Battle Mechanics

How a battle between two fleets plays out: the Preparation Turn, who acts first, how damage is worked out and how a battle ends. For what is left to chance, see Battle Randomness And Results.

Turns

A battle starts with the Preparation Turn, then runs up to 8 turns. No damage is dealt to enemies during the Preparation Turn.

Preparation Turn

The game applies these in order, each one for both fleets:

1. Formation Counters
2. Capacitor Effect
3. Formation Mastery
4. Lead Commander Ship Bonus
5. Homebase tech Effect
6. Bond Skill Effect
7. Passive Skill
8. Command Burst
9. Command Skill

Within a step, the ships and commanders of a fleet act in Data Rate order.

Turn Order

Every turn, all ship squads and commanders of both fleets act one at a time, from the highest Data Rate down. Data Rate is checked again for every pick, so a Data Rate change during the turn changes the order. When two units have exactly the same Data Rate, the battle picks between them at random.

On its turn a unit first takes any effects that tick at the start of its turn, then uses its active skills, then Direct Fire and assault skills. Skills of the same kind fire in Talent Bar order, from Talent Bar 1 to 3.

Damage

Each hit is worked out in these steps:

1. Wing strength. The attacking wing's Firepower (Kinetic damage) or Energy (Energy damage), scaled by its ship count to the power 0.75, half from the ships it has now and half from the ships it started with. A commander skill uses its fleet's main wing and adds the commander attribute the skill names, such as Offense.
2. DMG Rate. The skill's DMG Rate scales the hit.
3. Armor. The target's Armor, lowered by Armor Penetration, reduces damage by Armor / (100 + Armor), and never by more than 90%.
4. Capacitor. A low Capacitor lowers damage (see below).
5. Formation counter. +15% when your formation counters theirs, -15% when theirs counters yours.
6. Level difference. 2% per level of difference between the two fleets' average commander level, up to +50% or -50%. Against in-game enemies that out-level you, it is 5% per level. It does not apply against some fleets, such as Supply Fleets and Angel Pirates.
7. Damage bonuses and resistances. Damage increases from skills and effects are added together, as are damage resistances; each side keeps at least 10%.
8. Critical hit. Kinetic or Energy Critical Chance, at most 80%, adds Critical Damage.
9. Random spread. The result is multiplied by a random value from 0.9 to 1.1, then rounded up.

Before a hit lands, the target may avoid it with its Evasion, unless the skill ignores Evasion. The damage comes off the target wing's HP. A wing's ship count is its HP divided by its HP per Ship, rounded up.

Lead Commander Bonus

In the Preparation Turn, every ship and commander in the fleet gets a damage bonus from the Lead Commander's Offense, and every ship gets a damage resistance bonus from the Lead Commander's Tactics:

Bonus = smaller of 15% and (0.02% × Offense) + 5% × D / (100 + D)

D is how much your Lead Commander's Offense is above the enemy Lead Commander's Offense (0 if it is not). The Tactics bonus uses Tactics the same way. The battle log shows the result, for example "affected by Lead Commander Haatakan's Offense attribute, damage + 5.38%".

Formation Counters

Encirclement counters Phalanx, Phalanx counters Intercept, Intercept counters Assault and Assault counters Encirclement. All four counter Siege. A counter changes damage by 15% both ways. See Formations.

Formation Mastery

Each member of the fleet, the ship and each commander, whose Formation Mastery includes the chosen formation adds 5% to a fleet total, up to 15%. In the Preparation Turn, every member with that mastery gets the whole total on Data Rate, Firepower, Energy, Armor, Offense and Tactics. Members without it get nothing.

Capacitor

A fleet starts with 100 Capacitor. Keep it at 90 or more for full strength:

The Capacitor Laboratory raises a fleet's Capacitor; see Homebase research in battle.

End Of Battle

A fleet with no ship squads left is defeated and retreats. If both fleets still have ship squads after 8 turns, the battle is a draw.