Combat System
How Combat Works
Raids, sieges and Selenite assaults share the same core combat rules: troop abilities, armor, crits, xenotech augments, zone modifiers and defense postures. Outposts use a variant with their own Battle Plans.
The Phases (raids and sieges)
- 1.Traps: before round 1, the base's traps (15 damage, +2.5% per Trap upgrade level, -1% per Efficiency upgrade level) are split across your attackers, reduced by armor
- 2.Breach: your living troops hit the base defense with their combined damage (no hit rolls, no crits). Each breach round the base's turrets fire back for 10% of its remaining defense. If the defense is still standing after 5 breach rounds, the defender wins and every attacking troop is lost
- 3.Engagement: troop vs troop until one side is wiped out or the rounds run out
- 4.Resolution: outcome, loot, Selenite Shards and reputation
A battle lasts up to 8 rounds, +1 per 5 troops committed (both sides counted), max 15. Breach rounds count toward that total.
Base Defense
Base defense = (the base's defense stat, 50 by default, + 10 per Defense upgrade level + xenotech defense boosts + the zone's defense bonus) x the zone's breach difficulty. Damage dealt in breach is written back to the base's defense stat after the battle.
One Engagement Round
- 1.Each living troop rolls to hit. Hits add their damage (with the action bonus) to the side's volley. A DEVASTATE proc multiplies that troop's hit by 1.75; a SWARM proc turns it into 3 aimed strikes at the lowest-HP enemy
- 2.The volley is multiplied by war exhaustion, reputation, alliance bonus, zone modifier and xenotech damage augments
- 3.Defender postures apply (Emergency Shields, Desperate Strike), then critical hits: 2x damage, 10% chance for attackers and 20% for defenders, plus xenotech crit augments
- 4.Defensive modifiers and Flanking resolve
- 5.The volley is split evenly across the enemy's living troops, each reduced by its own armor (10% per point, max 45%, minimum 1 damage). 30% of the time a Centurion TANKs the whole volley instead
Actions & Postures
Attackers set a strategy before the battle starts (you can change it while your troops are in transit). Defenders set a defense posture: a base override, otherwise your player default, otherwise your alliance's war doctrine, otherwise Fortress.
Attacker Actions
| Action | Effect | Use When |
|---|---|---|
| Aggressive Assault | +20% damage, you take +10% | Default: maximize damage |
| Overwhelming Force | +50% breach damage / +25% engagement damage | Breaking heavy defenses |
| Defensive Push | You take -20%, deal -10% | Reducing losses |
| Flanking Maneuver | 50%: your hits ignore armor. 50%: you take +25% that round | High-risk gamble vs armored defenders |
Overwhelming Force always works during breach. In engagement it needs a 2:1 troop advantage, otherwise it falls back to Aggressive Assault.
Defender Actions
| Action | Effect | Use When |
|---|---|---|
| Hold the Line | -15% incoming damage | Safe default |
| Counter Assault | +15% your damage | Fighting back |
| Retreat to Cover | Heal 10% HP, no combat that round (max 2 per battle) | Buying time |
| Emergency Shields | -75% incoming (applied before crits) | Surviving a big push |
| Desperate Strike | 1.5x damage, stunned next round | All-in gamble |
Stunned: the round after a Desperate Strike, your planned action is replaced and you take +20% damage.
A third Retreat to Cover in the same battle becomes Hold the Line.
Presets
Attacker: All-Out Assault, Breach Focus (3 rounds of Overwhelming Force, then Aggressive), Balanced, Flanking Maneuver
Defender: Fortress (always Hold the Line), Aggressive, Attrition, Counter-Strike
Custom patterns repeat from the start if the battle runs longer than your list.
Deep Dive
Aggressive Assault is your bread-and-butter attack. Overwhelming Force is the breach specialist and pays off in engagement only when you clearly outnumber the defenders. Flanking is strongest against Centurion and Colossus walls, where ignoring armor matters most. Defensive Push trims losses when you are already ahead.
Desperate Strike is a wildcard: a 1.5x burst, then a round of +20% incoming damage with no planned action. Retreat to Cover skips the whole round for both sides, so it also stops your own damage.
Outcomes & Rewards
Victory Types
| Outcome | Condition | Selenite Shards | Reputation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Victory | Defenders wiped out, you lost under 70% of your troops | 25 to attacker | +10 attacker, -5 defender |
| Pyrrhic Victory | Defenders wiped out, you lost 70% or more | 12 to attacker | +5 attacker, -2 defender |
| Defender Victory | Attackers wiped out, or breach failed | 30 to defender | +15 defender, -7 attacker |
| Mutual Retreat | Rounds ran out, both sides still standing | none | none |
Reputation modifiers: an attacker who wins against a much weaker force (fewer than half as many defenders as attackers) gets -20, and the winner of a very close fight gets +5.
On a Mutual Retreat, each fallen troop on both sides has a 60% chance to survive at 10% HP.
Loot
- ›Raid: 50% of the target base's stored fuel (its input resource), rising to 80% the more decisive your win
- ›Siege: 10% immediately. A clean victory starts a 14-day occupation paying 50 Gold plus 50% of the base's stored resources every 24 hours
- ›Blockade: no battle and no loot. Establishing it pays 25 Selenite Shards and +10 reputation, blocks harvesting and drains the base 2% per hour for 72 hours
- ›Sabotage: no resources. A successful sabotage costs you 5 reputation
Retreat
Once a battle reaches round 3, a Retreat button appears while it is still resolving. Each of your surviving troops has a 60% chance to make it home; the other side is credited with the win, and no loot, shards or reputation are paid.
Debris Fields
Player troops destroyed in operation battles leave a debris field on that moon worth 20% of their total build cost, paid as Influence. It expires after 24 hours. Any player can claim it with a Salvage mission (a Transport with at least one Vanguard).
Reputation, Exhaustion & Zones
Reputation Ranks
Your reputation score sets your rank. Ranks above Warrior boost all damage your side deals in battle, and every rank from Warrior up improves sabotage success.
| Rank | Score | Combat damage | Sabotage success |
|---|---|---|---|
| War Criminal | -500 to -200 | none | none |
| Raider | -200 to 0 | none | none |
| Warrior | 0 to 200 | none | +2% |
| Veteran | 200 to 500 | +5% | +3% |
| Commander | 500 to 1,000 | +10% | +5% |
| General | 1,000 to 2,000 | +12% | +7% |
| Warlord | 2,000 to 5,000 | +15% | +10% |
| Titan | 5,000+ | +20% | +12% |
War Exhaustion
- ›Launching a raid, blockade, bombardment, garrison assault or liberation assault adds +5 exhaustion
- ›Exhaustion recovers 10 per day, smoothly by the hour. Alliance bonuses speed up recovery
- ›Above 50, your damage drops linearly, down to -25% at 100
- ›At 100 you can't launch new operations until it recovers
Zone Modifiers
| Zone | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 Lunar Lab, 8 Museum | No modifiers |
| 2 Quarry | +10% defender damage |
| 3 Office | +5% attacker damage |
| 4 Power Plant | -5% damage for both sides |
| 5 Extractor | +10% defender damage, +15% breach difficulty |
| 6 Greenhouse | +10% attacker damage |
| 7 Shrine | +5% defender damage, +10 defense |
| 9 Moon Pad | +5% damage for both sides |
| 10 Training Camp | +25 defense, +15% defender damage, +30% breach difficulty |
| 11 Research Facility | +15 defense, +20% breach difficulty |
| 12 Shipyard | +15 defense, +5% defender damage |
Battle Replay
The Battle Replay is recorded while the battle is fought, so it shows exactly what happened: no simulated numbers.
Where to Find It
- ›Operations: raids, sieges, bombardments, garrison assaults and liberation assaults open their replay on the operation page. While a battle is still resolving it streams in with a Live badge
- ›Outposts: the replay appears after an outpost attack
What You See
- ›Attacker roster on the left, defender roster on the right, each unit with its own HP bar
- ›The center stage shows the round, the phase (Breach or Engagement), both sides' actions and the base defense bar during breach
- ›Animated hits, misses, crits, SWARM strikes, DEVASTATE pulses, TANK absorbs, heals and kills
- ›On phones the rosters and stage stack vertically
Controls
- ›Play / Pause and Skip to end
- ›Speed: 1x, 2x or 4x
- ›Scrubber: drag anywhere to seek, or tap a round marker to jump to the start of that round
Battle Report
When playback ends you get a report card: outcome, loot, Selenite Shards, reputation change, the MVP (the unit that dealt the most damage) with its kills, and the turning point round where the winning side took the lead. Replay starts it again. Operation battles also get Share (copies a link) and Open card (a shareable image).
Sound
Hits, crits, misses, abilities, kills, breaches, victory and defeat each have their own sound cue. Use the speaker button in the header to mute, or set volume and mute-all in your Profile. The setting is saved in this browser. Browsers only allow sound after your first tap or click on the page.