Already in 2005 this was “the most complex page in the game”. This is where you launch attacks. You have your base and four squadrons.
1. Transferring units
Pick From and To — say from the base to squadron 1 — then, row by row, the quantity to move (slider, field or max button). Click Transfer.
Ground units need transports: each transport ship offers 5,000 seats. As soon as you move a transport into the squadron, its “available space” goes from 0 to 5,000, and you can board up to 5,000 robots or soldiers. A squadron on a mission cannot be modified.
If a transport is destroyed during an attack, everything it carried is destroyed with it. A single-transport squadron is fragile; escort it.
2. Giving an order
Pick the squadron, then:
- the order: Attack, Defend (send your troops to protect another player) or Recall to base;
- the destination: the player's name. The game shows their position and the distance in travel hours — a trip to SproutLand took two hours in the 2005 tutorial;
- the time on site: 1 to 5 hours. The attack repeats every hour;
- the wait before departure: how many hours the squadron stays on your planet before leaving, invisible to others while it waits.
Then Launch the attack or Send to defend. The squadron leaves at the update, travels, fights for the chosen number of hours, then returns — the trip back takes as long as the trip out. The Propulsion research shortens travel.
What you gain
When you attack with ground troops you can steal population: you will have more, your enemy less. If your troops hold the ground, your robots and soldiers loot some of the enemy's stocks and tear down buildings. Harvesters loot far more, annihilators raze faster, deviators turn units against their master. Details are in Combat.