Publication and delivery
This course is published for study. Publication does not confirm an available class, appointed instructor or completed practical validation. Before booking, obtain a session brief naming the organiser, instructor and assessor, equipment access and any independent review arrangements.
Before live assessment, the organiser must record the current LIVE build, validation date, ship and equipment used, tasks checked and any known limitations. If a required mechanic is unavailable, defer the affected assessment rather than certify an unobserved outcome. A material game update calls for a check of affected tasks, not cancellation of earlier academic achievements.
Your brief
For escort leaders and protected-movement coordinators.
Fleet Studies judges the escort by the movement it protects, not by how far it pursues a contact. The protected cargo and receiving window remain part of the decision.
A contact draws the escort away
Practice case · FO 230 · 2956 teaching edition
- Two transports have an accepted route and receiving window.
- One participating contact moves away from that route toward the exercise boundary.
- The brief forbids pursuit beyond the boundary. Uninvolved players are excluded from all exercise action.
Before you begin: entry and equipment
Complete these courses
Bring or arrange
Participating crews, a tested area, stop signal and recovery plan.
The organizer must confirm equipment access before booking. No ship purchase, pledge tier or donation is required.
Technical knowledge and game skills
Practical instruction revision 1 · 9 October 2026
Escort flying, targeting and disengagement
Fly coverage rather than a collision course
Position so you can observe the protected ship and likely approach without occupying its intended path. Use small relative-velocity corrections to regain station. If a contact appears, establish its position and movement before turning the whole convoy towards it. Your task is to keep the transport moving safely, not pursue every radar return beyond supporting distance.
Understand the firing solution
In an agreed training scenario, select the identified target and read range and closure. A lead pip shows where to aim ahead of the target; a lag presentation shows the projected impact relationship behind the aiming direction. Practise smooth tracking and short controlled bursts rather than chasing the pip with large alternating inputs. Allow capacitors to recover and distinguish projectile travel from hits. Mixed projectile speeds can produce different solutions; test the fitted weapon groups.
Break contact as a team
Call the transport’s escape destination before changing roles. Maintain defensive awareness while it creates separation; do not assume changing to NAV retains every defensive system. On a missile warning, use the ship’s countermeasures and manoeuvre while checking whether the warning clears; one release is not proof of defeat. Report fuel, damage and arrival at the rally before deciding whether another sortie is possible.
Practical drill
Use a consenting training target or appropriate Arena Commander session. Maintain an offset, acquire and track without firing through the protected ship, then abandon pursuit on command and cover the transport’s withdrawal.
Observed-skill checks
- The escort maintains separation and positive target identification.
- Tracking is controlled and fire stops when a friendly crosses the solution.
- Disengagement returns protection to the transport rather than leaving it behind.
Use these checks to document the technical evidence supporting the course outcomes in your agreed role. Record what you personally performed, what assistance you needed and what remains unobserved. A discussion or simulated action does not certify live equipment handling; Crew Support evidence does not confer Pilot qualification.
Game references and build-sensitive details
The linked pages were read for this revision. Community references mix release eras; each source note identifies what is used and what is excluded. Technical explanations below are an Academy synthesis, and drills and performance checks are Academy-designed. Before practice, compare the named actions with the installed LIVE build and actual equipment. Bind actions by name rather than copying old default keys. Research is not an in-game validation.
- Star Citizen Wiki — Controls
Control categories, movement axes and targeting concepts. The page contains legacy bindings and flight-system descriptions; use the installed game’s bindings, not its key table.
- Star Citizen Wiki — Master Modes
SCM and NAV distinction. Check the actual mode, transition and available systems on the session build.
- Star Citizen Wiki — Quantum drive
Spooling, calibration, obstructions, orbital markers and interdiction. Its proposed quantum-boosting section is not used as a live procedure.
Check the official LIVE release notes and record the session build, equipment and observed limitations before practical sign-off.
Learn the method
1. Report what the contact is doing
Give the observed position, movement and identity confidence. Keep “unknown” separate from “hostile.” The movement leader needs evidence to decide whether to hold, continue or withdraw, not a dramatic label unsupported by observation.
Use a contact report that another crew can orient from: reference point, relative location, observed movement and time. Describe behaviour separately from intent. A contact approaching the same destination may require monitoring without justifying engagement; uncertainty should increase the quality of reporting, not the certainty of the accusation.
- Practise
- Report a contact from incomplete information.
- Ready when
- Your report separates observed behavior, identification and uncertainty.
2. Keep the escort tied to its task
State the protected vessels, participating contacts and actions allowed in the exercise. Decide who may order withdrawal and how it will be acknowledged. A contact outside the agreed exercise is not a new target.
Brief the escort’s relationship to the protected movement: which vessel needs coverage, where separation becomes unacceptable and who authorises a change. Do not import fixed distances from another vehicle or game. Use the actual visibility, communication and manoeuvring conditions to establish an exercise envelope the crews can maintain.
- Practise
- Brief the escort’s task and exercise limits.
- Ready when
- All crews can state what is protected, who participates and when action must stop.
3. Withdraw as a coordinated movement
Tell the protected vessels when the escort disengages and confirm their destination. Account for each vessel at the next agreed point. Pursuit that leaves the convoy unprotected defeats the task even if the escort wins the encounter.
Disengagement is complete only when the protected movement has a usable next plan. Report the withdrawal, confirm the transport’s direction and check for a separated vessel at the rally point. Avoid sending a lone escort back on an uncertain search without revisiting fuel, communications and the protection still required by the remaining convoy.
- Practise
- Withdraw and check the protected vessels.
- Ready when
- The convoy acknowledges the withdrawal and every protected vessel has a confirmed or unresolved status.
A worked decision
A contact draws away from the route. The escort stays with the transports rather than following it beyond the agreed limit.
- Report the contact’s observed movement and identification confidence without upgrading uncertainty to hostility.
- Compare pursuit with the assigned convoy coverage. State that the escort remains with the transports and tell both crews.
- On the withdrawal call, confirm the next rendezvous and account for each protected vessel before closing the contact report.
Try it yourself
Brief the protected movement, report the contact and carry out an acknowledged withdrawal. Explain which obligation determined your decision.
What changes during the exercise
A participating contact crosses the escort’s continuation limit.
Keep this record
- Protected vessels / participating contacts / excluded area
- Contact observations / identity confidence / decision
- Withdrawal instruction / crew acknowledgement / vessel accounting
Plain-text worksheet with this case, your working fields and the assessment criteria. Fill it in privately; downloading does not submit work or record completion.
Check your reasoning
A departing contact looks vulnerable. Why might following it be the wrong choice?
Compare your reasoning
The escort’s purpose is to protect the movement. Compare pursuit with the convoy’s coverage, the withdrawal limit and the authority in the brief. A tempting target does not change those obligations.
Answer first, then compare. In a later session, explain the decision using a changed case without referring to this answer.
How completion is judged
Contact reports, the individual decision and an observed withdrawal.
The assessor checks your own work against all three “Ready when” criteria above. Use the observed-skill checks in the technical chapter to establish the applicable game-handling evidence in your agreed role. A successful team result does not replace an action they did not observe.
Findings, another attempt and review
- Demonstrated
- Your observed work meets the criterion in the agreed role.
- Further practice required
- The assessor identifies the observed gap and the specific practice needed.
- Interrupted
- Equipment, staffing or personal circumstances prevented a valid assessment. This is not a failure.
- Not assessed
- There is not yet enough evidence for this outcome.
A fresh attempt
Use an uncertain identification near the convoy instead of a departing contact. Preserve the consent boundary and demand a justified response.
Reassess the missing outcome, plus any linked skill that needs new evidence. For prior learning, compare existing work with the same criteria and observe any missing practical action.
Ask for the reasons behind a finding. Reviews must be handled by someone independent of the original decision; defer the review if that person is not available.
Read the Academy Ordinance and review rulesFor instructors
Session setup and coaching
Prepare the session
Participating crews, a tested area, stop signal and recovery plan.
Assign crew stations and tell each learner what they will practise. The instructor must be able to hear the calls and see the action being assessed. Brief the callsigns, channel, route and expected duration. Replace the example locations with the places you will actually use.
- Ask the learner to explain the relevant earlier procedure without notes; correct any gap before the practical.
- Teach and demonstrate the technical chapter using the actual game indications. Run its drill with feedback before connecting those skills to the three methods and worked decision. Use the observed-skill checks to identify missing handling evidence.
- Let the learner complete the normal procedure first, then introduce the change described in the exercise. Give them time to respond without coaching. Keep unrelated failures out of this attempt.
- Record the learner's action against each criterion. Give one specific next step for any gap and transfer unfinished operational work before closing.
What to watch for in FO 230
Ask what happens to the transports if the escort leaves. Do not grade the scenario by engagement results alone.
If another attempt is needed
Use an uncertain identification near the convoy instead of a departing contact. Preserve the consent boundary and demand a justified response.
Running the exercise
Before the crew assembles, try the exercise in the ship you intend to use. Check station access, equipment and the route. Brief the crew on any faults that affect the task. If a bug prevents someone completing it, repeat that part once it works; do not record a failure for a broken mechanic.
Brief the command “Stop exercise” before starting. On that call, cease the drill and tell the instructor what needs attention. For weapons practice, identify the participating ships and crew; anyone else entering the area is a reason to hold fire.
Session administration: use player handles in your notes. Ask before recording voice or video, and agree when the recording will be deleted. Academy rules and review procedure.
Sources and edition
Lex Astra · School of Fleet Studies
Course FO 230 · edition 2956.3 · 2956 teaching edition · revised course text.
Case FO–7: the vessel that misses assembly
Fleet Studies case issued by CAPT Renard Okonkwo in 2956. These new practice variants extend its receiving-window and watch-handover problem; their callsigns, quantities and times are teaching inputs, not additional historical facts.
Professional references and instructional revision
Instruction revised 9 October 2026. Lex Astra cases supply the teaching situations. Professional references inform communication, decision-making and instructional design; they do not confer external qualifications. LIVE capabilities remain subject to the recorded session check.
Editorial context and teaching basis
The lessons are current Academy teaching, not newly discovered historical records. Lex Astra opened in 2891. Historical sources keep their original issuer and date; all case callsigns, quantities, times and conditions are supplied for practice.
Your session brief names the instructor, the crew assignments and the equipment provided. Contact the teaching office above to arrange a place.
Course-text revision: 8 October 2026. Educational references were reviewed for the framework on 8 October 2026; they inform the teaching approach, not external accreditation or current game-capability claims.
Teaching research and its limitsWhere this leads
Fleet Operations requirementsCourses that use this work
Course records retain the edition and role assessed. New teaching text does not erase earlier achievements.