Every die roll in the fighter phase, and every modifier that changes it.
The fighter phase resolves before Round 1 of the normal ship battle, and it has exactly four kinds of die roll. Each one gets its own chart below: the base number you need, then the complete list of modifiers that can move it.
Reading the modifier tables: +1 makes a roll easier (you need one less on the die). −1 makes it harder (you need one more). Modifiers stack.
Anything marked New arrived with the fighter-combat overhaul; Retired marks a rule it replaced. Everything on this page is live in the engine — there is nothing here that a battle you fight today does not use.
Every battle with fighters present plays out in this order, one enemy Strike wave at a time. Waves resolve biggest Strike first.
The core idea New: every Strike fighter has exactly one die rolled against it, and every CAP fighter has exactly one die rolled against it. Extra CAP does not buy extra dice — it stacks up on individual Strike fighters and makes those dice better. Extra Strike fighters beyond the CAP count are simply unopposed: nobody shoots at them, and they don't shoot back either. They fly straight on to the flak.
Your defending CAP fighters shooting at an incoming Strike wave.
| Roll | Number of dice | Base to-hit |
|---|---|---|
| CAP intercept | The smaller of CAP or Strike New | 8+ (30%) |
Each hit destroys exactly one Strike fighter.
Line your CAP up against the Strike fighters, spread as evenly as possible with any remainder going to the front of the line. Each Strike fighter is rolled against once, and every extra CAP stacked on it adds +1 to that die.
So a bigger CAP is still better — but it buys you better dice, not more dice. When CAP is equal to or smaller than the Strike, every duel is one-on-one and nothing is stacked.
| Modifier | Effect | When it applies to CAP fighters |
|---|---|---|
| Pairing bonus New | +1 per extra CAP | Per die. A Strike fighter with 2 CAP fighters on it is rolled at +1, with 3 at +2, and so on. Applies only to the dice that actually have CAP fighters stacked on them. |
| CAP fatigued New | −1 after first wave | Every die roll. The second Strike wave your CAP fighters fight is at −1 — your pilots tire while each incoming wave is fresh. It stops there: the third wave and every wave after it take the same −1, never worse. Counts waves from every attacker, not just one. |
| Advanced Fighter Design — advantage card | +1 | Every die roll, for the empire holding the card. |
| Nebula | −1 | Every die roll, both sides, in any Nebula system. |
| Elite Pilots — a column holding at least one Elite fighter New | +1 | Per column. One Elite is enough — a second in the same column adds nothing, so the engine spreads them across as many columns as it can. Elite fighters come from a Carrier with XP ≥ 25: by then the pilots themselves are exceptional. |
| Veteran crew — the Carrier being attacked has a Veteran crew New | +1 | Every die roll against this Strike wave. Read off the Carrier the Strike is aiming at, not the one that launched the fighters — a veteran flight-control team vectors the defence around its own ship. Veteran means that Carrier has XP ≥ 10. |
| Bridge destroyed — on the Carrier being attacked New | −1 | Every die roll against this Strike wave, and the Veteran bonus above is lost as well — so a Veteran flagship with a wrecked Bridge swings a full 2 points. The Air Boss and flight-control team are dead; the defence is flying blind. Strike fighters are unaffected — they were briefed before they launched. |
| Outnumbering 2:1 — the old CAP odds bonus | removed Retired | CAP fighters no longer get a bonus for outnumbering the Strike. The pairing rule above replaces it. |
A Carrier's Veteran experience level is its crew's experience — the Air Boss and the flight-control team, not the pilots in the cockpits. Elite level is the other way round — that one belongs to the pilots. That is why the two ranks work in completely different ways:
Veteran (XP ≥ 10) belongs to the ship. It is the ability to read an incoming strike and vector the patrol onto it, so it defends the Carrier itself: when a Strike wave comes at a Veteran Carrier, every CAP fighter defending it intercepts at +1 — no matter which Carrier or base those fighters came from. Kill the Bridge and that team is dead, so the bonus is gone and the defence is at −1 instead.
Elite (XP ≥ 25) belongs to the fighters. By then the pilots themselves are exceptional, so the bonus travels with them wherever they fly — it lifts their own duel in a dogfight, and it lifts their attack on ships (Charts 2 and 4), which the Veteran bonus never does.
So the two are read off different ships, and both can apply at once:
| Veteran | Elite | |
|---|---|---|
| Read off | the Carrier being attacked | the Carrier that launched the fighter |
| Applies to | every CAP fighter's die roll against that Strike wave | only the columns holding an Elite fighter |
| Helps Strike? | no — defence only | yes |
| Marked as | a chip under the CAP fighters' dice naming the Carrier | a gold star on the fighter |
Your CAP is a single pool drawn from every launcher you have on the field, so Elites are spread one per column — a second Elite in the same column adds nothing, so they are never wasted doubling up. Starbase and Fighter Base fighters have no experience rating and always count as regular.
In the replay, Elite fighters carry a gold star — the same mark the Carrier chips already use — and the column chip repeats it next to the number it changed. There is no star for Veteran on a fighter, because Veteran isn't something a fighter has; it shows as a chip under the CAP fighters' dice — "+1 to die roll: Veteran crew" — naming the Carrier being defended.
Wave after wave is how you break a CAP screen. On the first wave the defender's CAP has the edge in almost every matchup. The only way an attacker turns the dogfight around is sustained pressure — from the second wave on, the defending CAP is fatigued and fights at −1.
Your Strike fighters shooting back at the CAP screen, in the same instant the CAP fires at them.
| Roll | Number of dice | Base to-hit |
|---|---|---|
| Strike return fire | The smaller of Strike or CAP New | 9+ (20%) |
Each hit destroys exactly one CAP fighter. Strike fighters are one pip worse than CAP because they are the ones flying into a defensive screen.
No stacking on this side New. Surplus Strike fighters do not gang up the way surplus CAP does. 5 Strike against 3 CAP rolls 3 dice, period. The reason is the fiction: the CAP is the side that gets worn down over a battle, while each Strike wave arrives fresh and fights exactly one dogfight before it is done.
| Modifier | Effect | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Outnumbers CAP 2:1 | +1 | Every Strike die in the wave, when that wave has at least twice as many fighters as the CAP still flying. New It caps at +1 — 3:1 and 10:1 are worth the same as 2:1 — and it is re-checked for each wave against the CAP that is actually left at that moment. |
| Elite Pilots — Elite Carrier (XP ≥ 25) | +1 | The dice of fighters launched by that Carrier. Elite is pilot skill, so it travels with the fighter wherever it flies. |
| Veteran crew — Veteran Carrier (XP ≥ 10) | no effect | Veteran is the Carrier crew's skill at defending its own ship, so it never reaches a Strike wave — the wave was briefed before it launched and is somewhere else entirely. A Veteran Carrier still gets faster repair and rearm plus +2 hull. |
| Advanced Fighter Design — advantage card | +1 | Every Strike die, for the empire holding the card. |
| Nebula | −1 | Every Strike die, both sides, in any Nebula system. |
| CAP fatigued | no effect | That penalty belongs to the tiring CAP pilots only. It never touches Strike dice. |
Defending ships throwing up anti-fighter fire at a Strike wave that got through the dogfight. Each hit destroys one Strike fighter.
| Ship | Flak to-hit | Class |
|---|---|---|
| Carrier (CV), Starbase | 4+ (70%) | Heavy dedicated mount |
| Cruiser (CR) | 8+ (30%) | Point-defense suite |
| Destroyer (DD), Nova (N), Missile Ship (Mi), Defense Satellite (DS) | 9+ (20%) | Incidental flak |
| Freighter (Fr) | 10 (10%) | Desperation fire |
A Fighter Base has no flak guns of its own — it defends by launching fighters.
Who fires depends on what the Strike is aiming at:
| Target of the strike | Who fires | Shots |
|---|---|---|
| A screen group Cruisers, Destroyers, Missile Ships, Novas, Defense Satellites |
Only the targeted group defends itself — you are attacking the screen head-on, so nothing screens the screen. | Smallest of: incoming fighters, group size, 5 |
| A Carrier or Starbase | The target fires its own gun, plus up to 4 escorts with the best flak (Cruisers, Destroyers, Novas, Missile Ships). Other Carriers and Starbases never screen — they are the thing being protected. Defense Satellites never escort. | Up to 5 |
| Freighters | Escorts fire first, best flak first. The Freighters themselves only fire if the escort can't fill all 5 slots. | Up to 5 |
| Modifier | Effect | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Firing at more than one wave | −1 | When 2 or more Strike waves from the same attacker come at the same target, the gunners are degraded against every wave — including the first, not just the later ones. |
| Out of Ion-9 supply | −1 | Every flak die from that empire. Starbases and Defense Satellites are not exempt here — their supply exemption covers anti-ship fire only. |
| Nebula | −1 | Every flak die, both sides. |
| Flak guns destroyed — critical hit on a Carrier | no die at all | A Carrier whose flak guns have been knocked out by a critical hit keeps its slot in the firing order but throws nothing. The guns come back only when the hull is fully repaired. |
| Elite Pilots / Advanced Fighter Design | no effect | Both are pilot bonuses. Flak crews are gunners, not pilots — neither card touches a flak die. |
| Conqueror's Crown | no effect | Anti-ship fire only. It was removed from flak because it made massed escorts far too strong. |
The fighters that survived both the dogfight and the flak now attack their target.
| Roll | Number of dice | Base to-hit |
|---|---|---|
| Strike attack on ships | One per surviving fighter | 6+ (50%) |
Every fighter that hits rolls a second die for damage:
| Damage die | Damage dealt | |
|---|---|---|
| 1–6 | 1 HP | ordinary hit |
| 7–8 | 2 HP | critical |
| 9 | 3 HP | critical |
| 10 | 4 HP | critical |
Two things can improve that damage die, and they work differently:
| Source | Effect | Can it reach 4 HP? |
|---|---|---|
| Advanced Fighter Design — advantage card | +1 tier | No. 4 HP still needs a true, unmodified 10 — the card widens the 2 and 3 HP bands instead. |
| Elite Pilots — Elite Carrier (XP ≥ 25) New | +1 to the die | Yes. A true die bonus — a 9 becomes a 10, so an Elite wing lands 4 HP criticals twice as often. |
They stack. Chance of each damage result per hit:
| Wing | 1 HP | 2 HP | 3 HP | 4 HP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular | 60% | 20% | 10% | 10% |
| With the card | 50% | 20% | 20% | 10% |
| Elite | 50% | 20% | 10% | 20% |
| Elite + card | 40% | 20% | 20% | 20% |
Critical damage is capped at the target's maximum HP — a crit can never spill onto a second ship. A heavy critical on a Carrier can also destroy Fighter Squadrons caught aboard (grounded squadrons and CAP cycling through the deck are at risk; squadrons already away on a strike are not).
A Carrier is tracked as nine named sections. A critical hit it survives can tear one open — picked at random, never the same one twice, and never on the killing blow (at that point the whole ship is the wreck). How reliably it gets through to something vital depends on how hard the hit was:
| Critical | Wrecks a section? |
|---|---|
| 2 HP | About half the time — the rest of the hit spends itself on hull plate and empty corridors |
| 3 HP | Always |
| 4 HP | Always |
So the heavy criticals are the ones that cripple a Carrier, not just the ones that hurt it.
| Section wrecked | What it costs |
|---|---|
| Flak Guns | Throws no flak. It keeps its slot in the firing order, so the defence simply throws one fewer die — and it was the best one. |
| Bridge | Every CAP fighter defending this Carrier is at −1, and a Veteran crew's coordination bonus is lost outright. Strike is unaffected. |
| One Weapon Array | Its standard Round 1 / Round 2 gun fires at 5+ instead of 3+. |
| Both Weapon Arrays | No standard weapons at all. |
| Landing Bay / Launch Tubes | Each of the three costs a third of maximum flight operations. All three — it launches nothing. |
| Engine Pods | No combat effect. |
Wrecked sections bite immediately — Flak Guns lost to the first wave are silent for the second, and a wrecked Weapon Array spoils that same battle's Round 1. They are permanent until the hull is fully repaired: every section comes back at once when the Carrier reaches maximum HP, and not before.
Surviving Strike fighters that weren't "used up" destroying ships still distract the survivors they attacked. Each distracted ship is locked out of firing in Round 1 — which is often worth more than the damage itself.
On every roll in the game — fighter, flak, or ship — a rolled 1 is a miss, no matter how many bonuses you have stacked. There is no such thing as an automatic hit on a 1.
On every roll in the fighter phase — CAP, Strike return fire, flak, and the strike on ships — a rolled 10 always hits, no matter how many penalties have piled up. A fighter-phase die is therefore never shown as needing better than 10, or better than 2: if the modifiers would push the number past either end, it stops there.
This covers the whole fighter phase no matter whose fighters they are — the replay labels each attacker's waves with its own letter (Round A, Round B and so on), but they are all the same phase. It does not extend to ordinary ship fire in Rounds 1 and 2, or to fighters firing during an ambush — those use the natural-1 rule alone, and there enough penalties really can make a shot impossible.
All the modifiers that apply to a roll are added together before the die is thrown. The number shown in the battle replay is always the final number you needed, with every modifier already applied — and the chips beneath the dice explain how it got there. Where a modifier only touched some of the dice (the pairing bonus, for instance), the chip says so: "+1 to die roll: 2-on-1 (×2 dice)".
An Ion Nebula is not the same as an ordinary Nebula. No fighters launch there at all — there is no fighter phase to modify.
A Carrier under a move order can't launch that turn. Fighters only launch when your empire is actually in the fight. And a Carrier that is out of Ion-9 supply launches only half its wing — Starbases and Fighter Bases are exempt from that halving.