When does Debris spawn?

[KingCarrot]

Hi!

I have found Sanctuary early in my game, but it is heavily protected by stations (11x1k, 4x3k and 1x8k stations). So my question is when does Debris spawn?

I have made a couple of whittling attacks where I have jumped my fleet into the system and killed 1 or 2 stations at a time, and then used emergency retreat.
I have not yet won an engagement, since my fleet always gets drawn into combat with some of the other stations also. I have not yet managed to isolate a station in order to defeat it totally and win an engagement.

However during all my kills I have also not "received" any debris fields (which is a good thing, since my science ships would be shot down).

But this made me wonder. Do debris fields only show up after you "win" an engagement? Will the game then remember the stations I have killed, so I can receive the debris fields later?
Or is there just something special about sanctuary that on some of the stations provide debris fields?

I hope you guys can help me out

regards
Kingcarrot

 

[Chapter Serf]

Debris spawn when a ship or station is destroyed. I think as long as you destroy something, you'll get debris spawned. Even if you get shellacked and suffer a total defeat. Damaging isn't good enough. And given the layout of the sanctuary, sniping one station isn't going to help. Your science ship will get drawn in probably before it has a chance to do the research project.

Edit: Debris also lasts for 1600 to 1700 days before it goes away, giving you some window to analyze it. But if you wait beyond that, it's gone.

 

[Risa]

Some stations / ships (such as conclave stations) do not have debris at all.
For stations / ships that do generate debris, it is not 100% guaranteed, either.