Faction retreats on same tick as possible expansion completes - what happens?

[BaddMongo]

Hi, just wondering if anyone has been in this scenario before and knows what might happen:

PMF is in expansion while meanwhile NPC faction in an adjacent system currently full with 7 factions is in retreat and the PMF would be in line to expand there if it were not full. There is a strong chance that both the expansion of PMF and retreat of the NPC faction will complete on the same tick.

So if it does happen on the same tick would PMF then expand straight to the same system the NPC faction has just vacated, or would the PMF expand to the system they would have anyway without the retreat having happened? ie is the same tick too soon?

If you cant expand to a system with a newly vacated free slot straight away, what is the shortest amount of time it might take after the system has a free slot when the PMF could expand there?

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Basically this is a 50:50 chance because it depends on which order the systems are processed in. If the system with 7 is processed first, it'll only have 6 when your expansion is processed. If your expansion is processed first, then the retreat won't happen until after you've gone somewhere else.

It's not actually random - with the same pair of systems it will happen in the same order every time - but until you know what the order is, it might as well be.

 

[BaddMongo]

Ok that makes sense, thanks for that