RETURN TO SWITCHBOARD                   6A. Ship Missions              
Return to Ships Sub-Menu   6B. Primary Enemy  
1. Introduction to VGA Planets   7. Minefields Sub-Menu   6C. Fix/Recycle Ships  
2. Race Information Sub-Menu   8. Combat Sub-Menu   6D. Cargo  
3. Friendly Codes Sub-Menu   9. Ion Storm Sub-Menu   6E. Movement  
4. Planet Information Sub-Menu   10. Misc. Information Sub-Menu   6F. Ship Combat  
5. Starbase Information Sub-Menu   11. Strategy and Strategy Guides   6G. Ship Hull List  
6. Ship Information Sub-Menu   12. Add-on Information   6H. Ship Hulls by Race  
  6I. Special Abilities and FCs  
  6J. Ship Hulls by Hull and Race  
SHIP COMBAT:  
  General Rules of Ship Combat:  
  Combat takes place one Ship at a time.  
  Ships always fight before Planets/Starbases.  
  Weapon damage is measure two ways: Killing Power and Explosive Power.  
  Killing Power is a measure of how many Crew members are killed.   
  Explosive Power is a measure of how much damage is done to a Ship's Shields and Armor/Hull.  
  All ships have an attack order:  
  They will fight in an order that depends on three things: the Mission, the Primary Enemy and the Friendly Code.  
  The Friendly Code can give an attack value from 1 to 999. (1 being the lowest)  Letters have higher values than numbers.  
  If the Ship's Friendly Code is a numeric value, such as 233, then that is the attack value. If the Friendly Code begins with a letter
  then the attack value is 1000. If the Friendly Code begins with a number and has a letter in position two or three, then the 
  beginning number is the attack order value. (FC of 16j has an attack value of 16).  
  Lower attack orders combat first.  
  Ships set to the Kill Mission will combat first, in attack value order, lowest to highest.   
  If two of your Ships have the same attack value, then the Ship with the lowest ID number will combat first.  
  Ships with a Primary Enemy set will combat after all Ships set to the Kill Mission. They will combat in attack value order  
  from lowest to highest.  
  Ships that are not set to the Kill Mission and don't have a Primary Enemy set will combat in an order based on the Friendly Code attack values.
  Matching Friendly Codes override both the Primary Enemy and the Kill Mission.  
  If a Ship does not use the Kill Mission, and has no Primary Enemy set, then its effective battle order is increased by 15 points. (1015 for non numeric FCs)
  The Kill mission reduces this by 10 points and Primary Enemy set reduces this by 5 points  
  Ships with matching Friendly Codes will not fight, except for the following situation:  
  If two enemy Ships both use the "NTP" Friendly Code they will still do combat.  
  The Add-on Killing Floor allows for group combat (fleet combat) where all Ships present do combat at one time.  
  This overrides the one on one combat that is native to VGA Planets. However, Friendly Codes still play a part in how   
  the Ships take part in combat.  
  Left and Right Sides of Ship Combat:  
  A player's Ships will enter the combat screen either on the left or right side of the screen. This is determined by Battle Order  
  Ships with a lower Battle Order get the right side.  
  Ideally, a player with a Carrier wants to be on the left side. The left side wins approximately 60% of the time in Carrier vs Carrier battles.
  Ideally, a player with a Torpedo Ship wants to be on the right side. The right side Torp Ship that weighs less than 140 KT gets  
  a 60% chance of getting a 360 KT bonus for the battle.  
  Combat Laws and Rules:  
  The more Massive a Ship is, the stronger its Shields are.  
  The strength of a Ship's Shields and Armor is determined by the Ship's Hull Mass only. Mass from fuel, Cargo,  
  Weapons, and Engines do not count towards Shield and Armor strength.  
  Ship Shield strength is carried over from the last battle during the same turn.  
  The amount of damage done to a Ship decreases as the Mass of the Ship's Hull increases.  
  Fighters are launched first, Torpedoes are armed second, and Beam Weapons fire third.  
  Beam Weapon banks with more than 60% energy will fire at enemy Fighters.  
  When a Ship's Crew is dead, the Ship is captured if it is fighting an enemy Ship. Planets can not capture Ships.   
  Ships will continue to fight the Planet until it explodes.  
  Fighters tend to do more damage to larger Ships than do Torpedoes.  
  Fighers fire 7 times each before returning to their Carrier to be refueled.  
  If target Ship's Mass is 320 KT or more, the drain on shields/damage done by one hit from a Fighter is 1%  
  If target Ship's Mass is less than 320 KT, the drain on shields/damage done by one hit from a Fighter is 2%  
  If target Ship's Mass is less than 106 KT, the drain on shields/damage done by one hit from a Fighter is 3%  
  If target Ship's Mass is less than 63 KT, the drain on shields/damage done by one hit from a Fighter is 4%  
  Torpedoes and Beam Weapons tend to do more damage to smaller Ships than do Fighters.  
  Torpedoes have a 65% chance of hitting and a 35% chance of missing.  
  Ships with matching Friendly Codes will not fight, except for the NTP Friendly Code. A Ship may disable its  
  Torpedo Tubes or its Fighter Bays by using the NTP Friendly Code. So if two Ships, both set to the   
  NTP Friendly Code, fight, they will fight with Beam Weapons only.  
  Matching Friendly Codes override both the Primary Enemy and the Kill Mission.  
  Ships without fuel cannot attack enemy Ships.  
  Ships without fuel cannot be attacked by enemy Ships.  
  The Planetary Friendly Code ATT will cause a Planet to attack any enemy Ship in orbit, if that Ship has fuel.  
  The Planetary Friendly Code NUK will cause a Planet to attack any enemy Ship in orbit, regardless of fuel.  
  A cloaked Ship may attack a Ship belonging to its Primary Enemy.  
  Ship to Ship Math:  
  The percentage of energy lost from a Shield hit by enemy fire is this:  
  Loss% = Tetawatts * (80/(HullMass+1))  
  The percentage of damage done to a Ship's Hull hit by enemy fire is this:  
  Damage% = Tetawatts(E) * SQR[(80/(HullMass+1))]  
  The number of Crew killed by enemy fire is this:  
  Killed% = Tatawatts(K) * [(80/(HullMass+1))]  
  A damaged Ship will losse some of its weapons and Shields until it is repaired:  
  ShieldStrength = 100 - (ShipDamage)  
  MaxBeams = 10 - (ShipDamage/10)  
  MaxFighterBays = 10 - (ShipDamage/10)  
  MasTorpTubes = 10 - (ShipDamage/10)  
  A damaged Ship may not attain maximum warp speed until it is repaired:  
  MaxWarpSpeed = 10 - (ShipDamage/10)  
  MaxRace2(Lizard)WarpSpeed = 14 - (ShipDamage/11)  
  Engine Tech Sheild Bonus:  
  This is an Hconfig setting. If it is set to YES, then Shields will get a bonus based on the Megacredit  
  cost of the Engines on that Ship.  
  Example: A Ship with Transwarp Drive Engines (it doesn't matter how many) will get a 300 KT Mass  
  bonus in combat.  
  This setting has no other effect, except to make the Ship stronger, defensively, in combat.