Safety Probe

From OGame Wiki

There is two explanations for a safety probe depending if you are in a ACS uni or non ACS

The simple non ACS is that just before your fleet is due to hit a planet you send a probe to the location to see if a fleet has arrived back to ninja you (remembering to do this with enough time to recall if necessary)

ACS universes allow you to join probes onto your attack using the alliance combat system slowing your fleet allowing you time to send another probe on its own in a espionage mission to the planet if a ACS defend fleet has been sent then this probe will show you the fleet in orbit and as you have slowed down your fleet with ACS probes you will now have enough time to recall your fleet.

[edit] Example in ACS universe

Your attack lands at 23:00 server time. You send a safety probe to arrive at 23:01 server time. Now you can slow your attacking fleet by adding a probe to delay the time to 23:10 server time. Now any ACS Defend (Which will add ships to the safety ESP report) will show up and give you time to recall.

[edit] Strategic Warfare

Keep in mind that there are retaliatory methods against a safety probe. For instance, if you and a rival have been attempting to fleetcrash each other for several months and have studied each other's safety probing strategies, all one needs to do is send a probe to their own ninja'ing fleet and you could still be screwed. Things can get complicated as skill level improves.