Combat Maneuverability#

Combat Maneuverability (CM) is a measure of a unit's ability to close down other units and dodge incoming attacks.

A high CM means that a unit can get within the range required to shoot a short range weapon earlier than the a unit with low CM. High CM units are also more likely to avoid shots from opponent weapons, causing them to miss more often.

It is unwise to combine a low CM unit with a low range weapon because it will be low on the shoot order, giving a higher chance that the unit will be shot at, and destroyed before getting a chance to shoot.

On all units except  soldiers , the CM is affected by hull size and number of engines. Increasing the number of engines will generate a high CM rating. A larger hull will make a unit less maneuverable. This means that a larger hull ship must have more engines to achieve the same CM rating as a smaller hull ship.

Naturally, you should play to how you would expect a unit to behave. A 300 hull tank, with lots of engines will not perform as well in a main battle tank role as a similar sized tank with more powerful, longer ranged weapons.

It is also possible to design  stationary units  that have no engines and no CM rating. These units are therefore unable to move, even between planets.