Patrolling

[couslee]

I have hunted and found nothing.

Say I set a fleet to patrol an area, three sectors down, one diagonally up, then back to the staring position. At what point, or during what situation will the fleet attack an enemy ship? I have had only two chances to observe a possibility.

First: The AI ship moved into the same sector on the same day as my fleet was entering that sector. battle occured (obviously).
Second: The AI moved to a sector that was one sector away from where my fleet was going to be, however, it moved first the next time, and when my fleet had it's turn, the AI was no longer next to it.

The question is: If my fleet is in a sector and it's next patroling path sector is empty, but there is an enemy ship next to the fleet, will it break from the patrol path and intercept? or boldly go when no ships have gone before?