Group Attack
After launching an attack, there will be an link on the Fleet page, to the far right of the attacking fleet, called “Formation.” If clicked, a window opens giving you the option to send invites to yourself, your buddies, and your alliance, together with a custom message.
Upon opening the message, the recipient is shown the custom message and given the option to “Join Group Attack.” Anyone who accepts the invitation by clicking on “Join Group Attack” has the standard galaxy page attack dialog box open allowing them to select the ships for the attacking fleet they wish to use.
(Note: it is not possible to invite the owner of the target planet to participate in a Group Attack against themselves.)
If a invited party joining the attack requires more time to reach the target, due to being further away from the target, being slow to accept the invitation, using slower ships, or sending ships at a speed percentage less than 100% (or some combination), this will delay the time of the attack until the late arriving fleet would arrive. However, (it appears that) if the fleet attempting to join the attack would cause an increase of more than 30% in the time remaining for the attack, the attempt will be rejected with the message “You cannot slow down the attack that much.” Furthermore, it is also believed that the sum of all delays to the fleet cannot exceed 30% of the original attack time. So, for instance, suppose an attack initially requires 1 hour 40 minutes (100 minutes). After 50 minutes has passed, when there is 50 minutes remaining, a fleet requiring up to 1 hour 5 minutes (15 minutes more; 130% of the time remaining) to reach the target could still join. Immediately after such a fleet had joined, another fleet could join requiring up to 1 hour 20 minutes (15 minutes more), bringing the total time from the initial launch to 130 minutes. If such a fleet joined, no further delays would be possible.
Additionally, if the person joining is not within attack rank range (i.e. of too high or too low a rank vs the person being attacked) so that Newbie Protection applies, they will not be accepted into the formation even after accepting the “Join Group Attack” request. Check the colony being attacked first to see if you would normally be able to attack before trying to join a formation; if you can not attack as an individual because of the difference in rank, then you can not participate in the group attack either.
If the formation leader recalls, the invitees will still attack. The attack simply changes from a group attack to a normal one. This guarantees that return times of the invitees can not be tampered with by the formation leader. Also, since the formation leader isn't 'locked in', he can recall to defend his base with out cancelling the other players' attacks.
A maximum of 6 fleets may join a Group Attack. This means 1 player initiates a group attack, and 6 other fleets may participate, making a total of 7. If ANY of the attacking fleets' home planets, or the planet under attack, are scanned by an Oracle, the Oracle owner can see all ships participating in the group attack.
Its defensive counterpart is Group Defend.
Note: Ships present at a planet during a Group Defend mission's orbital period will combat against any incoming attacks, INCLUDING those launched by the Group Defend fleet's owner and/or their allies and/or their buddies. This, in fact, is the only way to fire upon your own ships.
Split
Plunder is divided equally among all ships' cargo holds. If you both have 10 Hercs, for example, you will get an equal share, not counting other ships including attack ships. If you have 6 and the other guy 10 then the other guy gets more. Keep in mind, if you lose a Herc leaving you 9 and the other guy still has 10, he will take more. Also remember attacking ships have cargo capacity so they maybe get a bit more from that. Also if you use up more than one slot on the Group Attack list, it seems that you will get a extra shares of the profits.
In SFC universes apart from Nova, DSP is shared equally among the participants. In SFC Nova, DSP is shared proportionally according to the RSP of the ships involved. See Combat: Special Rules for Nova: DSP.
Within the battle, each ship retains the Armor Tech, Weapons Tech, and Shield Tech of its owner.
