Fleet Movement
How do I send ships between systems in Old Light?
Click another owned system on the map and pick Fleet from the action menu to open the send modal. Set how many of each ship type to send. The modal shows the route, distance in light-years, and estimated flight time before you confirm.
Once built, a ship sits at its home system until you send it out. Every trip takes real time, and each ship class travels at its own speed.
Sending
To send ships from one of your systems to another:
Click another of your owned systems on the map. From the action menu, pick Fleet to open the send modal. It will send from your current active system.
In the modal, set how many of each ship type to send.
The modal shows the route, the distance in light-years, and the estimated flight time as you adjust counts, so you can see the cost before you commit. The selection leaves the origin's fleet stack the moment you confirm and only appears at the destination when the trip finishes.
Distance and duration
Travel time is per-tile, not flat. Each ship class has its own speed:
Probe - fastest. Built for scouting.
Marauder - in between.
Sentinel - slowest. Built to hold ground, not chase.
A mixed group travels at the speed of its slowest ship. Sending a probe alongside a sentinel means the probe waits on the sentinel the whole way, so send pure stacks when you want speed.
Distance is the straight hex count between origin and destination, displayed in the modal as light-years (each hex equals 4 light-years).
How far you can send from a system is set by that system's Command Center level, from 80 light-years up to 400 at max level.
Recall
A trip in flight can be recalled. The ships turn around and head back to origin, taking the same time to return as they had already spent outbound. A recall fired one second after launch comes back almost immediately; a recall fired near arrival takes nearly the full outbound duration to undo.
Recalled ships rejoin the origin stack.
Seeing other fleets
You see the whole galaxy, but not other players' fleet traffic. A trip belongs to its owner and leaves no trail others can pick up, you only ever see your own outbound fleets, plus any hostile fleet inbound to one of your systems (see Recon Missions).
Economy pressure
Ships continue to draw upkeep while in flight. They don't stop costing credits just because they're between systems.
If your treasury runs dry and your net income is negative, every in-flight trip slows down for the rest of its remaining distance. Fix the money problem and the slowdown lifts. Any remaining distance covers at full speed. The effect is dynamic: cross into deficit mid-flight and the trip extends; come back out and it speeds up again.
Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.
Common questions
How is travel time calculated?
Travel time is per-tile, based on distance in light-years. Each class has its own speed: probes are fastest, marauders in between, sentinels slowest. A mixed group moves at the speed of its slowest ship, so send pure stacks when you want speed.
How far can I send my ships?
A system's send range is set by its Command Center level, from 80 light-years at level 1 up to 400 at maximum. The range grows faster at higher levels, and every ship type shares it. Upgrade a system's Command Center to send farther.
Can I recall a fleet in flight?
Yes. A trip in flight can be recalled, and the ships turn around to origin. The return takes the same time already spent outbound, so an early recall comes back almost immediately while one fired near arrival takes nearly the full duration.
Can other players see my fleet moving?
Moves between your own systems stay private. But send a hostile fleet at another player and they see it coming: an incoming line pointing back to your origin, with the arrival time shown. The ship types and counts stay hidden until it lands.
