Unit Analysis

Venture Class - Outpost

With a large sensor radius and a fast speed (equal to all other scouts) this vessel is an important tool in the Federation arsenal. Although it is equipped with a medium range, forward firing pulse weapon, this often only serves to alert your opponents that you are in their territory. Consequently, setting the Venture on green alert and low movement autonomy can often be as good as a cloaking device, especially if the Venture is stuffed in a neglected corner of your opponent's base. These settings are also sufficient to prevent it from engaging outposts it is exploring and thus let your opponent know where you plan on striking. Note that the two sensor upgrades can make this scout a marvelous early warning beacon, as you will see your opponent's fleets long before they notice yours.

When playing as the Federation it is important to immediately explore the map, beginning with all moon pairs (preferably the moon pairs your opponent is most likely to expand to) as well as the spaces in between moon pairs as this will offer you the opportunity to use your “free” Warp-In capabilities to strike anywhere later in the game (again, the ideal harassment technique). Scouting early game is always the easiest because there are no enemy destroyers or turrets to harass your scout, so you can go almost anywhere you please. As your opponent expands, do not forget to investigate his/her expansions at regular intervals, as this will give you the best idea of what constitutes undefended territory.

Newton Class - Outpost

After a battle is over you can use a Newton to quickly repair hull and subsystem damaged ships or buildings in the field, thus allowing you greater resilience than other factions. As the Newton is not a combat ship (although it has a decent defense), it usually should not be sent to the frontlines or it will simply become cannon fodder. Any smart player will quickly target these ships first, or simply switch targets much faster than you can get to that next vessel to repair it. If you do send these ships into battle, be sure to place them on high movement and weapon autonomy, but green alert, that way these repair vessels will move all around to repair warships on their own.

If you neglect to set these starships on green alert, you will soon witness their mad dash to get within close range of enemy forces only to do battle with their pitifully weak phasers. It is possible to upgrade Newton repair starships with Field Diagnostics, which will increase the defensive capabilities of the vessel and the repair rate. Building at least one of these vessels to keep besieged buildings or strong hulled ships alive is recommended in the later game stages.

Saber Class - Antares Yard
(passive: Tiny ECM Suite - strong avoidance of torpedoes, moderate avoidance of pulse weaponry)

This long ranged, small vessel has an electronic counter measures system which generates a higher than normal miss chance for torpedoes, and even a miss chance against pulse weapon systems. Its weak offense and relatively slow speed means that it should be kept for base defense mainly, as it is not a good harassment vehicle in this patch. Note that currently this vessel cannot be used effectively. Risner should not build this vessel because of the reduced defensive value, and the fact that she can get Monsoons and Intrepids out quickly enough to negate usage.

Hyper Impulse Drive (researched at the Antares Yard) boosts the velocity of this unit to level with short range battleships and a few cruisers. Likewise, torpedo and pulse hit chance drops further, making it quite difficult to hit this unit. As offensive value drops when the Hyper Impulse Drive is engaged, if you are harassing your opposition’s mining operations and no interceptors (fast units) are close, switch the special ability off and do some damage. Note that the Hyper Impulse Drive takes half a minute to switch on and off, so be very careful when you decide to disengage it, as your survivability will drop dramatically. Since Sabers are quite weak and generally not built for anything but supporting firepower, this research really only becomes affordable if you are planning on building a great deal of Sabers as a nice long ranged and fast strike force. In this case, the Hyper Impulse Drive should be researched either immediately or shortly after you have produced a few Sabers, as it will greatly increase their longevity on the field of battle.

Monsoon Class - Antares Yard + Chassis Level 1
(passive: High Density Shield Generators - strong versus long range)

A short ranged, small sized vessel, this SFI vessel has a passive that causes long ranged units to deal less damage to it. Since the Monsoon is so fast it can be used very efficiently as a quick strike vehicle on your opponent’s mining facilities. Even with a turret or two in place, the Monsoon can move in quickly, unleash its special weapon (if researched) on freighters and get out without being damaged very heavily. Note that since the Monsoon has the same speed as the Intrepid, there is no huge need to build the Monsoon if your strategy does not call for it. The Intrepid can fulfill a similar strike role.

The Proximity Torpedo (researched at the Antares Yard) allows the Monsoon to fire a special torpedo which does increased damage to small, fast vessels. As a consequence, make sure you use this ability on your opponents destroyers or fast cruisers (like the B'rel, S-2 Escort Cruiser, and Intrepid), and not on large sized vessels where it will not do much damage. This ability should be researched immediately if you are planning to build Monsoons as it boost the offense of the vessel significantly.

Intrepid Class - Antares Yard + Chassis Level 1
(passive: Autonomous Defense AI - strong versus medium range)

Equally as fast as the Monsoon, this medium sized vessel is armed with torpedoes and beam weaponry. Taking less damage from medium ranged warships and pulse based weaponry means it is a good counter against these types (especially when combined). While the Monsoon is primarily geared to destroying units and freighters and then leaving the scene of the crime in a hurry, the Intrepid can stay for longer and destroy pesky turrets and mining facilities. Its torpedo based attack means it won’t miss, and it has the shielding to withstand several turrets easily enough, while having the speed to still be able to retreat before blown to bits.

The Tricobalt Torpedo (also researched at the Antares Yard) is an anti structure weapon. It deals double damage against all stations, which means that the Intrepid can go toe to toe with most expansions as the special weapon can be used two or three at a time on each turret to quickly level all defenses. Likewise, if the base is defended, you can simply use the artillery range weapon on a mining station or shipyard, retreat and repeat after special energy has recharged. If the Intrepid is being built in the early game and you need to clear turrets, researching the Tricobalt Torpedo before building Intrepids is entirely feasible. If you are using this vessel later game, researching the special ability after a few Intrepids are produced can be wiser if you are producing other vessels in the same yards (and thus don’t want to wait for the Torpedo research to finish).

Akira Class - Antares Yard + Chassis Level 2

A medium ranged and sized warship, this unit is armed with torpedoes and phasers. This unit is the powerhouse of Risner fleets and will make up the bulk of her fleets. Mayson can also rely on the Akira later game when he finally researches the chassis upgrades. The Akira is a good deal slower than your Intrepids and Monsoons, but this also allows it to guard your support vessels and Warp In vessels much more easily. Even though the Akira will take increased damage from the K’vort it can take heavier punishment than the Intrepid and should begin to replace it if faced by K’vort weapon systems.

Researched at the Antares Yard, Defense Patterns uses up all the special energy, but increases the hull and shield repair rate by an enormous amount for half a minute. When being attacked, pay attention to which Akiras are being targeted to make better use of this ability. Don’t simply select all your Akiras and use this ability all at once. Likewise, note that if you simply use this ability when the Akira has had its shields barely scratched, the Defense Patterns will have been pretty much wasted. Instead, use the ability only when a larger percentage of damage has been done – something like 20-50% loss of shields. Since this ability greatly increases the resilience of the Akira, it should be researched even before the first Akira is built – if you can afford to wait for vessels.

Norway Class - Antares Yard + Starfleet Science

Your first Federation support vessel, this starship belongs exclusively to Admiral Mayson’s forces. A short ranged and agile craft, for Mayson this unit can replace chassis units for the most part in the early game, as it is a bit of a jack of all trades due to its speed, durability, and cost (about even with a Monsoon). As a consequence, not only can you harass effectively with this vehicle, but it will also escort your slower Warp-In units and later game Mayson vessels very easily.

The standard first level ability, Emergency Power, allows the Norway to transfer special energy to another unit within range. Due to Mayson’s normally early reliance on Warp In units, this can be used to devastating effects with the Steamrunner’s Triloader special ability. It only takes two usages of Emergency Power to bring the Triloader back online to fire a constant hail of tricobalt torpedoes at stations. Of course, Emergency Power can be used with any vessel, so if no other special abilities have been researched for the Norway, you can easily use them to recharge the stores of your other units without sacrificing anything.

The Plasma Coil is the Norway’s secondary ability. Researched at Starfleet Science, this ability is an area of effect weapon that does heavy damage to a few medium and small sized units over a five second time interval. Consequently, as long as units stay in range of the ability’s effect radius, they receive damage (likewise if they enter the zone after the weapon has been triggered). Like with most other area of effect abilities, using a few Plasma Coils at a time is wisest, so as to not waste your weapons. Note that since this weapon does damage to cloaked vessels as well, if you are being attacked, but your enemy is undetected to your sensors, using the Plasma Coil in the vicinity of where these attacks are coming from will allow you to quickly destroy the exposed hulls of these warships.

The tertiary ability of the Norway, Assault Mode, turns this formidable little ship into a mini-Akira. Damage from stations is reduced, and hull and repair rate are doubled. Using this ability after having triggered Plasma Coil is best, as you cannot use any other special abilities until Assault Mode deactivates 25 seconds later. Likewise, keeping a few Norways deactivated and behind your fleet can also serve as a “supply depot” for any special ships that run low on special energy (again, usually most wisely used on the Steamrunner).

Canaveral Class - Antares Yard + Starfleet Science
(passive: Fast Tracking Computers - strong against short range, weak against long range)

A small sized support vessel available to both avatars, this vessel is armed with a long range phaser and a special pulse weapon which does increased damage to destroyers. In addition it has a passive which allows it to deal increased damage to short range vessels while taking more damage from long ranged units. As a consequence, this vessel is good for supporting Monsoons and other short ranged units in fleet action, as you can expect that they will be engaged with your opponent’s interceptors, and thus the Canaveral’s weapons can pound these small or medium sized vessels from afar. However, as a long ranged vessel, it should be kept away from the B’rel, Defiant, Phalanx, Rhienn Refits, Generix Frigate Refit as these vessels will quickly eliminate the Canaveral.

The Probe special ability launches a probe in the direction the ship is facing, with a sensor arc that about matches the Canaveral’s own. It travels quite a distance (and through asteroid belts), and even reveals the insides of nebulae until the Probe reaches its terminus. This ability can be used quite effectively to spot ahead of your armada as well as determine the weakest points of access of your opponent’s base, and the relative strength of any fleets. Setting a few Canaveral’s at slightly different angles to each other and then selecting all of them and triggering the Probe over and over can keep you constantly informed.

The Tachyon Scan, available at Starfleet Science, can be triggered to reveal all cloaked units in a short radius with a slight chance for error. If you have several Canaveral’s, setting them apart and then using the scan can allow you to cover a greater area, especially if you suspect a cloaked scout is following you. Remember to periodically scan your base with the Canaveral, as a sensor station cannot move. The scan is cheap in terms of energy, so you can use it many times before running out.

Sensor Blackout (from Starfleet Science) consumes much of the special weapons energy of the Canaveral, but decreases the rate of fire of a few vessels in your opponent’s fleet for 25 seconds. Using this ability several times to blanket an opponent’s fleet can be very effective in reducing the amount of damage you receive. Always retreat this vessel from the field of battle after making use of this special weapon – or at least make sure it is at long range – as it will not be able to use any other special abilities for some time, and will more than likely be the first to be targeted due to its relatively weak stats, long range, and size. Realize as well that if your armada must retreat, these vessels will be left far behind your mainline Akiras, Intrepids and other Starfleet vessels.

Excelsior II Class - Eraudi Yard
(passive: Guided Quantum Torpedoes - the vessel's torpedoes have greatly increased accuracy)

A long ranged and medium sized vessel, the sister chassis to the Sovereign has a rather powerful offense and defense. Even though it is quite slow, its guided quantum torpedoes allow it to effortlessly smack around weakly defended destroyers and cruisers. In general this long ranged vessel is a good all around warship, as it can target small and medium sized vessels with impunity, while dealing standard damage to large scale targets as well. While this is the bread and butter unit for Mayson, Risner’s Excelsior II (with its reduced stats and no special weapon) becomes a nice, long ranged fire support to be built after Remore production has been well underway. This vessel will see most of its use in anti-Borg or structure strategy for Risner, because the torpedoes will never miss and Borg units in general are rather slow.

The Anti Capital Ship (ACS) torpedo is only available to Mayson. As it deals greatly increased damage to battleships, really only research this ability if you expect your opponent to soon be fielding these usually large warships. Otherwise, the ACS is just a rather expensive torpedo that does a decent amount of damage, but also clogs your queue for a fair amount of time when you could be building more Excelsior II’s.

Remore Class - Eraudi Yard + Chassis Level 2

A high technology support vessel, this medium ranged and sized unit is relatively slow. Escort it and if necessary, let it hang back from combat as its special abilities can be impressively useful. Due to their high tritanium costs, building these vessels while high dilithium cost units (like the Akira or Excelsior II) are being constructed can be quite efficient. For Risner, often this vessel will be built in much higher numbers than for Mayson. Its torpedo launcher is forward firing only.

Coming standard with the Precise Volley special ability, this torpedo spread will completely strip the shields off any destroyer or cruiser in Fleet Operations. It will eliminate about 80% of the shielding of a typical battleship as well. Accordingly, this vessel should be prolific in your fleet, even without its other abilities researched – as long as you are willing to micromanage them to each target a separate vessel. Against stations this ability is also quite useful, as it exposes the hull of stations quite quickly. A handful of Remores can prove quite a threat to even the best armed station for this reason. Note that this ability is entirely useless against the Borg, so be sure to advance up to at least the secondary ability immediately.

The secondary ability, Vector Calculation (researched at Starfleet Science), lends the high powered computer systems of the Remore to another allied vessel to allow it to fire a great deal more shots for a full minute. If well micromanaged, a few Remores using this ability on your most powerful vessels (such as Akiras, Excelsior II’s etc) can allow your fleet to become significantly more powerful. Since this ability practically depletes the energy stores of the Remore with one usage, make sure to retreat the Remore to allow you to use it again. You really won’t miss the firepower, especially after having used Vector Calculation.

The tertiary ability, Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) is an area of effect weapon which spreads out from the Remore when activated. Only use one of these abilities at once, as they do not stack. If you only have a few Remores, have them lay back, with only one of them in the fleet at a time using this ability. When depleted, retreat the vessel and move in another. Note that the ability might as well create a gigantic crosshairs on the Remore in question, as the ability takes the form of a gigantic orange ripple. The ability greatly decreases your opponent’s chance for torpedoes, pulse, and beam weapons to hit any units in the vicinity of the Remore, and thus keeping your Federation fleet clustered close together can be of significant value. Likewise, it will be harder to pick out the Remore if all your ships are closely packed together.

Avalon Class - Eraudi Yard + Chassis Level 2

A large sized battleship with a long range phaser, Risner’s fighter carrier is ploddingly slow. However, its fighters are an excellent screen to absorb special weapons and untrained enemy firepower, all while attacking from a safe distance. For this reason, its fighters can often be used to drag unsuspecting vessels into the jaws of your fleet. Most vessels will take equal damage from the Avalon due to the phaser armament.

Fighter craft will automatically spawn from the vessel and attack any ships within range. Bear in mind that the fighters are easily destroyed and thus offer pretty much free kills to your opposition if you do not support them. Even if you retreat the Avalon, the fighters will stay behind and fight (although new fighters will of course spawn to swarm around the vessel). The vessel is best used in fleet action because the fighters will act as easily replaced (and free!) canon fodder and will offer a very nice attack boon. Unsupported, the Avalon and its fighters are easy prey.

Defiant Class - Eraudi Yard + Chassis Level 3
(passives: Tactical Weapon Arrays, Ablative Armor Plates - strong versus long)

Coming standard with not just one, but two passive abilities, this medium sized battleship is quite agile. With strong pulse based weapons and passive abilities which  increase damage dealt to long range targets, this interceptor is best suited for taking on small and medium sized vessels. Note however that the Defiant is particularly vulnerable to Borg Holding Beam and Auto Assimilator abilities due to its low crew. The Defiant can also perform as a late game strike force unit. With its powerful shielding and attack, and quite reasonable speed, a few of these units can easily move into your opponent's mining facilities and pick off miners while shrugging off turrets with ease. Building a few of these for just that purpose can thus be rather wise, as they are very difficult to get rid of.

Critical Shot (researched at the Eraudi Yard) allows the Defiant to completely disable another vessel’s weapon systems for twelve seconds and deal a moderate amount of damage. Although the vessel’s basic weaponry is best for handling non battleships, its special weapon usually makes it quite indispensible when fighting large priority targets. Using a few sequential Critical Shots to keep a powerful starbase or Borg Cube from using any weapons for an entire battle can be very effective. If you are planning a last assault on an opponent’s base, or are expecting to face high priority targets (large sized units) researching the Critical Shot is quite useful. If you are not facing many medium or small sized vessels, researching Critical Shot immediately is necessary, as the Defiant will be purely a support role due to its pulse based weaponry.

Sovereign Class - Eraudi Yard + Chassis Level 3
(passive: Ablative Armor Plates - strong versus short range)

With the same armor as the Defiant’s, this large, medium ranged battleship takes much less damage from short ranged units. With quantum torpedoes and beam weaponry, this vessel can actively target your opponent’s battleships and large structures for maximum effect. Avoid torpedo based ships like the Sang’, Veqlaragh, Excelsior II’s ACS, A-26 Bomber. In engagement where you face greater numbers of large vessels, produce more Sovereigns accordingly. In battles where smaller vessels prevail, the Defiant is better choice.

Researched at the Eraudi Yard, Engine Overload is an area of effect weapon which shuts down the engines of all effected nearby units and deals damage based on a unit’s speed (the faster the speed, the more damage incurred). Understandably, this special ability does the most damage to interceptor type units, and thus the ability complements the role of the Sovereign as a fleet ship most perfectly. Any short ranged units that try to bombard your long ranged Federation units will quickly find themselves adrift and heavily damaged. For this reason, keeping Federation fleets clustered can be quite efficient at reducing the damage you take. If you face a good deal of interceptor type units, this ability should be researched even before you produce your first Sovereign. If interceptors (fast and small units) are rarer, this ability will become more of a specialized support, to allow you to destroy ships that would have otherwise escaped the attack of your fleet. A handful of Sovereigns using Engine Overload can do a large amount of damage to destroyers and even most cruisers.

Phalanx Class - Eraudi Yard + Chassis Level 3

Risner’s large sized battleship comes armed with phasers and pulse weapons. Keep in mind that its special Magnan Phaser is forward firing only (as are the pulse weapons of course). Much faster than the typical long ranged battleship, because of its armament it is an excellent late game escort which specializes on destroying those small and medium size interceptors which will plague your fleet. Note that the Steamrunner, Sang’, Veqlaragh, SuS’a’, S-2 Escort Cruiser will be quickly destroyed by the Phalanx, even if the battleship is easily damaged by them.

Researched at the Eraudi Yard, the Magnan Phaser Array charges the special array of the Phalanx to fire a small area of effect beam weapon which excels at damaging your opponents clustered interceptor units. Since you will be building the Phalanx as an anti small and medium sized unit in the first place, researching the special ability quickly is of high importance. If you have two Eraudi Yards, keep production of the limited Phalanx out of one, while researching its special at the other. If only one Eraudi Yard is present, research the special.

Special Federation Stations

Starfleet Command

Every three minutes (provided you have enough slots available) you have the option of calling either an emergency Standard Warp-In or Experimental Warp-In to any previously explored location. If you select a Warp-In to arrive in a nebula, note that it will appear on the outskirts. Starfleet does not send its ships into potentially corrosive nebulae! The Experimental Warp-In sends but a single powerful vessel to assist, while the Standard Warp-In will send three randomly assorted and limited production units.

Although it takes time for the ships to warp across the map and be handed over to the player’s control, this ability can be used very effectively offensively (especially on large maps where expansions are normally hard to get to), as well as to discourage your opponent’s attacks on your mining facilities. Since Mayson builds his stations at a much accelerated rate, an early Warp-In from him can result in you having a number of rather powerful ships at a much earlier time than your opponent. Simply causing them to Warp-In at that newly constructed (or constructing) and poorly defended expansion can result in an early victory for the avatar. The decreased build time also means that Mayson can rely on Warp-Ins in the early stages of the game, without having to risk chassis research. Risner’s Starfleet Command takes much longer to build, and it is not wise to wait to build it before researching additional chassis and producing more mainline units, as your opponent will undoubtedly have enough ships to counter those vessels.

Usually your opponent is so focused on protecting his/her expansions from attack that they leave their base undefended. This of course gives you the perfect opportunity to Warp-In ships to attack their main-base mining with impunity (as long as you do not let your ships get too close to your opponent’s starbase). If you use your Warp-In aggressively you can cause normally offensive sneaky factions (such as the Romulans) to become defensive by fear of losing valuable mining ships and stations if they do not leave behind vessels or defensive structures.

After building Starfleet Command, make sure to give it a hotkey to allow you to call reinforcements in the midst of battle. Note that any Standard Warp-In vessel upon reaching officer rank (rank 4) will no longer count for a Warp-In slot. When an Experimental Warp-In reaches officer rank the player will gain back one Warp-In slot. Sometimes keeping a reserve Warp-In if you have a large fleet can be useful for late game harassment or for intercepting your opponent’s harassment forces. If all else fails, you can always target your own Warp-In vessels (or you can Warp-In more vessels - the extra ones will leave the sector) to free up some slots for that late-game Descent-class.

Descent Class - Experimental Warp-In

A powerful large sized and not-to-slow battleship, this experimental unit does most of its damage through quantum torpedo bursts. Consequently it is not too powerful against small vessels, although it can easily absorb their hits. As a result, although this starship can be used in a Warp-In assault to destroy a weaker structure where its torpedoes will actually hit, (such as a mining facility) it excels in fleet action, rather than in lone combat.

The Breen Battleship, Breen Cruiser, A-20 Attack Destroyer, Intrepid, LuSpet, Leahval, Eresis will take decreased damage from the Descent. The Descent will take the least damage from all pulse based units. Avoid torpedo based ships like the Sang’, Veqlaragh, Excelsior II, A-26 Bomber, SuS’a’.

With its Shield Reset special ability, the Descent essentially has two lives. This ability affects all other friendly vessels and stations in the vicinity, close to instantly recharging their shields to full strength. This vessel can be used as a last ditch effort to provide your starbase with its full shielding (provided you keep the Descent touching the structure) as well as to help in fleet action when an area of effect weapon has damaged the shields of nearby vessels.

Galaxy Class - Standard Warp-In
(passive: Tactical Weapon Arrays - strong versus long range, weak versus short range)

A medium ranged and large sized battleship, this vessel is middle of the line in terms of speed and matches most other faction’s heavy cruisers for stats. The Galaxy’s passive allows it to deal increased damage to long ranged targets at the cost of taking more damage from short range units. It does increased damage to the Sang’, Veqlaragh, Cho'naQ, Excelsior II, Rhienn Refits, Serkas, Breen Cruisers, A-26 Bombers. The Galaxy will take increased damage from the K’vort, LuSpet, Negh'var, Breen Cruiser, Breen Battleship, S-2 Escort Cruiser, Norway, Intrepid, Monsoon, Rhienn Torpedo Refit, Leahval. It will do reduced damage to the LuSpet, Intrepid, Excelsior, Eresis, A-20 Attack Bug.

The Galaxy also has a secondary ability, Type 3 Torpedoes. This is a switcheable ability which, when enabled, lowers the Galaxy’s shield recharge rate slowly, but fires three independently targeting torpedoes. Against the early game destroyers and freighters that you will most likely be facing, this ability is quite useful as even though you will damage each individual target slower, since all three take damage, your opponent must retreat all three units when they do lose much of their health. It is doubtful that you will be able to kill one of these small units, unless your opponent is really poor in terms of micromanagement. Even despite doing much of its damage through torpedoes, the Galaxy can provide good cover against your opponent’s small units when you do a Warp-In rush. Against larger vessels, the single torpedo weapon is more efficient. Likewise, when out of combat, deactivate the Type 3 Torpedoes to allow more rapid shield regeneration.

Nebula Class - Standard Warp-In

A medium ranged and large sized cruiser, this starship also comes out in roughly the heavy cruiser department. With the same speed as the Galaxy, but with mainly pulse based weaponry, this ship can much more easily damage your opponent’s destroyers and freighters. If you are lucky to have one of these ships Warp-In, realize that much of its weaponry is forward firing. During a Warp-In assault, try to do as much damage as possible to freighters first, as only a few shots are enough to destroy one.

The Nebula’s standard special weapon, Full Scan, reduces the offensive capabilities of the Nebula to a point where they are almost of no consequence. In return the sensor abilities of the Nebula are greatly enhanced for half a minute, allowing you to see quite a bit more of the battlefield. Combined with the Federation’s sensor upgrades, in the absence of Canaverals this can allow you to spot encroaching enemy fleets from a good ways away.

Ambassador Class - Standard Warp-In
(passive: High Density Shield Generators - strong versus long range)

Another large sized cruiser, this vessel is armed with short ranged torpedoes and phasers and is faster than most non-interceptors. The Ambassador’s passive reduces damage taken from long range. Its torpedo launcher is forward firing only.

Coming standard with a purely defensive special weapon, Energy Routing increases the defensive value substantially and reduces the damage caused by torpedoes, at the cost of a reduction in speed. Ideally because all of these replace weapons cause attacking vessels to switch targets, this ability should be used when the Ambassador is the last unit standing (or is being attacked exclusively by a watching opponent). Use it immediately in these cases because the Ambassador loses subsystems relatively rapidly.

Excelsior Class - Standard Warp-In
(passive: Autonomous Defense AI - strong versus medium range)

A long ranged, medium sized vessel, this slow and aging destroyer can rapidly unleash a hail of photon torpedoes – provided it is facing forward. Taking less damage from medium ranged warships and pulse based weaponry means it is a decent counter against these types. Due to the slow speed of this unit, and relatively weak stats compared to the other Warp-In units, try to keep this vessel at its maximum range and retreat it when it is being targeted, as this will allow it to also regenerate special weapons energy and thereby be a better torpedo platform.

Steamrunner Class - Standard Warp-In

An artillery ranged and medium sized vessel, this starship is forward firing only. Since its only armament is in the form of torpedoes, which do double damage to stations, it should really only be used to target stations and large sized vessels. Keep it at maximum range at all times and generally group them in a seperate fleet from the rest of your vessels. It should always be kept out of harm’s way, because even though it has great combat potential, it is a rather fragile vessel.

For the cost of three supplies, the Tricobalt Triloader allows the Steamrunner to launch a withering stream of torpedoes for a few seconds, which is usually quite sufficient for demolishing mining stations, turrets, or the most basic yard. Usually in Warp-In rush, ignore the destroyers around you and simply target a station as you will do much more damage that way. Note that the Triloader will cause the Steamrunner to switch targets, so quickly click on the target you wish to fire upon after engaging the special ability. Occasionally two Steamrunners will arrive in a Standard Warp-In, which is much more than enough to destroy the most basic yard, research facility or a mining station much faster than your opponent can react. If you do not wish to overkill the mining station, it is much better to independently target each Steamrunner on a separate station and unleash the Triloader. Although it won’t instantly kill each station, you should still be able to destroy each after a few more seconds of normal firing rates.