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Takeover & raiding

Take an outpost by force (takeover) or steal its stockpile without taking it (raid). Either way, a ground battle decides.

Takeover & raiding

There are two ways to act against an outpost by force: the takeover ("Claim" mission), which seizes control and opens a contest window, and raiding ("Attack" mission), which steals a share of the stockpile without taking control. In both cases the fleet only brings a landing force: the fight is a ground battle (combat populations + military equipment), never a space battle.

The landing force

You explicitly choose the subset of the fleet's cargo committed on the ground: military populations and military equipment. The rest of the fleet is not risked in the ground battle.

A takeover, like a raid, requires at least one genuine ground-combat population in the landing force — a force made up only of Doctors is refused at launch.

Combat populations: population.types.SOLDIER.name, population.types.COMMANDO.name, population.types.SNIPER.name.

Military equipment carried in the landing force does take part in the ground battle, just like populations, and counts toward the balance of power.

Wild outpost

Uncontrolled: the fight against the wild garrison happens immediately when the fleet arrives, with no contest window. The wild garrison is scaled on the site's Stellar Core and artifact bonuses.

Controlled outpost

The outpost goes "contested", the holder and their alliance are notified immediately, and a 6 h contest window opens.

The contest window

During the 6 h following a takeover on a controlled outpost:

  • •Full exclusivity: no third party can interact with the outpost — no competing claim, no opportunistic raid, no reinforcement from an ally of the holder.
  • •Each side can reinforce its own force: the challenger with new landing waves, the holder with military cargo transfers into its garrison.
  • •Both sides see a broad estimate (a range) of the power balance, never the exact figures.
  • •Caps: 3 controlled outposts per player, only 1 active takeover at a time per player.

Reinforcing an ongoing takeover

As long as the contest is unresolved (up to 6 h), the challenger can send extra waves with the "Reinforce takeover" mission aimed at the contested outpost. Each wave's landing force is added to the one already committed on the ground.

  • •Challenger of the ongoing takeover only: from the map, target the contested outpost with a fleet and "Reinforce takeover" replaces "Claim / Attack / Spy".
  • •Same landing-force rules as the takeover: explicit selection of military populations and equipment, at least one actual combat unit.
  • •Only flight time matters: a wave that lands after resolution (holder repelled the assault, or the {{hours}} h elapsed) has no effect and the cargo stays on board.
  • •The holder is notified on every enemy reinforcement and can trigger "Repel the assault now" to freeze the power balance before the challenger piles on more.

Resolution

The holder triggers it

"Repel the assault now" button: the holder freezes the power balance when they judge it favorable, without waiting for the 6 h to elapse.

Automatic resolution

Otherwise, the fight resolves on its own at the end of the 6 h window. There is no "concede" option: a holder who doesn't want to fight can only bring their populations and stockpile home before the deadline.

A single ground battle

Resolved by the game's ground-combat model. Defense = the garrison's combat populations + deployed military equipment, all multiplied by the Bastion (infrastructure). Assault = the challenger's landing force + reinforcements. The outpost's stockpile is the lootable stake.

Consequences

The challenger wins

  • •They become the controller; the garrison is made up of the survivors of their assault.
  • •Each infrastructure loses 1 to 2 levels.
  • •The stockpile is reset to zero: a fraction counts as loot in the report, the rest is lost.
  • •The outpost enters a GLOBAL 72 h protection; the former occupant's individual penalties are cleared.

The challenger fails

  • •Their landing force is destroyed or put to flight; the holder also takes losses but keeps the outpost.
  • •The challenger gets a 24 h individual penalty on this outpost; a short 2 h global protection window applies on top.

Protection windows

After a resolution, several locks apply depending on the outcome:

72 h — global

After a successful takeover: nobody can claim or raid the outpost.

24 h — individual

After a failed takeover against a real holder: only the challenger who failed is locked out of this outpost. A legitimate third party can retry.

2 h — global

After a failed takeover: a short global window, all challengers combined, that prevents an immediate retry.

None on a wild outpost

A still-free outpost cannot be locked by a failure: no global window, no individual penalty.

Observation and espionage remain possible during all of these windows.

Raiding

A raid reuses the attack mission, aimed at an outpost: you steal stockpile without ever taking control. The controller is notified at launch and can send military reinforcements. Their only reaction window is the raider's flight time: no delay is added on arrival. A single ground battle happens on arrival, using the same model as a takeover (garrison + military equipment × Bastion).

The raider wins

They leave with 15% of each line of the stockpile (resources and items), within their remaining cargo capacity. Both sides take combat losses.

The raider fails

Their landing force is destroyed or put to flight; the outpost's stockpile is untouched.

  • •The raider must commit at least one combat unit in their landing force (like a takeover). Conversely, an outpost with no combat garrison is raided with no real resistance: military equipment alone is not enough.
  • •Whatever the result: no infrastructure damaged, no change of control.
  • •Refused if the outpost is contested or under a protection window. Same attack rules as a takeover (except vacation mode); the hostile action is logged at resolution.

Attack rules & vacation mode

  • •A takeover, like a raid, is governed like a normal ground attack: weak-player protection, non-aggression and alliance pacts apply in the Frontier as elsewhere.
  • •It consumes your attack counters (per planet and per player) and breaks your own protection. For a takeover the hostile action is logged at declaration; for a raid, at resolution.
  • •The only exception: vacation mode does NOT protect an outpost. An outpost held by a player on vacation can still be claimed and raided.

The combat report

The resolution of a takeover or a raid produces a detailed report for both sides: the attacker's landing force, the defending garrison and its Bastion multiplier, each side's losses, the estimated power ratio and the loot taken.