Fleet Dispatch

Whoever risks their own troops pays dearly for peace.

Short version: Send ships and troops to your own islands or alliance partners -- they stay, defend alongside, and return when you recall them.

- A fifth mission in the fleet wizard: "Dispatch"

- Stationed troops fight along, with the sender's research bonuses

- Wage per hour while away from home

- Recall any time

---

What is Dispatch? #

Dispatch is a fifth mission type alongside attack, trade, spy, and colonization. Instead of doing something hostile, you send ships and troops to one of your own islands or to an alliance member -- they stay stationed there. When that island is later attacked, they fight alongside the host. You can recall them at any time.

Tip: Frequent ship mixes can be saved as templates and applied with one click -- see chapter "Fleet Cockpit".

When do I see the mission? #

The Dispatch mission appears in the fleet wizard like the others. It is only useful when the target is one of your own islands or an alliance member. Otherwise the fleet is rejected at dispatch.

What can a dispatch fleet carry? #

Warships and troops only. No cargo, no spy ship, no colony ship. At least one warship (small or large) is required -- without troop-transport capacity no troops travel.

Loyalty timer #

If you recently joined a new alliance you cannot immediately exchange reinforcements with your new members. A loyalty timer applies (default 24 hours), to both you and the target. During the timer the dispatch is rejected.

What does Dispatch cost? #

While your reinforcement is not on one of your own islands, an hourly wage applies. The wage is a small fraction of the gold cost of the stationed ships and troops.

• Paid from your main island's gold reserve.
• Charged hourly.
• While the reinforcement is on one of your own islands, no wage applies.

If your main island runs out of gold, the reinforcement is automatically recalled -- you don't lose your troops, but they head home. The same happens for several other events (see below).

Recall #

On the "My Reinforcements" page you see every reinforcement you have stationed. One click recalls each one. They travel home in real time -- travel time depends on distance and Sail research as usual.

Once a reinforcement is on its way home, you cannot recall it back -- a homecoming is final.

Defence #

Stationed reinforcements automatically fight alongside the island owner when an attack arrives, as soon as they are ready for action:

• Sender's research counts. Your spear research protects your spear-throwers, even if the host island has no research.
• Losses are split proportionally. Each party loses in proportion to its strength. No party loses more troops than it brought.
• Combat reports show each party. Attacker, defender, and every stationed garrison owner sees the report with their own losses.
• Freshly arrived foreign reinforcements form up first. As long as the island or fleet overview reports that a reinforcement is still forming up, it stays completely out of an attack: it does not fight, it counts in no loss calculation, and it cannot be hit itself. Reinforcements between your own islands are never affected. So if you mean to help, send your troops early rather than at the last second.
• Foreign eyes see only a time window. To outside observers within watchtower range, an incoming reinforcement shows a span of time for its arrival, not the exact hour -- so no attacker can wait for the moment in which a garrison is still forming up. You and the target island see the exact arrival.

Cap #

A single island can host at most 10 foreign reinforcements at once. If the cap is reached, the next dispatch is automatically recalled with a message indicating capacity was full.

What triggers an automatic recall? #

Your stationed reinforcements automatically come home when:

• you activate the Anchor Mode (vacation)
• you or the host leave the alliance (or are kicked)
• the wage cannot be paid from your main island
• the host island becomes inactive (slumbering or rudderless stage)

In every case you receive a system message with the reason.

When the host island falls #

A conquest is the one case where your reinforcement does not come home. If the island it stands on falls to an attacker, everything stationed there is lost with the island -- including the ships and troops that survived the fighting. There is no journey home and no compensation; your combat report for that attack tells you so on the spot.

A dispatch fleet still under way at that moment is not affected: on arrival it checks again who owns the island and turns around if target or alliance no longer fit.

Factor that in before you prop up an island that is hard to hold -- a reinforcement shares the fate of its host.

Dispatch and Anchor Mode (Vacation) #

Anchor Mode pulls you back out of every foreign harbour -- your troops rest at home for as long as you are on vacation:

• On activation, every reinforcement stationed with allies comes straight home.
• A dispatch fleet still under way at activation no longer stations -- it turns around on arrival and heads back. Whoever lies at anchor does not defend in foreign harbours.
• While on vacation you cannot dispatch to a foreign island. Between your own islands, dispatch stays possible at any time.
• Dispatching to a player who is on vacation also turns around -- their islands lie at anchor and take in no reinforcements.

What Dispatch CANNOT do #

• No cargo -- use trade missions for that.
• No plunder -- your troops help defend, not attack.
• No spying -- spy ships are not allowed.
• No colonization -- a colony ship cannot accompany.

---

Strategy #

• Early defence for alliance friends -- Send your troops to a player who is building up. Stationed spear-throwers from a veteran are a massive defensive boost.
• Active reinforcement of your main island -- With multiple islands of your own, you can dispatch troops to your main island without paying a wage.
• Don't overextend -- Troops stationed outside your own islands cost gold continuously. Plan the recall.
• Mind the loyalty timer -- After an alliance change, a 24h timer applies before you may dispatch again.