Fleet mechanics: ships and movement

Purpose: AI-readable reference for Structs fleet system. Status, movement, Command Ship rules.

Fleet Status

Status	Can Build on Planets	Can Raid
onStation	Yes	No
away	No	Yes

Fleet ID Mapping

fleetId = "9-{index}"

Fleet index matches player index: player 1-N has fleet 9-N.

Player ID	Fleet ID
1-11	9-11
1-18	9-18

Command Ship

Rule	Description
Limit	1 per player
Planet building	Required online
Home defense	Defends the home planet’s shields only while the fleet is on station — an off-station fleet leaves the planet’s shields vulnerable
Raids	Fleet away; raider’s player online
Grant	Gifted at player creation

Operations by Fleet Status

Operation	onStation	away
Build on planet	✓	✗
Build in fleet	✓	✓
Raid planet	✗	✓
Mine/refine on planet	✓	✗
Explore new planet (existing players)	✓	✗
Explore first planet (no current planet yet)	n/a	n/a

For an existing planet owner, planet-explore requires the fleet to be onStation at the current planet. Brand-new players exploring for the first time skip this check.

Trade-off: an away fleet is what lets you raid, but while it is away the Command Ship is not defending home — your own planet’s shields are vulnerable until the fleet returns. You cannot simultaneously raid with your fleet and keep your home shields up.

Fleet Movement

Fleet movement is instant — a single transaction with no transit time. The fleet’s location updates immediately.
Fleet moves with player between planets
Exploration: new planet created, fleet moves to new planet, old planet released
One planet ownership at a time
Planet completion: When a planet’s ore depletes, all fleets are automatically sent away (peace deal)
Fleet movement validation does not block moves based on fleet-away state
Visiting a foreign planet consumes a raid-queue slot. Capacity is 1 + locationListExtra (default extra 0 → one visitor). The owner’s home fleet does not count. A move onto a full foreign planet is rejected (queue_full).

Fleet Return Conditions

Fleets stay “away” until one of these triggers:

Explicit move — The player issues fleet-move to return home
Command Ship destroyed — If the fleet’s Command Ship is destroyed, the fleet auto-returns
Planet completed — If the defending planet’s owner depletes all ore and explores a new planet, visiting fleets are sent away
Queue overflow — Fleets beyond 1 + locationListExtra are sent home (the upgrade path that seeded the limit did this; live moves simply reject queue_full)

Fleets do not auto-return on a timer. For raids, you have until one of the above triggers to complete the raid PoW and submit planet-raid-complete.

Command Ship Details

Property	Value
Power requirement	50 W (`PassiveDraw` 50,000 mW)
Location type	Fleet only (locationType = 2)
Initial grant	New players receive a Command Ship at creation (may start offline if insufficient power)
Common mistake	Trying to build Command Ship on planet – must be in fleet