Fractal Softworks Forum
Starsector => General Discussion => Topic started by: Dri on August 12, 2012, 05:52:21 PM
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So, I was under the impression that you had to get your ships to the enemies side of the battlefield before you could retreat/escape and for the enemies they had to make it to the bottom side... (your side) and yet, enemy forces can literally turn around and retreat from the same direction they came. Seems the first 3-5 ships of the enemies will will come down the battlefield and try to flee off of your side but enemies that come in later will turn around shortly after they arrive and flee off the top.
So, is retreating based on a timer? After 2 minutes or so you can retreat off of any side of the battlefield? Or, are you allowed to flee off of any side and I'm just a goob for not knowing that all this time?
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I believe that in standard engagements, retreating in any direction is fine. However if a fleet is trying to escape, then they have to essentially do a blockade run to escape relatively unharmed.
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They only have to go across your side if they are "Retreating". If they are "Attacking" or "Defending" they can just turn around.
I really think this should be changed so ships had to retreat of the other side, having ships spawn in just to turn around is quite stupid and annoying.
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The way I'd like to see it is to mostly keep things the way they are, but if either side chooses the 'attack' option, neither side can retreat off the side of the map from which they deploy.
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Okay, I just read the manual which causes me to wonder why, when you actually want to escape, don't you just use the Defend command and then turn around and flee off your own side? Seems choosing the Escape command is detrimental to your fleet...
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Escape will let you escape the battle entirely if your enemy chooses a defensive pose. So there's no risk of taking damage or having ships captured after the battle is over because the battle never happens.
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Escape will let you escape the battle entirely if your enemy chooses a defensive pose. So there's no risk of taking damage or having ships captured after the battle is over because the battle never happens.
Thing is that the AI rarely has a defensive position unless you're a larger fleet.
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The other advantage of choosing 'retreat' over 'defend' or 'attack' is that any ships of yours that manage to retreat are guaranteed to retreat in their current condition. The other options don't have that guarantee if you don't win the battle (meaning they could be damaged further, or even destroyed).
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I'll go further than that.
If you don't pick retreat, and then lose the battle (even if it's by everyone just leaving off the edge they flew in from) you will -usually- have most of the retreatees heavily damaged, captured or destroyed - the chances go up when you're outnumbered as well, so it's never a good idea if you have a chance at actually winning.
On the other hand, a well played Retreat battle usually lets you pick what you're going to sacrifice as a destraction while all your other stuff legs it.