Balancing · Fleets
Fleet hull decay
Ships left orbiting on the map do not last forever. After a grace window they lose hull integrity until the ship is gone - unless you move them or park under a friendly maintenance factory.
Hull decay is an idle tax on parked map fleets, not a combat damage model. Hangar ships on your orbital docks are safe. In-transit fleets are not ticking the idle destroyer.
The fleet HUD shows hull integrity as Stable during grace, then counts down to loss while health drains. You get a warning when decay starts and another when the hull is about halfway gone. A nearby maintenance factory freezes that clock.
Figures below mirror the live idle-decay rules that remove ships when the timer is up.
Who decays
Only spaceships inside map fleets with orbiting status. When the last ship is lost, the fleet disappears. Components are not worn down piece by piece in this version - the whole ship is removed at the end of its idle lifetime.
- Grace window
- 24 h
- Max lifetime
- 720 h
- Maintenance radius
- 5
Timeline
Idle time is measured from the fleet's last move timestamp (or creation if it never moved). Scans and cargo transfers do not reset the clock - only deploying or moving does.
1. Grace
For the first 24 hours after the idle clock starts, hull integrity stays full. The HUD reads Stable and shows when decay will begin.
2. Decline
After grace, integrity falls linearly toward zero for at least another 24 hours - even light scouts get that decline window. You get a fleet event when decay starts, and a second warning when the hull is critically low.
3. Loss
When a ship reaches its hours-to-destroy limit, it is removed. Heavier, higher-tier fits last longer, up to the lifetime ceiling.
How long until loss
Each ship gets a lifetime of at least 48 hours (24 h grace plus 24 h decline). Lifetime scales with ship mass versus a 126 t reference and with the average refined material tier of fitted build recipes (reference tier 1), up to 720 hours. Small, lower-tech hulls hit the floor; large advanced fits stretch toward the ceiling.
Scaled lifetime ≈ 24 h × (mass / 126 t) × (material tier / 1), then floored at 48 hours (grace + minimum decline) and capped at 720 hours.
Maintenance factory pause
Park within 5 Chebyshev tiles of a planet that has your (or an alliance) maintenance factory installed in orbit. Decay pauses while you stay in range - it does not heal missing ships. Deploy the factory module from the launchpad once you have crafted it.
What resets the clock
Any of these refresh the idle clock and restart grace for the fleet's remaining ships:
- Deploying the fleet from hangar to the map
- Departing on a move order
- Arriving at the destination tile
Decay salvage on the map
When a ship is fully lost to idle decay, a salvage pile can appear on the fleet's orbit tile. Everyone shares the same physical stack, but you only see coordinates in your residue list after your fleet scans nearby space.
1. Spawn
The pile is sized up to 10% of the ship's fitted build costs plus cargo aboard at loss. Repeat decays on the same tile merge into one stack.
2. Discover
Fit a residue scanner Mk1, Mk2, or Mk3 (9×9, 17×17, or 25×25 Chebyshev tiles). Run Residue scan while orbiting. Only you get the intel row and map pin.
3. Collect
Move adjacent with a salvage siphon and matching storage bays. Recovery per trip depends on the research level baked into your scanner module when it was crafted - 5% at level 1, scaling toward 10% at max research.
Full salvage rules, module gates, and contested collection: /docs/decay-residue.
Decay salvage reference →Where decay is headed
v1 is whole-ship idle loss plus factory pause. Deeper wear systems are planned without turning maintenance into a second full combat sim.
Ship maintenance modules
Fittable modules that can hold decay anywhere while paying continuous frurozin or refined upkeep from the hold.
Partial component wear
Soft failure of modules before the whole hull is lost - similar to planet scanners that burn out after limited uses.
Fuel pays the move
Decay punishes parking without coverage. Fuel decides whether you can keep fleets rotating across the map instead.
- Grace lasts 24 hours. Light ships then decline for at least 24 more hours (48 hours total minimum). Maximum idle lifetime is 720 hours (30 days).
- A second warning fires around half hull / critical remaining time so Stable never jumps straight to loss.
- Maintenance coverage checks own, home, and same-alliance planets with a deployed maintenance factory.
- Beacon structure collapse after empty fuel is a separate occupation timer, not fleet hull decay.