Do you agree that a Naalu fleet can retreat BEFORE a space battle ? Then, your opponent cannot claim the objectiv "I won a space battle..." ins't ?

The rules don't explicitly say what "winning" a space battle constitutes, but they do say that a space battle continues until only one player has units left in the hex. I would be inclined to say anything that meets that description qualifies as "winning" for the player who's left standing.

Also, the Naalu racial ability, as I understand it, says that the Naalu retreat as soon as they declare such. "Declaring" a retreat happens after the space battle has started (it's the first thing you do as part of the "combat round" after pre-combat effects are finished.) So The Naalu choosing to retreat at the start of the first round does NOT negate the space battle, it just means it's over really quickly. As since their opponent will probably have at least one ship remaining, that means the opponet has "won" a space battle. That's how I see it anyway.

Well, the way I read it, the Naalu special ability says "If attacked, a Naalu fleet may retreat before the beginning of the of the Space Battle step of the Tatical Action sequence (following the normal retreat rules and restrictions)". That tells me that if the Naalu use their special ability, then NO Space Battle evers occurs, because the step is not reached by them. When the opponent gets to the Space Battle step, the Naalu is gone. So, the Naalu did not "technically" win because nothing "technically" happened.

wootersl said:

That's how I would read the situation. If a defending fleet wasn't destroyed or forced into retreat directly by the attacking ships (space combat rolling) then I couldn't conclude that as a combat victory.

I understood the rule like you Wootersi

This race is telepathic. The reason why they can leave is because the enemy won't even remember they were there. Hence, even to the attacker, the space battle never happened. The memories of their attack are likely erased and no objective could be completed.

Bowelbag said:

Interesting theory, but it only holds up at the very beginning of a combat encounter. By your rationale, any time they retreated, even when under extreme duress and taking heavy losses well into a battle, that th entire battle would be forgotten.

It sounds kinda neat though, similiar to a squid's defensive mechanism, in that they could emit a "mind fog" upon escaping, subduing a predatory fleet.

Well, perhaps the less conflict there is, the easy it is to clean up telepathically. Especially, since there is no evidence of destroyed or damaged ships. It would likely be much easier to do this if there is no evidence of battle left behind.