Defenses
Defenses are stationary structures built on your planets to help defend against enemy ships. They are usually considerably cheaper than ships for the same amount of power, but of course cannot be used in attacks or to defend planets other than the ones they are built on.
Defenses can be more effective than ships when it comes to preventing enemy raids. This is because defenses do not create a debris field when destroyed. Their resources are lost to the game. However, one should be aware that unlike ships, defenses are susceptible to IPBMs. A player who wishes to invest in defenses should be sure to build a missile silo, and stock it with anti-ballistic missiles before investing too heavily in defenses.
In combat, all of the defender's defenses will fight just as ships do against an attacker. Unlike ships, however, at the end of combat each defense has a 70% chance of being rebuilt instantly for free. Note that this chance is calculated on an individual unit level, so it is quite possible, especially with small-count defenses, to have a total regen of the defense system. If there are 8 units in the defenses, for example, the chance of all of them getting regened is (.7)^8, or about 5.7%, which is hardly "unlikely".
Building
Just like ships, defenses may require certain technologies and shipyard levels. They are built at the shipyard and take time to build, depending on their cost. They follow the same formula as ships, which is
| Time(hours) = |
|
(NOTE: For Extreme mode, divide the result of the equation by two.)
To add a unit to the queue, click the "add to build queue" button or enter the amount of each unit you wish to build in the field above the button (the default is 1). Once you put a build order into the queue it cannot be removed. You can, however, rearrange the order in which your defenses and ships are built by clicking an item and dragging it to the desired spot. You cannot move the item currently being built.
Unlike buildings, defenses do not take up planetary fields, so any planet can have unlimited defenses. Also unlike ships, defenses destroyed in combat do not get added to the debris field.
Defense Descriptions
Missile Battery: The most primitive weapon in the universe, the missile turret uses cheap combustion-powered explosives to deter light enemy invaders.
Laser Cannon: Slight upgrade on the Missile Turret. The Laser Cannon uses high-powered focused beams of light to defend your base.
Space Mine: (Nova only.) An excellent deterrent to enemy raids when placed in large numbers, but with a risk.
Pulse Cannon: The Laser Turret's bigger brother, the Pulse Cannon packs considerably more punch and can withstand enemy attacks better.
Particle Cannon: The Particle Cannon has a massive shield rating and can withstand hits from most ships, making it an attractive defense against many strong enemy invaders.
Gauss Cannon: The Gauss Cannon uses a magnetic field to hurl high-density metal slugs at enemy invaders. Significantly more firepower than its predecessors, and astonishing hull strength.
Plasma Cannon: The most powerful defense ever created. Utilizes Plasma Technology to create a giant wave of plasma that has the ability to neutralize even the mighty Athena Battleship in one shot.
Special Defenses
Two additional devices can be created as defenses, if you have built sufficient levels of missile silo. At missile silo level 4, you will unlock ABMs At Missile Silo level 4, you will unlock IBMs. Neither of these devices fight, or are damaged during an attack. They come into play only in the event of a missile strike. If an enemy launches interplanetary ballistic missiles at your planet, you will receive no warning until they arrive. When they arrive, the interplanetary ballistic missiles will either destroy some of your defenses, or will be neutralized by your anti-ballistic missiles. Each anti-ballistic missile you own can neutralize one interplanetary ballistic missile.
Anti-ballistic missiles only come into play when meeting an interplanetary ballistic missile strike. While statistics for attack, defense, and shield are listed with these weapons, these statistics never come into play, because the ABMs are launched automatically, and each one destroys one IPBM. A missile strike will therefore never be able to target undeployed ABMs, and ships do not recognize these devices as defenses.
Interplanetary ballistic missiles ignore shield when dealing damage, and can be targeted. Damage not used by destroying the main target will be dealt as "splash" damage to the lowest power defenses until all damage has been absorbed by defenses. Usually, splash damage heavily impacts missile batteries (Not missile silos, ABMs, or IPBMs.) The attack score of the IPBM is 12,000: higher than the hull of any defense in the game. Interplanetary ballistic missiles can be targeted at specific defenses, including an opponent's own stockpile of interplanetary ballistic missiles. They have a hull rating of 1,500, so depending on armor tech level, a player could take out eight IPBMs with a single interplanetary ballistic missile. No ships can target or attack missiles, and the interplanetary ballistic missiles ignore shield. Thus, while there is a shield score for the IPBM, the shield is irrelevant for all purposes of gameplay.
Defense Specifications
| Defense Unit | Hull Rating | Shield Rating | Weapons Rating | Ships That Can Rapid-Fire Against This Unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Missile Battery | 200 | 20 | 80 | Poseidon Class x10, Ares Class x20, Thanatos Class x40, Pallas Class x50, Zeus Class x200 |
| Laser Cannon | 200 | 25 | 100 | Prometheus Class x10, Ares Class x20, Thanatos Class x40, Pallas Class x50, Zeus Class x200 |
| Space Mine | 50 | 1 | 1000 | Ares Class x20, Zeus Class x75, Pallas Class x100 |
| Pulse Cannon | 800 | 100 | 250 | Ares Class x10, Thanatos Class x20, Zeus Class x100 |
| Particle Cannon | 800 | 500 | 150 | Ares Class x10, Thanatos Class x20, Zeus Class x100 |
| Gauss Cannon | 3,500 | 200 | 1,100 | Thanatos Class x10, Zeus Class x50 |
| Plasma Cannon | 10,000 | 300 | 3,000 | none |
| Decoy | 2,000 | 2,000 | 0 | none |
| Large Decoy | 10,000 | 10,000 | 0 | none |
- Note: The Pallas and Thanatos classes, as well as the Space Mine, are Nova-only.
Defense Costs / Requirements
| Defense Unit | Ore | Crystal | Hydrogen | Shipyard | Research |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Missile Battery | 2,000 | 0 | 0 | Level 1 | none |
| Laser Cannon | 1,500 | 500 | 0 | Level 2 | Energy Tech Level 1, Laser Tech Level 2 |
| Space Mine | 500 | 0 | 3,000 | Level 2 | Armor Tech Level 1, Energy Tech Level 2 |
| Pulse Cannon | 6,000 | 2,000 | 0 | Level 4 | Energy Tech Level 3, Laser Tech Level 6 |
| Particle Cannon | 2,000 | 6,000 | 0 | Level 4 | Particle Tech Level 4 |
| Gauss Cannon | 20,000 | 15,000 | 2,000 | Level 6 | Weapons Tech Level 3, Energy Tech Level 6, Shield Tech Level 1 |
| Plasma Cannon | 50,000 | 50,000 | 30,000 | Level 8 | Plasma Tech Level 7 |
| Decoy | 10,000 | 10,000 | 0 | Level 1 | Shield Tech Level 2 |
| Large Decoy | 50,000 | 50,000 | 0 | Level 6 | Shield Tech Level 6 |
