Enemy and I approached neutral star same time, I went shorter distance but enemy got defense bonus

The title sums it up, the help says that when two carriers approach a neutral star and arrive at the same time then the carrier that travels the shorter distance gets the defense bonus. I traveled the shorter distance of 1ly where he traveled 3.7ly. Can IHG please correct the help or explain how I can get my star, a very valuable and pivotal star back, as I deserve the star.

Since distance traveled is proportional to elapsed travel time,
the game is actually trying to measure which carrier arrives first according to travel distance during that final tick of travel.

Carriers do not fly 3.7 LY within 1 tick nor 1 LY in 1 tick without a warp gate.

This is a situation where the “V” ruler could be more helpful with measuring distance with two decimal places.

Read this trick.

Okay, I think I get it. It is the shortest distance traveled during that final tick and not the overall distance traveled? I was thinking it was the shortest distance traveled overall. I do however think that should be clarified in the codex.

ok, i will try and clarify the help. thanks @xjhdexter for answering.