Battle

Overview
Battles occur when two fleets occupy the same planet or hyperspace lane, and a trade deal or Defense Pact did not previously allow free movement of ships. Battles determine which fleet is allowed to conintue, and the losing fleet is destroyed.

NOTE: There is no way for a battle to take place where one side is not completely destroyed.

How it works
At the begining of the battle the units on each side are placed in a random order. Then, starting with the attacker, each unit fires until all units on both sides have fired.

When a unit fires it selects a random target from the enemy team. Then...


 * 1) If the enemy team still has shields, the unit fires at the shields.
 * 2) Otherwise the unit fires at its target, decreasing the target's hitpoints. If the target drops to zero or below, the target is destroyed.

The battle continues this way until all units on one side have been destroyed.