Exit command
The X command exits the player's current context. While commanding a ship, it powers the ship down and returns the player to the Galactic Empire main menu.
X
A normal in-game exit saves the ship and user records and releases the active ship slot. ge-next 0.2 added an announcement of the player's departure to other active players. Classic does not have this general departure announcement, although ships in the same sector can receive its local "scanners can no longer locate" message.
From the game's main menu, X exits the module and returns to the BBS. In menus and prompts it may instead mean cancel or return; ge-next also accepts X at the ship-selection screen to return to the main menu.
Combat exit restriction
The ship's internal cantexit counter prevents a player from using X to escape an active fight. If it is nonzero, GE reports that the ship cannot power down during battle. The ship may also not purchase maintenance from a planet during this time.
The counter is measured in ship-state ticks. One tick normally occurs every six seconds, so the nominal intervals are:
| Situation | Classic | ge-next | ge-arena (exit permitted) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full combat interval | 10 ticks / about 60 seconds | 10 ticks / about 60 seconds | 4 ticks / about 24 seconds |
| Reduced standard-phaser contact | Not used | 5 ticks / about 30 seconds | 2 ticks / about 12 seconds |
| Post-kill reduction when no other ship is nearby | Not used | At most 2 ticks / about 12 seconds | At most 1 tick / about 6 seconds |
Because the update cycle is periodic, the observed wall-clock delay can be up to one tick shorter than the figures above. More importantly, these are not fixed grace periods measured from the first shot. Later qualifying actions can refresh the counter.
Successful torpedo and missile launches apply the full counter to both the firer and target. While an inbound projectile remains active, the target's counter is reset to the full value on each ship-state update. The target must therefore wait until the incoming ordnance hits, misses, or expires and the final counter then runs down. Other hostile actions, weapon contacts, planetary attacks, mine deployment, and similar events can also establish or refresh the restriction.
Classic generally applies its full interval. ge-next distinguishes some lesser contacts: a standard-phaser hit against raised shields, or one that registers below one point of damage, applies half the normal interval. A standard phaser that contacts no target does not set the timer. The reduced contact interval raises a shorter counter to the half value; it does not shorten a longer battle-exit restriction that is already active. Classic, by contrast, sets the firer's full counter when a standard phaser is fired even if the beam contacts nothing.
After a ship is destroyed, ge-next 0.3 also shortens the winner's remaining counter to one quarter of the normal value when no other live ship is within 30,000 distance units.
Neutral-zone exception
Classic GE requires the counter to reach zero everywhere. ge-next allows a ship in sector 0 0 to power down despite a nonzero counter when no torpedoes or missiles are incoming. A successful launch sets the firer's counter, but a projectile still traveling toward another ship does not keep refreshing the firer's counter; only the target's counter is refreshed while that projectile remains inbound. The firer can therefore exit after their counter expires even if the shot is still in flight, or use the sector 0 0 exception if they have no incoming projectiles. On a successful exit, outgoing torpedoes and missiles remain in flight but become ownerless, so a later impact is not credited to the departed player. Mines the player laid likewise remain active and become ownerless.
Disconnecting during battle
Dropping the connection or otherwise leaving without a permitted X is not a safe workaround. If cantexit is still active, classic and ge-next destroy the abandoned ship. A valid last attacker can receive credit for the kill.
ge-next exempts an involuntary disconnect performed as part of the BBS nightly cleanup, preventing cleanup itself from destroying a combat-locked ship.
ge-arena
During an active ge-arena match, X overrides the normal exit lock. It removes the player from the current match and returns them to the lobby in observing mode; if another player has valid kill credit, leaving can award that kill. From the lobby, X leaves the arena module and returns to the BBS.
The shorter ge-arena cantexit values still govern other systems that use the combat state, such as access to maintenance, even though they do not prevent a voluntary match exit.
See also
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