[tbontob]

Originally posted by Slick:
I think these questions are addressed in the "Dubious Stragetegy Guide", but basically the "attack" command is pretty much identical to to "move" in sequential games and is only really used in simultaneous games. In simultaneous games, all ships move at once, so the "attack" order is used to have your ship or fleet SEEK the enemy ship or fleet, not just move to a location.

"Sweep Mines" is of lesser use, but can be used if you are in a sector and just had a battle with the enemy and he dropped mines during combat. Using this command would sweep the mines in the sector without having you move to another sector then move back.

Hope this helps.

Slick

To put it another way (in simultaneous combat):

"Move" means your ship is to move to a particular location. If an enemy ship happens to be at that location, you have combat.
"Attack" means your ship is to "close" with the enemy for a battle. So, when the enemy moves, your ship adjusts its course to close the distance between the two ships and have combat.