Warppoint = travel neutral zone?

[Slick]

Originally posted by Slynky:
Don't quote me but doesn't combat occur on every 5th day (or 6th day) of the month? And if ships aren't in the same sector on that "combat" day, they just don't fight?

Although this is in the manual, it is not correct (or maybe it was once correct in the past but isn't now). Combat can occur any day that there is movement.

Slick.

[PvK]

The resolution of ships trying to intercept in normal space is really very bad, IMO. There are many cases where an attacker can avoid being intercepted just because of goofball quirks in the AI and movement system. It can be very hard to intercept without a speed advantage, even if you have a great position advantage.

PvK

[Alneyan]

Actually Slick, I saw one occurence where ships in the same sector did NOT fight. One of my ships was stalked by one of Loser's, and while they were in the same sector during several days, no combat occured. (I think they stayed for more than a day at each sector, as his ship was a bit faster than mine, but I cannot be sure about this) It was with the 1.84 patch, and it did surprise us since we had expected a battle. Or am I missing something obvious here?

[Roanon]

Originally posted by Slick:
Combat can occur any day that there is movement.

More precise, AFTER any movement portion of a day. So if one fleet moves to intercept and enter another fleet's sector, combat will not occur if that fleet moves away during the same day.
There are some very odd effects of this mechanism, for instance if one fleet A wants to intercept another, equally fast, fleet B which is trying to move past the point where A is starting, A will never capture B if the number of intervening sectors is even. Experienced players counter-trick this by moving a single sector sideways before issuing the attack order, or by including a slower ship in the intercepting fleet so movement will not take place on the same days for both fleets.

[Loser]

Originally posted by Alneyan:
Actually Slick, I saw one occurence where ships in the same sector did NOT fight. One of my ships was stalked by one of Loser's, and while they were in the same sector during several days, no combat occured. (I think they stayed for more than a day at each sector, as his ship was a bit faster than mine, but I cannot be sure about this) It was with the 1.84 patch, and it did surprise us since we had expected a battle. Or am I missing something obvious here?

I am certian that your ship was a little faster. I was only able to intercept it becuase I was heading-it-off as it ran for a warppoint back to your space.

I no longer have record of this game, so I could not provide saves, but maybe Alneyan can.

[Alneyan]

I don't have the save either, so I cannot tell how fast our ships were. But according to Roanon, there *should* have been a combat, since your ship was on the same sector as mine and I did *not* depart the sector at once. (For example, I reached this sector on day 3, and you reached on day 4, before the turn 6 in which I could move.)

Hmm, I guess I don't quite understand how movement and battle are handles in a simultaneous game.