Basics Of Combat And Research#

• 2 Weapon Basics
  • 2.1 Power
  • 2.2 Damage
  • 2.3 Accuracy
  • 2.4 Range
  • 2.5 Rate
  • 2.6 Defensive
• 3 Unit Basics
  • 3.1 Hull
  • 3.2 Armour/Shield
  • 3.3 Combat (Maneuverability)
  • 3.4 Command

Battle Turns#

Battle turns occur every 15 minutes. Whenever a battle turn occurs, your forces will fight against the enemy and a  battle report  will be published. The space battle occurs before the ground battle, but both occur in a single battle turn. This means that if you were against a player (aliens don't have space units.), you could lose transports in space and not land your ground forces.

Weapon Basics#

Power#

A weapon's power is its ability to breach an opponent's shield (space) or Armour (ground). A weapon will only do damage to a unit if the power rating is greater than the shield/Armour rating. This means that a weapon with 500 power will do no damage against a unit with 500 or more Armour. In addition, power does not stack. Two weapons (or two units) with 500 power each will still do no damage against a unit with 500 or more Armour.

In addition, the difference between power and shielding also plays a role in deciding the final damage, with a larger difference resulting in more final damage. Power isn't the only factor in deciding final damage though.

Damage#

Influences how much of a unit you kill but, as stated above, final damage is also affected by the difference between the weapon's power and enemy shield. An analogy that could be applied here is to think of the damage stat as the bullet size and explosive capability. A high damage weapon can score splash damage on smaller units (i.e. tank shell vs infantry) but will take up more space which will sacrifice other attributes such as accuracy, range and rate.

Accuracy#

This is the likelihood of hitting an enemy. A higher accuracy will result in a larger number of hits from the same number of shots.

Range#

Longer range weapons fire first, which gives you a chance to destroy enemy units before they can get a shot in. In addition, shorter range weapons will need less accuracy to maximize their hit rate.

Rate#

Influences the number of shots fired. Higher rate weapons will experience a hit rate boost since the bullets can spread around the target to increase the likelihood of a hit occurring. A high rate is especially useful in anti-infantry or anti-fighter weapons.

Defensive#

Making a weapon defensive will mean that your unit will not move towards the opponent in order to fire this weapon and will only use it against enemies that come within its range. This will reduce both the shot number for this weapon and the likelihood of your unit being shot at. This has applications for secondary weapons that hold a smaller range than the primary weapon of your unit.

Unit Basics#

Hull#

This determines the size of the unit, the available build points (also influenced by tech level) and then also the unit's "health". Smaller units will be more difficult to hit and can carry smaller unit components (i.e. less Armour, smaller weapons).

Armour/Shield#

See weapon power

Combat (Maneuverability)#

This is decided by the number of engines on a unit and its hull size. Having a higher CM results in a unit that is more likely to get within the required range to fire a weapon (resulting in more shots) and is also more likely to avoid incoming shots (and so will get hit less).

Command#

This component provides combat bonuses to units within an army or fleet, think of it as the computer systems and military leaders that coordinate your forces. It should not be placed on every unit, and you should read  this  article for more information.