User Guide

the attacker or defender is destroyed (the exceptions are artillery, p. 100, and
disengage, below). It is entirely possible for the winner of a battle to come out
severely damaged.
STACKED DEFENDERS
If a unit attacks a square containing multiple defending units, the unit with
the highest defense acts as the defender (unless you have designated another
unit in the stack as the defender; see Action Menu, p. 92). If the defender is
defeated, and the square is not a base or bunker square, the rest of the com-
bat units in that square take collateral damage (that is, they each take a cer-
tain amount of damage, determined by the reactor of the attacking unit).
Non-combat units in a stack are destroyed along with the last combat unit in
the square.
DISENGAGEMENT
In combats where the defending unit is faster than the attacker (i.e., the
defender has at least one more movement point than the other), the faster unit
can disengage if the battle is going against it. When a unit disengages, it sim-
ply moves one square away from the attacker. This assumes, of course, that
the square into which the unit is retreating is not blocked by impassable ter-
rain or an enemy zone of control (see Zones of Control, p. 90). A faster
defender automatically disengages when it has received 50% damage.
If the attacker has the ECM Jammer special ability, the defending unit can’t
disengage from combat, even if faster. Also, if the defender attacked in its
immediately preceding turn, it may not disengage under any circumstance.
COMBAT MODIFIERS
In addition to the strength of the units themselves, there are also external fac-
tors that can affect the outcome of combat. These take the form of percent-
age bonuses or penalties to the unit’s base score. For example, if a defending
unit has a normal defensive strength of 20, a +15% bonus would give it an
effective strength of 23.
COLONIZING PLANET
CHAPTER 4
98