Verified against the live game, August 2026. Numbers are the current defaults and can shift with balance patches; each galaxy's host also sets its own pace.
What it does
Interdiction-capable ships carry a toggle: activate it, and the entire star system's hyperspace is jammed. While any active interdictor sits in a system, no ship jumps out of it. Jump orders simply fail — "hyperspace jammed".
The two rules that decide battles
- Arrivals still land. Interdiction seals the exits, not the entrances. Reinforcements — yours and theirs — keep arriving all through a blockade.
- The jam is indiscriminate. It grounds everyone, including the interdictor's own side. Flip the switch and your fleet is committed too. There is no selective jamming.
What it's for
Pinning: jump in, jam, and the fleet you caught fights or dies — no escape to hyperspace. Sieges: a jammed system can't evacuate its ships while your fleet works. Area denial: parking an interdictor in a border crossing makes every hostile transit through it a commitment.
Breaking a blockade
The jam lives and dies with the jammer. Kill the interdictor and the door opens — which is why the fleet target-priority menu has a dedicated interdictors first doctrine. Failing that: reinforce (arrivals still land), win the battle, or make holding the jam more expensive than it's worth. What you cannot do is leave.
Who fields it
Interdiction hulls are marked with the Hyperspace interdiction capability in the Ship Registry — the Humans' Dictator and Hector class interdictors are the classic examples. They're priority targets for a reason: bring escorts, or don't bring them.