[Blueentity]

Playing Demo ver 1.00

It seems that the game already has a default for ending battle when nothing can be accomplished.

Had a race that gave +1 to movement. Researched Frigate hull size till I could put a colonizer on the Frigate. Another race �attacked� my colonizer that had 1 more movement that the attacking frigate. �Battle� ended in about 30 seconds on the game battle clock as my colonizer ran away.

Had another battle where I took a fleet across a defended warp point. Destroyed most of the defenders; the remainder of the ships had no weapons left and retreated. After a short chase, the initial battle ended. Since my fleet still had movement remaining, I ordered them to attack. Both sets of ships had the same speed and moved away from the warp point. The "Battle" ended in about 30 "seconds" according to the battle clock. Repeated "Attacks" took the same time, with ship using supplies to move and retreating further from the warp point. At the beginning of the next turn, the original ships left the sector to repair at a nearby planet and the defender brought over some fresh ships to the warp point. My ships started from where they had left off, a distance away from the warp point. The battle was significantly longer than 30 seconds, but played out to conclusion.

It appears that the game does recognize when a battle is futile and will terminate battle, such as trying to land troops on an empty population planet (wish that could be changed), or when the retreating ships have the same speed or better than the pursuers. Entering battle under these circumstances does use supplies, but of course no ordinance.