The term “fleetsaving” refers to techniques uses to “save” your fleet from attack by sending it on a mission. A related term, “resource-saving” is sometimes used to refer to saving resources on a planet from being raided by loading them onto a fleet and then sending the fleet on a mission. In general usage, the term “fleetsaving” refers to both.
To understand why fleetsaving is effective, remember that ships in flight cannot be attacked. Ships can only be attacked when they are in a stationary orbit around a planet or a moon (often called “sitting on the ground”, though ships never actually land, but remain in orbit). Therefore, if you are under attack, sending your fleet of ships on a mission before the attack hits will save them from destruction. Any resources loaded onto these ships will likewise be safe from attack. To protect your fleet, always follow this rule: never leave your fleet on the ground if you are away from the game. An attack can arrive in minutes if launched from within your own solar system. It is a good idea to become familiar with average minimum flight times in your game universe. The mantra of all successful players is: Fleetsave, Fleetsave, Fleetsave!
One of the most important aspects of a good fleetsave is the time it takes for the fleet to complete the mission. A Fleetsave mission can be a short flight of a few minutes, an overnight mission, or a long mission that lasts many days. Successful fleetsaving techniques require that the player be online before the fleetsaving mission ends. Otherwise, the fleet will return and be “sitting”, vulnerable to attack. A player must try to select a total flight time that allows the fleet to stay in the air until he returns to the game.
You can control the length of a fleetsave mission (or any mission) in two ways:
Hint: The Send Fleet screen will provide you with the ONE-WAY flight time of a mission prior to launching (for two-way missions, double this figure). The Flying Fleet Detail screen will show you the status of all your fleets in the air, including arrival and return times, and allows you to recall outbound fleets.
Travel from point A to point B (unless the fleet is recalled before reaching its destination). During this travel time, the fleet is safe from attack.
Travel from point A to point B, then back to point A, and so have an outbound leg – the time to travel to their destination, and a return leg - the time to return to their point of origin. Adding the length of these two legs gives the total time that a fleet will spend “flying”, safe from attacks. Two-way missions have the advantage of having your fleet return to the point of origin, which you may find convenient.
Hint: one exception to timing a two-way mission is the Hold Position mission, which has a hold time that must also be added to the outbound and inbound flight times for total mission length. If the hold time is set to zero seconds, total mission time is unaffected.
For example, say you’re going to sleep and will wake up in 10 hours, and you want to fleetsave. You select a target for your 2-way (round-trip) Fleetsave mission, and note that at 100% speed, the flight time is 3 hours each way; your fleet will return in 6 hours; therefore, it will be “sitting” on your planet for 4 hours, leaving plenty of time for someone to spy on it, launch an attack and crash it. However, if you change your fleet’s speed to 60%, the mission now takes 5 hours each way; your fleet will return in 10 hours, just after you wake up.
Recalling a mission before it has reached the target will always return it in the same amount of time it has already spent flying. So, if a fleet has already been flying for 4:05:23 when it is recalled, the fleet will take 4:05:23 to return to its point of origin, making a total flight time of 8:10:46 for the fleet. Recalling a mission will therefore alter its original return time.
Hint: Recalled Deploy missions also do not appear on a phalanx report - see Deploy-Recall Mission below.
Technically, any type of fleet mission will protect your fleet from attack, until the mission ends. In reality, some fleetsave methods are safer than others. To understand why, you must first understand how a fleet is detected and destroyed, or “crashed”. For example, an enemy may spy on your planet and catch your fleet sitting on the ground while you are offline; the enemy attacks, and because you don’t come online in time to see the attack and fleetsave, he crashes your fleet. If your fleet is flying a mission, a spy probe cannot detect it, therefor it cannot be targeted or attacked.
To destroy your flying fleet, an enemy will seek to discover the exact time it will return or arrive at its final destination, which is when it can be attacked. The real goal of fleetsaving, therefore, is not just to get airborne to escape attack, but to prevent your fleet from being detected, so that it cannot be attacked at all.
Experienced players have at least two ways to detect your fleet while it is flying and/or deduce its final arrival time, allowing them to launch an attack timed to arrive seconds afterwards. This means that even if you are online, you may not have enough time to re-launch your fleet before the attack arrives. Some fleetsaving methods can guard against this.
The only way an enemy can actually see your fleet while it is flying is with a Phalanx scan. An enemy may also closely monitor a debris field to see when it disappears, and deduce when your Recycle mission will return to its point of origin.
Because a Phalanx cannot scan a moon, the only truly “safe” fleetsave mission is from one moon to another. The fleet (and any resources it carries) will be completely undetectable during the entire mission.
The only way for your fleet to be detected during this type of mission is if one of the moons involved is destroyed, or “popped”, by a Death Star. When this happens, that planet now becomes the point of origin or destination for the fleet (depending on which moon was destroyed); a Phalanx scan of that planet will now show the fleet’s composition, destination and arrival time (see Sensor Phalanx, Deathstar, Moon Destroy). To prevent this, recall the mission before it arrives. Recalling a Deploy mission makes it invisible to a Phalanx scan, and alters its return time, making it very difficult to intercept (see Deploy-Recall Mission below).
Especially useful if you have only one moon. A Recycle fleetsave mission from a moon to a debris field is also invisible to a Phalanx. By having just one Recycler present, your entire fleet can be sent on a Recycle mission. Simply select your recycler(s) and ALL the rest of your ships, select “Debris Field” as the destination, and “Recycle” as the mission type. Adjust the fleet’s speed so it will return when you are back online.
Hint: you can send a recycle mission to ANY planet’s coordinates in the universe, even if there is no debris field present.
To be completely invisible, you must Recycle from a moon to a debris field. If you have no moons, this method is only “half” safe; a Phalanx scan of your planet will detect your fleet and its return time.
If you are being attacked, a useful version of this mission is to recycle the debris field around your own planet, or one in your own system. Because the fleet doesn’t go far, the fuel usage is minimal, and the fleet returns quickly. However, a very experienced player can carefully watch the debris field around your planet and, upon seeing debris disappear, deduce when your fleet will return. To guard against this, avoid doing a Recycle fleetsave mission to the debris field around your own planet; or if you do, be sure to launch it at a slow speed and recall it BEFORE it reaches the debris field. This type of mission is also helpful if you just need to be away from the game for a short time.
If you have another planet, it is possible to fleetsave by sending your fleet there on a Deploy mission. This tactic allows moving large fleets overnight for minimal deuterium costs (because it is a one-way mission, typically done at reduced speeds, using less fuel). It is useful for transporting resources. This mission is vulnerable to detection by a Phalanx scan of either planet. To minimize the danger, Deploy the fleet to or from a moon (if you have one), and select a flight time that allows you to recall the fleet BEFORE it reaches the destination (Recalled Deploy missions do not show on Phalanx reports). For example, suppose you will be in bed for the next 10 hours. Before bed, select one of your other planets (or moons) as a destination. Select all your ships, and “Deploy” as the mission type. Adjust the speed so the fleet will arrive AFTER you wake up. In the morning, check your fleet’s progress. If no attack is inbound, just allow the fleet to land. If you see an incoming attack timed to arrive just after your fleet, recall it immediately. It will return to its point of origin safely and invisibly.
Hint: While recalling a Deploy mission alters its original return time and makes it invisible, Phalanx scans taken before the recall can still allow a very skilled player to make an educated guess as to your fleet’s likely return time. The more scans they took and the closer to your recall time they were taken, the more accurate their guess can be. To prevent this, skilled players will always deploy from one moon to another, and recall their Deploy fleetsave mission before going to bed, making the mission long enough that the return time will be after they awake. If either moon is destroyed overnight, the fleet will be invisible; the enemy will have no way of knowing it is even there and cannot deduce its return time.
Break your fleet up in chunks with different destinations, spreading the risk across multiple destinations. Vulnerable to Phalanx detection unless launched moon-to-moon or moon-to-debris field. However, if one moon is used as a single launch point, and that moon is destroyed, a Phalanx scan of that planet will reveal ALL the fleet segments, their destinations and return times. Recalling them will yield different return times for each fleet segment and render the Deploy missions invisible (other mission types remain visible to Phalanx even when recalled). When Deployed moon-to-moon this the safest of all fleetsaving techniques, especially if recalled before a moon is destroyed.
Find an INACTIVE player that your fleet can hit profitably, and send your ships at the speed needed for the fleet to return after you are online again. This way, you can wake up to see your fleet returning home with some plundered resources. If you time your recyclers to reach the debris field after your fleet hits, you can also harvest that, reducing any losses. This type of mission is vulnerable to Phalanx detection, unless done moon-to-moon. In reality, inactive players are not frequently Phalanxed, so if you launch your attack from a moon to a planet it may not be detected.
ONLY select one of your own planets as the destination for this type of fleetsave mission, because once your fleet reaches its destination your resources will be left there; only the fleet will return. Select a return time that will keep the fleet flying until you are back online. This type of mission is vulnerable to Phalanx detection, unless done moon-to-moon.
A Hold Position mission can be used to fleetsave, but it is important to set the “hold time” to zero. Otherwise, the fleet will effectively be “on the ground” during the hold time, detectable by Espionage Probes and vulnerable to attack. You can do a Hold Position fleetsave mission over one of your own planets/moons, those of a consenting ally (ask permission first!), or an inactive player. One advantage of this type of fleetsave is that you can use a moon belonging to an ally or inactive player as the hold destination, useful if you have less than 2 moons of your own. And since inactive players are less frequently the subject of a Phalanx scan, their planets are marginally safer for this type of mission as well. Inactive player’s moons are also rarely the target of Moon Destroy missions.
A Colonize Mission can be useful for fleetsaving because it is slow, and the empty destination “slot” cannot be scanned by a Phalanx; if sent from a moon, the mission will be totally invisible unless the moon is destroyed. There are three ways to use this mission type for fleetsaving:
Hint: A Colonize mission was not designed to allow additional ships to accompany it with resources to start a new colony. While some players do successfully send additional ships on a Colonize mission, sometimes these additional ships and their cargo may DISAPPEAR when the new planet is settled. This is rare, and almost unheard of if the colonize mission fails and returns home, but it CAN happen. Therefore, SENDING ADDITIONAL SHIPS ON A COLONIZE MISSION IS DONE AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Carefully guard your online times by avoiding regular patterns of activity, even communicating in chat rooms at different times. By careful observation, skilled players may deduce your normal online times and when you likely do your overnight fleetsave, allowing them to attack your planets and destroy your moons while you are asleep. To avoid this, fleetsave to different locations, at different times, and consider splitting large fleets up for the maximum safety margin.