Space battle

When fleets from opposing Empires meet at a system, the acting player has the opportunity to start a space battle by selecting one of the fleets at the system where they have met. The defending player is then prompted to select a defending fleet.

Both players can chose between an automatic (instant resolution) or manual battle. The automatic battle computes the outcome from the ships statistics of the opposing fleets.

The manual battle is a special game mode. The opposing fleets are presented in a 3D view near the system center planet of the system. The battle is broken into battle phases where each player plays one or more actions (up to three) to attack the enemy, defend his fleet, or apply modifiers to the battle.

The battle ends when one of the fleets is destroyed or retreats, or if there is no conclusive winner at the end of the combat phases. If both fleets survive a space battle, the fight can resume at the next galactic turn.

More details will be available in the Space Battle thread.