Building a fleet: classes, counters and composition

Three questions every fleet answers

Every fleet you send answers three questions, whether you planned it or not. What can it beat? How fast does it get there and back? How much can it carry home? A fleet of the strongest warships that arrives after the target’s owner has returned, or that wins and carries back a tenth of the loot, has answered at least one of those badly.

The game gives you few hull types but many combinations, and the differences are deliberate. Ships at the same price come in pairs that trade speed and attack against durability. Higher tiers are not simply “better”; they are denser. And unarmed transports decide the size of the prize. This guide takes those three ideas in turn.

The counter cycle and the twin hulls

Every armed unit belongs to one of three combat classes. Skirmishers deal ×1.6 damage to Bulwarks, Bulwarks deal ×1.6 to Lances and Lances deal ×1.6 to Skirmishers. In the reverse direction damage falls to ×0.63, and same-class fire has no modifier. Shipyard categories such as Offensive or Cargo are a different label; always read the combat class.

At the first tier you can see the design clearly. Dart and Pike cost the same; Warden and Rampart cost the same. Within each pair, one ship is quicker or hits harder and the other lasts longer:

Pike carries twice Dart’s attack but half its hull, and it is slower. Rampart is the most durable of the four but also the slowest. The same pattern repeats at every tier: Viper and Talon, Sentinel and Stronghold, Tempest and Ballista, Praetorian and Leviathan, Corsair and Cataclysm, Paladin and Citadel.

Mixed defences change the maths

Each armed unit fires at a randomly chosen living armed target. That has a consequence many commanders miss: a pure counter fleet only gets its full ×1.6 against a pure defence. Against a mix, the multiplier is an average of the matchups it will meet.

Take a defence that is half Bulwark and half Lance. A Dart’s shots land on Bulwarks (×1.6) half the time and on Lances (×0.63) the other half, for an average of about ×1.12. A Warden’s shots land on Lances (×1.6) and on fellow Bulwarks (×1.0), for an average of ×1.3. Against that particular mix the Warden is the better attacker, even though the Bulwarks in the defence are exactly what Darts are built to beat.

The same logic works in defence. Damage you receive depends on which of your classes the enemy happens to hit. A home fleet of a single class is easy to counter for anyone who probes you; a mixed one forces the attacker to accept some poor matchups whatever they bring.

What higher tiers really buy

Advanced hulls need Shipyard levels and research: tier two at Shipyard 2, tier three at Shipyard 4 with Starship Engineering and a line research, tier four at Shipyard 6 with higher levels of the same research. It is natural to assume each tier is far more efficient per resource. It is only slightly so. What changes dramatically is how much power fits into your Hangar:

From Dart to Corsair, attack per resource rises by about 17%, but attack per Hangar room rises more than fourfold. Your Hangar, not your Store, is usually what caps a mid-season fleet: a level 3 Hangar holds 470 room, enough for about 156 Darts or 58 Tempests. The Darts carry about 3,300 attack in total; the Tempests carry about 8,800. Research advanced hulls when your Hangar is full, not when your Store is.

Research works on the whole fleet at once. Ship Power raises the attack of every warship you own and Ship Armor the hull strength of every fleet ship, including the ones already built, so it compounds with fleet size in a way a single new hull cannot. Two timing details matter: an attacking fleet fights with the research it had at launch, while ordinary defenders use their levels when combat begins. And Hangar room counts every ship that belongs to the planet, including ships away on missions or waiting in the workshop, so a full Hangar can block new orders even when the hangar floor looks half empty.

Speed: the slowest ship sets the pace

A fleet flies at the speed of its slowest eligible ship. Darts fly at 91 map units per minute; add a single Rampart and the whole fleet drops to 54, about 40% slower. That is not just a longer wait. A slower fleet is away from home longer, burns its fuel over a longer journey and arrives later, perhaps after the target’s fleet has returned.

Plan speed deliberately. Fast raiding groups pair Skirmishers with the faster Bulwark of each tier (Warden, Sentinel, Praetorian, Paladin), which keep up at 76. Durable Bulwarks such as Rampart, Stronghold, Leviathan and Citadel are at their best at home, where speed does not matter. The flight preview always shows the final arrival time; check it after every change to the selection.

Cargo decides the size of the prize

Warships carry a little cargo, but a raid’s haul is usually set by its transports. Couriers are fast and cheap; larger transports trade speed for capacity and Hangar efficiency:

Size the cargo from the probe report’s loot range. Bringing far more cargo than the target can lose wastes Hangar room and fuel; bringing too little leaves loot behind. Transports are unarmed and protected only while at least one armed escort is still fighting, so a transport-heavy fleet needs enough warships to survive to the end of the battle.

Ground defences: the cheapest way to hold

Ground defences are a different tool. They cannot fly, transfer or retreat, and they use the Command Core’s ground capacity rather than Hangar room. In exchange they are efficient and resilient: after every battle, 60% of each destroyed type is rebuilt free, rounded down.

A Harpoon (Lance) brings 240 attack for 1,500 alloy and crystal, about 160 attack per 1,000, against about 111 for a Ballista. A Bastion (Bulwark) brings 1,000 hull for 3,000, about 333 per 1,000, against about 233 for a Leviathan. A Thorn (Skirmisher) is the low-cost option. Mix them as you would a fleet, because attackers will probe them and bring the counter class.

Building against a probe report

• Read the defending classes first. Mostly Bulwarks: bring Skirmishers. Mostly Lances: bring Bulwarks. Mostly Skirmishers: bring Lances.
• If the defence is mixed, estimate the average multiplier for each candidate class and choose the best average, not the best single matchup.
• Check the power ratio. Below about 1.6:1 expect heavy losses even in victory; see the battle guide for the full table.
• Size cargo from the loot range, and keep transports fewer than your escorts can protect.
• Check the final speed and arrival time after adding every ship.
• Leave a mixed defence at home. The fleet you send cannot defend the planet it left.

Fleets are bets. Composition is how you choose the odds before you place one. The counter cycle page holds the multiplier table, and every hull’s own Wiki page lists its requirements and costs.