard phase where combat is also useful. For minefields and skirmish quantity of ships is currently nearly irrelevant, but that could change with future revisions.

Stat profile: S>= 5, D >=5, L + H >= 5, C the higher the better but lower priority than D.

Example classes (and how well they fit):

Amarki light frigate(B+), Constellation-A(B-), Centaur-A(C), Kapit (C), Forager(C), Swarmer Mark 2(C), Comet(A+)

Veterancy: Veterancy does not raise reaction, but is extremely useful for the minesweeper part of the role and useful for everything else. As ships in this role are relatively unlikely to be destroyed if they successfully pass through the minefield and have adequate defenses, and veterancy improves two seperate layers of defense against being destroyed in a minefield (science and shields + hull) using veteran ships in this role should generally be a good idea.

Importance: If you intend to attack through minefields ships in this role are a must. Dedicated minesweepers that do not take part in the vanguard phase might be possible, but that means fewer ships in the vanguard phase, and skipping out on the skirmish phase does not seem to be possible.

Pure Skirmisher

Participates in Skirmish and vanguard phases. High reaction very important for the skirmish phase and the evasion effect of science might be doubled, combat, shields and hull useful for skirmish and vanguard phase.

Stat profile: D >=5, L + H >= 5, C > S

Example classes (and how well they fit):

Amarki light frigate(C), Stinger(A), Romulan Bird-of-Prey (B, ignoring cost), Constellation-A(C), Centaur-A(C-), Constitution-B(B, if eligible for skirmish line), Jaldun(C+, if eligible for skirmish line),  Courier Takaaki(D)

Veterancy: Veterancy does not raise reaction, but is useful for everything else and ships in this role are relatively unlikely to be destroyed if they have adequate defenses.

Importance: Not particularly necessary if you have ships that do well in the Skirmisher/Minesweeper role, but having some kind of skirmisher is important.

Main Scout

Takes over scouting (only one ship in a fleet does any scouting rolls) and otherwise acts like a Skirmisher/minesweeper. Science for this role is much more important than any other stat for any role and since it is used in an oppposed roll and there are no diminishing returns or a level that is "good enough". In a large battle (say 20 vs 20) a single extra point of science means about 5 turns where one of your ships gets to shoot instead of the enemy (i. e. net advantage 10 firing opportunities) during the skirmish phase, with knock-on effects for later phases of the battle.

Stat profile: S>= maximum(7,  S of skirmisher + 3) // as high as possible, otherwise like skirmisher/minesweeper

Example classes (and how well they fit):

Amarki light frigate(C+, in the context of a Federation fleet), Romulan science ship/Oberth(D), science Takaaki (C-)

Veterancy: Veterancy is extremely useful and the ship is unlikely to be destroyed. A blooded or better scout for all major fleets should be a priority.

Importance: Importance scales with the size of the battle and how well other ships can scout, but even in a moderate sized battle and a skirmisher/minesweeper design with reasonably good science being able to step in a proper main scout with even higher science would be valuable to have.

Importance

Artillery

Participates in main battle.

Capital ships that take advantage of doctrine techs that make them more likely to fire. Requires very high combat and reasonably good durability.

Stat profile: C >= 7 // as high as possible,  L  >= 6, H >= 5

Example classes (and how well they fit):

Lorgot(C, apparently not durable enough), Excelsior-A(B), Riala-A(A), Seyek Battleship (A), Arqueniou Leb Nin (B-)

Veterancy: Veterancy is very useful and unlike ships for the vanguard role cheap and replaceable is not a viable strategy for ships in this role anyway.

Importance: Only important with the relevant doctrines techs available, otherwise having no ships filing this role is no big issue and the heavy metal deployment group can be made up of whatever capitals happen to be in the fleet and extra ships designed for the vanguard role.[/spoiler]

Backup Scout

One or two ships per fleet. Normally used as skirmisher only, can step in for the main scout if unavailable. . Requirements similar to the main scout but with more emphasis on being a good skirmisher, but still more science than the normal skirmishers it is deployed alongside with.

Importance: No need if a good skirmisher/minesweeper is available or if the main scout design is actually a good skirmisher like it's ideally supposed to be (and you can just bring several of them). Even if neither is the case this is still a marginal role.

The letter grades aren't really based on any detailed analysis and are just supposed to give a rough overview, some of them probably are off a bit, perhaps due to not accounting for cost as much as they should. If someone actually wants to do a detailed analysis, at least for a particular role, go ahead.