Combat/Map Mechanics and Nodes
Map Mechanics
Maps are made out of nodes connected to each other through paths called edges. You may only access a given node by travelling through those edges. Each node is independent of each other, and your fleet state will carry over from node to node.
The route you will make through a given map is defined by your fleet type and fleet composition. Rarely, one or multiple specific ships may also alter routing; these ships are usually historically related to a map's thematic operation. Ship stats (mainly LoS) affects routing as well. Paths that require a given LoS requirement to be met will show an animation of a Recon plane going back and forth towards the destination node. Additionaly, routing might be simply random.
There are a few mechanics that take place in the map itself.
Land Base Air Raid
In maps where a Land Base is present, an additional mechanic may be imposed where an enemy abyssal fleet will attack the allied Land Base. A text alert saying "Enemy formation approaching! Enemy aircraft are approaching our base." (敵編隊接近中！我が航空基地に敵機接近中。) will appear in the map screen and the Raid will follow shortly. Raids may trigger whenever you travel to another node.
Please refer to the Land-based Aerial Support page for additional details.
Map Unlocking / Phase Progression
In some maps, particularly during Events, conditions might be required to further progress the map. A map may be split in distinct phases, with each phase requiring a different set of objectives to be met. These objects range between successfully defeating enemy fleets, defending against enemy Air Raids, attaining air superiority on certain nodes, beating previous bosses, and so on. As soon these conditions are met, the map advances to the next phase; new nodes and/or paths will be unlocked, older paths might become inaccessible, and older routes might change severely.
Resetting a map by choosing a higher difficulty will reset the map to its initial state.
Initial state of the Fall 2020 E-3 map
Final state of the Fall 2020 E-3 map
Nodes
Full Battle Nodes
These nodes have as the main objective engaging the enemy fleet and destroying the enemy flagship and/or the enemy combatants as a whole.
| Node | Description | Consumption | |
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 Normal Battle |
Normal Battle Nodes are the main types of nodes present in a sortie, often times making up for the majority of nodes in the map. A Battle Node will always begin with Day Battle and can be followed up by a Night Battle. Node Support Expedition may appear in these nodes.
Specifically for Battle Nodes, the battle cost varies depending on the node composition. |
20% | 20% |
| Pursuing the enemy into night battle | — | +10% | |
| Only submarines present | 8% | 0% | |
| Only PT Imp Pack present | 4% | 8% | |
 Night Battle |
Night Battle nodes skip over Day Battle and instead consist of only the Night Battle phase. Node Support Expedition may appear in these nodes even though they begin the battle at night. The battle will automatically finish after the Night Shelling phase is ended. | 10% | 10% |
 Night to Day Battle |
Night to Day Battle nodes invert the usual Battle node format, beginning the battle on Night Battle and then automatically transitioning to Day Battle afterwards. The applicable Support Expedition will trigger when the battle starts (during the night), but Day-only phases such as LBAS and Aerial Combat will be performed as soon the Day Battle begins.
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30% | 30% |
 Boss Battle |
Boss Nodes are usually the final point of a map's route and are where the map's boss resides, if it has one. After the Boss Node battle ends, the sortie automatically finishes and the player fleet returns to Homeport. Boss nodes can be of any kind of battle node, meaning they can be a Night to Day Node, Night Battle Node, or a Battle Node. Boss Support Expedition may appear in these nodes. | 20% | 20% |
Short Battle Nodes
These battle nodes have different objectives and win conditions from the regular battles.
| Node | Description | Consumption | |
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 Enemy Air Raid |
Air Raid nodes are special nodes where only LBAS as well as the Stage 1 of the Aerial Combat are performed. This node consists of a purely defensive battle against enemy Aircraft Carriers. The enemy fleet is able to further progress to Stage 3 of Aerial Combat and perform an Airstrike against your fleet. | 6% | 4% |
| World 6: 4% |
World 6: 8% | ||
 Aerial Combat |
Similar to Air Raid nodes, however LBAS is performed once, followed by full Aerial Combat phases performed twice back-to-back. | 20% | 20% |
 Enemy Ambush |
Ambush nodes are purely defensive nodes where your fleet is attacked by an enemy fleet without being able to fight back. Specifically for Ambush nodes, there is no formation selection prompt prior the battle, and formation and will be defaulted to Line Ahead or Cruising Formation 4 (for Combined Fleet).
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4% | — |
Non-Combat Nodes
These nodes present different mechanics that are unrelated to combat.
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 Start Node |
The Start Node dictates the point from which your fleet will start.
Multiple start points may be present in the same map. In such cases, the Start Node from which you'll begin sortieing is defined by the fleet composition as well as fleet type when you enter the map. |
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 Empty Node |
An Empty Node is a tool mainly used to increase routing complexity, creating branching paths, dead-ends, as well as to display a small piece of flavour text. | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Active Branching |
An Active Branching Node, also known as "Choice Node", is a special type of map mechanic that allows the your fleet to route to any of the desired paths. | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Maelstrom |
Upon entering the node, drains a specific value of a specific resource of your entire current fleet. This means that penalties derived from low levels of and are applied immediately. The strenght of Maelstroms can be mitigated by the number of ships independently carrying a RADAR. Maelstroms drain either or , but not both.
Certain Maelstrom are strong, draining 150% more resources than regular Maelstroms and have roughly a 25% chance of draining all of a resource.
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0 or X% | 0 or X% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Resource Node |
Upon entering, adds a specific amount of a specific resource or consumable to your resource stockpile. Resource Nodes do not refill your fleet's current resource levels.
Using |
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 Finish Line |
Mechanically, behaves in the exact way a regular Resource Node does.
Specifically in 1-6, the Finish Line has a pool of possible resource rewards rather than a single one. |
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 Transport Loadout |
Present in any map with Trasport Loadout operation. Upon reaching this node, the fleet's  and  , as well as ships that are not Heavily Damaged will be taken account of. The result of this node determines the quantity of Transport Points (TP) deducted of a map's Transport Gauge after a successful Boss Battle with A-Rank or higher. (See Transport Operation page for breakdown of values.)
Simply reaching this node has no effect on the map's Transport Gauge.
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| Emergency Repairs Node |
Generally only accessible with either Akashi Kai or Akitsushima Kai present in the fleet. By equipping Ship Repair Facility , it's possible to use Emergency Repair Materials to repair ships mid-sortie.
Please refer to Emergency Anchorage Repairs for more details. |
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 Aerial Reconnaisance Node |
Upon entering, collects resources from a specific point in the map using aircraft. Type of aircraft as well as the ship carrying it influences the result. Differently from regular Resource Nodes, the resources obtainable originate from a drop pool instead of a fixed type.
If the Boss Battle is a failure with a C-Rank or lower, the resources are forfeit. Otherwise, a small message saying that the resources were secured will be shown in the lower right side of the victory screen. |
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