This section gives a rough explanation of how the combat system in Alien Assault Traders 0.20 and up works. If you are familier with how combat works in BNT and NGS games then stop right there and throw it out the window.
Our new combat system is based around how board based strategy games work. Each item in the game is assigned a number of hit points. This is how much damage an item can take before it is destroyed. Items used for attacking are assigned damage points. This is the maximum amount of damage an item can inflict on something. Attacking items do not inflict their maximum damage. The amount of damage they inflict is based upon many factors from the difference in tech levels to jammers and ecm levels.
Here is an example.
1 Unit of armor can take 1500 points of damage before it is destroyed.
1 Torpedo can inflict a maximum of 2500 points of damage.
If the torpedo gets a perfect roll for damage it could wipe out over 1 unit of armor but this is usually not the case. You may only do 1000 points of damage. The amount depends upon some of the differences mentioned above.
The difference between a players sensor tech and the other players ecm tech for ship to ship and planet to ship combat determines the damage percentage range. This is the percentage range to determine how much damage each attack unit can inflict. If the range is 50% to 100% then a torpedo could do from 1250 to 2500 points of damage. The range varies depending upon ecm/sensor differences and it slides up and down the scale. You could have damage percentage ranges like 30% to 56%.
Also, the higher your tech level for offensive weapons the more unreliable they can become. This means they may not function at maximum efficiency. A percentage of your torpedo launchers may malfunction, your beams may have lowered output. And there is a very rare chance that they may fail completely. Even though there is a higher failure rate for higher tech levels you still get far, far more damage output than lower tech levels.
There is also a confusion factor that comes into play when you have tech levels that are very far apart. If you have level 25 fighter bays and attacking a ship with level 5 fighter bays then alot of your fighters are going to get confused as to who the targets are because there are so many friendlies crowding their displays. So most of your fighters may not even find an enemy fighter to attack. Some of the enemy fighters may actually escape.
If your ship or planet takes ANY armor damage then they may take internal damage to their tech levels. If a ship/planet loses 50% of their armor then they can have internal damage on upto 5 different tech levels. This doesn't mean you WILL take damage to 5 tech levels. You may take damage to 1 or 2 or maybe none. It is a random factor as to how many of the 5 you will take damage. If you lose 99% of your armor you could take damage to ALL of your tech levels.
Once a tech level takes damage the amount of damage to that tech level is also based upon the amount of armor lost. If 50% of the armor was lost then the damaged tech level can take from 1% to 50% damage to the tech level. If the tech level started at 20 then the tech level can be damaged from 0 to 10 tech levels. So it may end up showing the damaged tech level as 10-20 on your reports. When your tech levels are damaged your ship will only operate at those damaged tech levels in any further combat. You must go to a Spacedock to have your ship levels repaired or use the repair option on the planet screen for planets. Repairing tech level damage only costs a fraction of a normal level upgrade.
In the Ship vs Ship, Ship vs Planet and Sector D catagories we will go into a little more detail on specifics for those different combat modes.
Sector Ownership and Bounties
Owning a sector is critical if you want to protect yourself from smaller players. If you would like to be able to attack small players planets or ships you need to own more than half of the based planets a sector can support.
Sector supports 5 planets you must own 3
Sector supports 4 planets you
must own 3
Sector supports 3 planets you must own 2
Sector supports 2
planets you must own 2
Sector supports 1 planet you must own 1
Remember the planets you own must be based. If you own the number of based planets needed for the sector then you can attack any player who is in that sector and never get a bounty. As long as you own it then it is a bounty free area and any planet or player in the sector is fair game to attack.
Federation Bounties
Federation bounties are given to players who attack other players who are alot smaller than they are. When you scan a ship, planet or sector you will be told if you will receive a bounty by attacking the player or planet. You can also get a bounty if you try to place spies on a planet you would get a bounty from by attacking. The only attack that is bounty free are sector defenses. Anyone can attack sector defenses without getting a bounty.
If you have a Federation Bounty placed on you then you can be attacked by anyone. This means if you are a medium sized player and get a federation bounty then even the highest ranked player can attack you and not get a bounty. You are also locked out of normal repair, upgrade and device ports. You can access Kabal owned upgrade and device ports but the prices you pay are 10 times or more than normal. If you receive 3 or more Federation bounties then the Federation Battle Cruiser will attack your ship once a day. The cost of the damage inflicted upon your ship will be deducted from the Federation bounties you owe. The big downside to this is you cannot repair your ship or even change ships as you are locked out of all shipyards until the bounty is payed off.
Federation Bounties and Teams
Federation bounties are slightly different if you are on a team. There is nothing different when you are attacking other players. The difference is when other players are attacking you.
When your ship/planets are attacked by other players and you are on a team, the attack nolonger uses your player ranking for calculating Federation bounties. The ranking of the top player on your team is used for everyone on that team. This means that if a top ranked player can attack the top ranked player on your team then they can also attack the lowest ranked player on your team and never get a bounty. Your team will have to work together to protect each other. The top ranked player on your team will have to help the lower ranked players get bigger and provide defenses. The lower ranked players on the team will have to hide in the top ranked players sectors. The team will actually have to work together or the lowest ranked players on the team will get picked off by others.