About Fleets and Movement


 Fleets come in two varieties, Infinity, and Pi fleets.  Infinity Fleets
can move 3 hex's per turn and Pi fleets can move 2 hex's per turn.
An infinity fleet can travel close to the speed of light
since one hex is considered approximately 3 light years accross, and one
turn is is ten years of game time, fleets and resourses, don't
normally cross quadrant borders.   However if all players agree, optional
rules allowing fleet quadrant boundary crossing is not unheard of,
and  oftentimes makes the game more interesting.  Arti and autoplay
will not cross quadrant boundary lines so if you want to do that you will
need to manually move or set the destination accross the border.


   Due to flexibility considerations,(ie. oops I didn't mean to move there!)
manual Movement will allow you to move a fleet further than the rules allow.
one is expected to use the honor system when moving fleets manually.


 A Military Infinity may carry either one military pi or 2 developer pis in
it's cargo bay without impeding it's movement. In the Fleet Info option of
View Quadrants you will find a percentage for groups. If this number is
less than or equal to 100%, or it shows the infinity symbol, the fleet may
move 3 hexes per turn, and traverse starfalls. if it is greater than 100% or
it shows the Pi symbol than you can only move 2 hexes per turn and may not
traverse a starfall with that fleet, until the extra Pi ships have been
divided out of the fleet.
  Fleets may be divided from and or combined by using Divide or Combine
option under Strategy Room.




   A good way to manage fleets is to make use of the Set Destinations option
in the Strategy Room,  this feature allows you to program a fleets
destination  which will then be acted upon in compliance with movement rules
when you pick Finish Turn.  ( see about autoplay )


  If this is getting confusing allow me to outline the specific
orders used by finish turn or autoplay.


 1: Exp    : These are the activated orders.  By picking Activate Fleet
             from the Fleet Upkeep menu a selected fleet will pick
             destinations, move, explore, combat, develop, and traverse
             starfalls. This algorithm allows for a bit of mean spirited
             starfall exploration, ie. fleets will search for starfalls
             in hexes next to planets.  Later, if the starfall gets destroyed,
             it could take the planet with it. hence it's not a good
             idea to activate fleets in your own quadrants.


 2 : Sentry: These orders are like Exp, however, Fleets will not explore for
             starfalls immediately adjacent to a planet.  These are the default
             orders that all fleets are set to when built.




 3 : Prog  : These are the orders that tells a fleet to go to specific
             locations conduct explorations, traverse starfalls, Combat,
             Develop, etc..  A new Feature allows the player to set multiple
             destinations.  While enroute the fleet will not explore.
             once the fleet reaches the final destination, it will revert
             its orders to Sentry.  This seamlessly allows the player to set
             specific  goals and then they can forget about the fleet until
             a specific need arises again.  This option can be selected
             under Set Destination or Set Multi Destinations,  when either
             option is selected you are prompted to select the fleet and
             prompted for one or 2 locations respectively.


 4 :Reached: This setting is an intermediate state, that recently has taken
             on a greater significance.  This setting can not be directly set.
             You may however notice a programmed fleet having these orders,
             if there is essential work to be done at the location.  This
             setting in effect, makes sure programmed fleets do not skip
             essential work, just because it couldn't find a planet or theres
             other opportunities nearby. You might think, 'that sounds nice,
             good work ethic,  but too vague,' so heres some specifics:
                 'essential work' : System Explorations, Traverse Starfalls.


             now you might think 'wait a minute, what about starfall
             explorations, and combat and development?' :  Not essential,
             the fleet will attempt to do these things of course if possible,
             but if it is unable for some reason to find a starfall or
             develop the planet it will either move on if it has a second
             destination programed, or will be switched back to sentry.
             This is not such a problem as it may sound, since once the fleet
             does finish its orders and it gets switched back to sentry, 
             if there is still nonessential work yet to be done, it can
             return at that time.  This in effect allows the player to
             take care of critical system explorations, or program a starfall
             traversal, with a final destination in the exit quadrant.
             similarly this allows for programed hit and run tactics into
             enemy territory, while remaining reasonably confidant the fleet
             will return to safe space, without further intervention.


 5:Standby : These orders keep the fleet at that location.
             A fleet will explore combat and develop, but will not move
             from that location.  Programmed fleets No longer automatically
             switch to standby upon arrival at the designated location.
             if you really want this option, a Fleet can be set to standby
             by selecting Deactivate Fleets.




Things to keep in mind:  
 
  
If you would like to have your fleet do something special,
you may always do it manually before you select finish turn or auto-play.
Also you may interrupt the Auto-play as well as finish turn, by hitting
'q' or the right mouse button.    Fleets with orders
of 'Sentry' and or 'Exp' will also traverse StarFalls on their own..