Combat
How does combat work in Old Light?
When your fleet reaches another player's system with combat ships, a battle resolves between your stack and whatever is parked there. Both numbers and ship choice decide it: bring more ships than the defender, and attack with marauders rather than sentinels.
When your fleet arrives at another player's system with non-probe ships, a battle plays out between your stack and what's parked there.
How to win
Bring more ships, and bring the right kind. Mass advantage compounds. A roughly even fight grinds both sides down, and even a 2-to-1 edge still leaves the smaller side standing while you pay real losses. Bring a bit more than 2-to-1 or steeper and your fleet presses a second wave that tends to wipe the smaller side cleanly.
Ship choice matters as much as numbers. Marauders hit hard but bruise easily, so they're the right pick for attacks. Sentinels hit softly but absorb a lot of damage, so they're best left at home as defenders. A Sentinel-led attack on a defended system is wasted palladium.
Attackers go after the toughest ships first, the Sentinels holding the system. Stuffing a garrison with cheap, fragile ships won't shield them. Soft ships draw almost no fire, so they live while the sentinels take the hits. Defend with sentinels, not with numbers.
Outcomes are never fully deterministic and even decisive fights have some random spread.
Probes
Probes behave differently depending on the side.
Attacking: probes don't fight. They tag along, sit out the main battle, and always fly home. Even if your whole combat escort is wiped.
Defending: probes stay in the fight, but attackers ignore them to focus the sentinels, so they don't shield anything. Treat probes as recon, not as defensive padding.
Credit deficit
If your treasury is empty, your ships fight at reduced effectiveness, so they hit less hard AND less often. A broke side also loses its second wave: bring a 3-to-1 advantage with an empty treasury and the battle stops after one exchange. Keep income from Trade Hubs ahead of fleet upkeep before you commit to a fight.
When a much larger empire attacks a much smaller one, the attacker also fights at reduced strength, see Morale.
Rewards
Surviving attacker ships carry palladium and iridium home from the defender's stockpile, capped by your fleet's cargo capacity. Marauders have the largest hold, so a raiding fleet wants them for the loot as much as the offense.
After the battle
Surviving defenders stay parked. Surviving attackers immediately turn around and fly home, carrying any plundered loot.
Never tell me the odds.
Common questions
How much bigger does my fleet need to be to win?
A roughly even fight grinds both sides down, and even 2-to-1 leaves the smaller side standing. Bring a bit past 2-to-1 or steeper and your fleet presses a second wave that tends to wipe the smaller side cleanly.
Should I attack with marauders or sentinels?
Attack with marauders: they hit hard and carry the most loot home. Sentinels hit softly but soak damage, so they belong at home defending. A sentinel-led attack is wasted iridium.
Do probes fight in a battle?
Attacking probes sit out the battle and always fly home. Defending probes stay in but attackers ignore them to focus the sentinels, so they screen nothing. Probes are recon, not defensive padding.
