Escort battles in Operation Epic Fury

When it happens

When a big raid hits escorted tankers or a warship group, the clock stops and the radio calls Raid inbound. The raids that count are:

3 or more anti-ship missiles
6 or more drones
a fast-boat swarm on an escorted sailing

The prompt names the raid, the target and your ships there, with their missile loads. You have two choices:

Take command opens a combat-information-centre plot on the map at the real position. A battle runs about two to three minutes.
Auto-resolve settles it with the campaign's usual odds, with no input from you.

Up to five of your warships join a battle, the best armed ones present. It works the same way in the Daily Crisis.

How often it's offered

The prompt has an Offer battles setting:

Every big raid (the default)
Only the heaviest raids: 4 or more missiles or any ballistic missile, 9 or more drones or boats. The rest auto-resolve.

There's no "never". The choice is on the prompt, so you can change it whenever one appears. It's remembered on your device.

On the plot

You see your own ships with their real magazines (SM-2 and SM-6 for long range, ESSM for short range, helicopters, and Nulka decoys and HELIOS lasers if you've bought those programmes), the tanker group or ship under attack, and numbered hostile tracks. The tracks are sea-skimming missiles, slow Shahed-type drones, ballistic missiles that only SM-6 can reach, and fast attack craft. Tap a track to engage it.

Your orders:

Engage a track with one or two long- or short-range rounds.
Weapons free or tight for each ship. Tight ships fire interceptors only on your order. Guns, CIWS and lasers still defend.
Helicopter launches at boats.
Nulka fires decoys.
Move an escort to a new station by clicking the plot.
Battle speed and pause.
Let CIC finish puts every ship on weapons free and fights the rest at high speed.

Result

Interceptors and decoys you fired come out of the ships' magazines and the budget. Hits damage the tanker or your warships, and kills count in the campaign statistics. Press Return to the campaign and the clock carries on.

Is it easier than auto-resolve?

Not by dice. The ranges, kill chances and costs are the same as the statistical model's, and a group left on weapons free fires the way auto-resolve assumes. Playing well means positioning, shooting, checking the result, then shooting again, using helicopters on boats, and holding fire on drones your guns and lasers can handle.