Every carrier can be beaten: hull points, disabled carriers and the siege of Bangkok
Published
In short: every carrier now has hull points, and one rule for what happens at zero. Bangkok has a civilian defender and a Hive siege that fight on with no end. Point defence never runs dry and mends itself, rearming is free, and flares are gone.
Every carrier can be beaten
Until now only your carrier could be worn down. Now every carrier has hull points: yours 80,000 at Mk3, a Hive carrier 20,000 at Mk1, a civilian one 10,000 at Mk0.
At zero a carrier is disabled, and the rule is the same whoever owns it. It still flies at full speed, changes height band and burns (not on Low), launches and docks. It can’t jump, its hangar repairs, rearms and rebuilds nothing, its point defence doesn’t mend, and it can’t be shot further. In short, it can pack up and leave. A friendly town repairs it once it is in the town’s core and out of combat.
Towns have zones
Every town now has three zones, up to 8 km high: its core, sovereign airspace 4 km beyond it, and an identification zone 12 km beyond it. A hostile entering sovereign airspace puts the town under raid; the raid is over once the identification zone is clear. More: a town’s zones.
The siege of Bangkok
A civilian carrier patrols inside Bangkok’s core with three squadrons. When hostile fighters come into the city’s zones it goes on alert, and its squadrons go out to meet them. Once the zone is clear they are called back, and hurt squadrons dock, refit and go out again at full strength.
Against it, a Hive carrier with five squadrons lands 5 km outside the identification zone. Its squadrons fight for the city’s air, and once the air is clear they patrol over the core. If the Hive carrier is disabled, it calls its squadrons in, flies home to be repaired and comes back.
Neither side runs out of ore, so the fight goes on. More: raids and sieges.
Smaller changes
- Point defence never runs out of rounds. Once no hostile is near, a hurt turret mends to full in 120 seconds, and a knocked-out one comes back after 120 seconds.
- Rearming is free. Docked craft reload rounds and missiles in time, with no ore. Repairs and rebuilding lost jets still cost ore.
- Flares are gone, and missiles have lost their seeker bonus. A missile now hits by the same roll as a gun. More: dogfights.
- Contact states (clear, contact, engaged) now apply to every faction’s ships, not only yours. More: contact states.
- Civilian ships can be clicked for their details, but not commanded.
Numbers are placeholders.