Contents

1.) Intro
2.) The Three Modes
3.) Command Ship
4.) Ship Types
5.) Enemies
6.) Tips & Tricks
7.) Walkthrough

Intro

The aim of this guide is to help new players in the wonderful world of Void Destroyer and hopefully vetrans can gain some useful tips here as well.

This is my first guide so any comments or improvement suggestions are welcome.

Finally a big thank you to the developer who's guidance and tips were of great help to me in mastering the game.

WARNING: This guide contains spoilers.

THIS GUIDE IS A WORK IN PROGRESS.

Legal Notice: This work is not to be sold or used for profit. If it is to be used or edited please provide credit for work done yadadadada (usual stuff here).

UPDATES

28/01: Guide Published
29/01: Added content to Tips & Tricks
31/01: Added mission 8, 9, 10 & 11 walkthrough.

The Three Modes

There are three main modes in Void Destroyer (VD). They are: Tactical Mode, Command Mode & Fighter Mode. It is imperative that the player gets used to using and switching between these. I will talk about some of the most useful things about the Tactical Mode here but not everything, refer to the ingame guide & tutorial for more info

Tactical Mode:

In Tactical Mode you get an overview of the battlefield, can give orders to ships, handling grouping, conduct research, upgrades, base management and vitally, production.

Base Management Tab: This gives you an overview of your base(s). In the top portion it shows information around resource production (Energy, Food & Ore) and your current total amount of stored resources. There are sliders beneath each that allow you to change how you allocate your crew which will determine the rate at which you gather resources.

Energy is required for production and upgrades
Food is required for your crew and to ensure they don’t starve!
Ore is required for production & upgrades

Personally I either leave the sliders at default or keep them balanced (around 33%) where possible. You can adjust these if you are in need of a particular resource.

Request Resource: In the bottom right portion is the request resource tab. You can request resources from another base if you need to and if you have more than one base. If you have multiple bases, the arrows allow you to select which base you wish to transfer resources from. Once requested a ship departs from the selected base with the materials and has to make it’s way to the requested base, so keep in mind the transfer can take some time. You can click multiple times to queue shipments.

Ship Production Tab: Fairly simple, allows you to build ships from bases or shipyards which you can select from the list. Important to note, if you have shipyards or multiple bases, they can produce different ships. One base might make completely different ships than another. Also, shipyards might have different production options than that of a base (building frigates for example) so check each base/shipyard to see what it can offer.

Also, in this screen it shows you what your current force limit is for each type of ship. Note: If you have not build that ship type yet it will not show. For example if you have no troop ships it will not display the limit, but once you build one, it will then show you the force limit for that type of ship.
Note 2: Captured ships do NOT count towards the force limit so you can exceed your force limit quite easily here.

Build Platform Tab: Similar to Ship Production, this allows you to build platforms (such as defences, shipyards etc). If you have multiple bases, like ships, you can select which from the menu and different bases might have different build options.
Note: Some platforms will cost maintenance if you exceed a certain amount. When you select the platform, in it’s info panel on the left it will show you what the limit is. For example, for gun turrets it’s 3. So you can build up to three with no maintenance cost. If you exceed this (like if you have 4), there will be a maintenance cost that will draw from your resources. If you run out of resources to pay this the platforms will shut down.

To build a platform first you select the one you want and click “Place Scaffold”. The platform will then appear on the map. Drag it to where you want it and once satisfied click on the icon and click Build (next to the order box, bottom right). This is covered in more depth in the tutorial.

Fleet Tab Tab: Clicking this will give you an overview of your forces, divided by ship type. Note: Captured ships are NOT shown here, only ships you built are shown here.

Research Tab: Here you can research new ships & platforms. First you select the tech you want, then you need to allocate crew to research via the slider at the bottom right. If you have multiple bases you can also designate which base conducts the research. I generally find that 10 – 20% is sufficient to research fairly quickly. You can also queue up research items to save having to go back to this screen multiple times.

Formation Tab: When you have a group of ships selected you can change their formation in this screen. I prefer wall for Cap ships and X for fighters but choose what you like!

Command Ship Tab: This tab allows you to upgrade your command ship which is very important. In the top right is a list of which upgrades are available. They are divided into 4 tabs (Weapons, Defence, Engines, Abilities). Selecting an upgrade will show more info about it on the top left and it is here you can select to perform the upgrade. Multiple upgrades can be queued.
In the bottom Right is your command ships current resource count (Current Resource/Max Resource/Needed Resource) and, if you have selected an upgrade, how much of that resource it will cost and if you do not have enough, how much you need.
In the bottom left is the request resource tab. Here you can resource Ore & Power for your command ship. You NEED to have a transfer hub for this option to be available. Resource are sent from the transfer hub to your command ship in 500 Units for Ore and 1,000 Unit increments for Energy and multiple shipments can be queued by multiple clicking. Above the request resource tab is the distance between your Command Ship and the nearest Transfer Hub. Tip: To speed up resource transfer, move your command ship next to the transfer hub as it ships out slow moving containers with the resources requested. Note: Resources are shipped from the bottom of the transfer hub, so if you park just below it you will get resources very quickly.

Rally Point: For production, if you select your production base/shipyard and right click on the map (or a ship) that will set the rally point for production. Newly built ships will move here. If the location is a ship, new ships will automatically fall into formation with it.

Ship Commands: You can select a ship by left clicking on it. You can order it to perform an action by right clicking. If you right click on a friendly ship it will fall into formation. If you right click on a friendly base it will patrol around it. If you right click on an enemy it will attack. If you right click on open space the line will turn blue, this is a move command and you will need to left click to confirm it. Holding down SHIFT allows you to queue commands.
Note: If ships are in formation with a ship, they will follow it around (such as your command ship) and if the ship uses Grav Drive, the formation ships will do the same.

In the bottom right is the ship commands box (if a ship is controlled). This allows you to designate if you want a ship to hold, wait, use grav drive etc. This is covered in the tutorial. One important thing to note is the “shield icon” (Top row) will designate the ship as pilotable by the player so when they exit tactical mode they will move to this ship.

However, of great importance is the ship behaviour, I have found this very useful to control.

Do Not Engage: When used, ships will not run after enemy ships. If it is a capital ship they will still fire their turrets if an enemy gets close. Very useful for Capital ships when they are protecting a base or if you want to keep them in tight formation, select do not engage to prevent them from running off, they will still continue to shoot! It is less useful for fighters however.

Engage: Ships will attack enemies they see and will run after them. Useful but in small maps can lead to ships being led away into an enemy base and being destroyed. I tend to use this for fighters and on cap ships when I am attacking but leave it off for cap ships during defence.

Search & Destroy: Ships will fly off and attack enemies regardless of distance. Very useful when only a few enemies remain or if some some reason some have mis-jumped and are far away, best used for fighters due to their speed.

Weapons Hold: Ship will not fire, useful if you are trying to capture a enemy ship and don’t want your buddies destroying it.

Grouping: If you left click twice on a unit it will select all units of that type. If you have a group of ships selected, if you SHIFT + Left Click on an unselected ship it will add it to your currently selected group. If you SHIFT + Left Click on a selected ship it will remove it from the group.
With a group selected, if you press CTRL + # (i.e CTRL + 1) it will assign that group to Group 1. You can then easily reselect that group by pressing 1. It works 1 – 0, useful for creating multiple groups and easily accessing them.

Command Mode

This is what I call the mode where you command a Capital Ship (not to be confused with the Camera Mode). I spend most of my combat time in this mode as I like to take control of my Command Ship. Not much to say here that wasn’t covered by the Tutorial and I strongly advise you practise and get comfortable with the controls but I will share a few things I find useful.

Command Mode: Default is F5, this is the overall best mode to use when commanding a capital ship. By default you can rotate the camera around the ship and if you press SHIFT Q or E you can move the camera up or down to get a better view. Pressing M will activate Mouse Steering.

Rotate: When attacking an enemy that is to the side and either a below or above you, it is good to rotate (Z & C) your ship so both your top & bottom guns can fire upon it, increase the damage dealt.

First Person View: If you have an enemy infront of you but below or above, of if you want to change your orientation (or just want fine control over your movements), switching to First Person Mode (F1) is a good idea.

Turrets: When entering Command Mode (F5) you will have command of all turrets. Pressing F5 multiple times switches between the groups (Covered in Tutorial). When you are busy with an action (say capturing a ship) it can be useful to switch Secondary Turents (defence ones) to the computer so you can still fight off those annoying fighters.

Fighter Mode

This is where you control a fighter. Not much to add here over the tutorials, just practise! :) More to add here if people want it.

The Command Ship

The Command Ship (CS) is your most important vessel. Not only is it a powerful cruiser (when upgraded) it has a number of very very useful abilities. Finally, if your command ship dies, you loose. As such, due to it’s usefulness it is good to have it involved in the important battles but care must be taken to keep it alive!

Upgrade Upgrade Upgade: As soon as possible, upgrade your command ship. Upgrade everything, as soon as possible. The command ship has many useful abilities and some of them are almost mandatory to survive some missions. Remember you have completed a mission it does not “end” until you go through the gate. If you have resources/base available to you, this is an excellent time to finish any upgrades you have. Where possible, ensure your command ship is fully upgraded before going through the gate.

Use it, Guard It: Your command ship is your most powerful ship due to it’s good damage, protection and abilities so it is good to use in the thick of the action to make maximum use of it. That being said, if it dies, mission is over so make sure to have an escape plan ready if that assault failed or if your ship is taking a lot of hits.

Command Ship Abilities
The Command ship has a lot of useful abilites of which I describe below. Those marked with * are those I consider vital, certain missions may be much harder or impossible without them.

Tractor Beam
What it does: Pulls objects/Enemies towards you
Range: Around 1,200m at Level 5 (max tested)
The Tractor Beam is a useful tool. As the CS is slow it is useful to drag far off ships closer to you in order to shoot them. However, my preferred use is to drag enemy ships out of formation, The way the tractor beam works, often times ships will be dragged past you…great if you have a defensive fleet behind you, dragging ships out of formation will bring all guns to bear and can help you take thips out piecemeal and thin the numbers against you.

Charge*
What it does: Gives your ship a forward boost of speed
Range: N/A
Charge basically gives you a burst of forward speed, very useful for closing distance to an enemy or escaping a radiation field. It is also also good to run away from tough enemies or from battles when taking damage, especially in mission 4 (see tutorial).

Withdraw
What it does: Gives your ship a backwards boost of speed
Range: N/A
Basically the opposite of Charge, it is good for escaping radiation fields. Also if an enemy “melee” ship is attacking it is good to back off giving you more time to fire. Also it is good to use in conjunction with tractor beam, giving you more time to fire or dragging the enemy further away from it’s friends etc.

Command*
What it does: Turns an enemy to your side permanently
Range: 1,000 meters
Hail to the king, this ability rocks. The higher the level of this ability allows you to control tougher enemies. Not only does this add ships to your fleet and robs the enemies of theirs, captured ships also do not count towards your force limit allowing you to create larger fleets! This skill is vital on some missions and useful always, target the toughest enemy vessels and make them your own! Note: Some “Boss” ships and Ousiders are immune to this ability. Note 2: Against larger vessels you might need to use this ability multiple times for it to succeed. You will know when you do as the cool down will be lower (around 10 sec as opposed to the usual 40 sec).

Radiation Field*
What it does: Releases a radiation field around the CS which damages friends & foe alike.
Range: Centered on Command Ship
Radiation field has one main use, killing TearDrops. Teardrops are annoying little ships fired by Stub “Dropper” ships. They attach to the hull and whittle away at it’s health and are very annoying to shoot off and can kill your CS quickly. Radiation field kills these pests easily but also damages your ship. It’s best to use it and then immediately leave the area, either Charge or Withdraw works well here.

Missile Mines
What it does: Releases a bunch of missile mines that home in on nearby enemies.
Range: Centered on your command ship.
To be honest I don’t find this skill too useful. Basically it fires a bunch of missiles around your location and if an enemy gets close they attack it. Never really found much need for it to be honest but if somebody has any good use cases let me know.

Azu's Gambit
What it does: Forces nearby enemies to focus fire on command ship.
Range: TBD
Basically it is a taunt like ability. I don’t really use this as getting enemies to focus fire on the command ship, that if dies, looses you the game, doesn’t seem like a great idea to me. Every other vessel to me is expendable so don’t really see that much use here. Again, anybody who has a good use case let me know. Can be useful I guess to protect Miners or such if enemies are attacking.

Return to Sender
What it does: Makes enemy missiles turn and attack the ship that fired it
Range: TBD
A defensive tech that diverts hostile missiles back to the ship that fired them. Useful not only to reduce damage but can hurt enemies as well. Obviously only useful against ships that fire missiles. Can be good to use against Torpedo ships and Roids.

Rapid Repair
What it does: Rapidly repairs CS but increases any damage dealt
Range: Command Ship
This skill allows your command ship to rapidly repair for the duration but any damage taken is increased while this skill is active to use with caution. Good to use after a fight.

OTHER SKILLS
These skills are those not activated by the number keys unlike the other abilities.

Hammer
What it does: Main forward firing cannon
Range: Weapon Range
This is the CS’ main weapon and it unlocked towards the end of “The Hub” mission. It is activated by pressing secondary attack button (Default: X). It cannot rotate so you have to be facing your target to hit, it does excellent damage but is impractical against fighters.

Afterburner
What is does: Increases speed for duration
Range: N/A
Same as the fighter version and similar to charge. Unlike charge however, it can be used to quickly get up to Grav Drive speeds.

Ship Types

This will not be a detailed listing of all ships available, more just a general overview of the class of ships and what they are “generally” good at.


Type: Drone
Best Role: Anti-Fighter / Anti-Roid Assaults
Example: NewBorn, Super Drone
Drones are built automatically by certain ships (MK13, Command Ship) or installations (Bases, Hangers). They cost no resources to build, are not counted towards the force limit and are automatically replaced as drones are lost (launch all Drones by SHIFT+L when the ship or hangar is selected). They are good against fighters but also good at taking on static defences such as Turret Roids etc. It’s not because they are very powerful damage wise but because they are a renewable resource so better to throw them in what is usually a one way trip rather than your fighters which are slower to replace and cost resources.

Type: Gun Fighter
Best Role: Anti-Fighter
Example: Bonnie, Perez G
Basically fighters equipped with gun weapons, best role is vs other fighters as their main guns generally do not do a lot of damage against larger ships. That being said, the secondary weapon of the Perez G (Rail Gun) can be effectively used against Roids and smaller Cap ships if required.

Type: Missile Fighter
Best Role: Multi-Role
Example: Perez M
These ships fire missiles and in the case of the Perez M, their secondary weapon is another missile that fires off into multiple missiles. I find these ships are very effective against not only fighters (missiles track) but also against static defences and smaller capital ships making them good multi-role fighters. I generally prefer these as they can handle a number of different roles.

Type: Anti-Ship Fighter
Best Role: Capital Ships / Static Defences
Example: Lancet
These ships are more geared towards fighting capital ships and static defences. The Lancet has a single rail gun that is good against larger targets but not very effective (esp from the AI) against fighters. I don’t really use these as they tend to be too specialised, I prefer the Perez M since it can handle multiple tasks.

Type: Gun Corvette
Best Role: Anti Corvette / Fighter Defence
Example: Raider, Intrepid
The first capital ship you can get, they are more like over-sized fighters. Quite manuverable for a capital ship but also quite fragile by cap ship standards. Good to use as Anti-Fighter gun platforms and for use against other corvettes as their lighter guns can target them more easily than larger ordinance.

Type: Missile Corvette
Best Role: Anti-Corvette
Example: Bee
Similar to the gun, these have missiles instead. Good against other Corvettes and in numbers, Frigates too.

Type: Gun Frigate
Best Role: Anti-Cap Ship / Line ship
Example: Correa G, The Beast, Marauder
Your typical “line” ship, they are good against other Frigates, Corvettes and in numbers, larger vessels due to their heavier cannons. They are still fragile though, they are not a battleship so need to be in numbers and supported by other vessels.

Type: Torpedo Frigate
Best Role: Anti-Cap Ship / Static Defence
Example: Correa M
Instead of main guns they have missiles or torpedo’s. Torps have longer ranger than most weapons so they are a good stand off platform and useful against static defences since they can hit most outside of their weapons range.

Type: Destroyer
Best Role: Anti-Captial Ship
Example: The Bear
These are bigger, badder Frigates and should be used in a similar fashion.

Type: Cruiser
Best Role: Flag Ship / Anti-Capital Ship / Mine Sponge
Example: MK13/ Command Ship
Some of the biggest ships around, they are tough and heavily armed. Good against most things they are also effective at clearing out minefields as their strong armor makes them quite resistant to mines (within reason).

Type: Repair Ship
Best Role: Repair!
Example: ML – Something Something (cannot remember!)
These ships can slowly repair other ships but have no defences.

Type: Troop Ship
Best Role: Base Capture
Example: Phalanx
These are used to capture bases. Move them outside the base entrance then right click the base and they will capture it (or pilot them in the entrance). Each base has a crew number, each troop ship will reduce this. Once at 0, the base becomes yours.

Type: Tug
Best Role: Tugging!
Example: TUG!
The main use for these is to grab and move asteroids for you to mine. Right click on an asteroid and they will attach. Then move them to where you want the asteroid to be.

Type: Miner
Best Role: Mining!
Example: Cannot remember name, something with H.
These mining ships mine asteroids for ore. Only way to get ore on some missions.

Enemies
An overview of the factions you will face. I will expand upon this in later editions if people want it.

Miners Union: The most common enemy to fight, they have similar ships (but not the same) to yours but most are (imo) slightly worse. You will soon be able to build their ships yourself later on in the campaign.

Stubbs: They show up on a few missions, for the most part their ships are similar to Miners Union (MU) with one exception – Dropships & Teardrops. Dropships, when close (around 1,000 meters) deploy teardrops which are “melee” ships (i.e they have to make contact with your hull). They will deploy a lot of them and when they attach to your hull they will do a lot of damage unless dealt with. Radiation Cloud is the best way to deal with Teardrops. They tend to target Cruisers and Command Ships.

Outsiders: Tough enemies that you meet later on. Not only are their ships tough, their weapons are instant beams that are 100% accurate that do damage over time, especially dangerous to fighters. They also have a very dangerous ship called a Claw that is like a much bigger, tougher & meaner version of the teardrop. If they attach to the hull the ship will loose health very rapidly. No easy way to deal with them, I tend to concentrate my fleets firepower on these. Outsider ships cannot be captured.

Hints & Tips

Here are a list of general hints & tips.

Learn the controls: Learning all the controls can take some time and this is one of the main reasons new players find the starting missions so difficult. Not only is the game challenging by itself, having to deal with that while still trying to figure out what does what makes it harder. I strongly suggest playing all the tutorial missions and reading the ingame guide. The Dev has also stated he is making a final Tutorial Mission which will allow players to test all they have learned in a more forgiving environment, when this comes out I suggest new players play this to get more comfortable with the concepts and controls before beginning the main campaign.

Save Often: During the campaign a lot of curve balls are thrown at you so it is good to save so if things go horribly wrong you can restart, abiet wiser, from an earlier point. Also sometimes the game can crash (happed about 4 times in 19 hours of play for me).

Use Pause Often: Use slow down time option often (Default: Pause). This gives you much more time to make decesions and issue orders. New group of enemies have attacked? Slow down time to get an idea about what forces are arrayed against you, which are good capture prospects, give orders to fleet etc. Even during combat use the PAUSE button often. I often slow down time after I have killed an enemy (when in Capital ship) as this gives me time to then target another priority target. During the heat of battle without slowing down time can lead to missing stronger vessels or not noticing one of your ships is in trouble etc. Also a good idea to use this when issuing build orders etc

Use Command: This ability rocks. Not only does it rob the foe of a ship, it adds it to your forces and does not modify your force limit so you can grow your fleets larger than your force limit would normally allow. Also a good way to remove (and add) strong ships from the battle.

Upgrade Command Ship: Keep your Command Ship upgraded. If you have a base, never leave the mission area (moving onto new mission) until your Command Ship is fully upgraded as much as the mission allows. Also keep the Command Ship stacked with resources when you move onto a new mission. Some missions don’t allow bases so you have resources on hand to upgrade if need be.

Use Command Ship Abilities: The Command Ship is not only a powerful ship in it’s own right, the best thing is it’s abilities. These can turn the tide of battle. Experiment with the abilities you have and use them to turn the odds in your favour.

Micro-Manage: This is a vital skill to learn. You need to be able to manage fleets, hop in/out of different ships, get ships repaired while launching drone raids while pausing and capturing ships during enemy attacks. Learning to manage all of this will make victory MUCH easier. Lots of things can happen at once so having a good handle on this (with liberal use of Time Slow Down) will make dealing with it much easier.

Learn to switch ships: You can personally control any ship you have in your fleets. Learn to switch to ships where you can make the most difference as a battle evolves. Defending a station, hop into command ship and use it’s abilities to capture and tractor ships. Enemy raid snuck behind your lines and only a few corvets protecting your miners? Switch to the corvette to hold the enemy off or manually control the miner to avoid fire. Launching a drone raid against enemy static defences? Hop into one of the drones to deal as much damage as possible. As long as your command ship is alive, it doesn’t matter if the ship you are controlling are destroyed, only your command ship matters in this regards.

Set Allies to follow: When moving fleets or attacking an enemy base, I find that moving allies manually is inefficient and can often lead to forces entering in at random times and locations (and the AI does not make the best use of Grav Drive). The easiest way to deal with this is have your fleet follow your lead ship (Right Click), which in many cases would be your Command Ship. This way they will stick close, engage Grav Drive if you do and is generally easier to manage. When defending an objective I have then defend (Right Click) the object in question. For stations this will make them patrol around it.

Manage Ship Behaviour: It is a good idea to manually set ship behaviour depending on what job you want done. If you have capital ships set to defend an installation I set them to “Do Not Engage”. That way their turrets will still fire but they will not move off to engage far of enemies and allow all my ships to mass their firepower. This doesn’t work to well on fighters or drones so I leave them on Engage. When you are mopping up enemies, setting fighters to Search & Destroy is useful. Finally, if there is a single ship left that you want to capture it is a good idea to put your fleet on “Weapons hold”, that way they will not destroy the ship while you are trying to capture it.

When I have my fleet move I generally (but not always) leave them on do not engage as I like the formation to be tight and not have ships wonder off were they can be overwhelmed by defences or small pockets of enemies.

Drone Raids: Drones are excellent at performing raids on enemy static defences, especially when resources are tight and fighters are not an efficient option. Drones a replaced for free so send them on one way raids against heavily defended roids and hop in one yourself to increase the damage dealt.

Slow & steady: Take your time, build up your forces and don’t rush. When attacking, pause often and ensure you have an overview of the situation. Rushing ahead or getting inpatient can often lead to disaster or unnecessary losses. If you can destroy static defences with a few fighter/drone raids, do so before launching your main assault, it could be the difference between victory or your ships being destroyed.

Maintain Fleet: During missions on which you have bases (or access via gates) when you have completed the mission objective make sure to replenish your forces. Missions do not end until you have entered the gate and often times you will have captured enemy bases, which in turns increases your force limit. Make sure your fleet is at full capacity before moving on.

How to cap bases: Sometimes Phalanx's can get bugged, so the easiest way is to move them outside the base entrance (usually large circular entrance) then order them to board (Right click). This usually prevents any pathfinding bugs.

More Distance more speed (From SnugSnug): Something that is not immediately obvious and often quite useless but in certain circumstances is great is getting a run up.
Since there is no top speed go the opposite way to where one wants to be then start travelling to where one wants to be accelerating from there. Sounds silly but given more distance one can achieve greater speeds and be in the danger zone for less time while travelling faster.

Walkthrough

Note this is a work in progress. Also, I classify a mission start as when your ship/fleet exits a gate and mission end when your ship enters a gate. I use this system because each mission follows on from the next.

I will outline the objectives of each mission, trigger events (notable events that trigger later in the mission, usually in the form of an enemy attack) and then go through the walkthrough itself. If any special Command Ship upgrades are necessary I will mention that too.

Mission 1
Objectives: Follow Instructions, Destroy Drone, Enter Warp Gate
Trigger Events: Enemy attack end of mission.
Available Ships: Perez G
Vital Command Ship Abilities: N/A

This is an easy mission in which you start in a Perez G, follow instructions and destroy the drone, then head to location specified. You will then be attacked by a number of fighters but they should not be much trouble and you will have allies to help. Once they have been dispatched, head through the gate.

Mission 2
Objectives: Destroy the attackers, take command of the Waldrum, exit through the gate. Trigger Events: Waldrum avail after defeating attack. Enemy fighters & corvettes will come through the warp gate as you make your way to exit.
Available Ships: Command Ship, Perez G, Bonnie
Vital Command Ship Abilities: N/A

Ok this mission can be tough for new players as you have to manage several ships, there are a lot of enemies and most will still be learning the controls, If you have played the training mission (when avail) this should be easier. First up, deal with the enemies that are present when you exit the gate. Once you have defeated them you will be given access to not only the Command Ship (Waldrum) but also any remaining fighters. You can now switch freely between the ships under your command. The Command Ship is at this stage very weak and has low damage turrets. As you move towards the gate enemy ships will come through which will include fighters and corvettes which are tough at this stage.

You have two options, you can try to fight them, isolating them as they come towards you with your fighters. Using pause often to issue priority targets is good and I would suggest you fly a fighter yourself as the CS doesn’t do much at this point. If following this tactic, inch forward until all enemies are destroyed (several will come through the gate in groups but it is a finite number). Destroying all enemies unlocks an achievement.

Alternatively you can simply make a run for it. Point the CS at the gate, turn off Smart Thrust (Default: F) and continually apply forward thrust (Default: W), this will slowly increase your speed and with Smart Thrust off it will not reduce. The aim here is to get through the gate before your ship is destroyed. Use fighters to screen. When within 1,000 meters make sure to activate the gate (Go to Tactical, click on the gate, click Activate, lower right hand side).

Again this mission can be tough for new players just learning how things work so don’t be afraid to play around here, get comfortable with the controls and take any defeat as a learning experience.

Mission 3
Objectives: Capture Karakum
Trigger Events: Stubb attack after Frigate Shipyard built, enemy Destroyer appears when attacking base.
Available Ships: Command Ship, Perez G, Perez M, Bonnie, Intrepid, Correa G, Phalanx
Vital Command Ship Abilities: Command, Radiation


Right, the first mission where you have a base and can produce units. Once through the gate, move towards your base, Palm, with your CS and any surviving fighters. Your first order of business should be to start researching new ships, upgrading your CS, build some fighters to bolster your initial forces and build some defences. Throughout this mission, Kharkum will send attacks against you. These will usually comprise of fighters and corvettes. DO NOT BUILD A FRIGATE SHIPYARD UNTIL YOU ARE READY!
Take awhile to get used to managing a base, tracking resources etc. I generally do not alter the crew allocation to resources and keep it even. I assign 10% to research.
There are the things you need to do
Build Static Defences
Build Transfer hub
Build up your fleet
Upgrade CS
Research all tech
Fend of attacks
Fend off Stub attack
Attack and capture Karakum
Place your static defences where ships enter your space (remember they approach from Karakum). I would suggest building up to the limit you can without incurring a maintenance fee. That is 3 Gun turrets and 2 GDP’s. Also remember to build a transfer hub, as this is needed to transfer materials to your CS so it can upgrade. On that point, it is a good idea to move your CS right next to the Transfer Hub so resources can be obtained quickly (See first section on how to do this). Then start upgrading your CS, I would start by upgrading all weapons and getting the Command and Radiation ability, but generally make sure it is fully upgraded before exiting the mission.
Research wise I prefer to research ships, then defence platforms, then other. New designs will become avail as the mission progresses.
Start building up your fleet, I would build Perez’s up to the force limit and set them to defend (Right Click) Palm or follow your command ship. When available start building Intrepid Corvettes up to the limit. I generally set them to defend with “Do no Engage” but you can also set them to follow your CS if you wish.

Karakum will send attacks at you periodically, usually every few minutes which will usually consist of fighters and corvettes. Note: When you build a Frigate Shipyard a new enemy will appear and attack you, these are “The Stubbs” and they have an annoying Dropper ship that deploys TearDrops (See enemy section for details). Basically these little buggers will attack to your ship and mess you up. Use Radiation to remove the threat (be sure to move out of the cloud). They attack once (that I experienced) so once you fend it off you should be fine but many players are caught unprepared.
Do not forget to capture as many enemy ships as you can, usually you can get 1, maybe 2 ships per attack, I prefer to target the Corvettes but take the biggest ship around. If you can get a dropper you can turn those teardrops to your advantage.

Karakum itself is defended by some static defences, ships and fighters. A good idea is to launch fighter raids against their static defences (control one yourself for maximum damage). You will loose your fighters but after a few attacks the Static defences will be gone, making your eventual attack easier.

When you have mustered your forces and are at maximum force limit (10 Fighters, 6 Corvettes, 4 Frigates, 7 Phalanxes plus whatever ships you captured) prepare to launch your assault. Wait for them to attack you, once you have beaten their assault, launch your counter attack. The easiest way to move your fleet is have it follow your Command Ship (Right Click again) and command your CS and Grav to Karakum. Remember you need Phalanxes to capture Karakum but you might want to hold them back while you clear out the defences.

Once the assault begins make sure to slow time often, and respond to threats as they occur. Have your fighters deal with their fighters while your cap ships deal with their corvettes & frigs. At some point during the assault they will get reinforcements which will include a Destroyer. I am not sure if it is possible to capture this yet but when it comes through focus all firepower upon it.

It is quite possible you will need to launch a few attacks (My 2nd attack failed due to the surprise arrival of the destroyer). Just make sure your command ship survives, other ships can be re-built. Once the defences are dealt with, send in the Phalanxes to capture the base. Once captured you have won the mission. Before heading out, make sure to reinforce your fleet, your Force Limit will increase since you captured a new base and MU units will be avail if you wish them. Make sure your command ship is fully upgraded and your are at maximum force limit before you head through the gate.

Mission 4
Objective: Defeat enemy force, survive Ambush, kill Drill, repair Mk13, exit gate.
Trigger Events: Digger Ambush, Repair Ship arrival
Ships: Command Ship, Perez G, Perez M, Bonnie, Intrepid, Correa, Phalanx, Repair Ship, MK13, MU Ships from Karakum.
Vital Command Ship Abilities: Charge (Make sure you have this)

Start off by destroying the fleet that awaits you, shouldn't be too hard, especially if you have a full fleet. Once destroyed you will be told to head to the MK13, be ready. When you get close enough a cutscene will play and you will be ambushed. The biggest (literally) threat here is the digger. This will ram your command ship and kill it quickly so the best option here is to run. Here is what I did, as soon as the cutscene ends I turn off smart thrust (Default F) and hit charge, when it is regarding I keep forward thrust pressed (Default: W) and activate Charge as soon as possible. The Digger WILL chase you and generally keep base. Keep on shooting it while you run and eventually it will die. At this point I was going about 1,000 M/S. You then need to return to the gate but first you have to turn around, slow down and move in the opposite direction...going 1,000 M/S it will take you as long just to stop as it took to get to that speed. By the time I had stopped I was 600,000 M away lol, it took me 10 mins to get back. If you get lost press G to lock onto the approx location of the Gate. You can activate Grav Driv, this only goes 250 M/S but slows down immediatly so you don't overshoot.

While you are running, make sure to slow down time and manage your fleet who will be in battle with their ambush fleet. If your fleet survives have them hold position, if they didn't, doesn't matter, you will be able to reinforce.

Once the Digger is dead, several friendly repair corvettes will gate in. If your fleet died, these will get destroyed (you can replace them), otherwise they will remain by the gate. When your CS finally gets back you can order ships via the Karakum gate. Build up your forces to full strength and make sure you have the max amount of Phalanxes, you will need them in a few missions time. Repair the Mk13 which is a power cruiser and head through the gate when you are ready. NOTE: You will not be able to reinforce for the next few missions so make sure you have a full complement.

Mission 5
Objective: Clear Minefield, destroy Sat, minimize losses and go through gate.
Trigger Events: None
Ships: Only what you brought with you from the previous mission.
Vital Command Ship Abilities: Nothing stands out for this mission.

A mission with no enemies, all that stands in your way are mines and static defences. As you cannot reinforce do not attack with your fleet. This mission can be a bit tedious but it is possible to triumph with no losses.

First priority should be to take out the Torp, Heavy Gun & Gun Roids. I suggest you select your most powerful fighter (make sure it is not grouped with anything, don't want others to follow) and control it yourself, then slowly approach the Roids. Only the gun Roids will attack a fighter (The heavy gun and torps will not) so take them out first. You can fire your weapon at them around 600m but they do not usually attack you until around 550m (this may vary slightly) so you can attack them outside their range. It takes awhile to kill them but it is safe. In addition you can have the Mk13 launched renewable drones and have them attack your target, it will speed things up. Once you have destroyed the guns, then go after Torps and heavy guns. Once done destroy the mine roids. Now all that is left is the mines themselves (if the mine roids are still alive they will replenish mines). The Mk13 is a very powerful ship so move that slowly forward and have the mines attack it. Stop and have your repair ships fix it up on occasion but before long you will have cleared the mines (these ones are very hard to hit).

Note: You can also have the Mk13 clear out some of the platforms, I would suggest you deal with most of them in your fighter and drone but if only 1 or 2 heavy gun roids are left you can use Mk13, however these platforms have longer range than the Mk13. Once the defences are gone and the satelite destroyed, move through the gate.

Mission 6
Objective: Destroy pirates, Clear Minefield, destroy Sat, minimize losses and go through gate.
Trigger Events: None
Ships: Only what you brought with you from the previous mission.
Vital Command Ship Abilities: Nothing stands out for this mission.

Welcome to Coach base, or what's left of it...

First up, destroy the pirates, use pause to keep losses to a minimum then deal with the minefield.

Similar to before but now these gun platforms seem to have greater ran than before and also the mines are more powerful (but easier to shoot). Here I suggest only attacking with drones (command one yourself). Each time your drones are destroyed launch them again, before long the static defences will be down. The mines here are bigger and easier to shot, so have a drone shoot them down, then destroy the sat and move through the gate.

Mission 7
Objective: Capture the Hub, Nottingham & Petra
Trigger Events: Big Gun, Gate Lockdown, Stubb attack
Ships: Command Ship, Perez G, Perez M, Bonnie, Intrepid, Correa G, Phalanx, Repair Ship, MK13, Repair ship, Cannon Frigate, Correa M, Lancet & MU Ships from Karakum.
Vital Command Ship Abilities: Command.

This mission can be tough! First of all, defeat the fleet that blocks your way when you exit. Once done head to Hub and clear it's defences. Have your Phalanx's capture it (should only need 2). The Karakum gate is mined so move the MK13 or your CS there to absorb the hits otherwise anything coming through will get toasted. Then set about building up your base and defences.

This mission is tough in a number of ways, one, the enemy is close so it's important to set “Do not engage” on your cap ships, otherwise they will get to close to the bases and die. Secondly, Hub does not produce ore so you will need alternative methodes such as miners from Karakum. Fortunatly you can bring in reinforcements from Karakum gate, unfortunatly, after about 4 waves come through the enemy Mega Gun will fire and knock it out for 5 mins. Even worse, after that, they will send a large wave against you and to make matters even worse, right after that, stubbs will attack with Teardrops! As such, I only bring through a tug and 4 miners and this doesn't trigger the gun.

Use the tug to bring an asteroid close to your base and have the miners mine it. Best to have it close to a transfer hub. As for that, I suggest building that behind Hub (opposite the enemy bases) as the Mega Gun likes to shoot it!

As resources are limited I suggest you only build a single defence platform, a transfer platform and a hangar platform (once researched). You CAN transfer in resources from Karakum but I believe this also triggers the Mega Gun which I advise against until you are ready.

Set your cap ships and remaining fighters to defend Hub and set cap ships to “Do not Engage”. Also put your Phalanxes and repair ships behind your base and make sure you have some ships (corvettes are good here) to defend them if something gets past your defences.

Each base, Nottingham (Bees, Fighters & Marauders) and Petra (Bees, Raiders, Beasts, Fighters) will attack you in rotation every few mins. These attacks are an execellent way to increase your fleet. With good use of pause I managed to steal 2 Frigates per attack on average, which usually more than makes up for losses (especially since I do not use the gate until I am ready which means I do not have the resources to build more). Meanwhile you should have a good amount of drones (From Mk13, Upgraded Command Ship – you did upgrade didn't you, Hangers and Hub). After every attack send them against the bases static defences. Take out the hangers first, then the torp and heavy turrets around Nottingham. Once down, send them against the Torps of Petra. By the time I was ready to attack I think I had close to 30 Frigates (from capturing :D). When you are ready to strike and the static defences have been taken out (and assuming you still have 5 phalanx's left) wait for Nottingham to attack you. As soon as you defeat it's attack move your fleet there. Destroy what's left of the defences and capture the Bear (might take a few tries). Once clear move in your Phalanxes and capture it. Once Captured, Petra will no longer send attacks against you. That being said, once captured, Stubbs will attack from another gate, I had 4 waves attack me. Move your fleet back to Hub and weather the Stubb assault (Radiation works great) and continue to capture enemy ships. Once the stubbs are defeated you are ready to face the Mega Gun. Either bring through reinforcements first from Palm (which will trigger the event) or shoot the Mega Gun a few times and it will Trigger. Karakum will be deactivated for a few mins and Stubbs will attack (2 waves for me). Once you have defeated the stubbs take out the Mega Gun. Easiest way to do this is move your Command Ship to Nottingham then move it to within Gun range of the Mega Gun. As long as the static defences are gone you can shoot it without retaliation. It was at this point a cutscene played and the Hammer (Main Gun) was delivered to the command ship (Activate with X). This is a powerful, forward firing gun for CS. Once Mega Gun is destroyed and Karakum is open you can bring in forces for Palm. Also, once you have Nottingham you can transfer Ore to Hub.

Simple from this point on, build up your fleet and take out Petra. Once Petra is yours, reinforce your fleet to max force limit and fully upgrade CS. Then move through the gate.


REST OF WALKTHROUGH COMING SOON.

Mission 8

Objective: Destroy the Fleet, head through MU gate
Trigger Events: Dreadnaught escapes
Ships: Whatever you brought with you from Hhub.
Vital Command Ship Abilities: Command.

Right, a good ol' ship to ship battle! The enemy has a large fleet consisting of fighters, corvettes, frigates, a single destroyer and a MASSIVE Dreadnaught. Also, while it can be hard to see, there is a minefield (the large heatseekers) between you and the fleet.

First up, assemble your fleet and set everything to DO NOT ENGAGE. You do not want your ships getting picked off. Then send a drone forward to destroyed the minefield between the fleets. Once you have cleared the mines you can attack. Set fleet to engage and move forward (easier if everything is following you).

Prioritise caputuring the enemy destroyer (Bear) doing this will take the Dreadnaughts fire off you for a few moments while it smashes it's former ally to space dust.

Otherwise everything is pretty straight forward. I did not give any special instructions, my fleet smashed theirs apart quite easiler but you might want to issue priority target orders if things get hairy. Capture ships as it becomes available. Once in range I had my CS focus on the dread and the rest of my fleet after theirs was gone.

At around 50% the Dread will turn and flee through the gate. Do as much dmg as possible before it escapes. After that there is nothing more to do than to follow, you cannot reinforce so set all to follow and head through the gate.

Mission 9

Objective: Destroy the Dreadnaught, escape through the gate, survive!
Trigger Events: Outsider attack
Ships: What you brought with you
Vital Command Ship Abilities: Return to sender, Withdraw

Right so you start off against the damaged Dread. Should not be an issue to finish it off. After that a small cutscene will play, Victory right? Ahahaha no, you know this game by now, nothing is that simple!

You will be attacked by Outsiders, very tough enemies! To make matters worse, they cannot be captured! Their ships are tough and have powerful weapons, mainly beam weapons and energy torpedos. Return to sender helps against the toprs but nothing can stop the beams.

Be aware they have a VERY nasty unit called a Claw, think of it as a very tough capital ship version of a Teardrop. It basically attaches to a ship and crushes it, it is very deadly. Fortunatly it has no other weapons so is vulnerable to fighters.

When battle commences focus on the claws first with EVERYTHING you have. If one gets your CS you are probably toast. Withdraw comes in handy here if one attacks you and funnily enough so does Tractor beam as it generally throws them past your ship, usuful in an emergency. Once the claws are done take on their larger capships with your fleet while fighters deal with theirs.

As soon as the gate is active hightail it out of there!

Mission 10

Objective: Get through gate, survive
Trigger Events: Pirate attack, Outsider Attack, reinforcements.
Ships: What you have left from previuos missions + some reinforcements and pirate survivors.
Vital Command Ship Abilities: Return to sender, Charge

When you exit the gate you will be greeted by some old friends. Try not to destroy too many of them as soon the outsiders will appear and you will eventually join forces. Use the pirates as meat shields while your fleet follows you towards the opposite gate.

As soon as the gate is active more outsiders will move in to block it, continue undeterred. It is possible to use charge here and rush through the gate (if you can avoid the cruiser sitting in front of it. Note: If you kill it you get an achievement). Otherwise, proceed at a good pace and soon some reinforcements will arrive to help you out.

Get through the gate and the mission ends.

Mission 11
Objective: Defend Hub, survive, leave via Karakum gate
Trigger Events: Mutilple Outsider attacks, one BIG attack
Ships: New Ships are Torp Correa.
Vital Command Ship Abilities: Tractor, Return to Sender, Charge, Withdraw

Ok so this mission is about defending and surviving. You will have some time before attacks to rebuild your forces. Make sure to use all Hub bases and Karakum & palm for this purpose. I like to set Palm to repeat produce fighters and have them rally outside the Karakum gate. You can also build Bears (1 max) from Petra or Nottingham and a number of stations as well (Torp, Mine etc).

So the enemy will attack in 4 waves.
First wave will attack between Petra & Nottingham
Second Wave will attack Hub
Third Wave will attack Nottingham
Fourth Wave will attack Petra. This is a SUPER wave and will destroy most things!

Before the first wave setup defences between Petra and Nottingham and have your fleet defend Petra. Make sure you get it up to as full strength as possible. Also it can be a good idea to move your CS to Hub outside the transfer station (everything remains from mission 7 and if you do not have one, build it!) and start transfering resources and upgrading. Make sure you have ships being produced to replace losses, you have 3 bases to produce ships (make sure to transfer ore to Hub).

The First Wave will attack between Petra and Nottingham. First in will be fighters, then corvettes, then frigs & claws. Take out the claws first, then focus on other ships. If you built up defences they should draw some fire.

Once you defeat this wave, replace your losses. Now the second wave will attack Hub, I say let them, keep your fleet at Petra or Nottingham. Why? Because it is harder to defeat their fleet when it lands on top of you than if they have to come at you piecemeal. They will attack and destroy all Hub stations then come for your fleet, usually in small groups which is easier to handle.

Once their claws arrive and attack hub send in your fighters and attack them, with luck you will kill most if not all of them before the fleet turns on your fleet. Once Hub's stations are destroyed they will usually start attacking your ships, usually in small groups so you can pick them off piecemeal.

As soon as they are away from hub, start building it up again, transferstation, defences etc.

Once Wave 2 is down, move to Nottingham or Hub and rebuild as usual. The third wave will attack Nottingham but for me at least arrived around Petra so you can take them on in small groups here. If you want to be cautious, move fleet to hub and follow same tactics as Wave 2.

Once Wave 3 is down, again, rebuild fleet and defences (make sure you continue to upgrade CS). Now, the Fourth Wave will attack Petra. This will be a MEGA wave and will include Cruisers and a massive carrier. Move your fleet to the Karakum gate.

Once the fleet arrives it will focus on Petra, destroying defences then the station itself. Then it will move onto Nottingham, Hub, and finally Karakum gate.

As before, send fighters to destroy their claws and if your CS is upgraded and with your fleet at Karakum gate, have it use tractor beam to pull ships away from their fleet towards you where your fleet can destroy them.

Hold the gate until it is activated (about the time their fleet is destroying Hub) and leave, there is nothing more for you to do here. Note: You get an achievement if you manage to bring down the Carrier.

NOTE: Early on, after wave one you have the choice to help the stubbs by giving them ships. I did this but have yet to see this effort pay off so cannot comment if it is worth it or not. Once I find out I will update this guide.

Will add as I am able to write them up.