Loading and Unloading Metal

You can use your fleets to load metal from an outlying world, then transport it to another world (for instance, your homeworld), and unload it there, where it can be used by your industry to build.

Each ship can carry one unit of metal, unless you are a Trader, in which case each ship can carry two units of metal. (However, a Trader ship that is carrying two units of metal cannot fire.)

Loading and unloading take place before movement, so you can load metal from a world and move your fleet away from that world in the same turn--the metal will be loaded from the world at which the fleet started. When your fleet arrives at its destination, you can unload metal onto that world and move the fleet away in the same turn--again, the metal will be unloaded onto the world from which the fleet started. (You cannot, however, build with the metal you unload until the next turn.)

If your fleets are fired upon while they are carrying metal, the ships that are loaded will receive double damage. (Shots will hit unloaded ships before they hit loaded ships.) For this reason, you may want to unload or jettison your metal if you suddenly find your fleets in a hostile situation.

Normally, you will load metal from your own worlds. You can also load metal from your allies' worlds, if they have declared you to be a loader. For instance, it is particularly useful to declare a Trader ally to be a loader for you, since a Trader can load and carry your metal more efficiently than you can.

You can see how much metal your own fleets are carrying, but you cannot see how much metal, if any, other players' fleets are carrying.