There needs to be an anti-stalemate device.

[Gorgolax]

THERE SHOULD NOT BE AN ANTI-STALEMATE DEVICE!!!

[shadowcrust]

There may be a possibility for a true and unsolvable stalemate if you happen to arrive at the flagship with no fuel and if you play on normal and destroy all weapon rooms with missiles and then run out of missiles and have no other weapons available. I think it's pretty difficult to have no fuel at the flagship fight, as you always get 10 fuel at the start of the last stand, but it may be possible at least for the second or third incarnation of the flagship.

[5thHorseman]

There may be a possibility for a true and unsolvable stalemate if you happen to arrive at the flagship with no fuel and if you play on normal and destroy all weapon rooms with missiles and then run out of missiles and have no other weapons available. I think it's pretty difficult to have no fuel at the flagship fight, as you always get 10 fuel at the start of the last stand, but it may be possible at least for the second or third incarnation of the flagship.

It'd have to be the 2nd or 1st phases. No matter how good your shields, dodge, and defense drone 2's are, you'll eventually die due to superlasers.

I don't know if I said this before in this thread because the OP's dilemma was not a stalemate and was instead a loss, but there IS an anti-stalemate device - at least for non-flagship fights. I encountered it in beta testing. I don't remember the details now but I *could* win eventually, and suddenly the battle ended and I got no reward. I was annoyed and reported that as a bug, and IIRC they changed it to a win with a small fuel reward.

Don't know what would happen if the same situation happened in the boss fight, but IMO 2 fuel so you can jump away and back (provided you have the time) seems fair to me.

"Captain!" your navigator yells. "This is going nowhere! I see two fuel canisters off the starboard bow, I say we take 'em and run!"
1. Take 'em and run. (2 fuel)
2. Keep fighting.

[shadowcrust]

I would be surprised if the flagship behaved like a normal encounter when you're out of fuel and if it tried to jump away after some time; it already behaves as a non-ship for some achievements (Battle Royale), it can jump after its hull is terminally damaged, it has unlimited missiles, etc.

I don't like the anti-stalemate device very much, as most of the time when you're out of fuel and meet a ship, it is not a stalemate at all, but they are still trying to flee immediately.

[Mommothazaz123]

I would be surprised if the flagship behaved like a normal encounter when you're out of fuel and if it tried to jump away after some time; it already behaves as a non-ship for some achievements (Battle Royale), it can jump after its hull is terminally damaged, it has unlimited missiles, etc.

I don't like the anti-stalemate device very much, as most of the time when you're out of fuel and meet a ship, it is not a stalemate at all, but they are still trying to flee immediately.

The boss doesn't have unlimited missiles, it's missile launcher requires 0.
Also I think it's impossible to run out of fuel at the boss fight, since (if I'm not mistaken, which I probably am) the boss arrives at the base in 6 jumps, and takes 3 jump-turns to destroy it. That's a maximum of 9 fuel to waste, with one left over at the boss fight. Although I'm probably wrong.

"The future is yesterday." Ah, I think that is now my favorite quote.

[Leylite]

Also I think it's impossible to run out of fuel at the boss fight, since (if I'm not mistaken, which I probably am) the boss arrives at the base in 6 jumps, and takes 3 jump-turns to destroy it. That's a maximum of 9 fuel to waste, with one left over at the boss fight. Although I'm probably wrong.

I know it takes 6 jump-turns in Hard mode, but I think in Normal and Easy the Flagship starts further away from the base, so it might take 8 or 10 jump-turns.

[5thHorseman]

It takes 3 turns to defeat the boss, and you can actually jump 3 times (once away, once to another place while it "flies back" to your base, and a 3rd time to your base to meet it there).

Assuuming you spent 9 jumps getting there, you could spend 3 more getting to the drone phase.

Assuming further that you had no way through 4 shields except missiles, and ran out of fuel, and destroyed his missile launcher (on normal/easy mode) and his beam somehow in this phase, AND all the drones spawned had beams...

...then there could be a fuelless stalemate.

And honestly, if you managed that, you should be proud of yourself, not mad at the devs.