Fleets pass each other by??

[Wardad]

Mephisto may have explained the intercept problems I was having as 1st player in simultaneous move game.

[geoschmo]

Originally posted by [K126]Mephisto:
I'm not totally sure if you really need a movement point to initiate combat but definitely the fleets will not swap their places hunting each other. The player who is topmost of the playerlist will move first, players below after him in order of the list. The only way you can be screwed is when you are the topmost player IMHO because then and only then your ships will move before the other players down the list will move.

You are indeed correct Mephisto. I had not accounted for player order in my tests.

If the player lower in turn is seeking to avoid combat he should be able to assuming he is at least as fast as the enemy. In the example I gave they would in fact swap places as the second player would be moving out of the sector as soon as the first player moved into it. If the places were reversed and it was player 2 seeking after player 1 then combat would indeed occur.

This makes sense when you consider what I said before about all this stuff actually occuring in phases. Combat occurs after the movement phase. Both players will do their movement phase and then if they are in the same sector after both, then combat occurs. If player 1 moves into the same sector as player two in their part of the movement phase, and player 2 is seeking after player 1, they would not need to move anywhere and that would end the movement phase.

I am quite certain about not needing available movement to initiate combat though. If you expend your Last movement point during that "day" and at the end of that day during the combat phase you are in the same sector with your target, combat will occur.

This actually gives a bit of an advantage to the players lower in order, as opposed to the old in combat advantage that went to the player higher in order. I am not sure this is something you would want to change though. Not sure how you would change it actually.

Geoschmo

[Marvin Kosh]

I think your best bet there is to have your colony ships take a hike away from the intruders rather than sit around, they're less of a target that way. Then you should be able to intercept the enemy ships before they hit your colony ships.

I usually have a few ships sitting around in a front-line system that are loaded with as many engines as they'll take, plus solar sail, and basically no extra supplies. They can't go far but you can pack some extra armour and stuff in the space that would have been devoted to supply. Once you get a quantum reactor this is pretty much redundant though, since you can send those same ships to escort your planet-pounders out to enemy territory.

EDIT: Uh, I forgot to read page 1. D'oh!

[ June 18, 2002, 13:37: Message edited by: Marvin Kosh ]

[Krakenup]

Originally posted by [K126]Mephisto:
When both fleets are in adjacent squares, then it works like this:

Player A, which is moving to a planet and is on top of the player list, moves first and he moves into the fleet of Player B who is intercepting fleet A. Player A has now spent his movement point.

... but I thought that if Player A did not have a treaty with Player B, Player A's fleet would try to go around Player B instead of moving into the same sector. ??

[Mephisto]

Originally posted by Krakenup:
... but I thought that if Player A did not have a treaty with Player B, Player A's fleet would try to go around Player B instead of moving into the same sector. ??

Actually, you are right. It was just for the ease of explanation.
If A is not moving into the occupied sector, the whole thing is even easier. A will move to another adjacent sector and B will intercept him there.

[Hank]

Given:
A moves before B.
A and B have the same number of move points.
Not considering supplies.

Question:
How does A ever intercept B, if B does not want that event to occur?

According to how it is described in the previous Posts, A can only intercept B as follows:

If B does not move.
If A knows the destination square for B (warp point/planet/etc) and A can get there first.

That just seems wrong to me.

[Phoenix-D]

"That just seems wrong to me."

How so? If you have the same speed as someone else in RL there's no way to catch them unless they slow down. Otherwise all you can do is keep the range from opening up.

The 'crossing squares' thing IS weird though.

Phoenix-D