All ships have an attack order. They will fight in an order that depends on the friendly code. The friendly code can give an attack value from 1 to 999. To use attack values your friendly code must begin with a number value. The attack values will NOT affect the way in which a ships fights, it only effects the battle order. Your enemy's attack values will NOT effect your battle order. A attack value of 1 is the lowest possible attack value. Here are examples of attack values base on some friendly codes where "x" is any non-number character.
Friendly code Attack values
xxx 1000
1xx 1
10x 10
01x 1
999 999
123 123
18x 18
x23 23
xx2 2
x1x 1
The ship with the lowest attack value will attack first. If two ships have the same attack value then the ship with the lowest ID number will attack first.
Battle Ordering: All ship to ship combat has two combat stages:
1. Intercepting ships with a cloaking device attack their intercept targets.
2. The Friendly Code Battle order.
Intercepts Attack - Under HOST.EXE Version 3.20 ships on intercept missions that have a cloaking device will attack their intercept target ship first. The highest ID ships with a cloaking device on an intercept mission attack before the lower ID ships with a cloaking device on intercept missions. Anytime a ship on an intercept mission goes into combat it looses its intercept lock. REMEMBER: You must set your primary enemy to the race of the ship you are intercepting if you wish to attack them.