Fleeing - everything you need to know With the imminent arrival of auto-boarding, the ability to get the hell out of Dodge when would-be attackers show up has never become more important. Understanding everything from how turns are processed to what items to install and what settings to use is therefore imperative to all captains. When is a ship actually stopped for combat? The mechanic for actually leaving combat is itself straightforward – if the ship attempting to avoid combat has a resultant combat speed greater than any other ship targeting it, it will leave combat without being stopped for combat. If a ship was involved in combat on the previous day, irrespective of whether it retreated from the battle during the battle or not, it is entitled to automatically leave the location of the battle, if it is able i.e. has engines/drives, crew etc.

Each day, all positions with turns to be run on the day are added to the main processing list. This is then ordered randomly (after first accounting for sequencing) and then processed with the entire orders of the first position in the list being dealt with before moving onto the next position.

In the case of squadron orders, each position processes the set of orders one at a time, i.e. all leaving orbit then all moving before each performs a jump.

Ignoring exceptions such as special actions, running out of TU’s etc, this means that if a ship is at the top of the list, it can in theory move through half a dozen systems, scan an enemy and stop for a battle. When this occurs, the enemy ship may still have orders to process. They are still processed and the enemy ship, if having orders to move from the location, will do so. When this happens it will cause a skirmish battle.

From the perspective of the ship that was stopped due to running into an enemy, their turn report will read something like this:
Code:

Information

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Date 37.3: PIR pirate (51864) is leaving combat, opening fire at maximum range.

           Attacking PIR pirate (51864)

           ----------------------------

           Round 1:  2 Tractor Beam mkIIIs

                          - 1 hit - 0 [0] damage - 84%

                          - Tractor beams reduced positions speed by 2.94%

           

           Post Battle Summary

           -------------------

           Ship hulls have taken 500 damage (2.5%)

>TU 300: Leave Orbit

    Escaping combat zone, incoming fire from HEF pir killer (70835).

    Returning fire at maximum range.

    

    Incoming Fire from HEF pir killer (70835)

    -----------------------------------------

    Round 1:  2 Tractor Beam mkIIIs

                   - 1 hit - 0 [0] damage - 84%

                   - Tractor beams reduced positions speed by 2.94%

    

    Post Battle Summary

    -------------------

    Unlocking HEF pir killer (70835), could not target with any weapons.

    Ship hulls are undamaged

    

    Continuing normal movement:

    Leaving Orbit.

As a heavy hull ship has a relatively low install space compared to other hulls they rarely have sufficient cargo space to effect automatic success at escaping through this means. Tractor Beams Tractor beams have their output negatively applied to whatever position they hit. They effectively fire ‘pre’ combat, insofar as they effect the target’s thrust output for the purposes of fleeing. They also reduce the speed of a ship for dodging purposes making it easier to hit. Questions Is a position that retreated on a previous day subjected to skirmish on the next day? No If all positions retreated in the previous day, is the location still treated as a battle location on the next day, as such are all the positions able to leave without being stopped? The location is no longer a battle location and treated as above. Do cloaked ships still get the battle delivery attacks? No How many positions can be stopped by a picket? 1 (though ships having on patrol flagged may cause them to stop of their own volition if supporting/defending the ship initially stopped – depends on their lists)