Yesterday we developed the version 1 of our Battle Simulator.
This is an example of how it goes:
[0:00] Attack starts with 5 Chrono Crusader (each with 16059 armor), against 10 Celestial Spikes (each with 6734 armor)
[0:25] Attacker spacecrafts laser weapons deal damage to Defender's spacecrafts or defenses (total damage of 3150);
[0:50] Attacker spacecrafts pulse weapons deal damage to Defender's spacecrafts or defenses (total damage of 3600);
[0:75] Attacker spacecrafts kinnetic weapons deal damage to Defender's spacecrafts or defenses (total damage of
425);
[...]
and the battles goes on until either attackers spacecrafts or defender spacecrafts or defenses are completely destroyed.
Since the battle takes time to execute (because each weapon has its own cooldown), the attack can be stopped at any given time. The armor damage is not persistent, so this means that your spacecraft will be brand new when it returns to your settlement.