Corebound
Battle
Battles fight themselves. Your decisions happen before the first shot: positions, pilots, doctrine and two abilities.
Three rows
Your fleet sits on a grid of three rows with 4 slots each. On screen your fleet is on the left, the enemy on the right; the fronts face each other in the middle.
| Row | What it does |
|---|---|
| Front | is hit first and shields the back row |
| Flank | can strike the enemy back row directly; fighters intercept flankers |
| Back | can only be hit once the enemy front and flank are gone (except by flankers) |
When your front breaks, the flank moves up. The Advance doctrine does this earlier – every gap in the front is filled at once – and adds 15 % damage.
Who shoots whom
Every ship fires as soon as its weapon is ready. All ships pick their targets at the same moment, so nobody gets the first shot. Ships also see what their neighbours are already shooting at: a target that is sure to fall this instant is skipped, so no volley is wasted.
| Doctrine | Picks |
|---|---|
| Balanced | the target it counters best, then the most damaged one |
| Focus fire | the biggest target in reach |
| Intercept | enemy fighters first, then flankers |
| Advance | like Balanced, but the flank moves up early and deals more damage |
Fighters always go for enemy flankers first, except under Focus fire.
Winning
A side loses when it has no ships left or retreats. You can set a retreat threshold (25 / 50 / 75 % of your hull lost); survivors of a retreat are saved. If the time limit of 90 seconds runs out, the defender wins. Defenders also get 10 % more shield in their own sector.
Abilities
The attacker picks two. Each works once per battle and is ready after 3 seconds.
- EMP: one enemy row loses all shields, cannot recharge them for 3 s and stops firing for 2 s.
- Emergency jump: every ship of yours below 30 % hull leaves the battle and is saved.
- Focus order: for 5 s all your ships fire at one enemy you pick, if they can reach it.
While you choose a row or a target, the battle waits for you.
Campaigns
After a victory you fought yourself, your fleet heads home as usual – but while it is still on the way, the banner offers Press on. Pick one of the sectors next to the one you just took, see your chances with the ships as they are now, and send them on.
- Up to three battles in a row. After the third, the fleet comes home.
- Damage stays. Ships are repaired only at the flagship, so a campaign fleet gets weaker with every fight.
- Regrouping takes 6 minutes – longer than a normal hop of 2 minutes per sector.
- Each further victory pays more: +25 % loot and experience for the second battle, +50 % for the third.
- Stopping costs nothing. Do nothing and the fleet flies home. If you lose the connection, the same happens; a battle that resolves on its own (because you were away) always ends the campaign.