FOREWORD
The guide is in progress. Please be patient and understanding ;)
Do you understand how space battles in Stellaris work?
No?
Very few do.
I assume you have some basic knowledge on:
How to play the game, obtain alloys, etc.
How to build ships and move them
How to assign commanders, merge fleets, and so on
This guide is not to show you some extreme meta, but rather to explain what do numbers mean as they display on your screen. Why you loose even though you fleet power was superior, or how to beat an enemy that seem overwhelming. How to design good ships and how to fight wars so you don't hate yourself.
I also want to explain some esoteric numbers, like evasion, tracking, disengagement chance, and so on.
There are three chapters in this guide:
Tactical Layer is about ships, space battles, vessel behaviors, weapon ratings and so on.
Operational Layer is about when to engage and when to disengage, where to fight your decisive battles and how to assign commanders.
Strategic Layer is about fighting wars, preparing for a yet-to-emerge conflicts, where to construct starbases and what technologies are necessary for your fleet to beat the enemies in the future.
I hope you have fun with this one!
CHAPTER I: THE TACTICAL LAYER
There is only one means in war: combat.
-Carl von Clausewitz
Battle (Simplified)
So, you have gathered your ships and marched to war. After waiting for a year or two, the fleet finally reached the enemy! Let's see what happens next... some numbers go down... your interface is blinking... and then you win or lose.
Okay, but let's see what really happens.
Engagement and disengagement
As soon as two enemy fleets happen to be in their engagement range, which usually means the range of the longest-range weapon, the battle begins. The ships then try to destroy each other, shooting weapons at each other. Total annihilation is quite rare, however. Ships that get badly damaged may try to disengage, ‘hiding’ in the subspace and effectively disappearing from the fleet until the end of the battle.
Especially new players often forget that winning a battle and winning a war are two completely different things.
Battle lasts until either:
One of the fleets is totally destroyed (rare)
One of the fleets is commanded to Retreat and engage Emergency FTL
One of the fleets automatically engages Emergency FTL
Weapons, range, chance to hit and damage
As the battle unfolds to determine the victor, two fleets generally shoot at each other with projectiles, lasers, plasma, missiles and whatever their scientists deemed deadly enough to explode a hostile vessel flying high speed in the vacuum. Every military ship has (I assume you haven't removed them completely) some weapons. Those weapons have some basic characteristics.
After hovering your mouse over a weapon in Ship Designer, you can read its stats. Tracking, Range, Average Damage and Damage Modifiers (green and red) are the most important ones.
Range
As ships engage in battle, the first statistic to determine if they can shoot is Range of their weapons. Every weapon has a maximum Range, but some also have a minimum Range. Depending on ships combat computer (which is explained in the following sections) each vessel tries to keep the enemy in the range of their shortest- medium- or longest-range weaponry, closing the distance or making a fallback when needed.
Ships engage in a long-range artillery barrage before closing the distance
Chance to hit
Every weapon has some Accuracy rating that determines the chance it actually makes a hole in the target and not an asteroid flying behind it. Accuracy is the base Chance to Hit, assuming there is no modifiers and the enemy ship is a stationary shooting target, which is rarely a case. Most ships have some Evasion, that reduce Chance to Hit. Fortunately, for your convenience weapons also have Tracking, that counters enemy Evasion.
For example, when shooting a 90% Accuracy weapon (with 0% Tracking) at a target with 10% Evasion, you have 80% chance to hit.
When the same weapon has 5% Tracking, it reduces enemy Evasion from 10% to 5%, to you have 85% chance to hit.
When the same weapon has 20% Tracking, it reduces enemy Evasion from 10% to 0%. It does not increase Accuracy, only counters Evasion, so the chance to hit is 90%-0% = 90%.
Smaller ships usually have much better Evasion, and smaller weapons usually have much better Tracking.
Missiles, strike craft and interception
Some guns, rather than directly shooting at the enemy, spawn missiles and strike craft that travels towards their target. Those can be evaded (although it's usually difficult) but they can be also shot down by point-defense and flak cannons. They only deal damage when they reach their target, leaving a window of opportunity for interception.
Damage
When a weapon hits (thanks to its high Tracking, pure luck, or some psionic shenanigans) it deals damage. In most cases, shields of the enemy ship are damaged first, then its armor and then hull. Almost every weapon has some damage modifier.
Energy weapons like lasers and plasma throwers deal increased damage to armor, but reduced damage to shields.
Kinetic weapons like railguns and autocannons deal increased damage to shields, but reduced damage to armor.
Missiles, torpedoes and TIE-fighters bypass enemy shields and deal damage as if they were not there.
Special weapons like disruptors completely bypass both shields and armor and directly damage the hull.
Generally, the higher the average damage, the better, but without proper Tracking and a good balance of anti-shields/anti-kinetic weapons even high-damage weapons get be very ineffective!
Disengagement
Your captains rarely fight until their ship explodes into pieces (although you can force them to do so). After the Hull of their ship drops below 50%, with each blow they try do Disengage. The chance of success depends on the ship type, doctrines, commander traits and other factors, such as environmental factors and spacebase auras. The worse the hit, the more willing your captains are to Disengage, but lethal blows do not trigger the opportunity as the ship is simply destroyed.
When successfully Disengaged, the ship will hide in subspace, disappearing from the battle. Disengaged ships are indicated by the 'white flag' mark on the battle interface. They cannot attack and cannot be attacked. They wait for the end of the battle or for when all the ships from the allied fleet are disengaged, whatever comes first.
As you can see, most of enemy ships are disengaged, as indicated by white flags in place of their icons. They do not participate in the battle, but are not yet destroyed.
Emergency FTL
After the beginning of the battle, Emergency FTL is prepared. It's usually only ready after 30 days, but traits, doctrines and environmental hazards (like black holes) can make this time shorter or longer. After that time, fleets are free to retreat. It is done either by clicking 'Retreat' button on the battle interface or when every ship from one of the fleets is either destroyed or disengaged - then, the admirals of the loosing fleet will engage Emergency FTL automatically.
This button makes you lose a battle so you can win the war.
After Emergency FTL:
Each ship has 5% chance to be destroyed
Each ship has 25% chance to receive random non-lethal damage
The fleet goes Missing In Action. While a fleet is MIA, it disappears from the map, cannot be controlled or attacked. After some time (determined by how far the fleet is from friendly territory) it will appear in the friendly territory, ready to be repaired and reinforced.
Emergency FTL can save your fleet from trouble. Often loosing 5% ships is nothing compared to being slaughtered. On the other hand, when your victory is sure, you'd like to drag the enemy into the most FTL-unfriendly environment you can to maximize their losses and not simply disengagement rate. Keep an eye on any modifier that decreases disengagement chance. Often, they are caused by black holes and starbase buildings.
Slaughters
On rare occasions when all ships disengage before the Emergency FTL is ready, they are forced back into the battlefield, often resulting in their annihilation due to damage already sustained. Hunting fleets that returned from MIA is another way you can crush enemy fleets, as they are usually badly beaten after the retreat.
Ship Classes (Simplified)
Unless you use Auto-generate ship option, you have to design your ships, deciding on their sections, components, roles and more. Ship Designer menu may be scary at first, but unless you want to absolutely meta-design the most OP ships in Stellaris, designing vessels is rather easy. After clicking 'New Design', you are greeted by a menu of what ship you want to design.
In base game, you can design military ships within 6 classes. More classes are unlocked by DLCs.
CorvetteCorvette is the first available ship class. It's very fast and evasive, but also very vulnerable to weapons with high Tracking. Early-game corvettes come in many flavors, but as the game progresses their usefulness is limited. They can only fit small weapons and point-defense, meaning they can shoot enemy missiles and strike-craft.
FrigatesFrigates are slightly more durable than corvettes, but way less evasive and much slower. They are researched early in the game and are the first ship class that can carry torpedoes - low-range, high-damage weapons that are especially effective against huge ships. They are basically glass cannons, charging the enemies to deliver devastating warheads, but often need support to do so and their low durability means those charges are often suicidal.
DestroyersDestroyer is the first ship class that can carry medium and large weapons. They are much more flexible and durable than corvettes (and more expensive). They can be gunships, artillery ships and missile ships in the early- to mid-game. As time progresses, they are overshadowed by cruisers, but remain a good choice of a fast, corvette-killer gunboat or an interceptor ship.
CruisersCruiser is the jack of all trades but the master of none. They can carry practically every weapon, from missiles to artillery and strike craft. They are very durable for their size, but their low evasion makes them vulnerable against large artillery weapons.
BattleshipsTrue monsters, those ships are slow, have almost no evasion and cost a lot, but they can carry a great deal of large weapons and even extra-large weapons. They are fortress-busters and excel at killing the largest enemies, but are quite vulnerable to torpedoes and swarms of high-Evasion ships.
The era of Battleships on the seas ended. Good we have the whole galaxy!
Defense PlatformsThose vessels can be anything you want, as there is (almost) no weapon configuration they can't handle. They are very cost-effective, but lack the ability to make FTL jumps. They are the protectors of your starbases, cheap and powerful.
Titan (Apocalypse DLC)Titan is the ultimate flagship that takes forever to build, costs a fortune and eclipses even the largest battleships. It's only role is to be heavy artillery. It can cut through any large ship with ease. It's so big it can project auras that help your ships or harm enemies, making it a perfect flagship of your great armadas.
Colossus (Apocalypse DLC)This monstrous ship has no anti-ship weaponry and only some defenses. It's sole purpose is to pacify planets, killing or neutralizing their inhabitants.
Juggernaut (Federations DLC)While titans are flagships, the juggernaut is the final vessel when it comes to naval superiority. It's the single biggest thing you can build in this game. While technically a ship, it's a actually a mobile starbase with some shipyards onboard to upgrade your fleets deep within the enemy territory. Its weaponry consists of artillery and a massive number of strike hangars. Like titans, it projects auras.
Ship Components: Core And Utility
As you design your ship, you have to fill in Components, which come in three flavors: Core Components (which are the necessary machines and electronics like reactors or radars), Utility Components (which are mostly shields and armor), and Weapon Components, the bread and butter of space combat.
Magical components and where to find them.
Core Components
Core components are located on the right. With some exceptions, you can research their upgrades, but not their options. They make your ship powered, able to fly and perform FTL Jumps. Unless you choose a challenging civic or origin, you start the game with all technologies needed to fill all core components with basic functionalities.
ReactorAlmost every other component uses some power, from shields to guns. Reactor is a primary source of power on every ship and a design where the demand exceed the supply simply cannot be created or built. Surplus power is turned into speed, evasion and weapon damage, but at a very low rate.
FTL DriveA simple FTL Drive is required for the ship to leave its star system. Upgraded FTL Drives slightly reduce FTL jump time (which is not very useful until you have a network of Hyper Relays). Final tiers of FTL Drive allow your ships to make long jumps between systems far away, disregarding the hyperlane network.
Sublight ThrustersBetter thrusters increase the speed and Evasion of the ship. Especially speed is important both when traveling long distances and in battles, as it allows the ship to keep its desired range.
SensorsSensors are important on a strategic level rather than on a tactical one. Better sensors allow ships to detect ships and planets further on the hyperlane network, allowing for better planning and avoiding traps. During battles, they increase Tracking by a moderate number.
Combat ComputersThe reactor may be heart of the ship, but combat computer is it's brain. After researching the first tier above default, computers allow you to choose the behavior of the vessel, which is as important as its weapons, because determines its preferred range during a battle.
Utility Slots
Utility slots are generally ship defenses, with some additional slot for auxiliary components.
ShieldsShields are the first barrier against enemy damage. They regenerate on their own when outside of combat. They require large amounts of power, however, and provide less hit points than armor from the corresponding tech level. Some weapons, like strike craft or missiles, ignore them and simply pass through.
ArmorArmor serves as a secondary barrier, damaged when the shields are reduced to 0 points or bypassed. They do not consume power and generally provide more health points, but they do not regenerate unless a ship has a special component such as Regenerative Hull Tissue, is docked at a starbase or the commander has an Engineer trait.
AuxiliaryThose are different utility modules that do a myriad of things. Some auxiliary components are researched, but some are bought from traders or reverse-engineered from monsters and ancient creatures.
Reactor boosters provide some additional power, in case your design exceeds your reactor capabilities.
Afterburnes give ship some additional speed and evasion.
Shield capacitors slightly increase ship's shields.
Auxiliary Fire-Control slightly increases ship's chance to hit.
Reactive armor provides armor hardening, making armor penetrating weapons less effective against the ship.
Shield hardener provides shield hardening, making shield penetrating weapons less effective against the ship.
Regeneration components grant small daily regeneration rate to hull and armor.
There are also others, found or bought.
Ship Behavior
Depending on its Combat Computer, the ship will change its behavior.
Behavior determines the preferred range of the ship (alongside with some esoteric tweaks to their movement), while the computer itself provides two bonuses - a bonus to the fire rate (all computer types except torpedo) and a behavior-specific bonus.
For those who don't know: median is the 'middle' value. For example, if your weapons have ranges 20, 30, 30, 35, 100, median (the number in the middle) is 30.
As an additional note, ships with Artillery and Carrier computers will try to back off if their targets are in half of their preferred range or closer, thus they take measures to constantly stay at the back of your lines. Other ships don't really account for it, only caring to get their targets in range.
The exact targeting mechanics are unfortunately not known. There are however some insights into how the target is decided.
The targeting is semi-random and a random weight plays an important role in deciding a target. Your captains (ship AIs, collective brains of the crew, or whatever there is commanding your ships) are not very rational creatures, as it seems.
Ships prefer to attack enemies that are already below 50% of their hull points.
High-tracking ships tend to favor targeting high-evasion enemies.
Low-tracking ships are reluctant towards targeting high-evasion enemies.
After choosing a target, ships are reluctant to switch to another enemy.
Ship Components: Weapons
Slots
To hit, you need a weapon. In Stellaris, the most important thing about weapons are their slots. Each weapon slot belongs to one of several types. Depending on what slot it is, you can only put some weapons there. Some weapons can be mounted in more than one slot type, but they have different stats depending on a slot they are in.
The slots are represented by letters:
S (Small) can fit missiles and many common weapons. Small weapons have good Tracking, but low damage and range.
M (Medium) can fit swarmer missiles and many common weapons. Medium weapons have decent Tracking, average damage and range.
L (Large) can fit many common weapons, as well as some hard-hitting, special weapons. Large weapons have low Tracking, but huge damage and range. They also often have minimum range, meaning they cannot be shot point-blank.
G (Guided) can fit torpedoes and devastating particle weapons.
P (Point-Defense) can fit small anti-missile and flak guns that target enemy strike craft and missiles rather than ships.
H (Hangar) can fit strike craft that flies towards enemy ships and engage them without risking the carrier vessel.
X (Extra Large) can fit special weapons of a great devastating power that decide end-game battles.
The larger the ship, the more and the better slots it can host. On each section of the ship, you need to decide its slot composition.
Completely unbiased diagram of ship roles in Stellaris.
Slot types help you determine your ship purpose. A battleship with L slots will serve perfectly as an artillery ship, a corvette with S slots will be only good as a light missile vessel or an interceptor ship... while a cruiser can become anything you want!
Weapons
Behold, my not-very-accurate, not-very-comprehensive Stellaris weapon diagram! (weapons from events, debris, origins, ascensions and archeology are not included)
You bought Stellaris. You knew somewhere on your path there will be diagrams.
Instant-hit vs. SpawnedMost weapons simply hit or miss the enemy, creating a visual effect which is not really necessary in any calculations (but pretty anyway). Those weapons do not have any delay between firing and dealing damage. Some weapons, however, spawn an entity of a missile or a small strike vessel that actually exists on the battlefield and flies towards its target. It can be actually destroyed before it reaches it. Spawned weapons generally have better damage potential, but work in a completely different manner and are easier to counter.
Anti-ArmorMost Anti-Armor weapons are energy weapons that melt through enemy armor and hull, dealing massive damage to the vessel structure itself, but they are weak against shields. Those can be lasers, plasma, or other futuristic energy-based weaponry.
Lasers are multi-purpose anti-armor weapons that have a version for every main slot (S, M and L).
Plasma throwers are specialized anti-armor weapons that also deal great deal of damage to ship hulls, but struggle to bypass shields. They have a version for every main slot.
Particle launchers are interesting anti-armor weapons with a long range that only fits in the G slot. Lances are X-slot anti-armor weapons that deal massive damage both to enemy hull and armor.
Anti-ShieldMost anti-shield weapons are kinetic batteries, railguns and other cannons that fire high-velocity projectiles, efficient against energy shields, but weak against very thick ceramo-metal armors.
Mass drivers are multi-purpose anti-shield weapons that have a version for every main slot.
Autocannons are high-damage, short-range weapons that excel against shields, but are very inefficient against armor. They have a version for every main slot, but even L version is a short-range one.
Kinetic launchers only fit in L slot. They are basically large mass drivers, but even more anti-shields.
Mega cannons are X-slot version of kinetic launchers, dealing lethal damage against shields and reasonable against other barriers.
PenetratingThose weapons do not damage shields or armor, but rather directly destabilize the structure of the hull, but often at the cost of dealing much lower damage.
Disruptors are S/M slot weapons that deal low damage, but completely bypass enemy shield and armor.
Arc Emitters are X-mounted weapons that bypass massive shields and armor of endgame foes such as Fallen Empire ships.
Point-DefenseThose weapons do not primarily target enemy ships, but rather enemy missiles and fighters.
Point-Defense guns take down enemy missiles.
Flak Cannons take down enemy strike craft.
MissilesDifferent types of missiles and torpedoes travel through space, locking their targets and inflicting great damage unless shot down. All missiles bypass enemy shields.
Missiles only fit in S slot. They travel long distances, have great Accuracy and perfect Tracking, but can be countered by PD guns.
Swarmer Missiles are a better and more expensive version of Missiles. They use M slot, but deal more damage and are not shot that easily.
Torpedoes use G slot. They have a very short range and can be shot by PD, but deal massive damage scaling with the target ship size.
Strike CraftSmall fighters, akin to TIE-fighters, that exit carrier hangars and fly under enemy shields to deal massive damage unless countered by flak cannons.
Strike Craft deals massive damage (one of the highest in the game) that bypasses shields. It can be countered by flak guns and its slots (H) are quite rare.
Ship Classes (Revisited) And Ship Roles
CorvetteCommand points: 1
Evasion: 60% (very good)
Base hull: 200 (very weak)
Base speed: 160 (very fast)
Sections: 1
Corvette has only one section that can either fit 3 S slots or 2 S and 1 P slots. Their ultimate asset is their speed and evasion, but especially as weapons in the game get more deadly, they become very vulnerable.
Light gunship is the most obvious use of a corvette. Fill its slots with short-range, high-damage weapons, preferably 1xAnti-Shield + 2xAnti-Armor, for example 1xMass Driver + 2xLaser.
Missile boat is another good use of a corvette. Fill all S slots with missiles. Remember to set combat computer to picket, so the corvette does not rush forward. This ship is a cheap way to deliver missiles, but unfortunately corvettes do not have access to Artillery combat computers which would really help.
Interceptor boat is a good addition to your fleet if you suspect the enemy uses missiles. Put PD in P slot and fill S slots with missiles. Even a small number of those can counter a reasonable missile barrage.
FrigatesCommand points: 1
Evasion: 20% (okay)
Base hull: 400 (weak)
Base speed: 120 (okay)
Sections: 1
Frigates sole purpose is to deliver torpedoes. To do so, they need to get really close to the enemy, so invest in some afterburners to increase their speed and evasion. Their S slot is best fitted with some close-range weapon like an autocannon, disruptor, or a plasma thrower. While torpedo damage can be devastating to cruisers and battleships, keep in mind frigates are rather ineffective against anything else.
DestroyersCommand points: 2
Evasion: 35% (good)
Base hull: 600 (okay)
Base speed: 140 (good)
Sections: 2
Destroyers have two sections and can be really flexible, with only more flexible ships being cruisers. They balance evasion and hull points well, making them versatile even as technology progresses.
Gunship is a very obvious use of a destroyer. Mix S and M slots. A reasonable balance of Anti-Armor and Anti-Shields, like autocannons and plasma will provide most flexibility.
Light artillery is the first ship that can use L weapons. Mount a hard-hitting artillery like L mass driver or L plasma in the bow section, support with some missiles in S slots in the stern section. Alternatively, you can use P slots to protect your back line from missiles. Artillery computer will further extend the range of the main weapon.
Missile destroyer is a solid upgrade from the missile corvette, but it's best to wait until you discover swarmer missiles to fit them in M slot. Fill all other S slots with missiles and voila! You have a true missile ship. Without swarmer missiles, you can use the picket section and instead give your fleet some PD.
Interceptor destroyer is the first and only ship which primary role is to shoot flak and PD. If your enemies drown you in rockets or strike craft, several destroyers fitted with 4 P slots can counter a lot of damage.
CruisersCommand points: 4
Evasion: 10% (weak)
Base hull: 1800 (good)
Base speed: 120 (okay)
Sections: 3
Cruiser can do everything that the game has to offer. There is no ship more flexible. It has a reasonable speed and good defensiveness. It's evasion, while low, can be further increased to make a ship to do whatever you want.
Heavy Gunship can use M slots to achieve a good balance between Tracking, Range and Damage. Fill it with your best Anti-Shield and Anti-Armor. You can also use autocannon in L slot to make it more of a cruiser hunter.
Missile Cruiser is a great vessel for your missiles. Mix M and S slots filled with missiles and whirlwind missiles. Both artillery and carrier computer play well with this build.
Artillery cruiser is the first ship that can effectively counter the largest of enemy ships. Because cruiser has enough L slots, you can pair Anti-Shield and Anti-Armor on one ship (which destroyer can't achieve). Some missiles or medium-range weapons to defend against enemy brawlers go well with this mix.
Carrier cruiser is the first carrier in the game. It's heart is the H slot (and some P slots). Depending on your fleet composition, you may want to fill other sections with missiles or some L slot artillery. Remember about the carrier computer!
Torpedo cruiser does what a frigate tries to do, but much better. Torpedo section is best mixed with medium weapons that hit at close range, like autocannons or plasma. Or you can go full in and put some L artillery without minimum range. Remember about some auxiliary speed boost so that your vessel can close the distance faster.
BattleshipsCommand points: 8
Evasion: 5% (very weak)
Base hull: 3000 (very good)
Base speed: 100 (slow)
Sections: 2
While cruisers are flexible, the role of battleships is strictly defined. They are here to fill their L slots with whatever counters the biggest ships in the fleets of your enemies. They are also the only base game ship that can carry X weapons.
Artillery battleship is the first, and the most obvious use of the battleship. Use some healthy mix of Anti-Shield and Anti-Armor L weapons, or perhaps even an X weapon if your research allows. It's not really worth mixing L slots with M and S.
Carrier battleship is another obvious use of a battleship. Max out H slots. Whatever is not an L slot in your build is best filled with missiles and whirlwind missiles.
Defense PlatformsCommand points: 0
Evasion: 0% (very weak)
Base hull: 3000 (very good)
Base speed: 80 (very slow)
Sections: 2
Defense platforms have two sections that can fit whatever slots you want (4S, 4P, 2M, 2G, 1L or 1H). They all share the same simple behavior - they stay close to the starbase, shooting at whatever comes too close, rarely hunting enemy ships all over the star system. Artillery (L) and Carrier (H) sections can be especially effective against large enemy forces. If your enemy uses missiles and strike craft, remember about one or two PD platforms. S sections can be filled with missiles against targets that like to stay far away from the platforms, so any artillery ship.
Titans (Apocalypse DLC)Command points: 16
Evasion: 5% (very weak)
Base hull: 15 000 (amazing)
Base speed: 100 (slow)
Sections: 3
Titan is an endgame ship with outstanding defensive capabilities and great artillery potential. It has only one purpose - to be an artillery flagship of your fleet. It only has L slots and a special T slot, but can be customized with several auras that influence either your or enemy fleets. Put your best, longest-range artillery in its slots and watch it annihilate enemy starbases. You can only build 1 titan per each 200 naval capacity you have, and no more than 20 in total.
Juggernauts (Federations DLC)Command points: 32
Evasion: 2% (very weak)
Base hull: 100 000 (beyond amazing)
Base speed: 100 (slow)
Sections: 1
Juggernaut is a mobile starbase with two shipyards onboard. It has only one section with 2 X slots, 6 (!) H slots and 6 M slots, making it the best strike craft carrier in existence. Just like titan, it can project some auras. While this beast has outstanding offensive capabilities, its primary role is to secure your operations in the enemy territory, repair and upgrade your ships and support them with strike craft. Unfortunately, two shipyards is not that much when it comes to reinforcing fleets (but usually enough to do some repairs). Also, you can only have one juggernaut.
The Key To All Space Warfare: Intel
As you probably already noticed, warfare in Stellaris is about countering. Shields counter lasers, PD counters missiles, armor counters autocannons and so on. Knowing your enemy is the hardest and perhaps the most effective way of putting them out of their misery. Not everyone, however, has Nemesis DLC (and many of those who do are not big fanatics of spycraft, either). Fortunately, there are many ways you can spy without spies.
Most important things to take a note ofWhen collecting intel, focus on several things:
Whether the enemy uses missiles and strike craft - this may be very important, as the enemy that rains missiles and fighters all over you can be countered by building a handful of interceptors.
The balance between shields and armor on enemy ships - in most cases, the enemy (even the dumbest of AI) has some mix of shields and armor. However, there are some empires, crisis fleets, spaceborne aliens and creatures that are either very unbalanced, or don't have one of those barriers at all, and there is no need to bring anti-shield heavy ships against shieldless enemies.
Hull points relative to shields and armor - in some cases, enemy hull points are really small compared to shields and armor, meaning disruptors may cut through them faster than even the most overpowered non-penetrating weapons.
The enemy use of PD. While missiles and strike craft are generally great weapons, some enemies may choose to saturate their fleets with interceptors (End of The Cycle knows why). In such case, it may be better to retire your carriers or retrofit you missile boats in favor of something more boring.
Intel gathering methodsLet's see how you can get information of enemy fleet composition with or without using spies.
The 'looking' method
Many things in Stellaris can be observed... well... by observing them.
Every entity has a hull bar (green), most also have an armor bar (orange) and a shield bar (blue). Not having an orange or a blue bar means they simply do not have any armor or shield.
This alien vessel has unknown capabilities... but the lack of a blue bar suggests it is not capable of projecting energy shields and only depends on its thick armor.
By hovering over some objects, you can get some info, such as their hull, armor and shield points, even if your intel is too low to display their details.
Our intel is not sufficient to see details of this ship... but from what we can read, it has really heavy armor compared to its shield.
Reading battle resultsAfter every battle you are greeted with some numbers that make little sense unless you can read them. So let's unpack this mysterious screen most players simply ignore.
Unpacking some numbers while looking at handsome faces of our admirals.
Efficiency is the measure of theoretical weapon output vs. actual damage output. For example, a small red laser deals on average 2.32 damage per day. When it shoots at shields, it deals only 50% damage, thus reducing its efficiency, but as it attacks armor and hull, it deals more than 100% damage, resulting in an increase in efficiency. Let's assume that at the end of the battle the average damage of the laser was 2.9 per day, which is 125% of 2.32, meaning that the laser has 125% efficiency. The more efficient your weapons, the better, as it means that the weapons were mostly shooting at their primary target. Hovering over each of efficiency icons, you can get the efficiency of all weapons, together with their flat damage output, and it works both for you and for the enemy!
As you can see, in this battle Strike Craft was king.
Reading enemy damage statistics reveal their primary fire capabilities come from large lasers and large railguns, which is quite a common combo.
A small checklist to help with this data:
If your average Efficiency was too low (<80%), try a better balance of anti-shield/anti-armor. If your anti-armor efficiency was low, bring more lasers and plasma, if your anti-shield efficiency was low, bring more kinetic batteries and autocannons. Some weapons (like disruptors) are never more efficient than 100% as they don't get bonuses to damage, so keep that in mind.
If your enemy's average Efficiency was too high (>120%), see what weapons were the most efficient and think about countering them.
Take a note of what weapons in the enemy fleet dealt the most damage. If you see some guided/strike craft weapons on top, check how many PD targets you destroyed and your PD/Flak efficiency. If the damage from enemy spawned weapons is very high, maybe think about reinforcing your fleets with some interceptors.
If the damage you received comes mostly from large weapons, think about some anti-artillery measures, like torpedoes or artillery of your own. If the damage you received comes mostly from small weapons, maybe it's the high time to retrofit some of your ships as corvette and destroyer hunters.
If your Hit Rate was too low (<75%) your ships struggled to hit the enemy. Maybe bring more gunships, retrofit some L weapons with their M equivalents or improve your Tracking.
If the enemy Hit Rate was very high (>95%) either your corvettes are terrible at evasion, your enemy uses high-accuracy weapons, or you mostly use non-evasive ships such as cruisers and simply don't care.
If one of your weapons outperforms the others, it may be a good sign to use it more.
Using the work of othersSome may consider this cheating. Others will see it as something fully credible. I am not here to judge.
Reading stellaris wiki can tell you a lot about your AI opponents, such as fallen empires or AI players. Every fallen empire and most event empires use preset ships that you can read about and prepare for. Most regular AI empires have some biases you can find here: https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/AI_personalities. The same goes with each crisis. Their vessels are usually very niche and retrofitting your ships can give you a massive advantage.
Some may say this does not work against human players. Well, all you need to do is to know your opponent. Meta-players often use the latest design from Montu's or Strat's videos. And if they don't, they deserve to win against you (I'm sorry, that's the truth).
The 'looking' method - the psycho editionMost empires use some common ship aesthetics and their number is finite. For true psychos, it is sometimes possible to tell the weapon the ship uses just by zooming in and looking at the vessel. This is easier during a battle, but this requires either pausing every 1 second or going at the lowest possible speed (or both), so this is another tactic that generally do not work well in multiplayer.
Practical Ship Design (finally)
So, we have arrived at the practical guide to ship design. Before you design a ship, you need to ask yourself some questions:
What ship class will the ship be?
What is the primary purpose of the ship? More established roles are easier to fulfill. A ship cannot do 'anything'. You can use my diagram from previous sections or think of your own roles if you think you're smart.
Is it a need for this ship in the current/coming war? There is no point in making hundreds of interceptors against enemies that don't know the concept of a missile.
What is the budget? Yeah, building the bulkiest battleship you can think of is great, but maybe some cruisers can achieve a similar result... and not drain your alloy economy for good...
What is the sense of life?
RangeRemember that ships decide their behavior based on their combat computers and the range of their weapons. Try to keep range of all weapons on a single vessel similar not to confuse its captain on the preferred range. P slots are an exception - they shoot at incoming entities rather than the primary target of the vessel, so their short range is justified even on the longest-range carriers.
Countering and weapon balanceUsing Intel (see previous sections) you can get some insight into the defense and weapon mix of your enemies. More often than not, however, you want to have a degree of flexibility.
For maximum adaptability, you should remember those rules:
It's good to have both anti-shield and anti-armor weapons on each ship. Specialized anti-armor ships often have slightly worse range and therefore can there is a risk they become involuntary screens before enemy shields are down.
It's good to have slightly more anti-armor weapons than anti-shield weapons (3 or 4 lasers for each 2 mass drivers). Most of the time (but not always!) a huge fraction of ship durability lies in its hull and armor.
Disruptors only work in large quantities. Unless a considerable chunk of your fleet is disruptors-only (or at least disruptors-heavy) their potential is wasted, because as other weapons shred shields and armor and start to bite into hulls before disruptors cause disengagements and score kills, they become redundant with their low damage.
A small number (~10%) of interceptors with some PD and Flak can support your fleet in case the enemy has strike craft and missiles.
Try to have at least some ships with high tracking.
DefensesArmor generally gives more points than shields (and also does not require rare strategic resources), but does not regenerate (on its own). A healthy mix of around 50% shields and 50% armor protects the ship against most enemies, but in case you need more power for your weapons or have a limited access to exotic gasses you can slightly skew it in favor in armor.
Remember to look for traits and components that regenerate your hull and armor. The easiest way to do it to either assign admirals with the Engineer trait to your fleets or by killing some space amoebas and reverse-engineering regenerative hull tissue from their organic debris.
Against certain enemies, shields or armor can be more effective. It's a stupid idea, however, to completely get rid of one of them.
Evasion is generally only good when you can max it or when the enemy is already very inaccurate, otherwise it's usually unnecessary to even bother.
Where to cut costs?Sometimes your ship is too expensive. Or maybe it's not, but saving your alloys is good nevertheless.
You don't really need any excess power. It grants some bonuses, but they are painfully small (you can hover over power usage to see them). Using a reactor from a previous generation can save you some alloys.
Upgrades to the hyper drive are not very important, especially in the early game. If your ships often travel through a network of hyper relays (Overlord DLC), the hyper drive upgrade becomes essential, but before that waiting for FTL jump is only a fraction of their travel time.
Not every ship in the fleet needs advanced sensors. While they are useful in a battle with their tracking bonus, the fleet sensor range requires only one ship to have advanced sensors.
It may be counterintuitive, but you don't need to fill every slot of your ship. It's perfectly okay to leave some weapon slots empty if you want to save some alloys.
Weapons Explained - Anti-Shield
Kinetic weapons, guns, batteries and different weapons that fire physical projectiles are especially good against enemy energy deflectors, but struggle against thick armor. They can be found in physics research tree. They are characterized by a decent range, average accuracy and reasonable damage.
Mass Drivers S M L
150% damage against shield
50% damage against armorMass Drivers are the first anti-shield weapon, available from the start. They have a decent range, but armor and hull points usually are much higher than shields. They go well paired with lasers or plasma. Remember that their stats change depending on the slot you use. They have average accuracy (only 75%) but decent tracking. Depending on their size, they can fit on your close-range gunships or long-range artillery, but as technology progresses are slightly overshadowed by autocannons and kinetic batteries.
Verdict: Versatile anti-shield weapon, good at all sizes.
Primary use: From swarming corvettes to long-range artillery battleships
Autocannons S M L
150% damage against shield
25% damage against armor
125% damage against hullAutocannons have one of the highest fire-rate in the game but also two major drawbacks - very low range, even in large slots, and only 25% damage against armor, which often makes up a bulk of enemy defenses. They are great against unarmored enemies (such as some psionic entities), but otherwise struggle without proper anti-armor support. They also require your ships to get really close to the enemy, so they work best on small gunships charging into the enemy. Beware putting them on cruisers with long-range weaponry, as they may not fire at all!
Verdict: Specialized anti-shield weapon, good for short-range fast gunships.
Primary use: Swarming corvettes, short-range destroyers and short-range cruisers paired with S/M slot lasers or plasma.
Kinetic Launchers L
200% damage against shield
50% damage against armorKinetic launchers are basically more expensive large mass drivers. They have great range that can be further improved with combat computers, making them the best choice for L-slot anti-shield artillery. Unfortunately, they lack any Tracking and may require some Tracking or Chance to Hit components (in their technological era even battleships have some Evasion). Also keep in mind their long minimum range.
Verdict: Decent long-range shield-shredder artillery.
Primary use: Artillery cruisers and battleships. Okay when paired with H slots.
Mega Cannons X
150% damage against shield
75% damage against armorThose X-mounted anti-shield weapons are good against shields and curiously do not suffer a large penalty when firing at armor. They are the end-game shield busters, and while they do not excel, they are the most flexible X-mounted weapons. Their ability to shred shields before other weapons even have a chance to fire makes them a good fortress-buster and a support for other, more armor- and hull-focused artillery ships.
Verdict: Flexible super-heavy artillery.
Primary use: Super-heavy long-range battleships.
Weapons Explained - Anti-Armor
Energy weapons may struggle to cut through enemy shields and deflectors, but as they hit armor and hull, they melt it and burn it without mercy. They are found in the physics research tree. They are characterized by an average range and great accuracy.
Lasers S M L
50% damage against shield
150% damage against armor
125% damage against hullLasers are the first anti-armor weapon, available from the start. Their damage is slightly lower than mass driver damage, but their bonus against hull and the fact that armor is usually larger than shields (especially early in the game) makes them generally more effective. They are also way more accurate and require less Chance to Hit assistance.
Verdict: Flexible and accurate anti-armor and anti-hull weapon.
Primary use: From brawling corvettes to artillery battleships.
Plasma Launchers S M L
25% damage against shields
200% damage against armor
150% damage against hullPlasma weapons are simply upgraded lasers. They deal even more damage to armor and hull, basically doubling their already high damage, but have difficulties with armor. They fit perfectly as a main damage dealer on your gunships and artillery vessels, but remember to bring an equally good shield shredder, such as an autocannon or a kinetic battery.
Verdict: Great anti-armor and anti-hull weapon.
Primary use: From brawling corvettes to artillery battleships (but remember to pair it with anti-shield weapons).
Particle Launchers G
50% damage against shields
150% damage against armor
175% damage against hullParticle Launchers are curiously mounted in torpedo slots, but do not act like torpedoes and instead behave more like a long-ranged anti-armor artillery. They deal much larger damage against larger ships (3x against destroyers, 5x against cruisers and 8x against battleships), making them effective against bulky armors and hulls of the end-game vessels, but low accuracy, high cost and torpedo slot requirement mean that there may be some cheaper alternatives.
Verdict: Okay against battleships and starbases, but very average against anything smaller.
Primary use: Artillery frigates and artillery cruisers.
Lances X
50% damage against shields
200% damage against armor
150% damage against hullThose X-mounted monsters are long-range hull-busters that work great against any end-game enemy that does not have a large shield (unfortunately, many do). You ships need to wait until the shields are down before they can utilize the range superiority, but curiously this weapon has no minimum range.
Verdict: Good endgame damage dealers, but need some long-range shield-busting support.
Primary use: Long-range super-heavy artillery battlecruisers.
Weapons Explained - Penetrating
Disruptors S M
100% shield penetration
100% armor penetrationDisruptors have low damage and low range, but they completely penetrate enemy shields and armor, dealing damage directly to enemy hulls. They only fit into small and medium slots and interestingly do not scale well. Two small disruptors are generally better than one medium slot.
They can force smaller ships, like corvettes or destroyers, into quick disengagement, making battles faster, but wars longer. When fighting against very thick armor and very dense shields (such as those in possession of Fallen Empires) disruptor-based ships can turn the tide of a campaign, but remember their low range. Curiously, they have a great Tracking and perfect Accuracy.
Verdict: Very powerful in certain configurations and against very heavily armored and shielded ships, but its low damage output only makes it good against target with armor and shields much larger than hull.
Primary use: Short-range corvettes, destroyers and cruisers in large disruptor packs.
Arc Emitter X
100% shield penetration
100% armor penetrationX-mounted penetration weapons, especially useful against very heavily armored end-game foes like Fallen Empires, great when paired with other disruptor ships.
Verdict: Very powerful against very heavily armored in shielded ships.
Primary use: Long-range heavy artillery battleships leading a vanguard of a disruptor-based fleets.
Weapons Explained - Missiles
Missiles S
100% shield penetrationMissiles only fit in the small slot, but are an important weapon available from the beginning of the game. When firing a missile, the ship spawn a small projectile that travels towards its target at a great speed. It has some hull points and armor of its own, very long range, great accuracy and great tracking, but enemy point-defense has a chance of shooting it down before it reaches its target. Missiles also have 'retargetting range', meaning that should their primary target explode or disengage, they will attempt to find a new target within that range. The effectiveness of enemy PD can be reduced by raining hundreds of them to overwhelm the defenses.
Verdict: Reasonable shield-penetrating damage and very long range (especially for S slot weapon), but can be countered with PD.
Primary use: Missile corvettes, destroyers and cruisers, packed with missiles and swarmer missiles exclusively (or paired with some long-range artillery).
Swarmer Missiles M
100% shield penetrationSwarmer missiles are basically missiles but upgraded. They have even better range, much better armor and hull, but they come with no evasion and come in the Medium slot.
Verdict: They are basically missiles+, for M slot, slightly more durable against PD fire and with higher Tracking. A core component of heavy missile ships.
Primary use: Filling M slots of missile destroyers and cruisers.
Torpedoes G
100% shield penetration
150% damage against armorTorpedoes, unlocked very early in the game, are similar to missiles, but they are much slower and have to be fired from much shorter range. In return, they deal great amounts of damage, which is further multiplied by the ship's size (3x against destroyers, 5x against cruisers and 8x against battleships). Remember to upgrade speed and survivability of your torpedo ships, for example by some afterburners or armor hardening.
Verdict: Good damage, especially against large ships, but delivering them can be a chore.
Primary use: Speed-tuned frigates or close-range gunship cruisers.
Weapons Explained - Strike Craft And PD
Strike Craft H
100% shield penetration
150% damage against armorStrike Craft are basically TIE-fighters, spawned by hangars to fly towards the enemy, even very far away from the mothership. They have excellent accuracy, very high tracking and deal massive shield-penetrating damage. They have their own shield and hull points and very high evasion of their own, rivaling that of corvettes. Each hangar has a limited capacity (default Strike Craft has 8), which means only 8 fighters from this hangar can be present at the same time. Each time they are destroyed, however, the carrier spawns more. Their only downsides are poor survivability against Flak weapons and the fact that H slot is quite rare.
Verdict: Powerful support weapon for any fleet, especially good at hunting high-Evasion targets (but they can make holes in cruisers in battleships, too).
Primary use: Long-range carrier cruisers and battleships
Point-Defense P
25% damage against shields
200% damage against armor
Ignore 25% armorPD guns are low-range, rapid-fire guns that prioritize shooting at incoming missiles. Due to missiles having no shields, PD guns can counter them with their very high rate of fire.
Verdict: If your enemy uses missiles, PD can save you from a lot of damage.
Primary use: Interceptor ships, as a support on carriers.
Flak Guns P
200% damage against shields
25% damage against armor
Ignore 25% shieldFlak Guns are low-range, rapid-fire guns that prioritize shooting at incoming strike craft. Because strike craft have no armor, Flak Guns are extremely efficient against it.
Verdict: If your enemy uses Strike Craft, Flak can save you from a lot of damage. Remember that Strike Craft is a really dangerous damage dealer.
Primary use: Interceptor ships, as a support on carriers.
Weapons Explained - Event/Debris Weapons
Sometimes you can find some weapons in unexpected places, for example by reverse-engineering alien debris and studying natural phenomena. Here's a short list of most common event/debris weapons. Archeo-weapons and weapons obtained from crisis ships are not includes.
Cutting Lasers S M
50% damage against shield
150% damage against armor
150% damage against hullThis weapon is reverse-engineered from the wrecks of ancient mining drones, a very common neutral entities in most galaxies. It costs and power usage equals that of Blue Lasers, but their damage output is much better, even when considering low accuracy and slightly worse tracking. On the downside, their range is also shorter, especially for M version.
Verdict:: a reasonable, powerful anti-armor weapon.
Primary use:: instead of S and M Blue Lasers and UV Lasers.
Cloud Lightning L
100% shield penetration
100% armor penetrationThis weapon is scavenged from void clouds, mysterious entities slightly more dangerous than mining drones. It's basically an L slot disruptor, but the damage output is quite low, even for a disruptor. A single Cloud Lightning uses an L slot, but is worse that 2 M slot disruptors. The range is not great for an L weapon, either.
Verdict:: a disappointing L slot disruptor.
Primary use:: in L slots of disruptor fleets, but don't expect much from them.
Energy Siphon S
200% damage against shield
25% damage against armorYou can research this weapon after discovering Tiyanki (you don't have to kill them to get it). It's a curious energy anti-shield weapon. It bears some similarity to small mass drivers, but has slightly better range and a better bonus against shields. It's very ineffective against armor, however, making it rather inflexible.
Verdict:: an inflexible anti-shield weapon with mediocore damage.
Primary use:: while it can substitute small mass drivers, it's not a good idea to do so.
Null Void Beam S M L
500% damage against shield
25% damage against armor
25% damage against hullThis interesting weapon has no counterpart in any generic weapon. It can be only obtained during some events. While hunting amoebas or mining drones is possible in almost every game, Null Void Beam is never guaranteed to be found. It has a decent accuracy, great tracking and very long range, and its shield-annihilating capabilities are almost incredible. While having a cost and power usage of a coilgun, it deals twice its damage to shields. While it barely scratches armor and hull, it can be very dangerous paired with anti-armor weaponry.
Verdict:: a dangerous anti-shield weapon.
Primary use:: instead of early/mid anti-shield weapons, paired with good anti-armour.
Amoeba Flagella H
100% shield penetration
150% damage against armorThis living weapon is reverse-engineered from killed space amoebas, fairly common space entities. It behaves like strike craft, spawning flagellas that attack enemy vessels. Compared to normal fighters, flagellas are much less accurate, have worse tracking and move slightly slower, but deal great damage, comparable to the highest tier of strike craft. Flagellas are also more durable than any other strike craft, but their lack of shields make them susceptible to PD fire.
Verdict:: a powerful alternative to traditional strike craft.
Primary use:: in Carriers, in place of strike craft, especially against enemies with weak evasion and tracking.
Auxiliary Components Explained
Reactor Boosters
Provide +20/+50/+100 power generation
Researched in the physics tree, the first one is available from the start.While researching reactor upgrades should be your priority and in case of power shortage it's better to remove some components rather than to add some more, reactor boosters allow you to create some powerful energy-hungry designs earlier than it should be possible.
Afterburners
+10%/+20% sublight speed and +5%/+10% evasion
Researched in the engineering tree.Sublight speed is generally very important, for some ships even more than for other ones. Afterburners also help to max out evasion or small gunships like corvettes.
Reactive armor
+15%/+25% armor hardening
Researched in the engineering tree.Armor hardening is only useful in a handful of cases when your enemy uses disruptors. If they do, Reactive armor is a great module, but it's rather useless otherwise.
Shield hardener
+15%/+25% shield hardening
Researched in the engineering tree.Shield hardening is very useful. Many weapons ignore shields, and those which do are usually very destructive (missiles and strike craft). Should you suspect your enemy to use those, shield hardeners are a must.
Regenerative Hull Tissue / Nanite Repair System / Cetana's Nanite Repair System
+5%/+15%/+25% daily hull regeneration and +10%/+20%/+20% daily armor regeneration
Scavenged from Amoebas / scavenged from nanite entities or unlocked via Nanite Ascension / scavenged from Cetana crisis.Armor and hull regeneration is very, very useful, as it allows to stay in the enemy territory for longer and makes ship prepared to fight much faster. Getting your hands on Regenerative Hull Tissue should be enough, but if you can get the rare better versions - go for them.
Shield capacitor
+10% shield hit points
Researched in the physics tree.A 10% increase in shield hit points is rather disappointing. Unless you stack those, it's not really worth it.
Auxiliary Fire-Control
+5 Chance to Hit
Researched in the physics tree.A flat +5 bonus to Hit Chance is a reasonable bonus for most ships, especially when your Hit Rate is dangerously low.
Orbital Trash Dispenser
+25% Orbital Bombardment Damage
Bought from traveling traders.This interesting module is one of a kind. While bombarding planets to the ground is rarely a good idea, sometimes you want to unleash your destructive powers against your sworn enemies.
Example Designs
Corvette & Frigate Designs
Early brawler/gunboat corvette. Lasers are generally more important than mass drivers, but without mass drivers they struggle to penetrate shields.
Early missile corvette is as simple as it can be.
Early interceptor corvette. You can replace your missile corvettes with this interceptor, but unless your enemies love missiles, you can mix it with your missile corvettes in 1:1 or 1:2 ratio. Remember about the picket computer to prevent it from charging at the enemy.
Early/mid frigate. Afterburners help it deliver deadly warheads to their destination. Autocannon can be swapped for a plasma weapon or a similar high-damage weapon.
Destroyer Designs
Early/mid artillery destroyer. Works best with Artillery computers. Remember to support it with some anti-armor artillery or anti-armor gunboats.
A similar early/mid artillery destroyer design, but fitted with some PD in case your enemy loves missiles.
Early/mid missile destroyer. If your researchers are yet to invent swarmer missiles, you can simply leave the M slot empty.
Early/mid gunship destroyer. It's balanced in anti-shield and anti-armor, but depending on your enemy you may replace one of its slots. Goes exactly as well with autocannons/plasma after you research them.
Early/mid disrputor destroyer. For when your foes prove to be somehow too well clad in armor and shields.
Cruiser Designs
Early/mid artillery cruiser with balanced slots. Filling its M slots is not that necessary, but mixing very long range missiles (100) and medium range M laser (60) allows the ship median range to catch most enemies in the range of L plasma and deal some damage against high-evasion low-shield brawler enemies.
Early/mid missile cruiser, fitted with nothing missiles. It has a very good damage output (even better if enemies lack proper PD).
Early/mid carrier. This carrier design is very basic, but it serves its purpose and its damage output challenges this of L slot packed cruisers.
Early/mid torpedo cruiser. This ship has a great damage output, and wreaks havoc in the enemy lines, but also asks for trouble fighting at the first line.
Mid disruptor cruiser. Remember to set its computer to picket or line so it can charge the enemy as soon as the battle begins.
Battleship Designs
Mid artillery battleship. It's simple and effective, but costs a lot.
Mid heavy carrier. It has outstanding damage output and afterburners help it to stay behind your lines.
CHAPTER II: THE OPERATIONAL LAYER
A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.
George S. Patton
Where To Fight
In Stellaris, a choice of the battlefield is very important. Depending on where you fight can change the course of a campaign.
Your territory vs. enemy territoryIn Stellaris, defending is generally much more efficient than attacking. Starbases are much cheaper when it comes to generating firepower, FTL Inhibitors require enemy to spread their forces bombarding planets with fortresses and there is waaay more battle perks that only work in the friendly territory. Unfortunately, this also means that invading another empire can be a painful process.
Choke points and defensesSimply put, you want to border your enemies with as few systems as its possible. In choke points you can build fortresses to fend of enemy attacks, but they are also great points to begin invasions. You want to claim them as soon as it's possible or perhaps win them in wars.
Starbases are great. They not only allow you to construct ships and control trade, but their repair your ships, they repair themselves and they can be surrounded by a deadly guard of defense platforms, which are one of the cheapest fire rates you can get in the game. AI empires are rather reckless in attacking superior starbases and human players often need to think twice before doing so. Even if you can't win a war, you can force a status quo by staying in entrenched position and denying enemy your systems.
Starbases come with several modules that make attacking them even more painful:
Communiaction Jammers reduce enemy sublight speed and disengagement chance. The latter ensures that the enemy fleet faces at least some casualties when trying to chip the base and massive casualties when attacking it without far outnumbering and outgunning the defenders. Reduces sublight speed means that artillery platforms can deal more damage before the enemy has a chance to engage.
Disruption Field Generator reduces enemy shield points by 20%, systemwide. During most battles, you want to shred the shields as fast as you can, so your energy weapons can cut into juicy armor and hull and make a use of their bonuses. Disruption Field Generator basically speeds this process up by several days.
You very much want to defend in your starbases, preferably with your fleets present. Even if the battle is lost, inflicted casualties are usually enough to soften enemy fleet as it spears into your territory.
Attacking starbasesJust as defending in starbases is great, attacking them is painful, especially when there is an enemy fleet present. Starbase surrounded by defense platforms is essentially a fleet of very slow ships that have no evasion, but hit like trucks and excel in durability (each platform has a base cost of a destroyer and a base hull points of a battleship). Their main weakness is that they never disengage and that their almost non-existent speed makes them very dangerous, but immobile shooting targets.
Starbases are relatively vulnerable to artillery, missiles and strike craft. All those weapons can attack from very long ranges and starbases themselves lack PD defense (although defense platforms can be equipped with it). Starbase weapons itself is whatever the computer put in M, G or H slots. Except for H, those slots usually fit medium-range weapons.
An early-game starbase, doubling the firepower of a fleet at a fraction of its cost.
You can use the fact that the defense platforms do not disengage and retreat after destroying a considerable number of them. If your target was bordering your territory, the fleet is likely to spawn relatively quick somewhere close. The enemy will almost certainly race with time to rebuild the platforms, but the alloys are already lost and another attack should further your assault.
Another tactic is to attack enemy starbase with an overwhelming force, perhaps bringing most (if not all) of your fleets to deliver a crushing strike. Just keep in mind that a failure can be devastating, and sometimes even a victory may soften your fleets to the point they are easier targets.
Pushing into the enemy territoryAfter blowing open a hole to the enemy territory, you need to cover their territory with your fleets and this can be even worse. Your primary targets are enemy starbases, that not only establish your supremacy over the enemy, but also allow your ships to repair (but not to upgrade). As starbases repair themselves, they regain some of their firepower (but do not rebuild their platforms). You can use it to your advantage, leaving your fleets to repair and using enemy star fortresses against them. Starbases in chokepoints are especially good to recuperate.
Regeneration of hull and armor becomes especially important during campaigns deep into the enemy territory. While enemy starbases can provide some, ship components that do are especially crucial in the long run, as you always want your fleet to engage with full (or at least decent) level of repairs. Regenerative hull tissue is relatively easy to get, but id you struggle to find it, hire an engineer admiral.
Space odditiesSome space 'terrain' provides solid combat modifiers.
PulsarsPulsars reduce shields in the system to 0%. Defenses in pulsar systems only require anti-armor measures, and ships jumping from pulsar systems will have their shields either down or not yet fully regenerated.
Black holesBlack holes reduce disengagement chance by 50% and increase Emergency FTL preparation time by 50%. A chance for a fleet to be slaughtered is much higher in black hole systems, so it is also a perfect starbase location (since platform do not disengage anyway). Use black holes to finish off weakened enemies or slaughter outnumbered foes, but take caution not to need a disengagement yourself when fighting over the event horizon.
Battles over black holes often become bloodbaths. Just make sure it's your enemy's blood and not yours!
Neutron starsNeutron stars reduce sublight speed by 50%. Firstly, those systems favor artillery weapons, as every gunship and torpedo ship will struggle to close the distance. Secondly, they slow down a fleet moving towards its desired battlefield. Neutron stars on the way to your systems can buy you some time, but your fleets are also delayed when having one in their way.
Shield-dependent fleets are seriously weakened in pulsar systems (notice the absence of blue bars). When building defense platforms in one, remember to only use armor and anti-armor weapons.
NebulaeA star system within a nebula imposes a 50% sublight speed reduction on ship, increases evasion by 30% and blocks sensors from detecting fleets inside. Nebulae are perfect places for traps (for which AI is too stupid, but humans are not), they are also similarly dangerous to neutron stars when it comes to delaying star journeys. Evasion bonus empowers corvettes and destroyers. It's good to think about some additional Tracking where building defense platforms there.
When To Retreat
Emergency FTL saves your ships, alloys and shipyard workdays. In 80% of cases, retreating early from a losing battle saves you a considerable amount of materials that would be lost anyway should you decide to stay at the battlefield until all your ships are disengaged or destroyed. Knowing when to retreat is most important operational skill in Stellaris warfare.
Benefits of retreating:
The battle instantly ends and the enemy cannot deal you any further damage.
Your ships return to friendly territory without the perils of traveling through systems. They cannot be attacked while doing so.
Your ships may receive some damage, but because they reappear in your territory, they are likely to be repaired quickly.
Drawbacks of retreating:
Each ship has a small chance to be outright destroyed. This can cost you a considerable amount of alloys if you design expensive ships.
You cannot command your fleet, reinforce it, or change its commander.
Your fleet is delayed in whatever it was doing, often losing progress in its operational goals.
Your ships are damaged and will require repairs, which creates a further delay.
Therefore, absolutely consider Emergency FTL when:
You are losing the battle. The faster you retreat from a fight you can't win, the better.
Enemy reinforcements are inbound. When you see an enemy fleet that is just few days away from jumping into your battle and its power is likely to turn the tide, it's often better to retreat.
Most of your ships are already disengaged. When 80% of your fleet is already out of the battle, what remains on the battlefield is most probably a group of your battleships, already heavily beaten. Risking them usually yields diminishing results.
Your Titan or Juggernaut is at risk. Titans and Juggernauts are colossal DLC ships that never disengage on their own. They take forever to build and cost a fortune. It's better to increase war duration by a year or two than to wait 5 or 10 years to build another titanic ship!
However, there are several factors when Emergency FTL can be a bad idea:
You are causing your enemy massive casualties. Sometimes even a losing battle can cost your opponent hundreds of alloys. If your fleet is destroying enough vessels and defense platforms, it may be better to sacrifice some of its power rather than to retreat early.
You are about to destroy a titan, a juggernaut or another key ship. Even if your defeat is certain, the enemy reinforcements are coming, or other factors justify retreating, if you see a chance to destroy enemy flagships, try. This will seriously harm the enemy.
Your battle is delaying enemy fleets. While an enemy fleet is fighting, it does not move from system to system, giving you more time to prepare for its assault by consolidating other fleets and building defense platforms.
It will take forever for your fleet to return. If your fleet is in the enemy territory, it can take forever for it to get back and then attack again. Unless you want to save it from destruction, try not to retreat from winning battles. Instead, seek an enemy starbase where you can repair and wait for reinforcements.
War Of Economies
Each of your ships requires time and alloys to build. In the early-game your losses may be counted in hundreds of alloys, in the end-game in hundreds of thousands, but nevertheless few empires can spawn reinforcements as if the cost was not the problem and if you do, you won.
Other empires have limited economies and their fleet reinforcement is limited by their economies, planets and shipyards. Crisis empires, while not really caring about economy, also have a cap on how fast they can spawn their forces. Causing material losses is tricky
Saving your alloysBuilding cost-effective ships can give you an economic advantage. Not every weapon slot of your design has to be filled - empty slots cut the material cost and also reduce power usage, allowing you to use a cheaper reactor. There are different ways you can get a modifier that decreases ship cost. Stacking them can get you reasonable discounts.
Increase your shipyard outputEven with an abundance of alloys, your shipyards may not work fast enough to replace your losses. Building more shipyards is as important as increasing their speed, which can be done in many ways, by finding right councilors, using right agendas and others.
Minimize your lossesThere are different ways you can increase you disengagement chance, which generally improves the chances of your ships surviving (at the cost of their battle participation).
Be careful when fighting in black hole systems, as they greatly reduce disengagement chance.
Look for commanders with Trickster trait.
Use Hit and Run War Doctrine.
Only fight with repaired fleets (or at least ~90% repaired fleets). Regenerative hull tissue and Engineer commander trait regenerate your ships even far away from enemy bases. Also, after each battle wait until your shields regenerate (if you can).
Luring the enemy into your territoryAnother way to save alloys is to lure enemy fleets into your territory. Defense platforms are some of the most cost-effective military vessels, so if you can't pay for a war in the enemy territory, wait for their fleets at your doors, inviting them to battlefields of your own design. If you need to invade, you can wait until the first strike comes at your bases. Then, if you manage to repel their attack, you can invade while enemy fleets are MIA.
Maximizing enemy lossesMost regular AI empires are cowards (not that it is a bad thing) and they will attempt to retreat whenever they can. Even when fighting event empires and other humans, you want to maximize their losses.
Reduce their disengagement chance. Use communication jammers and plan battles to take place in black hole systems to destroy more ships.
Hunt fleets that are not fully repaired. After forcing them into MIA in their systems, fly towards the nearest enemy starbase. Do not attack it, just wait until the enemy fleet reappears. Low hull and armor will make it easier to inflict serious casualties.
Outnumber the enemies. If you can intercept enemy fleets with a much larger force, you will simply deal more damage before their Emergency FTL is ready. Consolidating your fleets into a one fleet group before striking a medium enemy fleet can wipe asteroids with its debris.
Attacking enemy economyWhile your ships are over a planet, you can see what does it produce. Every point of devastation reduces resources produced by the planetary jobs by 1%, and invading a planet simply cuts it from the enemy economy. Occupied planets do not produce anything (but also do not cost anything in upkeep). Claiming enemy worlds will greatly reduce their reinforcement capabilities. You don't really need to focus on industrial worlds, as attacking energy and mineral supply can be just as effective. The more jobs are worked on the planet, the better.
Some empires to not have economy in a traditional sense. Crisis empires or hordes like The Great Khan or Gray Tempest depend on their spawning hubs to produce fleets. They are your obvious primary targets.
CHAPTER III: THE STRATEGIC LAYER
The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.
-Sun Tzu
(chapter in progress)
Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3343565160
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