What changed

Defend neighboring sectors from a Citadel planet

Citadel Level 3+ planets can now assign part of their fighter garrison to automatic defensive patrols. Set a home-planet reserve, total patrol budget, and per-neighbor cap from the Patrol tab; the planet immediately distributes eligible fighters across directly connected non-safe sectors.

Patrols reconcile hourly in each galaxy, replacing combat losses when the home planet has fighters available above its reserve. They remain ordinary defensive fighter groups, so they follow the usual encounter, combat, blockade, and defense-estimate rules.

Recall patrols without traveling to them

Each patrol allocation can be recalled directly to its home planet for 1 Action Point. Your ship does not need to visit the patrol sector or have spare Fighter Bay capacity. If the home planet is destroyed, its surviving patrol allocations are removed without affecting manually deployed fighters in those sectors.

See your local influence

The tactical sector map and Local Scanner now show your personal territory markers for the active galaxy: Owned, Influenced, Contested, or Neutral. These are private intelligence markers based on your defenses and patrols, not a public declaration of sector ownership.

Read the Auto-Fighter Patrols guide for the full eligibility, allocation, recall, and loss rules.

Why it matters

Planet clusters can now maintain a local defensive perimeter without repeated fighter-hauling trips. The reserve and allocation caps keep the home garrison under your control, while direct recalls and personal territory markers make patrol coverage easier to manage.