When a ship, or group of ships, is sailing in PATE, it may encounter
another ship or group of ships. The two ships or groups must decide
whether to seek contact or evade contact. If they make contact, then if
they are hostile they will always stay together, but if they are
neutral or allied they must decide whether to stay together or
separate. What happens when two ships or groups meet is determined by
their contact orders, and their orders to Join Allies and Sail Alone.
If two ships or groups of ships meet and are not hostile, then whether
the ships stay together or not is determined as follows.
If a ship has Join Allies
checked, then :
If
the ship has Sail Alone checked:
Go to allied ships if possible, if not go to open sea
If
it does not have Sail Alone checked:
Go to allied ships if possible, if not go to non-allied ships if
possible, if not go to open sea
If a ship does not have Join
Allies checked, then
If the ship has Sail Alone checked:
Go to open sea
If it does not have Sail Alone checked:
Go to non-allied ships if possible, if not go to open sea
For two ships to join, they must both be going to allied ships - if one
ship wishes to join allies and the other wishes to sail alone, then the
ships will separate.