Space is not void...

Battle areas are rarely completely empty. Over their long careers Commanders have learned how to deal with the many obstacles that may fill entire sectors where their ships conduct operations. Today, we are going to look at some of the obstacles a ship commander will have to overcome in the vast empty void of space.

The most common obstacles are asteroid fields. In such sectors, the multitude of objects flying around could completely disable targeting systems and may now allow the use of any weapon. The advantage is that enemies cannot use their own targeting system as well. This may be a refuge, but not without significant risk. The presence of so many flying objects pushes pilots and anti-collision systems to their limits and damage may be caused.

So what happens during a battle? Ships get blown to bits and pieces. It’s a fact. In the heat of battle there will be ships blown apart and left to litter whole sectors of space.  Space debris caused by battles has the same affect on ships as asteroid fields.  In addition to the aforementioned issues  Commanders will have to deal with unexploded ordinance randomly going off from a misplace shot in ship to ship combat that did not hit its intended target.

Some sectors of space are subject to very strong gravitational fields generated by different forces arising from the disruption of matter or combined effects of stars. It is not possible to stay in such gravity fields for long, because these forces may accelerate warships to another close sector without the need of using engine. As these fields are unstable, it is not always possible to control the movement, and sometimes cause damage to Commanders ships.

The particles constituting Gas Clouds have an impact on the targeting system of ships as well, but not as much as asteroid fields. Ships inside a gas cloud could launch attacks, but cannot support attacks launched from another sector. If they are attacked, it is possible that one of the sectors attacking them would not be able to target them. Basically shooting in one direction. Hopefully you are on the right side.

Dark Anomalies are the most frightening forces to deal with in space. When active, they pull all ships around them towards them, and if too close, crush the ships in their immense gravitational forces. Fortunately, Dark Anomalies activations are slow and can be predicted.

Finally, human structures can be found in the middle of the battle areas. Colonies are places lost in the void where humans are living. They are most of the time miners, merchants, industrials that work in the "neighborhood". These structures always have some docking facilities where warships can receive some quick repair during a battle.

Battle stations are huge manufactured structures dedicated to military operations (logistic, intelligence, supply, and battle support…). Their conventional weapon systems are sometimes elaborate and can sometime play a key role in a warships battle or defending a strategic point in you sectors of space.