Combat guide

Up to date for latest version, 0.98a.

Combat is the primary means through which two fleets can interact with eachother, and becoming more powerful in combat is one of the main goals of a campaign. This guide has two major purposes: Providing an objective overview of the core mechanics of combat and providing a subjective overview of effective and broadly-applicable strategies for combat.

For a similar guide on the systems of the campaign, see Campaign guide.

Mechanics

Damage

Main article: Damage

Damage comes in five main types: Kinetic, High-Explosive, Energy, Fragmentation, and EMP. Each type of damage has different multipliers against shields and armor.

• Kinetic damage does 200% damage against shields but only 50% damage against armor.
• High-Explosive damage does 200% damage against armor but only 50% damage against shields.
• Energy damage does 100% damage against both shields and armor.
• Fragmentation damage does only 25% damage against both shields and armor. However, weapons that do this kind of damage have high flux / damage efficiency and a large volume of projectiles.
• EMP damage does not damage shields, armor, or hull at all. Instead, does damage to weapons and engines, disabling them.

Flux

Main article: Flux

Flux is a centrally important stat for combat and is primarily used for two things: firing weapons and powering shields. All ships have flux capacity and flux venting stats, which respectively determine the maximum amount of flux they can build up and the rate at which built up flux is dissipated. There are additionally two types of flux: hard flux and soft flux. Most sources of flux generate soft flux, whereas hard flux is generated exclusively when shields absorb damage or while a phase cloak is active. Both types of flux count equally towards the same flux total, the difference between them is that soft flux is constantly being dissipated whereas hard flux is only dissipated when a ship has no soft flux and is not actively using a shield or phase cloak. As such, hard flux presents an operational limit to how long a ship can hold its shields up or remain phased.

If a ship has so much flux that firing its weapons would raise its flux above its capacity, it will not be able to fire its weapons. However, sources of hard flux can raise flux above the flux capacity, which causes a ship to "overload". This prevents the ship from doing anything except moving for a significant amount of time, which is highly dangerous. Managing one's own flux while attempting to raise the enemy's flux to the point that they either overload or cannot use their shields for risk of overloading is the core dynamic of combat.

Shields

Main article: Shield

Most ships are fitted with shields, which block incoming projectiles and convert the damage they would have dealt into hard flux. The shields on different ships vary significantly in their size and efficiency, with High-Tech ships generally having the best shields and Low-Tech ships generally having the worst. All shields can be classified as either "frontal" or "omni" shields. Frontal shields are locked to being forward-facing, and tend to deploy quickly. Omni shields, meanwhile, are slower to deploy but can be pointed in any direction regardless of where the ship is facing.

Phase

Main article: Phase Cloak

Some ships have access to a phase cloak instead of shields. Using a phase cloak allows a ship to "phase out", causing them to become transparent and be able to harmlessly pass through other ships and projectiles. Additionally, time is accelerated for ships that are phased out, which from their perspective looks like the rest of the battlefield is in slow-motion. This allows a ship that is phased out to rapidly reposition, dissipate flux, or reload its weapons. Time is typically three times faster for ships that are phased out, but it becomes slower and eventually is no faster than normal time as the ship builds up hard flux.

However, there are downsides to being phased out. Ships that are out of phase continually accumulate hard flux, which can only be dissipated while phased in. This prevents a ship from staying out of phase forever. Additionally, ships that are out of phase cannot attack other ships, even if the other ship is also out of phase. Finally, experiencing accelerated time applies equally to everything, including accelerating how rapidly a ship expends its peak performance time and loses combat readiness.

Armor

Main article: Armor

All ships have some amount of armor, though Low-Tech ships tend to have the most armor and High-Tech ships tend to have the least. Armor serves two major functions on a ship: Firstly, incoming damage (after damage type multipliers) is multiplied by damage / (damage + armor). This is to say that if the damage and armor values are equal, armor will reduce the damage by half. If damage is less than armor then the reduction will be significantly higher and if damage is greater than armor then the reduction will not be very much. The result of this is that slow, powerful strikes are reduced by armor significantly less than weaker, more rapid strikes even if their nominal damages per second are the same.

The second function of armor is to act as a buffer of health before damage can be dealt to the ship's hull. Whenever damage is reduced by armor, the remaining damage is subtracted from the total amount of armor. Only when the armor is reduced to zero can damage be done to the hull. Armor is distributed across a ship, so if a ship takes significant damage on one side and has its armor destroyed, it can protect itself by maneuvering such that any incoming damage is dealt to areas that still have armor. Additionally, even if armor is fully stripped off of a ship by attacks, damage to hull is still reduced as if 5% of the ship's original armor value were present.

Hull

Main article: Hull

Hull represents a ship's "HP": When a ship's hull is reduced to zero, it is destroyed. When ship takes hull damage, crew can be lost in combat even if the ship survives.

Ship systems

Main article: Ship system

All ships have a ship system, which is a special ability they can activate in combat. Ship systems are highly varied in their function, a ship system is an innate feature of the hull and cannot be changed. As such, ship systems can range from mildly useful to one of the main capabilities of the ship. Most ship systems have a cooldown or a limited number of charges that regenerate over time. Some ship systems also add soft flux to the ship when activated, similarly to firing a weapon.

Combat readiness

Main article: Combat readiness

All ships have a "combat readiness" (CR) stat which can be anywhere from 0% to 100%. 70% is considered "normal" and is the maximum CR for ships that are not boosted by Skills. Ships with a CR in the range of 50% - 70% experience no particular bonuses or penalties. Being above 70% CR improves a ship's performance, increasing its damage dealt, increasing its top speed, and decreasing its damage taken by up to 10% when at 100% CR. Conversely, being below 50% CR imposes penalties in the form of increasingly severe random malfunctions, which can disable weapons or engines or damage the ship's hull.

All ships also have a "peak performance time" stat, which represents the amount of time the ship can operate in a battle before its CR begins to decline over time. Peak performance time is only decremented while in the presence of enemy ships. Additionally, all ships deployed into combat will lose approximately 15% CR when combat is concluded. CR can be restored over time while not in combat using Supplies.

Orders

Main article: Command Points

During fleet combat, the player can order ships under their command to carry out various tasks. Common orders include commanding ships to defend a location or another ship, go to a specific place, or target a specific enemy ship. In order to issue orders, a command point must be spent to open a command channel. While the command channel is open, the player can issue as many orders as they wish (usually while the game is paused). Command points regenerate over time, with their regeneration rate improved by the number of officers in the player's fleet and the number of battle objectives they control.

Objectives

Main article: Combat objectives

In particularly large battles, multiple objectives may be present on the battlefield. These objectives can be captured by the player or enemy by sending a ship to them and keeping the opposing fleet's ships away from them. Objectives grant relatively small bonuses to the fleet that controls them, such as increasing the top speed of their ships or decreasing the enemy ships' weapon ranges. Capturing objectives will additionally allow the fleet that controls them to spend more deployment points than the enemy, allowing them to field a larger fleet in the battle. Notably, the enemy AI will tend to prioritize fighting over the objectives, allowing the player to anticipate how they will move and enticing the enemy fleet to send a small force to contest these objectives.

Skills

Main article: Skill

Main article: Officer

The player character can have up to 15 skills which effect the player flagship, other ships in their fleet, and/or campaign statistics. Officers in the player's fleet can also have up to 5 skills (or more, depending on the player's skills) which effect only the ship they pilot. These skills can have a dramatic effect, greatly improving the aforementioned characteristics of the ship or fleet.

Strategy

The following section contains user-submitted suggestions, these may be inaccurate or outdated.

Fleet doctrine

One of the most important skills to creating an effective fighting force is designing a fleet with a strategy in mind. Simply using all the largest and most expensive ships you can find is unlikely to bring much success in tougher battles compared to a fleet where every ship serves a well-designed purpose.

Some roles within a cohesive fleet include:

Anchor	The core of a fleet, typically a ship with strong armor and/or shields which give it extended staying power in a battle compared to other ships. In the earlygame this may be a fairly armored cruiser such as the Venture, whereas later on capital ships are often most effective in this role. Generally only a small number or even only a single anchor ship is necessary.
Skirmisher	A highly maneuverable craft which excels in capturing objectives, contesting flankers who would attempt to outmaneuver and surround your anchor ship, and occupying the enemy's attention for extended periods of time. frigates are most common for this role, though some fast ships such as the Medusa or Falcon can also be effective as skirmishers.
Hunter / Striker	Primary role is to destroy enemy ships. A hunter is typically also relatively fast and maneuverable like a skirmisher, but focuses less on distracting the enemy or holding the line than on exploiting the openings presented by the other ships in the fleet to neutralize enemies. Ships with systems that allow them to rapidly close the gap with (or retreat from) enemies such as Phase Skimmer, Plasma Burn, or Burn Drive tend to make effective hunters. Often the player flagship is most suited for a hunter role as the player is more capable than the AI at assessing the state of the battlefield for vulnerable or high-priority targets, and can use mobility-granting systems more intelligently than the AI. Phase ships also excel in this role due to their ability to safely enter and exit close range with the enemy using their phase cloak, exposing themselves only briefly to let out a powerful burst of fire.
Support	Primary role is to support the rest of the fleet, primarily anchor ships, by stacking the odds in the player's favour. Carriers, smaller ships focused on beams, or ships with Escort Package generally falls under this role (though carriers with bombers can also be considered a "hunter"). These ships can either push the "flux advantage" in your favour and give the anchor ships an upperhand, or provide fire support for your anchors and cover them from flanking ships (different from "skirmishers" as these escort ships aren't fast enough to contest objectives and have more firepower overall).

All that being said, this is only one example of a potentially effective fleet doctrine. Many options exist, such as using mostly cruisers or capitals to create a durable battle line, using exclusively high-mobility ships to harass and wear down slower targets, flooding the battlefield with low-cost foddder ships such as Buffalo Mk.IIs or Grendels, etc. Experimentation and novel fleet design are some of the core design principles of Starsector.

Ship loadout

Main article: Refit Screen

The decision of how to allocate a ship's OP between weapons, fighters, hullmods, and vents/capacitors is highly important in getting the most out of the ship. Consider carefully what the ship's intended role is and how to best achieve that role. While it may be tempting to start by filling out all of the ship's mounts with weapons, this is often not the best way to go about things. Many ships have mounts which will not provide much value to have fitted with a weapon, such as mounts that face backwards. In many cases the OP is better spent on vents or capacitors than on extra weapons that will provide little to no extra firepower. Try to start by mounting weapons that represent the core of the ship's function.

For example, a Medusa being fitted as a strike ship may start by mounting Phase Lances on the two Medium Energy mounts. Then consider whether the ship needs any additional firepower to perform its role. This strike ship will likely want to be able to apply rapid pressure to shields, so something like Light Needlers will likely serve it well in its Small Universal hardpoints. Finally, its burst damage can be enhanced by fitting two Antimatter Blasters in the forward-facing Small Energy mounts. As the Medusa is an agile ship and has a Phase Skimmer, it has little to fear from missiles and does not need to spend the OP on fitting PD Lasers, leaving the rear three Small Energy mounts empty. These OP are better allocated towards hullmods that it wants such as Shield Conversion - Front and Auxiliary Thrusters as well as towards vents and capacitors.

Regarding vents and capacitors, conventional wisdom is that ships that have the agility to enter and leave combat at their discretion (such as phase ships) tend to favor capacitors, whereas ships that intend to take more prolonged engagements tend to favor vents. Nearly all ships like to have a decent amount of vents and capacitors, but prioritizing what will be the most useful for the intended role of the ship first will create a more effective ship than simply applying vents and capacitors evenly. And vents and capacitors are important - don't neglect them or only use a few leftover points on them. The most powerful and expensive weapons you can mount won't do you much good if you lack the flux to actually fire them.

Hullmods are also important for an effective ship. Almost every combat ship wants to take Integrated Targeting Unit, and Auxiliary Thrusters is also a common pick for many ships as increased maneuverability increases their power both offensively and defensively. High-Tech ships often want to take hullmods to enhance their shield stats, whereas Low-Tech ships often want to enhance their armor. Phase ships should amost always pick either Adaptive Phase Coils or Phase Anchor.

Hullmods can also be built-in to a ship using a story point. This allows the ship to equip the hullmod without spending any OP, but it also requires 1 SP (and gives bonus exp based on the size of the ship) and makes the hullmod permanently attached to the ship. Ships can normally have two built-in hullmods, or three with Best of the Best. Some hullmods provide an additional benefit or penalty listed in their description when built-in. Consider these bonus effects carefully, as some build-in bonuses such as for Expanded Magazines and Advanced Turret Gyros are very powerful.

AI-controlled ships

Main article: AI Behaviour

Aside from the directly-controllable flagship, all other ships in your fleet will be piloted by the AI. The AI is generally reasonably competent if it has a sane build, though its behaviour may not always be intuitive. As the AI is not explicitly "in the loop" on whatever plan you have for it, the choice of equipment on AI ships is important. The behaviour of the ships is determined by the Officer personality, and ships with no officers is determined by the selected Aggression in the Command Screen's Doctrine section (which is Steady by default).

However, there are ways to manipulate the AI to engage in more favourable behaviour besides personality, which is by doing certain set-up in the Refit screen to accommodate AI behaviour. Some examples of this are:

• For a Gryphon focused on spamming missiles like Harpoons, linking the Harpoons weapons with something like a Squall MLRS will make the ship use the Harpoons liberally and apply pressure instead against high flux targets.
• Linking missiles like Sabots with a closer range weapon like a non-beam medium / small energy weapon will have the AI use Sabots when the AI gets close enough to engage an enemy ships and reducing the travel time needed for the Sabot. This can also help prevent the AI from sometimes firing the Sabots at maximum range, giving the enemy ships plenty of time to avoid the Sabots and get out of range.
• While the aforementioned Medusa build in the section above should be mostly safe from missiles and fighters, the AI can "feel threatened" by them and behave less aggressively, attempting to keep their shields between them and the perceived threat. Similarly, larger ships such as capitals may feel threatened by relatively harmless flanking frigates. This can be majorly disruptive if the ship has primarily forward-facing firepower, as it may attempt to rotate to fight the flanker head-on. The flanking ship likely has the maneuverability to simply reposition to stay behind it, causing a large ship to waste a lot of time doing nothing. This problem can be addressed in a few ways:
  • Point defense: A ship that has any weapons with a "point defense" role will feel more confident being in range of enemy missile weapons. Investing 1 OP in a Mining Laser grants very little real point defense capability, but it can make the ship's AI behave significantly more aggressively and discourage enemy ships from freely firing missiles at the ship.
  • Shields: Ships with omni shields or especially 360° shields will be more willing to ignore threats that pose little danger to their shield such as missiles, fighters, and weak frigates. Many High-Tech ships already have large shields and can reach 360° using Shield Conversion - Front or Extended Shields, whereas Low-Tech ships tend to prefer Shield Conversion - Omni.

Appropriate use of fleet commands is essential in improving the performance of your fleet.

• If you want to keep the AI ships in fairly close proximity to your flagship, consider assigning them to a "Defend" order on your flagship. AI ships have a fair amount of leeway in how close they stay to their defense target, but it will keep them in roughly a blob instead of all fanning out to chase different individual frigates and putting themselves at unecessary risk.
• Another useful command is putting an "Avoid" order on a particularly dangerous target before the anchor ship(s) have engaged the target, to prevent skirmisher ships from overextending and being caught out by it.
• Placing "Ignore" orders on non-threatening targets (like enemy Monitors) can prevent ships from being diverted away from the main action and becoming isolated.
• "Rally Task Force" or "Rally Civilian Craft" orders have a much tighter leash range than the "Defend" order, and so they are useful for keeping ships in a formation. In particular, the "Rally Civilian Craft" order can force a ship to stay on the designated location at all costs, even if the ship is being pressured by enemy ships.
• The "Light Escort", "Medium Escort", and "Heavy Escort" orders all compel assigned ships to closely defend the targeted ship, with a very tight leash range compared to the "Defend" order. Escorts tend to focus on enemy ships that are flanking the escortee, keeping the escortee safe at the cost of exposing the escorts to greater danger.

Player flagships

The decision of how to outfit the player flagship can be highly important, as the human ability to strategize is one of the main advantages the player has over enemy AI fleets. While the flagship can be nearly any ship or role, it is generally recommended to choose a role which has a high degree of agency in how it engages with the enemy. Ships with a narrowly-defined purpose such as objective-capturers and dedicated point-defense vessels are unlikely to benefit much from human control and may even perform worse than the AI.

The player flagship can also employ more creative loadouts which would have limited effectiveness in the hands of the AI. For example, a player flagship could mount Typhoon Reaper Launchers and Sabot SRM Pods on the same ship. In battle, these can be used in deadly combination: First fire the Reaper, which the enemy will notice and attempt to block with their shields at any cost. This presents an opportunity to follow up with the Sabot, breaking their shields and allowing the Reaper to land succesfully. In AI hands, these two weapons together are much less likely to see success as the AI will assess their roles individdually rather than as part of a larger combination.