There is no player, no matter if he is ranked #1 or #5000, who can sit 24 hours in front of his computer and watch out that nobody steals his resources or kills his fleet – everyone has got to go to work, school, or at least sleep for a few hours. During this time, the account would be open to possible attacks without any protection, and because of that fleetsaving has become one of the most important aspects of OGame. That means dispatching your own fleet with all resources from a planet or moon during the absence, because fleets cannot be attacked while they are flying. But killing fleets is a very lucrative business, so you have to save very conscientiously and you first and foremost have to pay attention to choose the correct method. For this reason we created this compendium, which should help you with this problem, in order that you do not have to learn from your own mistakes or casualties.
==Do I really have to save every day?==
You should not see saving as a necessary evil, but rather you should plan it advisedly, so that you will not suddenly awake one day without your fleet, which you have built tediously. Of course, it can happen sometimes, that you are in a hurry and you are pinched for time – but especially then, faults will happen fast, which benefits your enemy. That is very important, if you have the feeling that someone watch on your own fleet – e.g. if there is a new colony of a strong player in your own system, or if you are spied on often. You also have to watch out for never falling for daily habits. Sometimes change your save time and the position to which you dispatch your fleet, because if you always save exactly the same way, you will be a potential target for those players who will find out the flying time of your fleet very fast by such regularities, and who will kill it. Mainly this sort of interception is the biggest danger, of which you have to take care during saving – but that also can be minimized with this tutorial. For more detailed information and tactics regarding fleetsaving have a look at our more advanced <<Fleetsaving Guide>>.
As you already know, under noob protection (up to 50k points for old universes or up to 500k points for new universes) your ships can be saved from other players attacks due to the tactical retreat feature. If one of your planets is attacked by a superior opponent, your ships can escape under certain conditions. Also, there is some important hints to take into account about this game function, listed below:
*Power ratio of the ships involved is over 5:1 (if you have an Admiral officer working, you can set this ratio to 3:1 in the fleet menu page at "Tactical retreat" section.
*Defensives structures are not taken into account for the ratio calculation.
*Civil ships only count for 25% (rounded).
*Tactical retreat runs automatically but it needs 1,5 times as much Deuterium available as the fleet would need for a flight to the neighbouring position. If there is a lack of Deuterium, no ship can retreat. After retreat the fleet is instantly available again.
*Deathstars, Espionage Probes, Solar Satellites and fleets at ACS defend cannot retreat.
Besides this temporary feature and the right saving method used, also the control is a useful element to avoid fleet loss. That means precisely, that after you have sent your fleet, you have to look on the overview, if the fleet really comes back to the designated time. Nothing is more infuriating than a fleet loss by a typing error with the coordinates, by the wrong speed or by the wrong mission. Especially if you feel like you’re being watched so it is advisable to stay in your account for a while after fleet saving. Most of the players defer the saving on the end of the playing time (logically), thus the enemy can value the possible time of dispatch without spying.
==How to save from a planet?==
At the beginning of a universe, when you do not have a moon yet, the choice of saving possibilities is limited. But also later, for example if you deploy a fleet on a raid-colony without any moon, you have to go back to these methods. There it is important to know, what kind of safety each method provides.
=====Planet – Debris Field:=====
: This is a very simple method, which is very dangerous, and which should only be used at the beginning of a universe, when nobody has a moon or a sensor phalanx. In this case, just send your fleet with at least one recycler to a close debris field and adjust the flying time, so that the fleet returns when you can be online again. By doing that you ensure that nobody can kill your fleet while you are away. But as soon as somebody has a phalanx in the immediate vicinity, this method to save is pure suicide, because the fleet can be intercepted easily.
=====Planet – Attack:=====
: If you do not have any recyclers at the beginning of a universe, or if you are ready to dare for a few more resources, you can also save via attacking a player. However you should only fly on inactive players who are in an inferior position because you can get a nasty surprise very fast that nobody wants to log in after the saving action and notice that the fleet was killed during the attack. This option is very insecure because the fleet can not only be intercepted on the return path with the sensor phalanx (see {{Link|Tutorial:Moon}} for more), but also by an ACS defend (see {{Link|Tutorial:ACS}}) on the attacked planet.
=====Planet – Planet – Deployment:=====
: Unlike saving to a debris field or via attack, this method will also be secure in some degree even if there are players with moons near you. The requirements for that are two planets, which are relatively close together. That is why you should not disperse your colonies in all galaxies at the beginning. Now you just send your fleet via deployment to the other planet, so that you are online when it arrives there. If an enemy tries to intercept the fleet, you can recall it in fleet movement and let the attack run into emptiness or hit your defenses. Alternatively you can also recall your fleet anytime (before reaching the planet) so that it disappears from the adversarial phalanx, however take care that the fleet arrives back to the origin planet when you are online again. The problem of this alternative is that if you use it regularly the time of return can be calculated. That can cause a loss of your fleet via interception, but with this, time and cost consuming method (phalanx/deuterium) will only be used for big fleets.
==The best saving methods with moon==
The minute you have one or more moons, you can take the topic saving easier. Because moons cannot be scanned by a sensor phalanx which means the fleet movement on a moon is not obvious to adversarial players. Thereby some comfortable, but secure options of saving your fleet are given.
=====Moon – Debris Field:=====
: Since Moon/Debris Field cannot be scanned by sensor phalanx, you can save more securely on a Debris Field. But, although only fewer players will bother, this method is still far from absolute safety. Seasoned fleet hunters will look after the Debris Field, on which you send your fleet, and can start an interception by observing the harvest time when it disappears.
That is the reason why some players use so-called shadow waves – they first send one or more single recyclers to a Debris Field and let their fleet follow shortly afterwards – so the enemy cannot know which part of the fleet he has to intercept. If the distance between the single recycler is less than 20 seconds, one shadow wave suffices more often than not, because the attacker is not able to uncover the Debris Field and to figure out the arrival time of the main fleet. It is advisable to send more recyclers instead of one. Because, if there is a really valuable fleet, maybe the attacker bothers to shoot a Debris Field with more Crystal as fits into a normal shadow wave (one recycler). Than the attacker will see when exactly the Debris Field will change, and he will, according to this, wait until the big Debris Field entirely disappears. Generally that means that the main fleet just reached. But if you send more equal recycler fragments to the Debris Field, the attacker will need even more information, because he will not be able to infer only to the harvest.
The most secure method is never letting the fleet arrive at the Debris Field. If the ships are recalled while they are flying, nothing will be changed at the Debris Field, even if the enemy observes very much.
Please note: Invisible Debris Fields will be deleted every week at night from Sunday to Monday (at ca. 1:30 am) and they cannot be approached until there is a new Debris Field (just destroying a Probe via attack there). They will not be deleted if a fleet flies to or from this Debris Field at the time. Especially if you have the option to save on a Debris Field, which you cannot uncover, you shall save it by flying on it at the deleting time, because they give you an extra protection against a loss of fleet via intercepting. Debris Fields, which give you such advantage, are those of players, who are in the vacation mode or those on empty positions, which are still there if there was a planet. But also Debris Field on planets of inactive players, on which there are no ships or defensive structures, will make saving much easier.
=====Moon – Colonization:=====
Just send your whole fleet as well as a Colony Ship with all the resources to an unsettled position. If you are not able to colonize more planets, the Colony Ship will just return with the fleet and the resources. Other players are not able to notice that the colonization failed, which makes this method very secure. But please note: if there is one free colony, the colony ship will subdue the planet and before it will return, the fleet will dump all resources.
=====Moon – Moon – ACS defend:=====
Here it is necessary, that you have a player of good repute in your vicinity. For saving you have to fly to his moon with the order “hold”. It is important, that the time of holding is 0, so the fleet could not be intercepted on the other moon. The only thing, what can be dangerous is a moon destroying or a betrayal by your holding target.
=====Moon – Moon:=====
Everyone, who is lucky enough to have two moons close to each other, can use the most secure save method and sleep calmly. Just send the fleet from one moon to the other; nobody can calculate the arrival and no phalanx can localize it. But it is possible that a player destroys one or both moons, and intercepts your fleet – but it is associated with immense effort and risk, that is why it will be tried only if there is a lucrative target. And even in this case, when both moons are destroyed, you still can avoid an interception by calling back the fleet. Thereby it disappears from the phalanx and flies relatively secure back to the planet.
==What if I am intercepted never the less?==
If it happens, that your fleet is intercepted and destroyed, do not take it too seriously. OGame is after all just a game and it should not be a reason to attack other people verbal or to flame them. Better ask the player about what you have done wrong, and avoid this fault in the future, because like that every player has learned and advanced himself – also the enemy, who was just now destroying your ships. To quicken the rebuilding of your fleet, of course you can try to harvest the Debris Field of your destroyed fleet, whether the attacker did not yet.
==Do I really have to save every day?==
You should not see saving as a necessary evil, but rather you should plan it advisedly, so that you will not suddenly awake one day without your fleet, which you have built tediously. Of course, it can happen sometimes, that you are in a hurry and you are pinched for time – but especially then, faults will happen fast, which benefits your enemy. That is very important, if you have the feeling that someone watch on your own fleet – e.g. if there is a new colony of a strong player in your own system, or if you are spied on often. You also have to watch out for never falling for daily habits. Sometimes change your save time and the position to which you dispatch your fleet, because if you always save exactly the same way, you will be a potential target for those players who will find out the flying time of your fleet very fast by such regularities, and who will kill it. Mainly this sort of interception is the biggest danger, of which you have to take care during saving – but that also can be minimized with this tutorial. For more detailed information and tactics regarding fleetsaving have a look at our more advanced <<Fleetsaving Guide>>.
As you already know, under noob protection (up to 50k points for old universes or up to 500k points for new universes) your ships can be saved from other players attacks due to the tactical retreat feature. If one of your planets is attacked by a superior opponent, your ships can escape under certain conditions. Also, there is some important hints to take into account about this game function, listed below:
*Power ratio of the ships involved is over 5:1 (if you have an Admiral officer working, you can set this ratio to 3:1 in the fleet menu page at "Tactical retreat" section.
*Defensives structures are not taken into account for the ratio calculation.
*Civil ships only count for 25% (rounded).
*Tactical retreat runs automatically but it needs 1,5 times as much Deuterium available as the fleet would need for a flight to the neighbouring position. If there is a lack of Deuterium, no ship can retreat. After retreat the fleet is instantly available again.
*Deathstars, Espionage Probes, Solar Satellites and fleets at ACS defend cannot retreat.
Besides this temporary feature and the right saving method used, also the control is a useful element to avoid fleet loss. That means precisely, that after you have sent your fleet, you have to look on the overview, if the fleet really comes back to the designated time. Nothing is more infuriating than a fleet loss by a typing error with the coordinates, by the wrong speed or by the wrong mission. Especially if you feel like you’re being watched so it is advisable to stay in your account for a while after fleet saving. Most of the players defer the saving on the end of the playing time (logically), thus the enemy can value the possible time of dispatch without spying.
==How to save from a planet?==
At the beginning of a universe, when you do not have a moon yet, the choice of saving possibilities is limited. But also later, for example if you deploy a fleet on a raid-colony without any moon, you have to go back to these methods. There it is important to know, what kind of safety each method provides.
=====Planet – Debris Field:=====
: This is a very simple method, which is very dangerous, and which should only be used at the beginning of a universe, when nobody has a moon or a sensor phalanx. In this case, just send your fleet with at least one recycler to a close debris field and adjust the flying time, so that the fleet returns when you can be online again. By doing that you ensure that nobody can kill your fleet while you are away. But as soon as somebody has a phalanx in the immediate vicinity, this method to save is pure suicide, because the fleet can be intercepted easily.
=====Planet – Attack:=====
: If you do not have any recyclers at the beginning of a universe, or if you are ready to dare for a few more resources, you can also save via attacking a player. However you should only fly on inactive players who are in an inferior position because you can get a nasty surprise very fast that nobody wants to log in after the saving action and notice that the fleet was killed during the attack. This option is very insecure because the fleet can not only be intercepted on the return path with the sensor phalanx (see {{Link|Tutorial:Moon}} for more), but also by an ACS defend (see {{Link|Tutorial:ACS}}) on the attacked planet.
=====Planet – Planet – Deployment:=====
: Unlike saving to a debris field or via attack, this method will also be secure in some degree even if there are players with moons near you. The requirements for that are two planets, which are relatively close together. That is why you should not disperse your colonies in all galaxies at the beginning. Now you just send your fleet via deployment to the other planet, so that you are online when it arrives there. If an enemy tries to intercept the fleet, you can recall it in fleet movement and let the attack run into emptiness or hit your defenses. Alternatively you can also recall your fleet anytime (before reaching the planet) so that it disappears from the adversarial phalanx, however take care that the fleet arrives back to the origin planet when you are online again. The problem of this alternative is that if you use it regularly the time of return can be calculated. That can cause a loss of your fleet via interception, but with this, time and cost consuming method (phalanx/deuterium) will only be used for big fleets.
==The best saving methods with moon==
The minute you have one or more moons, you can take the topic saving easier. Because moons cannot be scanned by a sensor phalanx which means the fleet movement on a moon is not obvious to adversarial players. Thereby some comfortable, but secure options of saving your fleet are given.
=====Moon – Debris Field:=====
: Since Moon/Debris Field cannot be scanned by sensor phalanx, you can save more securely on a Debris Field. But, although only fewer players will bother, this method is still far from absolute safety. Seasoned fleet hunters will look after the Debris Field, on which you send your fleet, and can start an interception by observing the harvest time when it disappears.
That is the reason why some players use so-called shadow waves – they first send one or more single recyclers to a Debris Field and let their fleet follow shortly afterwards – so the enemy cannot know which part of the fleet he has to intercept. If the distance between the single recycler is less than 20 seconds, one shadow wave suffices more often than not, because the attacker is not able to uncover the Debris Field and to figure out the arrival time of the main fleet. It is advisable to send more recyclers instead of one. Because, if there is a really valuable fleet, maybe the attacker bothers to shoot a Debris Field with more Crystal as fits into a normal shadow wave (one recycler). Than the attacker will see when exactly the Debris Field will change, and he will, according to this, wait until the big Debris Field entirely disappears. Generally that means that the main fleet just reached. But if you send more equal recycler fragments to the Debris Field, the attacker will need even more information, because he will not be able to infer only to the harvest.
The most secure method is never letting the fleet arrive at the Debris Field. If the ships are recalled while they are flying, nothing will be changed at the Debris Field, even if the enemy observes very much.
Please note: Invisible Debris Fields will be deleted every week at night from Sunday to Monday (at ca. 1:30 am) and they cannot be approached until there is a new Debris Field (just destroying a Probe via attack there). They will not be deleted if a fleet flies to or from this Debris Field at the time. Especially if you have the option to save on a Debris Field, which you cannot uncover, you shall save it by flying on it at the deleting time, because they give you an extra protection against a loss of fleet via intercepting. Debris Fields, which give you such advantage, are those of players, who are in the vacation mode or those on empty positions, which are still there if there was a planet. But also Debris Field on planets of inactive players, on which there are no ships or defensive structures, will make saving much easier.
=====Moon – Colonization:=====
Just send your whole fleet as well as a Colony Ship with all the resources to an unsettled position. If you are not able to colonize more planets, the Colony Ship will just return with the fleet and the resources. Other players are not able to notice that the colonization failed, which makes this method very secure. But please note: if there is one free colony, the colony ship will subdue the planet and before it will return, the fleet will dump all resources.
=====Moon – Moon – ACS defend:=====
Here it is necessary, that you have a player of good repute in your vicinity. For saving you have to fly to his moon with the order “hold”. It is important, that the time of holding is 0, so the fleet could not be intercepted on the other moon. The only thing, what can be dangerous is a moon destroying or a betrayal by your holding target.
=====Moon – Moon:=====
Everyone, who is lucky enough to have two moons close to each other, can use the most secure save method and sleep calmly. Just send the fleet from one moon to the other; nobody can calculate the arrival and no phalanx can localize it. But it is possible that a player destroys one or both moons, and intercepts your fleet – but it is associated with immense effort and risk, that is why it will be tried only if there is a lucrative target. And even in this case, when both moons are destroyed, you still can avoid an interception by calling back the fleet. Thereby it disappears from the phalanx and flies relatively secure back to the planet.
==What if I am intercepted never the less?==
If it happens, that your fleet is intercepted and destroyed, do not take it too seriously. OGame is after all just a game and it should not be a reason to attack other people verbal or to flame them. Better ask the player about what you have done wrong, and avoid this fault in the future, because like that every player has learned and advanced himself – also the enemy, who was just now destroying your ships. To quicken the rebuilding of your fleet, of course you can try to harvest the Debris Field of your destroyed fleet, whether the attacker did not yet.
