Note there are a few cosmetic changes since the BS3 update so the images here are from BS2.
There are a few things you need before you can attack other ships..firstly a ship yourself with the right components. These are the minimum components needed, a DX-1 engine and weapons of any kind but as this tutorial is aimed at new players, you should equip your ship with small lasers. The lenght of a battle can range from a couple of minutes to several hours. It all depends on the quaility of both yours and the enemy fleet.
To send your fleet into battle you need to select your fleet using the fleet button and then select your battle fleet.
Click the arrow in the special mission drop down box and select the mission piracy, then click save. After you have entered the co-ordinates of the ships you want to attack click send out fleet and wait for the timer to reach 0.
Once the timer has reached zero and your fleet is at the same loction as the enemy/opposing fleet the tutorial box will appear (if it is your first fight..if not then why you reading this :)) and the two buttons beside the log will light up red and blue. Click the red button.
Click the red button and the following screen will appear. Showing you the number of ships both you and the enemy have and the percentage chance of winning. Click this bar and you will gain information on the battle in real time.
After you have clicked the bar you get the real time data of the ships and the battle. You Ships are displayed on the left hand side (along with any allies) and your enemy ships are displayed on the right hand side. The Two buttons at the top do exactly as they say.... the reload button refreshes the page and the retreat button allows you to pull your fleet out of the battle.
After a little of the battle has progressed if you click the red button again there may have been a change in the percentage chance and a change in the ship numbers.
Once the battle is over you can click the blue button (or at any time during the battle) to read the battle report. This is handy if you are not online and you get attacked. You can see a quick outcome of the battle and the date and time it took place.
For a more indepth battle report select the one you wish to view. Here you can see the date and time, the co-ordinates, the user and the enemy. It also shows the number of ships on either side and how many were destroyed and how many retreated.
Just follow the steps in thsi tutorial and you will be well on your way to becoming a warrior of the universe.