Errant Attacks: Targets, Forces, and Reactions

An Errant can be attacked or spied on. A space attack can also be prepared with allies.

Errant planets can be targeted by:

• space Attack;
• grouped space Attack with up to 10 players from the same alliance, including the leader;
• ground Attack via the Pillars;
• Espionage.

For a grouped attack, after arriving, the leader chooses a preparation period of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 minutes or 1, 3, 6, 12 hours. Allies must join early enough for their fleets to arrive before engagement. The battle and report are shared, but each fleet retains its own losses, survivors, returns, and share of the loot. This option does not apply to attacks against other players or to ground attacks.

Transport, deployment, and other utility missions to an Errant planet are rejected by the server at launch. An Errant is therefore not a destination for trade, deployment, or support.

The quota is 21 attacks per UTC week against each of the Noctes, Veyrs, and Haldens factions. Space and ground attacks share this faction quota, which resets every Monday at 00:00 UTC.

Example

After 20 space attacks and 1 ground attack against Noctes since Monday, the Noctes quota is reached until the following Monday. All 21 attacks can be launched on the same day.

Launch frequency depends on the faction; target selection criteria are detailed in Target selection.

• Noctes: up to 1 space attack and 1 ground attack per day;
• Veyrs: up to 1 space attack and 1 ground attack per day;
• Haldens: no outgoing attacks.

Space and ground attacks have separate timers. If both vectors are ready on the same tick, the AI chooses one of the two according to its PvE behavior. After one launches, the next attack of the same type is rescheduled.

A player cannot receive more than 2 Errant attacks per UTC day, across all Errants and attack types. Canceled attacks do not count toward this limit.

After a space attack, the Errant sends its Recyclers II shortly afterward to the same coordinates on a separate mission. When defending, if the battle creates debris on its planet, it also launches a recycling mission after a longer delay, with a minimum delay of 150 seconds. Attacks and recycling missions each have a flight time calculated according to the route, the actual fleet, and the Errant's technologies, as for a player. Navigation specific to recyclers is described in Recycling and resource return.

During a universe maintenance period, no new Errant attack or counterattack can launch, and Errant attacks already in flight are frozen. When the universe reopens, their remaining travel time is preserved with at least 10 minutes before impact. Timers that had already expired are rescheduled to prevent a burst of attacks. Player attacks against Errants, returns, evasions, and recycling missions are not blocked by this targeted freeze.

The server filters targets before an attack is launched:

• player who has not triggered their first ATTACK or ESPIONAGE mission against an Errant during the current UTC day;
• Errant targeting window not yet open after this first interaction;
• player who has already received 2 Errant attacks during the current UTC day;
• banned player;
• player in vacation mode;
• account that is too recent;
• target that strictly exceeds the x3 ratio protection in either direction;
• planet without active Pillars for a ground attack;
• planet with an active Iris for a ground/Pillars PvE attack.

Once valid targets have been filtered, the AI can prioritize the planet from which the first interaction originated or choose another valid planet belonging to the player. For a Pillars attack, if the selected planet is not eligible, another eligible Pillars planet is chosen. Iris does not exclude a planet from space attack targets: it only protects against ground/Pillars attacks.

The Errant commits available forces that match the attack type, from the planet where they are actually located.

For a space attack, it commits all its ships available at its military dock. Survivors and loot become available again only when RETURN arrives, never immediately after the battle.

For a ground attack, it commits all military troops and all ground transporters available at the origin planet (sp_transporter_s, sp_transporter_l), without borrowing units from another colony.

Other special units are not used as conventional attack ships.

An Errant may counterattack, dodge, or take no action. These reactions are mutually exclusive.

When reacting to a space attack, the Errant's faction determines whether it may favor a counterattack, a dodge, or no reaction. Noctes are the most inclined to react offensively, Veyrs are more balanced, and Haldens mostly avoid direct confrontation.

A counterattack is space-only. It is an Errant's retaliation after a fleet attack or after a Pillars attack has been resolved. It launches as a new, independent mission with a flight time calculated as it would be for a player, and remains detectable by Sensors until it arrives. The Pillars attack itself remains instantaneous.

In a multi-planet setup, the dodge deploys the entire fleet to another colony, with an actual flight time. The recyclers always follow on a separate mission on the same schedule; resources, civilians, and the army may each follow or remain in place based on independent 50% rolls. The fleet remains at its destination. Deployment speed follows the rule for moves between colonies. Reaction eligibility depends on the attacked colony's stockpiles. A single-planet Errant retains its legacy dodge. Against a single or grouped space attack, a dodge can launch 120 to 1000 seconds before impact and a counterattack 1 to 10 minutes before impact. If the drawn delay exceeds the time remaining when the decision is made, the reaction may launch immediately, never in the past; counterattacks after a Pillars attack has been resolved are unchanged.

An Errant cannot dodge and counterattack at the same time.

Like players, Errants alternate between periods of activity and inactivity.

The Errant draws active or inactive windows lasting 60 to 120 minutes, with 50/50 odds. Two consecutive windows can have the same state. Inactivity pauses its departure timer and active decisions; it does not prevent missions it has already launched from arriving.

After 30 to 60 minutes of activity at the dock, its fleet may deploy to another colony, with its recyclers following on a separate mission. Speed is selected uniformly from the whole-number percentages in the 2 to 100 % range, then also used for the separate recycler mission. Travel time depends on distance, the fleet, and technologies, as it does for a player. Attacks and recycling missions remain at 100 %. Resources, civilians, and the army may each follow or remain in place based on three independent 50% rolls. The next destination is selected anew; returning to the former colony is possible, but not automatic. Missions already in flight keep their schedules.

Observing an Errant regularly can help you choose the right time to act.