Fleet Dispatch

Whoever risks their own troops pays dearly for peace.

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

- A mission of its own 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

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What is Dispatch? #

Dispatch is a mission type of its own alongside attack, trade, spy, colonization and home port -- the fleet only stays stationed; to move permanently, choose the Home port mission. Instead of doing something hostile, you send ships and troops to one of your own islands, an alliance member's island or an island belonging to a member of an alliance with which you have a confirmed alliance treaty -- 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 or a member of a confirmed treaty ally. Otherwise the fleet is rejected at dispatch. You can dispatch to treaty allies no earlier than 24 hours after the treaty is concluded -- a non-aggression pact is not enough. If the alliance treaty ends, reinforcements from both sides return home automatically.

What can a dispatch fleet carry? #

Warships and troops only. No cargo, no spy ship, no colony ship, no trading ship. At least one warship is required. Troops need enough transport spaces.

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.

The timer applies on every way of joining, directly or by application. Accounts in their first 14 days get no timer.

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 #

In the Fleet Cockpit, the "Your garrisons" tab lists every reinforcement you have stationed. Check the ones you want and click "Recall selected" -- after a short confirmation they set off. 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.

Returning garrisons immediately count towards harbor and barracks space again. If your forces exceed the available space, you keep everything and can build again once space is free.

Defense #

Stationed reinforcements automatically fight alongside the island owner when an attack arrives, once they have reached the island:

• Sender's research counts. Your Shield research protects your stationed troops, 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.
• Part of the battle from arrival. A reinforcement fights from the moment it arrives: whoever reaches the island before the attack is in the fight. If you mean to help, send your troops in good time.
• 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. You and the target island see the exact arrival.

Cap #

A single island can host only a limited number of garrisons at once (currently 10). Dispatches between your own islands count too. If the island is already full when you send, the game refuses the order right away -- in the fleet wizard as well as via “Send reinforcements” on a distress call; if it fills up during the journey, the fleet is automatically recalled on arrival with a message that 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 alliance is dissolved or the treaty with the host ends
• the wage cannot be paid from your main island
• the host island becomes inactive (the player is slumbering or rudderless)
• the host is under the Feud Shield -- foreign reinforcements cannot be newly stationed there either

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 harbor -- 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 harbors.
• While on vacation you cannot dispatch to a foreign island. Between your own islands, dispatch remains possible; the garrison limit applies as described above.
• Dispatching to a player who is on vacation also turns around -- their islands lie at anchor and take in no reinforcements.
• If your host enters Anchor Mode, your reinforcement stationed there comes home -- no fleet stays under someone else's shield. Once their vacation is over you can dispatch to them again; their vacation never depends on it.

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.
• No trading ships -- with no cargo aboard they would be dead weight.

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Escort ships after colonizing #

When you colonize, you can tick a box in the fleet wizard: Escort ships move along. If the colony succeeds, the new island becomes the Home port of your escorting warships: they then belong to its own fleet, cost no wages and need no recall. From the new island they can only attack or colonize after a waiting period; the more ocean borders they crossed, the longer it is, and the colonization report tells you the hours. Without the tick, if the colony fails, or if changing the Home port is switched off right now, they sail home as usual. Only warships without cargo may escort the colony ship. Spy ships, trading ships and resources are rejected before departure.

Strategy #

• Early defense for alliance friends -- Send your troops to a player who is building up. Stationed spearmen 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.

Accounts in their first 14 days get no timer.