Space Combat: Loot, Losses, and Returns

If the attacker wins, they loot 50% of the Iron, Crystal, and Aether exposed on the planet, up to the cargo capacity of their surviving ships.

Looting follows three steps:

1. the game takes 50% of the planet's exposed resources;
2. it calculates the effective cargo capacity of the surviving autonomous attacking ships; craft carried aboard at the outset add no cargo capacity to the loot;
3. if the cargo capacity is insufficient, the loot is reduced proportionally.

The sanctuary excludes naturally produced resources that are still protected from this calculation. The protection period and its end are described in Production sanctuary during inactivity.

In a victorious PvP battle, the attacker may also receive faction experience, separate from the loot. The target must have fielded an effective military force and suffered military losses. The amount ranges from 10 to 90 XP, depending on both players' total points before the battle; the battle report shows how much experience was awarded. The defender does not receive this reward. Each distinct eligible attack counts, including attacks against the same target; reprocessing the same battle does not award experience a second time. The formula and cases that yield no experience are detailed in Activities That Award Experience.

Example

If the planet exposes 100 000 Iron, 40 000 Crystal, and 20 000 Aether, the possible raw loot is 50 000, 20 000, and 10 000. If the surviving fleet cannot carry everything, these amounts are reduced proportionally.

Permanently destroyed hulls can create a debris field near the planet where the battle took place. The field retains its own identity and position on the map.

For each permanently destroyed hull, part of its cost is converted into recoverable debris. Hulls that are only damaged remain the player's property and never contribute to the field. To recover the resources, send a recycling mission.

Ratios documented on Asterion:

• player ships destroyed, in both PvP and PvE: Iron 75%, Crystal 75%, Aether 50%;
• defenses destroyed, in both PvP and PvE: Iron 5%, Crystal 5%, Aether 2%.

The coefficients specific to Errant ships, their adjustments, and the rules for group battles are detailed in Debris field creation.

If a debris field already exists near this planet, the new debris is added to it.

Example

Two successive battles near the same planet contribute to the same debris field instead of creating several.

After calculating the losses, the game automatically repairs 90% of the destroyed defenses, rounding down.

Example

If 7 defenses are destroyed:

• gross losses: 7
• defenses repaired: 6
• net loss: 1

When attacking ships are permanently destroyed, 40% of their onboard crew survives. In new battles, the surviving crew joins an existing return instead of leaving in a separate escape pod.

The calculation covers only the crew aboard hulls classified as Destroyed. For the attacker, the crew of a lightly damaged hull stays with that hull, including during its evacuation if the attacker loses; the crew of a heavily damaged hull stays with it on its return and becomes available again upon landing. Only the heavily damaged hull enters the dock. The defender's crew stays on their planet.

If the attacker loses, the crew saved from destroyed hulls joins the return of the heavily damaged hulls. If the attacker wins or draws, the saved crew joins the normal return. If that return has no ships, a crew-only return is created as a last resort. The defender directly recovers the saved crew on their planet.

Escape pods already in flight before this change continue their journey under the previous rules.

Example

If the destroyed ships carried 100 pilots and 50 technicians, 40 pilots and 20 technicians survive and are assigned to the corresponding return.

The defender’s crew losses depend on the crew actually present at the start of combat. For each crew role, the game compares the needs of the entire engaged fleet with the available crew, then allocates a proportional share of that crew only to hulls classified as Destroyed. The result is rounded down to the nearest whole number; 40% of the crew members thus affected survive, rounded down to the nearest whole number. Only the remainder is permanently lost.

With R denoting the needs of the engaged fleet, A the crew present, and D the needs of the destroyed hulls: I = floor(min(A, R) × D / R), then S = floor(2 × I / 5) and L = I − S. I denotes the affected crew members, S those saved, and L the permanent losses. If R = 0, all three values are zero.

A hull that is merely damaged, lightly or heavily, kills no crew members. The same applies to an emergency evacuation. The defender’s survivors were already on the planet: they remain there without a capsule and are not credited a second time.

Example

A fleet requires 100 Pilots, but only 50 are present. The destroyed hulls required 40 Pilots: floor(50 × 40 / 100) = 20 Pilots are affected, floor(20 × 2 / 5) = 8 are saved, and 12 are permanently lost.

A standard return mission brings back operational ships and, if the attacker has not lost, lightly damaged ships. The losing side's lightly damaged ships remain in an emergency evacuation until manually recalled. Heavily damaged hulls return separately to their planet of origin.

A fleet excluded by pre-combat protection does not depart or return: it never left the planet.

Re-embarkation and craft rescue

After combat, capacity is recalculated using the hangars of carriers included in the standard return. The craft returning with them are re-embarked into the available space. Allocation is proportional to the surviving quantities of each model; capacity is pooled across the mission.

Craft that cannot fit form a single rescue return to their planet of origin, together with their crews. They use their own speed: that of the slowest craft in this group, at 100 %. They may therefore arrive before or after the carriers. They are never scuttled for lack of space, even if all the carriers on the standard return have disappeared.

The rescue uses the Aether reserve prepared at departure. Any unused balance carried by surviving craft is returned when they reach their base. The radar tracks this return under Hangar rescue, and the combat report lists its craft under Evacuation without hangars.

Neutralized craft follow the same rules for light damage, heavy damage, and destruction as other ships. Craft assigned to a heavy-damage return or an emergency evacuation remain in those flows: they are not added a second time to re-embarkation or rescue.

Example

A mission returns with 20 operational fighters that were initially embarked, but its carriers now offer only 10 UL. The 10 fighters that still fit in the hangars return with the carriers; the other 10 form an autonomous rescue with their crews.

Standard returns, crews, and damaged ships

A standard return is created if:

• the attacker retains at least one operational ship, or has not lost and retains at least one lightly damaged hull;
• crew from destroyed hulls survived but cannot join a return carrying ships;
• the attacker is not a bot.

If the attacker won, the loot returns with this fleet.

For each neutralized player ship model, 15% sustain light damage and 45% sustain heavy damage, with each share rounded down; the remainder are destroyed. This applies to the winner, the loser, and a draw. Only the losing side places its lightly damaged ships in a stationary Emergency Evacuation until manually recalled. The victorious attacker's lightly damaged ships return with its normal fleet; the victorious defender's remain on their planet. The attacker's heavily damaged hulls make a separate automatic return at a fixed speed of 2 500, with no mission slot or recall; the defender's heavily damaged hulls enter the dock on the attacked planet immediately.

Repairs use the normal Shipyard queue, cost 20% of the construction cost, and take 20% of the actual construction time before the one-second production minimum is applied. Only heavily damaged hulls need repairs: they do not count toward points during the return, while waiting in the dock, or during repairs, and remain excluded from missions, cargo capacity, active power, and espionage. Each reactivated hull regains its normal points, with no extra points for the resources spent. Lightly damaged ships follow the normal return or evacuation rules, then become active again when docked.

Example

An attack won with a single operational ship can generate a standard return carrying the remaining loot it can transport and any lightly damaged hulls, as well as a separate return for heavily damaged hulls.

If 100 ships of the same model are neutralized, 15 sustain light damage, 45 sustain heavy damage, and 40 are destroyed. Only the 40 destroyed hulls contribute to debris fields and determine which crew members are subject to the survival rate.