Decoys
Decoys are consumable defenses against incoming torpedoes and missiles. The launch message describes a device moving away while transmitting a ship-like sensor signature, but the simulation stores each active decoy as a timer slot on the defending ship. A decoy has no independent position, heading, speed, or scan-table entry. Decoy command covers how to deploy one and the launcher restrictions.
Interception
Each main ship-state update, normally about six seconds apart, active decoys are tested against eligible incoming weapons still in flight. A torpedo must be less than 5,000 distance units away; a missile must be less than 3,000. A weapon close enough to resolve its impact on that update hits before the decoy checks. Otherwise the game tests the defender's active decoys in slot order; the first successful decoy destroys both itself and the incoming weapon, so later decoys are not tested against that weapon.
Each eligible decoy gets a separate one-in-DECODDS chance. The stock DECODDS is 11 in both classic and ge-next, giving the following chance of intercepting one eligible weapon on one update:
chance with N decoys = 1 - ((DECODDS - 1) / DECODDS)^N
| Active decoys | Approximate interception chance |
|---|---|
| 1 | 9.1% |
| 2 | 17.4% |
| 5 | 37.9% |
| 10 | 61.4% |
These are per-update chances, not guarantees for the whole flight. A slower weapon that remains within interception range for several updates can face further rolls. Lowering DECODDS increases effectiveness; at 1, the first active decoy always intercepts an eligible weapon. Decoys offer no protection from phasers, mines, ion cannons, collisions, or self-destruct blasts.
Classic notifies the defending player when a decoy intercepts a weapon. Since ge-next 0.2, an active user who fired the intercepted torpedo or missile also receives a lost-to-decoy notice. This is a notification change, not a change in the interception roll.
Lifetime and expiration
A launched decoy starts with a timer of 15 ship-state updates. In classic, each update reduces that timer, and reaching zero self-destructs the decoy. At the actual six-second update interval, that is about 90 seconds; classic configuration comments describe the interval as five seconds. An intercepted decoy is removed at once and does not later print a self-destruct message.
ge-next changed expiration in stages:
- 0.2.4: Decoys still expired independently on their normal update, but several expiring during the same update produced one batched self-destruct message rather than one message per decoy. Their lifetimes did not change.
- Early 0.3: A one-update launcher reload delay meant normally launched decoys could not start with identical timers. The earlier same-update message batching became largely pointless in ordinary play.
- Later 0.3: A shared expiration pass was added. A timer that reaches its final value waits there until this pass; all waiting decoys can then self-destruct together and use the batched message. The pass occurs once every five ship-state updates, so a decoy may last up to about 24 seconds beyond its base lifetime.
A ship can have at most ten active decoys. In ge-next, REPORT ORDNANCE shows the number deployed. NPCs with decoy capability may also launch them; their decoys use the same interception and timer rules.
Scope and travel
Decoys are local defenses attached to the ship, not independent objects a player can place in a sector or steer toward a projectile. They cannot be deployed in hyperspace, and entering hyperspace clears those already deployed. They are not a general defense against weapons other than inbound torpedoes and missiles.
See also
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