Adaptable Earthlings.

The starting faction is arguably the best. They have a huge array of weapons, good armor, good thrusters and are all-around well-balanced. It’s going to be too much to try and outline all the things you can do with them, so I’m just going to focus on a few tips to help newer players get started. I’ll make more advanced tips in future articles.

Watch your center of gravity.

When you’re building ships, you’ll see a small red rectangle in the build screen. This is your center of gravity indicator. This will be the center-point that your ships will pivot around. As you add more parts and armor, this may move based on the mass that you add, but be aware of it. If you want your ship to strafe, add thrusters on the sides even with the center point. If you need your ship to turn better, add thrusters to the corners so it pivots around the center point. Movement equals survivability, so test your ships to make sure they move properly and adjust as needed.

Mass is heavy.

Be aware of the mass that parts have. If all your heavy stuff is on one side of the ship, it can drastically effect how it moves. Keeping the mass balanced helps maneuverability and works hand-in hand with the center of gravity point above.

If in doubt, add more missiles.

They’re long-range and guided. If you’re struggling to make a small ship that can survive, just make it fast and add missiles.

Watch your energy use.

Ideally you want enough energy per second to cover all your weapons so your energy level never drops. This means your ships can fire indefinitely and will never ‘stall-out’. Add generators as needed. You can either build the ship, equip it, and go in the game to test it. Or, do the math and calculate your energy use per second for the weapons you want to use. If you have shields, add a little extra to cover shield recharge. If you have a way to read Excel files, I have a doc that helps you calculate that here.

Protect your shit.

When you start building larger ships, add armor or shields to protect your weapons and thrusters. About the worst thing that can happen is if an enemy strafes your engines and you can’t move any more. Give them at least some protection.

Weapon Selection.

When you first start out, using missiles and turret guns is easier because they can fire continually at any enemy in range. But, stationary weapons have the potential to do more damage. Try making effective ships using the Proton Beams, Torpedos, and Antimatter Cannons. The trick is to make ships that can maneuver well and maintain a target – refer back to the point about center of gravity.

Thrusters.

The big ones have more thrust, but the smaller ones respond quicker. Sometimes it’s better to use smaller thrusters so your ship can dodge better. The big asteroid engines are especially slow. … One trick you can use is to put a small thruster on the end of Asteroid Thrusters. The responsiveness of the small thruster affects the whole stack below it, making them extremely good.

Make a fleet.

I think a lot of new players struggle because they want to make one ship that can destroy everything. You can try that, but you’re really your strongest when you have a fleet around you. Get used to making allies and thinking of killing Agents with your fleet, not just your single ship.

Try everything.

There are a lot of weapons available. The best way to learn their uses is to build ships that focus on each one. As you test them, you’ll see what their weaknesses are. Once you have that figured, start working on combinations to make effective ships. Anti-matter cannons fire too slow? Add some fast turret fire. Proton Beams not have enough range? Add some drones and missiles to make a balanced ship that can do damage at range and close-up.

As you find uses for each weapon, you’ll come-up with all sorts of good ideas for your fleet ships.

Add point defense.

Some weapons are specifically designed to take-out incoming missiles and drones. You can bind other weapons for point defense on your ship, but that doesn’t help your fleet allies. Design ships that include some defense guns so the AI ships can protect themselves. Defense Cannons, Flak Cannons and Lasers will help your ships survive.

Use bases and base blocks.

See this article about bases.

 

That’s all for now. This is meant to be just some basic tips. I’ll add more stuff later.