Synchronous fire usable only during JP attacks?

[Detros (OP)]

Is "synchronous fire" option in Combat overview meant to be used only for attacks through jump points?
I mean, does that "fire delay" that will stop given ship from firing if other ships in her task group experience it, does it mean only that "fire delay caused by jump shock"?

I thought it also works in other cases where the fire delay is caused by "not yet charged".
But (during combat far from JP so no jump shock involved) one ship that started shooting one interval before the rest of her task group didn't wait for them in the next intervals.

[TheDeadlyShoe]

it definitely works. make sure the whole TG has it on.   It only works for ships in the same literal tg, mind.

[Detros (OP)]

9 ships in TG, same type, reload 10s, all ships have the same target selected
As far as I can tell it went like so:

• 0s: 1 lead ship fired
• 5s: 8 ships fired, 1 lead ship reloaded, I switched Synchronous fire ON via checkbox and then also via button, checked it is selected on other ship too
• 10s: 1 lead ship still fired even though her 8 sisters were reloading
• 15s: the other 8 ships fired, combat ended

while I thought after firing their initial shots they will all fire together synchronously at 15s mark.

[TheDeadlyShoe]

Once a ship begins firing I don't think Synch delays them.  You have to cease fire and open fire again.

[Garfunkel]

Synchronized fire only works for the "alpha strike". The purpose is to negate crew delays so that all ships fire together. Without it, some ships might fire earlier but others lag behind. It is only useful if you have the (potential) extra time to waste, your TG doesn't have TF training at 100% and you need focused fire. So it's mainly for missile ships so that you get bigger salvoes or for beam ships bringing down strong shields to overcome regeneration.

It does not work after fire has been opened.

[Detros (OP)]

OK, thanks to you both.

I was using one ship to fire first and check the hit chances and only when those got decent the rest of group would join. All ships are at 100% TF, no enemies I managed to catch so far used any shields... I will try to cease fire and open fire after the leading shot next time I get some target and see how it goes.

[TheDeadlyShoe]

If you're at 100% training and 100% morale then synch fire won't do anything. It is only for compensating for crew delays.