[6931] More questions about combat

[Herode]

I'm back to FO after a loooooooong stop, so I'm afraid I have to re-learn most of the basics.

I'm on turn 275.
One of my fleet just went though an ennemy controlled system and was destroyed : the combat logs tells me that "Plato B asteroids attacks Delphinus and does 33 damage (...)".
How can asteroids deal such amount of damage ?

On the other hand, despite my system defense mines, planetary shields and so on, I don't see any damage done to ennemy ships when they siege my planets.
NB : my current weapon is DeathRay 4.

[Geoff the Medio]

Damage done by planets to ships is determined by the planet's defense meter. This has nothing directly to do with what weapons tech you have or what parts you've put on your ships. An asteroids can be colonized or outposted like any other planet, and could get bonuses to its defense meter from techs known by the empire that controls it. There are several techs in the Defense category, along the Planetary Defense Network line, which will boost planet defense meters. Non-empire planets with natives on them also sometimes have nonzero defense meters from their species. You can mouse over the planet / asteriods' defense meter icons to see a breakdown of effects that modify the meter.

[MatGB]

Also, planets don't always engage unless they're attacked, so your systems won't necessarily strike at enemies unless a) you've researched the right Defence techs and b) the fleet attacks you or you engage it with a fleet.

Planetary defences can be scary-lethal in the late game, smaller low structure hulls become useless, armour essential.

[Herode]

Well, the said fleet was not ordered to attack the system or the asteroids, it just had to pass through it. It began the turn outside of the system and was expected to end the turn outside as well.
Is there an automatic attack when fleets enter a system ?
In this case, I guess I'll have to manage the Hide/ControlSystem order of each moving fleet ?

[MatGB]

I think, if a fleet is on attack orders, it'll stop and engage any targets it wasn't expecting, but if set to hide it'll continue. Also, if there are military ships not set to hide in an enemy system, you can't just fly through.

However, I've never been fully clear on when/why ships will/won't engage planets.

[Geoff the Medio]

The tests for whether a combat occurs do have a few quirks / bugs, which occasionally leads to "Combat happened in System X" sitreps where the combat log is empty because nothing in the system can attack anything else in the system...

[Dilvish]

As to the basic question of whether an armed aggressive fleet can simply "fly-thru" a system with an enemy planet -- the answer is "Yes" -- only armed aggressive fleets can blockade a system; planets cannot. You might not notice the enemy fleets there if they are asteroid fleets hiding in asteroid belts, or made entirely of ships shielded by Multispectral shields or having other cloaking.

Regardless of whether any fleets or planets are present in the system though, if your empire has never had better than basic visibility of that system (i.e., it still shows up on the galaxy map as unnamed, with a question mark), then it will count as obstructed for you and a fleet would be forced to stop there.

However, I've never been fully clear on when/why ships will/won't engage planets.

Planets cannot themselves initiate combat against nonaggressive fleets, but if at least one aggressive fleet is present (whether armed or not) in a system having any visible enemies (planets or fleets) of that aggressive fleet then combat will be initiated.

The tests for whether a combat occurs do have a few quirks / bugs, which occasionally leads to "Combat happened in System X" sitreps where the combat log is empty because nothing in the system can attack anything else in the system...

I think it's more a quirk in the sitrep rather than a quirk/bug in the combat tests. If one of your scouts moves into a system with an aggressive enemy, I think it's good to get a message about that even if the enemy was unarmed. [edit] see especially the bioweapon mentioned in the next post.[/edit] Howabout we issue a more appropriate sitrep in this situation: "At System X, fleets entered Combat stance although no involved parties were able to attack each other." I suppose in this case "System X" could be the only hotlink in the sitrep.

[Geoff the Medio]

Moved the bombardment design discussion here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8760

Howabout we issue a more appropriate sitrep in this situation: "At System X, fleets entered Combat stance although no involved parties were able to attack each other." I suppose in this case "System X" could be the only hotlink in the sitrep.

Such an alternate sitrep seems OK, particularly since it could be turned off separately from other combat sitrep messages, although it would need a bit of rewording...