What the heck happened???

[KomodoKiller]

So I started playing a few days ago...
I finally rounded up a decent fleet of 20 atlas and 6 Artemis so I can attack (Ni) players... Now for the weird thing that happened. I attacked a player that had 3 colony bases. One base worked out perfectly where I raided my full cargo capacity without incident. Now, when I sent another attack at another one of those colonies. Now, for some reason all my Atlas's and Artemis's disappeared? I can't find the combat report that shows something killing my ships??? Please help me understand. My guess is there is some fundamental crap I'm missing here...

[Zarchne]

Wiped out in one round by the defense that you didn't see because you didn't esp with enough probes?

[lazoputz]

Ya, thats most likely the explanation. You dont get a battlereport if you go down in the first round.

[KomodoKiller]

So the debris is what clued me in on what had happened, from my not so extensive experience and limiting my game play to an iPhone, finally come to realize if you don't get a huge list of ESP intel from the drones you've sent it means two things.
1) there ESP is so high that the only thing I can "see" is the resources (at best)
2) you didn't send enough drones... (I haven't read this yet but im thinking that sending more then enough drones at colonies is only bad for the drones
Had another question to tag on here.
So from my understanding, your allowed to attack the same planet up to 6 times a day? So you could technically speaking, if said person happened to have all his planets in the same solar system you, by the rules would be allowed to attack all 9 colony's 6 times for a total of 54 attacks?

[lazoputz]

You have the general gist of it. If you send more drones, you will get more target information, while that may be bad for the drones if you lose them, it is by far, cheaper than losing your attack due to lack of intel on the target.
Each target planet may be attacked up to 6 times per 24 hour period, by each player. So if you and a buddy attack individually at a target, you could jointly attack 12 times. If you attack WITH each other ( a GA, or group attack) you are limited to 6 hits per planet.
Hope you are enjoying the game thus far (which uni are you in?). And feel free to post as many questions here as you wish. There are a number of "old-timers" more than willing to help; and remember, there are no stupid questions. The game is far more complex that what it seems on the surface.

[lazoputz]

BTW, once you have hit a target the maximum 6 times, it will be "greyed out" for you. Thus preventing you from sending more than the permissible attacks. No need to keep track. Also, missile strikes against a target do NOT count towards your attack count. Just be careful to not launch any IBMs against a target that has no defenses. That would be a rule breaker, and you could be subject to a harassment suspension. This is to prevent you from loading your opponents fleet screen with incoming attack alerts and may prevent him from seeing your actual attack.

[KomodoKiller]

Thank you for the intel very insightful
I've been playing in SFCN now for 4ish days and I just love the mechanics and the whole environment. Made my first expansion colony! I've read almost the whole wiki... And at least 4 strat guides. Also just started on SFCHG today because its only just opened and it's really interesting getting alien technology and the means to build and capture ships reminds me so much of "The Borg", I just had to give it a shot ^_^

I'm still so pissed from losing those Atlas's in such a noob move... Lol I guess it's practice for fleet saving which would really piss me off down the road haha

[Zarchne]

A couple of fine points on how attacks are counted toward the six-attack-per-planet limit:

1) the game doesn't count attacks where you lose in the first round and don't get (much of) a battle report against the limit, but... it can still be considered bashing/harassment if you do it a bunch of times intentionally (one person got suspended one time in Nova for multiple probe attacks on a player who mostly just had Space Mines with their ships).

2) It can sometimes be advantageous to group attack with oneself (so that the faster ships come back sooner, for instance).  In that case, each fleet of your in the group attack counts as a separate attack against the six-attack limit.

[KomodoKiller]

2,749 BP in 4 days yay!

Is 150 probes a bit much? i think not!

[Grace]

2,749 BP in 4 days yay!

Is 150 probes a bit much? i think not!

There is usually no problem with asking a more established player around you to probe an inactive for you. I don't mind doing this if anyone asks and will often share with them the locations of cleared NPCs because I know they are looking out for raids.