Tactical Combat

Ship-to-ship combat in Interstellar Space: Genesis is turn based and tactically rich. The battlefield is a grid on the Tactical Combat Screen. The beginning player may want to get comfortable with just moving ships and firing before delving into more complex tactics such as overloading and boarding.

The first thing you should do is click on the icons at the top left and right of the screen--this will open the fleet overviews showing all ships in the battle. You can select ships directly by clicking on these lists as well as see basic information such as remaining hit points.

If the combat grid is not already shown, select the grid overlay for an easy reference for movement and weapon ranges, or turn it on in the combat options.

You will also want to toggle the Log button on and off during battle, as it gives detailed information on weapon hits and damage, etc.

Initial Position and Initiative
The attacking fleet goes first unless the defending fleet has a with an initiative stat higher than any attacker's.

The opposing fleets start off fairly randomly placed on the left and right side of the battlefield which is itself 90 x 60 grid. Average starting distance is around 65-70 squares, putting each out of the effective range of most and, though most  and  can be fired right away.

Range
All reference to weapon and boarding ranges are expressed in grid points and are measured between the closet parts of two ships. Ships are not dimensionless points, and selection recticle gives a general idea of their size.

From the coordinates given when you select the ship, distance is measured starting at The is +1 for, +2 for and , and +3 for.

As a quick reminder, without weapon mods ranges are generally 25 for and ; 10 for  weapons; and 1 for. So measured from the coordinates reported for a and a, the  could board the  from 1 + 1(FR) + 3(Titan) = 5 squares away measured from ship center to ship center.

Special Systems
If a ship is equipped with a usable such as  or, click on the icon in the Special Systems area to activate it.

Actions
Each ships begins the round with 2 Operation Points to spend on actions. Some actions require 1 point; some 2 points; and some that cost only 1 point can still only be performed once a round. Firing weapons takes no action points. Movement Movement takes 1 operation point to move half range and 2 points to move full range. To easily see where a ship can move, select the overlay: green circles take 1 point to reach and gray circles 2.

Note the degree of turning involved in standard movement is generally pretty limited but can be increased by adding more tactical engines in .

Rotate Rotation takes 1 for each rotation and may be repeated in the round.

Flee Fleeing takes 1 and takes the ship out of the battle.

Scan Scanning takes 1 to reveal detailed information about a selected enemy ship. Once a ship is scanned, the Target Ship Scan Info will be displayed and updated each time the ship is targeted.

Board</dt> Boarding takes 1 and can only be initiated from a range of 1 (though see Range above) against a disabled ship--one whose drive has been disabled. This initiates between the ships--if the attacker wins they will still possess the boarded ship after battle. The Boarding button will only be enabled when a ship is within boarding range. increases the number of troops available.</dd>

Salvage</dt> Salvaging takes 1 to collect any debris on the battle field from within Boarding Range.</dd>

Overloading</dt> Overloading takes no but increases the heat of the ship and can only be repeated every so many rounds. It can be used to increase ship movement; to increase the effectiveness of ; or to increase the effectiveness. will increase the rate at which the ship cools.</dd> </dl>

Weapons and Firing
By default all the ship's weapons are selected and all those in range will fire when clicking on an enemy ship. However, individual weapons can be toggled on or off spread fire among more than one target, or to hold weapons in reserve--they will automatically fire on any missiles as they come into range. Hovering over an enemy ship will show a green square for weapons that can reach it and red for those that cannot. The weapon's is shown in pink, and the chance to hit the target in yellow.

The range overlay show the radius reachable by the longest range selected weapon. The enemy ship target radius overlay shows where your ship would have to be for your selected weapons to reach it.

Hit Chance
Main Article: Hit Chance As mentioned above, hovering over a target will show the chance for each weapon to hit it in yellow beside the weapon. This value is determined by comparing the weapon's to the target's.

For most and  weapons, the chance to hit is heavily influenced by range, with a penalty of 1% per square by default; 0.5% per square for  weapons; and 2% per square for  weapons.

Other factors affecting weapon's attack value include, , , and --see Hit Chance for a full list and tips for hitting.

Damage
With the exception of ion weapons and those with shield or armor piercing, damage is applied first to shields, then armor, then systems and hull. The remaining HP of each are shown here. As systems (in red) take damage, weapons and drives will go offline (shown by a red dot by the drive or weapon in the Ship Status and Weapons areas); once the hull (in brown) reaches 0 the ship is destroyed.

For most, distance lowers damage as well as accuracy, with the listed max damage applying at point blank range and min damage applying at the weapon's furthest range. Weapon mods such at and  can mitigate this--otherwise it is advisable to get as close as possible to a target to gain the full benefit of beam weapons.

Tips

 * It is possible to board space monsters, adding them to your fleet.
 * Shields regenerate at 35%/round, so concentrated fire is needed to damage the ship while the shields are down.
 * weapons fire only once per round each and can be overwhelmed by timing multiple missiles to hit at once. This can be achieved by having multiple banks of missiles on a single ship; firing missiles from multiple ships at once; or by "charging"--firing missiles, then moving towards the target one round, then repeating the next round and the next--since missiles have the same drive as your ship, the previously fired missiles will catch up to the ones you fire each new round, building a swarm that will all hit the target at once.
 * Use on your beam weapons--they double the space required, but the added range and damage combined with halved accuracy and damage dissipation penalties make them more effective than 2 banks of the same weapon at all but the closest of ranges.
 * If you are out-gunned, don't be afraid to flee. It takes one round and always succeeds unless your engines are damaged.