The crew of the Interstellar Overdrive subscribes to the protocol that the less powerful ship should hail the more powerful one. (Just be sure not to put too much faith in the power sorting.) All hails with email addresses will be answered, and most hails without email addresses, too, if at all possible.

I once faced a ship with no working impulse drive. I did not hail. My impulse drives worked and I had longer-range weapons. I figured I could get a module off... at least. I considered attacking; instead I demanded a module and did not attack, but I figured I'd have the controls set correctly in case I changed my mind.

The next turn I got an angry hail threatening to brand me a pirate if I didn't explain my actions---why I demanded a module, even though I hadn't attacked. I explained the situation. Anyone who can't avoid changing the defaults deserves to be shot (and in this captain's case, he had correctly left the default "Flee", so it wasn't a problem). I was told that there was no hail because the other player had heard that I did not answer hails. (I usually do.)

Don't make this mistake. Please, do the math, or just hail all the time.

To drive my point home, I've decided that any ship not hailing when it's clearly the combat loser needs to be reminded that space is not the Friendly Skies. Hail or risk combat.

Epic Skirmish with Flying Beak

On turn 699, I walked into Flying Beak. Fortunately I had some stuff that passed for long-range weapons, an impulse artifact, and a deathwish (ask SIR about that, I think they still don't like me).

I'll try to fill in some more of the details later. (This battle has been edited for content and retouched to enhance the dramatic effect.)

The Battle	The Snide Commentary
To Boldly Go - Starship Interstellar Overdrive, Turn 699 (starting turn at star system Hamal [...]) Interstellar Overdrive meets Flying Beak at Hamal
Flying Beak attacks Interstellar Overdrive in Clear terrain, opening fire at Long range	I don't know why I didn't get top billing here. I was bigger; I might have set my orders to attack if defied--I don't remember now, I got hit on the head at the party after the fight. I can't remember what all the resolution rules are.
Flying Beak's strategy favours weapons, Interstellar Overdrive's strategy favours weapons	I had stuff blessed, too, including impulse (artifact) and probably weapons as well. It's not every turn I attack someone with impunity, and I felt it necessary to make the most of it.
Flying Beak targets: drone-1722 Interstellar Overdrive's reserve shields engaged Interstellar Overdrive targets: drone-3875
Round 1, range is Long Flying Beak does 158 damage (including 0 with torpedoes) Interstellar Overdrive is hit, drone-1722 is lost Flying Beak selects new target: fighter-9085 Interstellar Overdrive's reserve shields engaged Interstellar Overdrive's shields at 110% (55 points) Interstellar Overdrive does 203 damage (including 0 with torpedoes) Flying Beak is hit, drone-3875 is lost Interstellar Overdrive selects new target: drone-6447 Flying Beak's shields at 14% (11 points) Flying Beak has too much damage so tries to break off	I don't know what FB's ideal range was, but I suspect it was remote. My sensor/cloak scores were somewhat higher, though. I guess that Flying Beak had intended to see if he could pop off one module and run (otherwise, there would have been no point in favoring weapons). Given his somewhat fearsome reputation in combat, I'm quite surprised. One module and he's turning tail.
Round 2, range is Long Flying Beak does 128 damage (including 0 with torpedoes) Interstellar Overdrive is hit, fighter-9085 is lost Flying Beak selects new target: drone-6589 Interstellar Overdrive's reserve shields engaged Interstellar Overdrive's shields at 93% (70 points) Interstellar Overdrive does 180 damage (including 0 with torpedoes) Flying Beak is hit, drone-6447 is lost Interstellar Overdrive selects new target: fighter-3336 Flying Beak's reserve shields engaged Flying Beak's shields at 348% (261 points) Interstellar Overdrive narrows range Flying Beak attempts to flee
Round 3, range is Medium Flying Beak does 98 damage (including 0 with torpedoes) Interstellar Overdrive is hit, drone-6589 is lost Flying Beak selects new target: drone-1152 Interstellar Overdrive's reserve shields engaged Interstellar Overdrive's shields at 134% (67 points) Interstellar Overdrive does 113 damage (including 0 with torpedoes) Flying Beak's shields at 197% (148 points) Interstellar Overdrive narrows range Flying Beak attempts to flee Interstellar Overdrive has too much damage so tries to break off	I missed a module this turn, so I'm losing in points. I'm at the point where I'm ready to give up, but fortunately Flying Beak is two rounds ahead of me... and some of my close-range weapons actually work.
Round 4, range is Short Flying Beak does 98 damage (including 0 with torpedoes) Interstellar Overdrive is hit, drone-1152 is lost Flying Beak selects new target: missile-6571 Interstellar Overdrive's reserve shields engaged Interstellar Overdrive's shields at 132% (66 points) Interstellar Overdrive does 293 damage (including 0 with torpedoes) Flying Beak is hit, fighter-3336 is lost Interstellar Overdrive selects new target: impulse drive-11376 Flying Beak's shields at 52% (78 points) Flying Beak attempts to flee Interstellar Overdrive attempts to flee
Round 5, range is Short Flying Beak does 83 damage (including 0 with torpedoes) Interstellar Overdrive is hit, missile-6571 is lost Flying Beak selects new target: impulse drive-9586 Interstellar Overdrive's reserve shields engaged Interstellar Overdrive's shields at 130% (98 points) Interstellar Overdrive does 225 damage (including 0 with torpedoes) Flying Beak is hit, impulse drive-11376 is lost Interstellar Overdrive selects new target: drone-2839 Flying Beak's shields at 2% (2 points) Interstellar Overdrive widens range Flying Beak attempts to flee	I'm down, five modules to four. It's fortunate that the battle is nearly over because my crew is not only fleeing, but turning the ship around, too. I'm glad I got the retreat threshold right.
Flying Beak succeeds in fleeing from the battle!	Fortunately damage doesn't control who wins the battle. I got hurt more but chickened out second.
Interstellar Overdrive wins, taking as loot: Loot () Component Tech Reliability E Yield impulse drive-11376 (U) Advanced 95% 2 missile-6571 (U) Basic 95% 0 drone-1722 (U) Mediocre 92% 3 drone-3875 (U) Basic 84% 0 drone-6447 (U) Basic 71% 3 drone-6589 (U) Mediocre 68% 2 drone-1152 (U) Basic 62% 1 fighter-9085 (U) Basic 51% 2 fighter-3336 (U) Basic 33% 0 Mass = 9, Energy Yield = 0, Torpedo Stock = 0, Cargo capacity: 0	Interstellar Overdrive Flying Beak The table on the left is marked as above. I am very happy to have gotten the Advanced impulse from Flying Beak. Hopefully other ships will be on more favorable footing should they catch up with him soon.

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