Moon

A moon is a celestial body that can be found in orbit around an inhabited planet. It is the home of several specialty buildings, and can be used in many similar ways to a colonized planet. It disappears upon abandoning a planet, or when a colony is removed for inactivity.

Evaluation

Advantages

• Specialty buildings: Oracle and Warp Gate.
• Oracles cannot scan moons.
• Resources may be stored and consumed via a Shipyard.

Disadvantages

• Mines cannot be built.
• Missions cannot be operated from the Moon.
• Ships parked on a Moon are NOT hidden from view by probes.
• Workers cannot be transported to, built on, or used on a Moon.

Special Note

• Debris caused by a battle taking place at a Moon, will be found adjacent to the associated planet, not the Moon itself.

Appearance

Moon appearance on the galaxy screen.

Moons appear as a blank spot in the number sequence from the galaxy view.

Formation

Moons can only be formed from the debris of large battles. For every 150,000 debris produced in a battle, there is a 1% chance that a moon will coalesce. The maximum chance of moon accretion is 20% (3,000,000 debris).

The calculation is performed on a per-battle basis; any debris in orbit at the time of a battle is not included in determining if a moon is formed.

Because the moon is the result of battle, the defending planet is the owner of any moon that is formed. Moon creation is immediate after the battle, and does not consume the debris field; therefore, collecting the debris field will not interfere with the process.

Moons generate with exactly 1 (one) building field, which must be used for a Lunar Base Level 1.

Buildings

The following are the ONLY building types available on a Moon.

• Lunar Base is required in order to build other structures on a moon. Each level provides three additional building fields on the moon, but occupies one, leaving a surplus of two available building fields.
• Oracle can only be built on a moon. It is a long range telescope that is capable of detecting most fleet movements.
• Warp Gate can only be built on a moon. When you have more than one, it allows for the owner to instantly transfer ships between warp gates.
• Shipyard works like a shipyard on a planet. Building one allows you to build ships and defenses.
• Capitol works like a capitol on a planet.

Note that the moon is considered a separate entity from the planet it orbits. Any shipyards, planetary defenses, and capitols built on one do not affect build times and defensive capacities of the other. Anti-ballistic Missiles built on a planet do protect its moon.

At any time, should you have used all current building fields, you will receive the following warning on the moon's Buildings page:
All fields on the moon have been used up. If you wish to continue building, you will have to tear down one building's level and then upgrade the Lunar Base to gain more fields.

Obtaining

Ships per 150,000 debris and corresponding chance of moon formation.

Ship	1%	2%	3%	4%	5%	6%	7%	8%	9%	10%	11%	12%	13%	14%	15%	16%	17%	18%	19%	20%
Hermes Class	500	1000	1500	2000	2500	3000	3500	4000	4500	5000	5500	6000	6500	7000	7500	8000	8500	9000	9500	10000
Helios Class	250	500	750	1000	1250	1500	1750	2000	2250	2500	2750	3000	3250	3500	3750	4000	4250	4500	4750	5000
Atlas Class	125	250	375	500	625	750	875	1000	1125	1250	1375	1500	1625	1750	1875	2000	2125	2250	2375	2500
Hercules Class	42	84	126	168	210	252	294	336	378	420	462	504	546	588	630	672	714	756	798	840
Artemis Class	125	250	375	500	625	750	875	1000	1125	1250	1375	1500	1625	1750	1875	2000	2125	2250	2375	2500
Apollo Class	59	118	177	263	295	354	413	472	531	590	649	708	767	826	885	944	1003	1062	1121	1180
Charon Class	63	126	189	252	315	378	441	504	567	630	693	756	819	882	945	1008	1071	1134	1197	1260
Dionysus Class	32	64	96	128	160	192	224	256	288	320	352	384	416	448	480	512	544	576	608	640
Poseidon Class	19	38	57	76	95	114	133	152	171	190	209	228	247	266	285	304	323	342	361	380
Gaia Class	17	34	51	68	85	102	119	136	153	170	187	204	221	238	255	272	289	306	323	340
Athena Class	9	18	27	36	45	54	63	72	81	90	99	108	117	126	135	144	153	162	171	180
Ares Class	7	14	21	28	35	42	49	56	63	70	77	84	91	98	105	112	119	126	133	140
Hades Class	8	16	24	32	40	48	56	64	72	80	88	96	104	112	120	128	136	144	152	160
Prometheus Class	5	10	15	20	25	30	35	40	45	50	55	60	65	70	75	80	85	90	95	100
Zeus Class																		1		2
Hephaestus Class																				1

• NOTE: The rightmost columns project the rounding from the 1% value and so overstate the requirement slightly (8.3 Athena for 1% is indeed 9, but at 20% the correct answer is 167 not 180)

Probability

The probability of getting a moon is always a maximum of 20% on any given chance. The more attempts you make however, the greater the likelihood you will succeed in creating a moon. Unfortunately five 20% attempts will not guarantee you a moon; the odds of probability are closer to 67%. The same can be said with 21 20% attempts. Even though the odds of probability state you have a 99% chance of gaining a moon, every attempt still has a 20% chance of creating a moon. Using a lunar commander will double the base percentage chance of a moon forming.

Keep in mind that the chance is always random. The game doesn't keep track and calculate how many attempts you've made in the past. Below is a chart that outlines the probability.

Probability of gaining a moon on 'n' attempts

Number of attempts	Percent Chance of gaining a moon with 20% attempts	Percent Chance of not gaining a moon with 20% attempts	Percent Chance of gaining a moon with 10% attempts
1	20	80	10
2	36	64	19
3	49	51	27.1
4	59	41	34.39
5	67.23	32.77	40.95
6	73.79	26.21	46.86
7	79.03	20.97	52.17
8	83.22	16.78	56.95
9	86.58	13.42	61.26
10	89.26	10.74	65.13
11	91.41	8.59	68.62
12	93.13	6.87	71.76
13	94.50	5.50	74.58
14	95.60	4.40	77.12
15	96.48	3.52	79.41
16	97.19	2.81	81.47
17	97.75	2.25	83.32
18	98.20	1.80	84.99
19	98.56	1.44	86.49
20	98.85	1.15	87.84
21	99.08	0.92	89.06
35	99.96	0.041	97.5
n	( 1 - (0.8)n ) * 100	(0.8)n * 100	( 1 - (0.9)n ) * 100

Moon Size

In Starfleet Commander Nova, moons are assigned a size at the time of formation based on the size of the debris which created it.

Moonsize Diameter:
= FLOOR ( (x + 3 * Base Moon Percentage Chance ) ^ 0,5 * 1000 )

x is a number between 10-20 (10 <= x <= 20) where all x are equally likely to occur

The minimum diameter is 3,605 and the maximum diameter is 8,944. You should always seek the largest possible moon, so it will not be easily destroyed. At the highest probability of 20% moon formation a moon always receives a diameter of at least 8,366.

Moon Size Statistics

Moon Chance	Average Size		Minimum Possible lunar sizes Maximum
1 %	4,225		3,605	3,741	3,872	4,000	4,123	4,242	4,358	4,472	4,582	4,690	4,795
2 %	4,569		4,000	4,123	4,242	4,358	4,472	4,582	4,690	4,795	4,898	5,000	5,099
3 %	4,888		4,358	4,472	4,582	4,690	4,795	4,898	5,000	5,099	5,196	5,291	5,385
4 %	5,187		4,690	4,795	4,898	5,000	5,099	5,196	5,291	5,385	5,477	5,567	5,656
5 %	5,469		5,000	5,099	5,196	5,291	5,385	5,477	5,567	5,656	5,744	5,830	5,916
6 %	5,737		5,291	5,385	5,477	5,567	5,656	5,744	5,830	5,916	6,000	6,082	6,164
7 %	5,994		5,567	5,656	5,744	5,830	5,916	6,000	6,082	6,164	6,244	6,324	6,403
8 %	6,239		5,830	5,916	6,000	6,082	6,164	6,244	6,324	6,403	6,480	6,557	6,633
9 %	6,476		6,082	6,164	6,244	6,324	6,403	6,480	6,557	6,633	6,708	6,782	6,855
10 %	6,704		6,324	6,403	6,480	6,557	6,633	6,708	6,782	6,855	6,928	7,000	7,071
11 %	6,924		6,557	6,633	6,708	6,782	6,855	6,928	7,000	7,071	7,141	7,211	7,280
12 %	7,138		6,782	6,855	6,928	7,000	7,071	7,141	7,211	7,280	7,348	7,416	7,483
13 %	7,345		7,000	7,071	7,141	7,211	7,280	7,348	7,416	7,483	7,549	7,615	7,681
14 %	7,547		7,211	7,280	7,348	7,416	7,483	7,549	7,615	7,681	7,745	7,810	7,874
15 %	7,743		7,416	7,483	7,549	7,615	7,681	7,745	7,810	7,874	7,937	8,000	8,062
16 %	7,934		7,615	7,681	7,745	7,810	7,874	7,937	8,000	8,062	8,124	8,185	8,246
17 %	8,121		7,810	7,874	7,937	8,000	8,062	8,124	8,185	8,246	8,306	8,366	8,426
18 %	8,304		8,000	8,062	8,124	8,185	8,246	8,306	8,366	8,426	8,485	8,544	8,602
19 %	8,483		8,185	8,246	8,306	8,366	8,426	8,485	8,544	8,602	8,660	8,717	8,774
20 %	8,658		8,366	8,426	8,485	8,544	8,602	8,660	8,717	8,774	8,831	8,888	8,944

The Moon Chance portion of the formula for moon size does NOT take into consideration the lunar architect.

Moon Destruction

In Starfleet Commander Nova a moon can be destroyed by a fleet of Zeus. Before Zeus can destroy a moon, they must defeat all fleets and defenses on the moon. There are 4 possible outcomes for a moon destruction mission:

1. Moon survives, Fleet survives
2. Moon survives, Fleet is destroyed
3. Moon is destroyed, Fleet is destroyed
4. Moon is destroyed, Fleet survives

If the fleet is destroyed a debris field is created but there is no moon formation chance. If the moon is destroyed all fleet tasks from it will be diverted to the planet.

Formulas for Destruction

Chance to destroy moon (in percentage)=

Chance the Fleet is destroyed (in percentage)=

There is almost always a greater chance that the Zeus will be destroyed than the moon. However, take for example a diameter 8944 moon being attacked by 100 Zeus. There is a 54.27% chance that the moon will be destroyed and a 47.29% chance the Zeus will be destroyed. Additionally, any number of Zeus greater than 277 causes a claimed chance greater than 100% of moon destruction.

See Also

• Debris
• Lunar Base