Decoy command
The DECOY command deploys one defensive decoy from a capable ship. It can intercept incoming torpedoes or missiles; see Decoys for the interception odds and lifetime.
Syntax
DECOY
The command may be abbreviated to DEC. It takes no target or quantity: each successful use launches one decoy.
Deployment checks
The ship class must support decoys, at least one decoy must be in inventory, and one of the ship's ten active-decoy slots must be free. The command cannot be used in hyperspace or while a cloak is charging, fully active, or in ge-next's post-deactivation recovery state. Entering hyperspace later removes all active decoys. The neutral zone does not block decoy deployment.
A successful deployment consumes one carried decoy but does not lower raised shields, draw neutron flux, or by itself start a combat-exit timer. A refusal, including a full active-decoy table, does not consume a decoy. The deployed device is not a steerable ship or scan-table target; the game tracks it on the defending ship.
Launcher behavior
Classic has no decoy-launcher reload delay: a ship with enough inventory can issue DECOY repeatedly until all ten active slots are occupied. Classic's decoy launcher is not one of its randomly damageable systems.
ge-next 0.3 adds a one-ship-update reload delay after each successful launch. The next decoy can be deployed when that delay clears, normally within six seconds. Random damage can also disable the launcher until Damage Control or maintenance repairs it, and a ship already at fatal damage cannot deploy another decoy. These are launcher restrictions, not changes to the decoy's interception odds.
See also
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