En/Schussfang
Bait Units
Bait units (Schussfang) are light and cheap units such as Light Fighters, missile launchers and light lasers, which draw enemy fire away from a fleet or defense installation and thereby protect the more valuable ships / defense installations. Especially against defenses with a lot of light bait potential, Heavy Fighters are often used as bait instead of Light Fighters. Espionage Probes are poorly suited as bait, however, since almost every ship has high Rapidfire against them.
Example
| Attacker | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Heavy Cargo | Light Fighter | Battleships |
| Count | 20 | 3000 | 250 |
| Defender | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Recycler | Plasma Turret | Large Shield Dome |
| Count | 1 | 66 | 1 |
The attacking fleet fires a total of 3,270 shots with a combined power of 920,230 at the defender. The defender's shields absorb 49,260 damage points.
The defending fleet fires a total of 68 shots with a combined power of 415,804 at the attacker. The attacker's shields absorb 3,161 damage points.
| Attacker | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Heavy Cargo | Light Fighter | Battleships |
| Count | 19 | 2939 | 249 |
| Defender | ||
|---|---|---|
| Type | Plasma Turret | Large Shield Dome |
| Count | 66 | 1 |
The attacking fleet fires a total of 3,207 shots with a combined power of 910,903 at the defender. The defender's shields absorb 55,725 damage points.
The defending fleet fires a total of 12 shots with a combined power of 69,302 at the attacker. The attacker's shields absorb 244 damage points.
| Attacker | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Heavy Cargo | Light Fighter | Battleships |
| Count | 19 | 2928 | 249 |
| Defender |
|---|
| Destroyed |
The attacker lost a total of 360,000 units.
The defender lost a total of 6,716,000 units.
How it works
Bait tactics work because, in OGame's combat system, every unit fires at a random target — meaning there is no preference given to, for example, battleships over light fighters or similar.
For instance, if a fleet of 99 light fighters and 1 battleship faces a unit without Rapid Fire, the probability of the more expensive battleship being hit (and possibly destroyed) is only 1%. In the same situation with 50 light fighters and 50 battleships, an expensive battleship is hit with 50% probability.
Bait units should therefore always be used in large numbers (compared to the more 'valuable' units). What ratio makes sense depends on the ship types used and the targets being attacked, so no general rule can be given here.