A Fleet is a group of ships carrying out a single mission together as a single unit. A fleet’s size can be as small as one ship and is limited only by ships available and amount of deuterium (fuel). Fleets are one of the essential tools of the game and are used to transfer/transport resources from one planet to another, or to attack another planet.
A fleet can have as many ships as the player wants: there is no limit either for the number of ships or number of types of ships a fleet can have. However, every ship consumes fuel, and so the higher the number of ships, the higher the fuel consumption. The total resource-carrying capacity of the fleet is determined by the sum of the cargo capacity of each ship in the fleet minus the fuel it needs.
Fleets are launched from the Fleet screen and recalled from the Flying Fleet Detail screen.
At the start of the game, each player is allowed one “flying” fleet (or “fleet slot”) at any given time. You may have any number of ships at any number of planets, but only one fleet traveling or performing a mission at any given time. To launch more fleets simultaneously, you must research Computer Technology.
Every level of Computer Technology researched adds one more available “fleet slot”. This allows you to have one additional fleet of ships flying at any given time. The number of fleets available to a player is as follows:
(Level of Computer Technology) + 1 = Number of fleet slots available.
While an Admiral is hired (see Premium Features > Officers > Admiral), you get 2 more fleet slots on top of this.
Before launching a fleet, you must assign it a task to accomplish. A task assigned to a fleet is referred to as a Mission. Every mission has a start time, arrival time, and return time. The start time is determined by the player when he launches the fleet. The arrival time (and usually the return time) is automatically calculated by the speed of the slowest type of ship in the fleet, and the distance between the origin and destination.
Possible mission types:
4.1.1 Attack: to raid another player or to crash any fleet stationed at the target. The fleet will carry out the attack and, if any ships survive, will return to its point of origin, ending the mission (see also Fleets > Combat). A report will be generated in the Battle Reports folder on the Messages screen when the battle is over; if the fleet returns, a report will be generated in the Transportation Reports folder.
4.1.2 Deploy: to station the fleet at another planet (you can only deploy ships to one of your own planets or moons). A deploy mission can also carry resources, delivering them to the destination. The fleet will remain at the destination, ending the mission. A report will be generated in the Transportation Reports folder on the Messages screen.
4.1.3 Spy: to spy on another player’s planet. There must be Espionage Probes in the fleet for this option to be available. The fleet will arrive at the target, instantly gather intelligence and transmit a spy report back to the player and, if any ships survive, return to its point of origin, ending the mission. A report will be generated in the Spy Reports folder on the Messages screen.
4.1.4 Transport: to send resources from one planet to another. The fleet will deliver its resources to the target, then return to its point of origin, ending the mission. A report will be generated in the Transportation Reports folder on the Messages screen.
4.1.5 Colonize: to send a Colony Ship to an empty planet slot and establish a new colony. A colony ship must be present in the fleet to select this mission. The colony ship will be dismantled upon reaching its destination to provide some resources for the new colony to begin construction. Any resources it carried will be deposited on the new colony, ending the mission. If, upon arrival, there is already a planet at the destination, the mission will fail, and the Colony Ship will return to its point of origin, ending the mission. A report will be generated in the Transportation Reports folder on the Messages screen.
Hint: A Colonize mission was not designed to allow additional ships to accompany it with resources to start a new colony. While some players do successfully send additional ships on a Colonize mission, sometimes these additional ships and their cargo may DISAPPEAR when the new planet is settled. This is rare, and almost unheard of if the colonize mission fails and returns home, but it CAN happen. Therefore, SENDING ADDITIONAL SHIPS ON A COLONIZE MISSION IS DONE AT YOUR OWN RISK.
4.1.6 Recycle: to collect resources from a Debris Field. At least one Recycler must be in the fleet to select this mission. The fleet will travel to the debris field, gather all resources it can based on its cargo capacity, and return to its point of origin, ending the mission. A report will be generated in the Recycling Reports folder on the Messages screen.
4.1.7 Moon Destroy: to send Deathstars to destroy a moon. The fleet will arrive at the target moon, and attempt to destroy it. If any ships survive, they will return to the point of origin, ending the mission. A report will be generated in the Battle Reports folder on the Messages screen.
4.1.8 ACS Attack: to send a fleet to another planet with a group of other players to attack one player. For this option to be available, you must be either invited to join an existing ACS attack or already have another fleet attacking the planet. The combined attack fleet will arrive at the target, carry out the attack, and any surviving ships will return to their individual points of origin, ending the mission. A report will be generated in the Battle Reports folder on the Messages screen (see also Fleets > Combat).
4.1.9 Hold Position: to send a fleet to another planet to remain for a limited period of time, and then return. The length of time the fleet remains at the target (the “Hold Time”) is selected at the beginning of the mission. The fleet can be recalled while it is flying to the target, but once it arrives and the hold time begins, it cannot be recalled - it will remain there until the selected hold time expires. During this time, the fleet will defend the planet against any other ships that may attack. During this time the fleet is also vulnerable to espionage (Spy missions) and attack. When the pre-selected hold time expires, the fleet will return to its point of origin, ending the mission. A report will be generated in the Transportation Reports folder on the Messages screen.
Brief Descriptions (tap each name for detailed information)
Note: the Structural integrity figure in each ship’s statistics equals its metal plus crystal cost. In combat, a unit’s armor is one tenth of that, so a Battleship’s 60,000 structural integrity means 6,000 armor.
Small Cargo Ship: Small cargo ships are fast, agile ships used to transport resources from one planet to another. Useful for farming. Propulsion switches to Impulse when Impulse Drive Technology Level 5 is researched, doubling its base speed.
Large Cargo Ship: The large cargo ship is an advanced version of the smaller cargo ship with 5 times the cargo space. Used for farming and carrying large amounts of resources. Becomes slower than the Small Cargo Ship after Impulse Drive 5 is attained.
Light Fighter: The light fighter is the first fighting ship produced by new players. Fast and inexpensive, its shield power and cargo capacity are very low. Often used as fodder and for moonshots.
Heavy Fighter: a straight evolution of the Light Fighter, the Heavy Fighter provides increased armor, shielding and firing power.
Cruiser: a fighting ship with almost three times the armor strength of Heavy Fighters, and more than twice their firing power. Their base speed is also amongst the fastest of fighting ships.
Battleship: the backbone of any military fleet. Heavy armor, strong weapons systems and high cruising speed, as well as a large cargo bay, make this ship a tough opponent to fight against.
Battlecruiser: With its improved laser cannons, this ship is deadly when it comes to destroying hostile fleets.
Destroyer: The king of battleships. The Destroyer is the heaviest combat ship ever seen and has unprecedented firepower.
Deathstar: With unparalleled structural integrity, shield strength, weaponry, and Rapid-Fire against most ships and defenses, the Deathstar is the pinnacle of combat technology. It is the only ship capable of destroying a moon.
Bomber: a special purpose spacecraft developed to break through heavy planetary defenses, using powerful plasma bombs.
Recycler: used to collect floating debris in space for recycling valuable resources.
Espionage Probe: small unmanned drones with exceptionally fast propulsion systems used to spy on foreign worlds.
Solar Satellite: simple orbiting satellites equipped with photovoltaic cells as a means of generating energy. The energy is transmitted to the planet via a special laser beam.
Colony Ship: a slow, massive vessel that carries colonists to new, undiscovered worlds, claiming them for your empire.
At the beginning, this spacecraft is the basic unit for resource transport. Although it has light armor and is fairly slow at first, it can carry 5000 resource units at once. The Small Cargo is the first ship used to raid neighboring planets.
Later, when Impulse Drive level 5 is attained, their base speed doubles and they use the Impulse Drive for further upgrades. This makes them far faster than Large Cargo Ships, providing a swift method to transport resources between planets. Small cargo ships can be used to quickly raid undefended planets alone, or lightly-defended ones when accompanied by fighting ships. Many players prefer to use Large Cargos to transport and Fleetsave, while using faster Small Cargos for attacks.
The Small Cargo provides poor transport capacity for its cost when compared to the Large Cargo Ship, and is also easy to destroy. It can be shot down by a single Rocket Launcher, and it can even end in a draw against only 5 Solar Satellites or espionage probes, because its weak guns can’t wear them all down within the six rounds of combat. Small Cargo ships (when using impulse engines) use twice the fuel per unit of resources transported when compared to Large Cargo ships.
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The Large Cargo Ship is one of the most used ships in the game. The large cargo capacity of 25,000 makes it essential for transport efficiency.
Compared to the Small Cargo Ship, the Large Cargo has five times the cargo capacity for only three times the cost, and is faster than a combustion-driven small cargo ship.
The Large Cargo ship is slower than an Impulse Drive-enhanced Small Cargo Ship, and has a higher base fuel consumption. Due to its larger cargo capacity, however, the fuel cost per unit of resources transported is only half that of an impulse-driven Small Cargo.
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The first combat ship new players will create, Light Fighters have relatively low armor and simple weapons systems, and serve best as support ships in battle. They are the first to accompany Small and Large Cargos on raids to hostile planets with minor defenses.
Light Fighters are the primary fodder ship of the game. Their agility and speed, paired with the number in which they often appear, can provide a shield-like buffer for bigger ships that are not quite as maneuverable. They also make up the lion’s share of moonshot fleets.
Cruisers have Rapid-Fire against Light Fighters, and can eliminate them fairly easily. Light Fighters will never beat a Large Shield Dome unless their Weapons Technology level is at least 10 levels higher than twice the defender’s Shielding Technology level.
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Although the Heavy Fighter is more powerful than the Light Fighter, it isn’t used as much because of the high Crystal to Metal cost ratio compared to the Light Fighter. Even though it is not as effective as the more powerful Cruiser, the Heavy Fighter can still cause significant damage when launched in significant numbers.
Against Cruisers, the Heavy Fighter is a better fodder unit than the Light Fighter because Cruisers have no Rapid-Fire against them. This is especially useful in the early game where cruisers are the dominant combat ship. With more than double the armor rating of the light fighter, they can better withstand hits from smaller defenses that would easily destroy light fighters. While Cruisers are more powerful and have a better metal to crystal cost ratio, Heavy Fighters are still better as fodder because you can build more of them, Cruisers cost deuterium to build, and the same ships have Rapid-Fire against both ship types. An often-overlooked ability is its Rapid-Fire against Small Cargo Ships, a trait shared only by Battlecruisers and Deathstars which cannot be built until much later in the game. Thus, Heavy Fighters could be useful early on to support your fleet when facing small cargo fodder.
The Cruiser and Battleship are better combat craft and the Light Fighter is a much more cost-efficient fodder unit. Most of the advantages Heavy Fighters have over Light Fighters are rendered moot if you’re not facing a fleet of Cruisers, and the better armor is of no use against stronger defenses and capital ships which can easily rip through them in a single shot. They will also be quickly dispatched by a fleet of Battlecruisers due to Rapid-Fire, while Battlecruisers do not have Rapid-Fire against Light Fighters. A relatively high crystal cost along with higher fuel cost means these ships require a lot of deuterium and are not as practical, especially as players develop their empire and are more pressed for crystal.
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Performance
Rapid-Fire against:
Small Cargo 3
Espionage Probe 5
Solar Satellite 5
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Battlecruiser 4
Deathstar 100
Cruisers have almost three times the armor of Heavy Fighters. With their Rapid-Fire capabilities, cruisers are extremely effective at eliminating fodder. In addition, they are excellent as fast strike ships, especially if Impulse Drive technology has been researched to a reasonably-high level.
The Cruiser should be used to clear off the large numbers of Rocket Launcher and Light Fighter fodder so damage from your fleet’s larger ships will be able to focus on the more powerful units of an opposing fleet or defense. A Cruiser can take out an average of 6 Light Fighters or 10 Rocket Launchers in a round of combat, making it invaluable for this purpose. Its great speed makes it a useful raiding craft in the early game. This can be especially useful if you’re trying to intercept a returning fleet that has been spotted on a Sensor Phalanx.
Although fast, they do not have anything like the punch a Battleship can deliver and, as such, should not be used as frontline strike craft in the later game. The Cruiser also needs to have 3 more levels of weapons technology than the defending player’s Shielding Technology to damage a Deathstar.
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Battleships are undeniably the most commonly used ship in the game. Heavy armor, powerful weapons, a high cruising speed, and a large cargo bay combine to make this ship a tough opponent to fight against.
One of the most cost-to-benefit efficient ships in the game, Battleships can do the job of most other ships. Resource plundering, defense crushing, fleetcrashing – in sufficient numbers, Battleships can do them all.
It is also important to note that Battleships can withstand hits from Gauss Cannons, making them even more desirable when breaking through enemy defenses.
Around 230 Battleships will destroy a Deathstar almost every time (in a 50% debris field universe, they can even make a profit). Note: results vary from battle to battle, because targeting and Rapid-Fire are random; run the Combat Simulator several times to see the likely range for your own tech levels. They’re perfectly suited to crash moonshot fleets composed of Small Cargos or Light Fighters.
While Battleships can do the job of most other ships, they do not perform well in special circumstances. If you are breaking through a defense with thousands of Rocket Launchers and Light Lasers, use Bombers and Destroyers. If facing a foe with some Plasma Turrets, Destroyers or a mass of Light Fighters are good options. If you are assaulting a mass of Light Fighters, then Cruisers are your best bet. Battlecruisers can destroy Battleships at a 2:1 ratio, making a Battleship-only fleet less effective than a fleet with a balanced mix of ships.
Therefore, while the Battleship is a great ship to have, it is not the best ship to use in extreme circumstances. Without the support of other ships, a pure Battleship fleet faces the danger of suffering significant losses in some situations.
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Destroyers are the largest and most powerful ships in the game, second only to the Deathstar. Relatively expensive and requiring a high degree of infrastructure and technological research to build, they are not an option for new players.
Destroyers are used mainly to counter Plasma Turrets and Deathstars. They also work quite well when you have to face a fleet of Battlecruisers and a fodder defense of Light Lasers, due to Rapid-Fire. Destroyers are effective in conjunction with Bombers and Battleships to crush turtles. Some players use hundreds of Destroyers as a planetary defense to deter attack, particularly from Moon Destroy attempts.
Fodder will counter Destroyers quite well, but only with the backup of bigger ships behind them. In defenses, Rocket Launcher fodder is effective against Destroyers, where Light Lasers are not, due to Rapid-Fire, but the effectiveness of Rocket Launchers can be countered somewhat by using Cruisers along with Destroyers in the attacking fleet. The Destroyer is also expensive both to build and operate, with the second highest Crystal to Metal cost ratio for a combat ship in the game. They are also relatively slow, and require a lot of deuterium to move.
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The bomber is used primarily to destroy any planetary defense: its high Rapid-Fire against most defensive structures makes it effective for planetary assaults. Like Destroyers, they are relatively expensive and require a developed infrastructure and an advanced level of technological research to construct. Hyperspace engines are added when Hyperspace Drive level 8 is reached, increasing its speed.
Bombers are most useful for crushing enemy defenses, except for Plasma Turrets and Gauss Cannons, against which they have no Rapid-Fire. Given their high deuterium cost to build and move, they are mostly a specialty ship. Bombers are powerful and have high structural integrity, and can be effective against fleets sitting behind defense when combined with Destroyers. Once Hyperspace Drive 8 is reached, their propulsion system is upgraded, giving Bombers the same speed as Destroyers.
While Bombers are slightly stronger than Battleships, it is not recommended to include them in attacking fleets (except with Destroyers, as noted above). Given their slow speed, you would expose your force to potential Sensor Phalanx crashes. Bombers require the same amount of fuel as Destroyers but are slower (until Hyperspace Drive 8 is reached); therefore, it is often better to use Destroyers instead of Bombers in an attack, unless there is a sizable defense at the target in addition to a fleet.
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The Battlecruiser is a high-speed interceptor designed to effectively take on enemy fleets. The Battlecruiser is the mean between the Battleship and the Destroyer. Due to its small design and its enormous weaponry, it has minimal cargo space, but this is compensated for by its fuel-efficient hyperspace engine. Like Destroyers and Bombers, it is relatively expensive and requires significant infrastructure and advanced technological research to construct.
The Battlecruiser is deadly when it comes to destroying attacking fleets. It can also be extremely effective on raids, as many players will have plenty of Cargos on their planets to help fleetsave their resources. Many fleeters prefer to use Battlecruisers over Battleships as their main raiding ship because they have Rapid-Fire against most other ships. Coupled with the fact that it has twice the shield strength of a Battleship and high structural integrity, the Battlecruiser is one of the most versatile and useful ships in the game. In general, this ship can take on Battleships with a 2:1 ratio and come out victorious. Its shielding helps it fend off large numbers of Light Fighters.
Given its Rapid-Fire against so many ships that are used frequently, the Battlecruiser has few weaknesses. The only threats to it are the Destroyer and Deathstar, but as these ships aren’t used en masse very often, this weakness is seldom exploited. It will have difficulty against large turtles, due to its lack of Rapid-Fire against surface defenses. It also has 300 less firepower than a Battleship.
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The Deathstar is the most advanced ship in the game, although it is not considered by most a “ship”, but more of a battle station. Graviton Technology must be researched as a requirement for the Deathstar. It has the highest weapon power, shield strength, and structural integrity (armor) in the game. The Deathstar can destroy moons. It is the most powerful, expensive, and slowest ship in the game. Some consider the Deathstar to be the ultimate achievement in the universe.
Due to their exaggerated armor and shield power, Deathstars are very difficult to destroy in large numbers, with most of the opposing firepower being “spread” (i.e., 500 Destroyers vs. 20 Deathstars = average of 25 Destroyers shooting at a single Deathstar, resulting in no real damage per Deathstar).
The Deathstar can act as both defense (due to having Rapid-Fire against every ship in the game short of another Deathstar) and anti-defense (due to being heavily armored, shielded, and having Rapid-Fire against every defense except the Plasma Turret and the Shield Domes).
Because of their reduced speed, large cargo capacity, and fuel efficiency, they’re very useful for long-term fleetsaving.
Despite their power and armor, single Deathstars are quite easy to destroy without fodder protection; roughly 60 Destroyers, 150 Battleships, or 35-40 Plasma Turrets will usually do the trick. This can be offset somewhat by having more than 1 Deathstar in the attacking fleet. This does not, however, consider weapon, shield, and armor technology research levels. Note: results vary from battle to battle, because targeting and Rapid-Fire are random; run the Combat Simulator several times to see the likely range for your own tech levels. Their construction cost (and the cost to obtain the required technologies and infrastructure to build them) is very expensive. They take a long time to build without high-level Nanite Factories.
Additionally, the Deathstar is very slow, leaving it vulnerable to Sensor Phalanx scans unless it is traveling between moons (see Fleets > Fleetsaving).
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Recyclers are used to collect resources from Debris Fields which are created whenever combat resulting in the destruction of ships occurs.
This is the only ship that can collect those Debris Fields that orbit a planet after a battle where ships were destroyed. Although quite slow, this is almost completely risk-free save the fuel costs. Because a debris field cannot be scanned with present technology, it is very difficult to detect a fleet on a recycle mission.
Any ship or fleet can be sent on a recycle mission as long as at least one Recycler accompanies it. This means that an entire fleet can fleetsave as a recycle mission, making it partially or totally invisible to a Phalanx scan (see Fleets > Fleetsaving). Their slow speed makes them perfect for long-term fleetsaving missions.
When attacking an enemy fleet, recyclers are dispatched ahead of time (because of their slow speed), timed to arrive shortly after the battle occurs. This allows them to recover the debris of destroyed ships, which can be “recycled” back at the home planet. Large fleet battles produce massive debris fields (requiring large numbers of Recyclers), and are a primary source of income for Fleeters.
Although they may be slow, recyclers can act as cargo ships. This is only recommended if you do not have sufficient cargo ships available, as Recyclers use much more fuel.
Slow, useless in combat, and rather expensive and not very fuel efficient. However, it can recoup its cost by filling its cargo hold just once at a Debris Field.
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The Espionage Probe is the only espionage spacecraft. This ship is very likely to be destroyed in any conflicts. Their cargo can only be used to store fuel. They are extremely fast and have incredible range.
Espionage Probes are used to spy on an enemy planet, reporting on fleets, buildings, technology levels, resources, and Weapons/Shields/Armor (WSA) levels. Probes will transmit their reports even if they are destroyed; larger numbers of probes can overcome an enemy’s high Espionage Technology level to reveal all information about their planet. Defenses do not have Rapid-Fire against probes, so probes can be used as fodder if no enemy fleet is present. They are the fastest ship in the game.
Every other ship in the game has Rapid-Fire against probes; they are easily destroyed and have no attack value other than fodder.
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Rapid-Fire against: (none)
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Solar Satellites generate power for your planet. Like planetary solar plants, they consume no resources once they are built. Despite being a ship, a Solar Sat cannot be moved from the planet where it is constructed. The power generated depends on the maximum temperature of the planet and is therefore more useful on planets closer to the sun (i.e. at slots with lower numbers).
Solar Satellites provide cheap, efficient energy. They take up no fields on the planet, so advanced players with powerful defenses may eventually rely on them exclusively for energy, destroying solar plants and fusion reactors to free up space on the planet. They also have a minimal defensive system, and can destroy espionage probes or supplement planetary defensive systems.
In large numbers they are the power source of choice to create the energy necessary for Graviton Technology research and higher levels of Terraformer construction.
Satellites are easily destroyed - you will lose them all the first time you are attacked, which will result in a loss of resources, points and power. Large numbers of satellites alone are a big target for attacking fleets because they contain large amounts of crystal, which can be recycled after a battle. You do not want to rely on solar satellites as your primary power source, or even your secondary, unless you have good defenses to deter attacks, coupled with high mine levels, Nanite Factories and Shipyards that would allow you to instantly rebuild them. Additionally, planets that are farther from the sun do not gain as much energy from solar satellites.
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This ship is used in the colonization of undiscovered planets. Essential for any ambitious empire, they enable new worlds to be developed. Upon landing, the ship is deconstructed to provide the initial metal and crystal required to start construction on the newly colonized planet.
The colony ship is a special vessel used to colonize new planets. You can also use them as fleetsaving tools; if you don’t have Recyclers or Deathstars to slow down your fleetsave, the slow Colony Ship might be a viable option. An entire fleet can be sent on a Colonize mission if it contains a single Colony Ship. By sending the fleet on a colonize mission without the required level of Astrophysics research, the mission will travel to the desired location, but the mission will fail, causing the fleet to return to its point of origin.
In a pinch, Colony Ships can accompany your attack fleet (if, for example, you accidentally create too many of them). They have the same attack power as the Light Fighter but with 7.5 times the armor.
They have virtually no practical use other than colonizing new planets, so don’t build colony ships if you are not going to use them. Colonization requires 2 level increases in Astrophysics technology for each new colony to be created.
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The term “fleetsaving” refers to techniques used to “save” your fleet from attack by sending it on a mission. A related term, “resource-saving” is sometimes used to refer to saving resources on a planet from being raided by loading them onto a fleet and then sending the fleet on a mission. In general usage, the term “fleetsaving” refers to both.
To understand why fleetsaving is effective, remember that ships in flight cannot be attacked. Ships can only be attacked when they are in a stationary orbit around a planet or a moon (often called “sitting on the ground”, though ships never actually land, but remain in orbit). Therefore, if you are under attack, sending your fleet of ships on a mission before the attack hits will save them from destruction. Any resources loaded onto these ships will likewise be safe from attack. To protect your fleet, always follow this rule: never leave your fleet on the ground if you are away from the game. An attack can arrive in minutes if launched from within your own solar system. It is a good idea to become familiar with average minimum flight times in your game universe. The mantra of all successful players is: Fleetsave, Fleetsave, Fleetsave!
One of the most important aspects of a good fleetsave is the time it takes for the fleet to complete the mission. A Fleetsave mission can be a short flight of a few minutes, an overnight mission, or a long mission that lasts many days. Successful fleetsaving techniques require that the player be online before the fleetsaving mission ends. Otherwise, the fleet will return and be “sitting”, vulnerable to attack. A player must try to select a total flight time that allows the fleet to stay in the air until he returns to the game.
You can control the length of a fleetsave mission (or any mission) in two ways:
Hint: The Send Fleet screen will provide you with the ONE-WAY flight time of a mission prior to launching (for two-way missions, double this figure). The Flying Fleet Detail screen will show you the status of all your fleets in the air, including arrival and return times, and allows you to recall outbound fleets.
One-way missions travel from point A to point B (unless the fleet is recalled before reaching its destination). During this travel time, the fleet is safe from attack.
Two-way missions travel from point A to point B, then back to point A, and so have an “outbound leg” – the time to travel to their destination, and a “return leg” - the time to return to their point of origin. Adding the length of these two “legs” gives the total time that a fleet will spend “flying”, safe from attacks. Two-way missions have the advantage of having your fleet return to the point of origin, which you may find convenient.
Hint: one exception to timing a two-way mission is the Hold Position mission, which has a hold time that must also be added to the outbound and inbound flight times for total mission length. If the hold time is set to zero seconds, total mission time is unaffected.
For example, say you’re going to sleep and will wake up in 10 hours, and you want to fleetsave. You select a target for your 2-way (round-trip) Fleetsave mission, and note that at 100% speed, the flight time is 3 hours each way; your fleet will return in 6 hours; therefore, it will be “sitting” on your planet for 4 hours, leaving plenty of time for someone to spy on it, launch an attack and crash it. However, if you change your fleet’s speed to 60%, the mission now takes 5 hours each way; your fleet will return in 10 hours, just after you wake up.
Recalling a mission before it has reached the target will always return it in the same amount of time it has already spent flying. So, if a fleet has already been flying for 4:05:23 when it is recalled, the fleet will take 4:05:23 to return to its point of origin, making a total flight time of 8:10:46 for the fleet. Recalling a mission will therefore alter its original return time.
Hint: Recalled Deploy missions also do not appear on a phalanx report - see Fleets > Fleetsaving > Deploy-Recall Mission.
Technically, any type of fleet mission will protect your fleet from attack, until the mission ends. In reality, some fleetsave methods are safer than others. To understand why, you must first understand how a fleet is detected and destroyed, or “crashed”. For example, an enemy may spy on your planet and catch your fleet sitting on the ground while you are offline; the enemy attacks, and because you don’t come online in time to see the attack and fleetsave, he crashes your fleet. If your fleet is flying a mission, a spy probe cannot detect it, therefore it cannot be targeted or attacked.
To destroy your flying fleet, an enemy will seek to discover the exact time it will return or arrive at its final destination, which is when it can be attacked. The real goal of fleetsaving, therefore, is not just to get airborne to escape attack, but to prevent your fleet from being detected, so that it cannot be attacked at all.
Experienced players have at least two ways to detect your fleet while it is flying and/or deduce its final arrival time, allowing them to launch an attack timed to arrive seconds afterwards. This means that even if you are online, you may not have enough time to re-launch your fleet before the attack arrives. Some fleetsaving methods can guard against this.
The only way an enemy can actually see your fleet while it is flying is with a Phalanx scan. An enemy may also closely monitor a debris field to see when it disappears, and deduce when your Recycle mission will return to its point of origin.
Because a Phalanx cannot scan a moon, the only truly “safe” fleetsave mission is from one moon to another. The fleet (and any resources it carries) will be completely undetectable during the entire mission.
The only way for your fleet to be detected during this type of mission is if one of the moons involved is destroyed, or “popped”, by a Deathstar. When this happens, that planet now becomes the point of origin or destination for the fleet (depending on which moon was destroyed); a Phalanx scan of that planet will now show the fleet’s composition, destination and arrival time (see Buildings > Sensor Phalanx; Fleets > Ship Types > Deathstar; Fleets > Missions > Moon Destroy). To prevent this, recall the mission before it arrives. Recalling a Deploy mission makes it invisible to a Phalanx scan, and alters its return time, making it very difficult to intercept (see Fleets > Fleetsaving > Deploy-Recall Mission).
Especially useful if you have only one moon. A Recycle fleetsave mission from a moon to a debris field is also invisible to a Phalanx. By having just one Recycler present, your entire fleet can be sent on a Recycle mission. Simply select your recycler(s) and ALL the rest of your ships, select “Debris Field” as the destination, and “Recycle” as the mission type. Adjust the fleet’s speed so it will return when you are back online.
Hint: you can send a recycle mission to ANY planet’s coordinates in the universe, even if there is no debris field present. (There are no invisible debris fields in GRSE; your fleet simply flies to those coordinates, finds nothing to collect, and returns.)
To be completely invisible, you must Recycle from a moon to a debris field. If you have no moons, this method is only “half” safe; a Phalanx scan of your planet will detect your fleet and its return time.
If you are being attacked, a useful version of this mission is to recycle the debris field around your own planet, or one in your own system. Because the fleet doesn’t go far, the fuel usage is minimal, and the fleet returns quickly. However, a very experienced player can carefully watch the debris field around your planet and, upon seeing debris disappear, deduce when your fleet will return. To guard against this, avoid doing a Recycle fleetsave mission to the debris field around your own planet; or if you do, be sure to launch it at a slow speed and recall it BEFORE it reaches the debris field. This type of mission is also helpful if you just need to be away from the game for a short time.
If you have another planet, it is possible to fleetsave by sending your fleet there on a Deploy mission. This tactic allows moving large fleets overnight for minimal deuterium costs (because it is a one-way mission, typically done at reduced speeds, using less fuel). It is useful for transporting resources. This mission is vulnerable to detection by a Phalanx scan of either planet. To minimize the danger, Deploy the fleet to or from a moon (if you have one), and select a flight time that allows you to recall the fleet BEFORE it reaches the destination (Recalled Deploy missions do not show on Phalanx reports).
For example, suppose you will be in bed for the next 10 hours. Before bed, select one of your other planets (or moons) as a destination. Select all your ships, and “Deploy” as the mission type. Adjust the speed so the fleet will arrive AFTER you wake up. In the morning, check your fleet’s progress. If no attack is inbound, just allow the fleet to land. If you see an incoming attack timed to arrive just after your fleet, recall it immediately. It will return to its point of origin safely and invisibly.
Hint: While recalling a Deploy mission alters its original return time and makes it invisible, Phalanx scans taken before the recall can still allow a very skilled player to make an educated guess as to your fleet’s likely return time. The more scans they took and the closer to your recall time they were taken, the more accurate their guess can be. To prevent this, skilled players will always deploy from one moon to another, and recall their Deploy fleetsave mission before going to bed, making the mission long enough that the return time will be after they awake. If either moon is destroyed overnight, the fleet will be invisible; the enemy will have no way of knowing it is even there and cannot deduce its return time.
Break your fleet up into chunks with different destinations, spreading the risk across multiple destinations. Vulnerable to Phalanx detection unless launched moon-to-moon or moon-to-debris field. However, if one moon is used as a single launch point, and that moon is destroyed, a Phalanx scan of that planet will reveal ALL the fleet segments, their destinations and return times. Recalling them will yield different return times for each fleet segment and render the Deploy missions invisible (other mission types remain visible to Phalanx even when recalled). When deployed moon-to-moon, this is the safest of all fleetsaving techniques, especially if recalled before a moon is destroyed.
Find an INACTIVE player that your fleet can hit profitably, and send your ships at the speed needed for the fleet to return after you are online again. This way, you can wake up to see your fleet returning home with some plundered resources. If you time your recyclers to reach the debris field after your fleet hits, you can also harvest that, reducing any losses. This type of mission is vulnerable to Phalanx detection, unless done moon-to-moon. In reality, inactive players are not frequently Phalanxed, so if you launch your attack from a moon to a planet it may not be detected.
ONLY select one of your own planets as the destination for this type of fleetsave mission, because once your fleet reaches its destination your resources will be left there; only the fleet will return. Select a return time that will keep the fleet flying until you are back online. This type of mission is vulnerable to Phalanx detection, unless done moon-to-moon.
A Hold Position mission can be used to fleetsave, but it is important to set the “hold time” to zero. Otherwise, the fleet will effectively be “on the ground” during the hold time, detectable by Espionage Probes and vulnerable to attack. You can do a Hold Position fleetsave mission over one of your own planets/moons, those of a consenting ally (ask permission first!), or an inactive player. One advantage of this type of fleetsave is that you can use a moon belonging to an ally or inactive player as the hold destination, useful if you have fewer than 2 moons of your own. And since inactive players are less frequently the subject of a Phalanx scan, their planets are marginally safer for this type of mission as well. Inactive players’ moons are also rarely the target of Moon Destroy missions.
A Colonize Mission can be useful for fleetsaving because it is slow, and the empty destination “slot” cannot be scanned by a Phalanx; if sent from a moon, the mission will be totally invisible unless the moon is destroyed. There are three ways to use this mission type for fleetsaving:
Hint: A Colonize mission was not designed to allow additional ships to accompany it with resources to start a new colony. While some players do successfully send additional ships on a Colonize mission, sometimes these additional ships and their cargo may DISAPPEAR when the new planet is settled. This is rare, and almost unheard of if the colonize mission fails and returns home, but it CAN happen. Therefore, SENDING ADDITIONAL SHIPS ON A COLONIZE MISSION IS DONE AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Carefully guard your online times by avoiding regular patterns of activity, even communicating in chat rooms at different times. By careful observation, skilled players may deduce your normal online times and when you likely do your overnight fleetsave, allowing them to attack your planets and destroy your moons while you are asleep. To avoid this, fleetsave to different locations, at different times, and consider splitting large fleets up for the maximum safety margin.
Rapid-Fire is the ability of a ship to shoot multiple units in one round of combat.
During combat, if Rapid-Fire didn’t exist, each unit (defense or ship) would only have the ability to target and shoot at one enemy unit in each round (at random). However, if the shooting unit has Rapid-Fire against the targeted unit, there is a probability that it will shoot again at another target at random. This cycle of “extra” shots is cumulative, which means that a unit can effectively shoot 1000 times in just one round.
If r is the value of the Rapid-Fire of the shooting ship against the target ship, on average, the shooting ship will fire r times.
Consider the following example:
Cruisers have Rapid-Fire of 10 against Rocket Launchers. Let’s consider the battle of 1 cruiser against 2 rocket launchers and 1 light laser. Each defensive structure will shoot once against the cruiser, as it is the only attacker. When it’s the cruiser’s turn, it chooses a target randomly from the three available targets. Let’s suppose it chooses one of the rocket launchers. The cruiser shoots as normal but then, since it has Rapid-Fire against Rocket Launchers, it gets a dice roll to decide if it has another chance to shoot. Let’s suppose the roll is successful, and it gets an extra shot - then it randomly chooses another target. Let’s suppose this time it chooses the light laser. It’ll shoot once, but since cruisers do not have Rapid-Fire against Light Lasers, it doesn’t get a Rapid-Fire “roll of the dice”, and the round ends here. Had it chosen the rocket launcher again, the Cruiser would have been granted the chance to “roll the dice” again for an extra shot, again choosing the target at random.
It is important to note that during combat, a ship has a certain probability of exploding after each shot it receives (this probability is decreased with each upgrade of the ship’s Armor Technology). This is the advantage of Rapid-Fire; even a heavily armored ship is more likely to be destroyed in a single round of combat by a ship or defense that has Rapid-Fire capability against it. This is a key reason for building a balanced defense and fleet.
Fodder is a term for small, weak, inexpensive ships (usually Light Fighters) used to prevent larger ships from taking damage during attacks. It can also refer to inexpensive defenses, usually Rocket Launchers or Light Lasers, used to increase the chances that more advanced defenses (such as Gauss Cannons or Plasma Turrets) will not be destroyed during an attack, thus successfully repelling the attacker.
As targets in a battle are chosen randomly, having lots of weaker units will decrease the chance that bigger ships will be targeted, take damage and be destroyed.
Combat takes place when an attacking fleet reaches its destination. When combat takes place, all participating parties receive a Battle Report.
In combat, there are two sides: the attacker and the defender. If the defender has ships or defense on his planet, each side will take turns firing upon each other. In an ACS attack, there can be multiple attackers. If another player sends a fleet to “hold position” over the defender’s planet during an attack, there will be multiple defenders.
Every battle has four basic parameters that affect the outcome: Weapons, Shielding and Armor Technology levels; and “Rapid-Fire”.
A battle is organized into a maximum of 6 rounds; in each round the attacker and defender take a single turn in which all their units fire at the other. A battle has 3 possible outcomes: The attacker wins, if he destroys all defending units within 6 rounds or fewer; a draw occurs if both attacker and defender have units remaining after 6 rounds; the defender wins if all attacking units are destroyed within 6 rounds or fewer.
If the attacker wins, he is awarded half the resources on the defending planet or moon (or the maximum amount the attacking fleet can carry, whichever amount is smaller).
At the beginning of each round, every unit starts with its Weaponry and Shielding set at its initial value plus technology upgrade levels. The Armor for each unit has the value from the end of the previous round (or the initial value plus technology upgrade levels if it is the first round).
In each round, all participating units (defenses+ships) randomly target an enemy unit.
For each shooting unit:
Every unit that ends a round with all its armor depleted (set to zero) is destroyed and thus does not appear in the next round. If every unit on one side (attacker or defender) is destroyed at the end of the round, the battle ends with the opposite side winning.
When the combat is over, the wreckage from all destroyed ships is thrown into a debris field which orbits the planet where the combat took place. This field contains valuable resources that can be recovered using Recyclers. The amount of resources in the debris field depends on how many ships were destroyed in that battle; planetary defensive units produce no debris (unless the game universe settings allow “defense to debris field”). The size of the debris field and its makeup can be seen in the Galaxy screen, and can be recycled by any player whose Recyclers arrive there first, even if they did not participate in the battle.
A moon may be created from debris left behind after Combat. The likelihood of a moon being created depends on the amount of debris the battle leaves, which in turn depends on your universe’s debris rate settings. The maximum chance of a moon being created is usually 20% (up to 40% during special moon events). See Fleets > Moonshots for details.
A Moonshot is an Attack mission specifically designed to create a moon for yourself or an ally. The goal is to deliberately have the attacking fleet destroyed in battle, providing a debris field that creates a moon at the target planet.
There are two important factors to consider when planning a Moonshot:
Moon creation is not guaranteed. The end of every Battle Report lists the likelihood of moon creation as a percentage, and this figure is also provided at the end of a combat simulation. The chance is based on the total debris (metal plus crystal) left by the battle: in a standard universe, every 100,000 units of debris adds 1%, so a battle that leaves less than 100,000 units of debris has no chance of creating a moon at all. Because the amount of debris depends on your universe’s debris rates, the same battle can give a different moon chance in different universes. The chance tops out at a maximum, usually 20% per attack (up to 40% during special moon events). A moon can only form if there isn’t already one at that planet. This does NOT mean that 1 in 5 large debris fields will produce a moon. Rather, each attack has a maximum 1 in 5 chance of creating a moon if the debris field is large enough for a 20% chance of moon creation.
Moon sizes are random, but not evenly random. Each universe has a minimum and maximum moon size, and sizes follow a bell curve: most moons land near the center of the curve, and sizes farther from it are increasingly less likely. Where the center of the curve sits depends on how close the battle’s moon chance was to the universe’s current maximum. At the lowest chance (1%), the curve is centered on the middle of the universe’s size range; the higher the chance, the further the center moves toward the top of the range, until at the maximum chance it sits close to the largest possible size. Within this range, however, moon size is still random. This means large debris fields usually produce larger moons but may still produce smaller ones; small debris fields usually produce average-sized moons. Note for new players: during moon events, the size curve is stretched over the higher maximum chance, so the same amount of debris tends to give a smaller moon than it would outside an event. This is intended: events make moons more likely, not bigger.
No moon can be smaller than the universe’s minimum moon size or larger than its maximum moon size.
Hint: no other factors have any effect on the size of the moon (such as the type of ships in the moonshot fleet, whether they carry cargo or not, etc.). It is always random within the range determined by the size of the debris field and your universe’s moon size settings.