A Guide on Starmade Combat

[Saxopi]

My intent on writing a guide was to aid new players in overcoming the challenges faced early in the game, pirates and resources, more likely. But I also wanted to address a strong part in Starmade: It's combat.

Starmade combat isn't necessarily complex when on paper, but it isn't as simple as giving players guns, putting them in an arena-type environment and expecting them to duke it out to the last man standing. Talk to any good astronaut and they'll say things like "power to shield ratios" or "ion cannons are not particularly effective". There is a science to it, but we hope to discuss that in the guide.

This guide was written with the intent of being a 'community guide', where anyone can contribute. I also wanted to write it on a more straightforward, down-to-earth style, rather than the pretentious, formal and excessively prose format I am using now.

If you want to contribute, remember: append your contributing paragraph/section with the suffix ~(name).

The guide as of now is by no means finished nor polished, so format won't necessarily be a problem unless we have 3 or 4 people typing on a page at the same time.

A Guide to Starmade Combat: Live Google Docs Version

 

[Keptick]

First mistake I noticed is saying that missiles do 1/2 the damage of cannons or beams. Not true (on default config). All weapons have 5 damage per second per block (I tested it 2 minutes ago).

Slaves only change how the damage is distributed over time. The only exception to this is missile-pulse, which does 1/3rd damage for the massively increased blast radius (that was to fix it being an OP shield killer). So basically, it does 30 seconds worth of damage instantly with a 90 second reload. Not too sure but I think that the damage nerf only applies to shields, it'll apply the full 90 seconds of damage to blocks.

Other than that, great guide!

 

[Saxopi]

Working on "Section II: Your Ship". Thanks to Comr4de and TheFloorMatt for your contributions. Currently reviewing them.

 

[EtherEel]

Interesting -- first I've heard of the actual use of "Push Pulse." (But I'm on my own little desert-island sandbox so there are many things I miss...) (And my noobitude is well established already.)

AND!!!! -- the "why" "why" "why" "why" description of the Damage Pulse weapon is prime example of why I suggested replacing it with "something" else. Why indeed.

Thanx for putting in the effort to share the truly useful info -- we noo... er, novices appreciate it.

 

[MacThule]

Shield drain rules small craft PvP

 

[Saxopi]

Updated to include section on support tool systems (i.e: salvaging and radar jamming) . All contributions appreciated o3o

 

[FullMetalFox]

There is a lot of false information regarding missiles in this, makes me wonder, do you play on a server with block behaviour changes?

 

[CyberTao]

There is a lot of false information regarding missiles in this, makes me wonder, do you play on a server with block behaviour changes?

Can you copy/paste those sections here? I honestly don't give 2 flips about this, but if it's gonna be used by people I'd like to try and correct it when it's misleading, or further explain. My will to read dies after a line or two.

 

[FullMetalFox]

Can you copy/paste those sections here? I honestly don't give 2 flips about this, but if it's gonna be used by people I'd like to try and correct it when it's misleading, or further explain.

Alright, ill pick the most crucial.

Armor does a surprisingly good job of dealing with missile damage now.

Just nope, even with the 1000 eHP of advanced armor, any ship that is big enough to justify 3-4 layers of armor, missiles will go right thru that unles they fired by tiny ships or really bad designed missile systems.

Missiles have a half DPS compared to other weapons

No, they dont, all weapon blocks have 5 DPS, only specific combinations do les than that. Dont believe it? Place 1 Cannon Barrel, 5 damage, 1 second reload, 5 DPS. Place 1 Missile Tube, 75 damage, 15 seconds reload, 75/15 = 5 DPS.

Missile+Missile, Another beautiful missile choice, this one splits the single missile into 10 smaller.

Its 1 up to 20 missiles depending on the % of the slave, 10 missiles is only on 47,4% to 51,5% slave.

Remember that shields do not regenerate while taking damage

They regenerate 6% to 10% while in combat depending on your remaining shield, aka a ship with 100k shield regeneration would still regenerate 6K to 10K while in combat.

My will to read dies after a line or two.

Not only yours, there is a few more, but i dont want to reread the whole thing again.

 

[Saxopi]

Admittedly I've yet to reviews most of the contributor content, but this is a start.

Armor does a surprisingly good job of dealing with missile damage now.

Although entirely dependent on the opposing ship's systems, I agree that it is generally wrong. Even when it's possible I doubt it is to the extent as to be a "surprisingly good job". Corrected.

Missiles have a half DPS compared to other weapons

Aye it was misleading. Should have read "Missiles have can send off a lesser amount of shots" or along those lines.

Missile+Missile, Another beautiful missile choice, this one splits the single missile into 10 smaller.

My research suggested 10, but I'll see if I can do some more testing.

Remember that shields do not regenerate while taking damage

Corrected

Thanks for the info, Fox!

 

[FullMetalFox]

Aye it was misleading. Should have read "Missiles have can send off a lesser amount of shots" or along those lines.

Even that is often an advantage, while full missile ships often spot an overall lower DPS or shielding (all that power cap has to go somewhere) and can get intercepted by excessive Anti Missile Systems, optimized missile ships can reach an alpha volley damage that would nuke anything near their own size or smaller. That comparison ofc only works if competing ships are equally good designed.

My research suggested 10, but I'll see if I can do some more testing.

\StarMade\data\config\blockBehaviorConfig.xml can give you some more detailed information on what exaclty weapon combinations do. Since everything is percental there are also a lot more options than most people think, like you can for example essentially turn dumbfire missiles into guided missiles with the same stats by just adding a missile or damage beam computer with no modules as slave.

Thanks for the info, Fox!

NP

 

[NeonSturm]

Weapon systems count "damage*blocks" in master+slave+effect or just master+slave?


Ion does 2x dmg to shields?

• If Master+Slave is counted, you need 50% blocks extra for full effect = 150% blocks for 200% dmg.

But if the effect-blocks are also counted, you can save 50% on energy and build 2 turrets with the same amount of blocks.

• The only problem here is defining ship-wide which weapons will fire (including AI turrets).

 

[Winterhome]

Weapon systems count "damage*blocks" in master+slave+effect or just master+slave?


Ion does 2x dmg to shields?

• If Master+Slave is counted, you need 50% blocks extra for full effect = 150% blocks for 200% dmg.

But if the effect-blocks are also counted, you can save 50% on energy and build 2 turrets with the same amount of blocks.

• The only problem here is defining ship-wide which weapons will fire (including AI turrets).

It's Master+Slave+Effect, then it applies the effect.

Effects still count as part of the weapon - it runs by total size, not just the main weapon systems.

 

[NeonSturm]

It's Master+Slave+Effect, then it applies the effect.

If

• cannon+cannon has : 5+5 = 10 dps for 100 eps

Then

• cannon+cannon+ion has : (5+5+5)*2 = 30 dps for 150 eps
• euqals : 20 dps for 100 eps
• equals : 200% damage/block and damage/energy

Means

• You need 50% volume/blocks for same damage to shields.
• You can use the other 50% volume/blocks for anti-hull weapons.

But still

• The only problem here is defining ship-wide which weapons will fire (including AI turrets).

• I hope this gets patched.

 

[CyberTao]

I'm late, but I will still poke

Just nope, even with the 1000 eHP of advanced armor, any ship that is big enough to justify 3-4 layers of armor, missiles will go right thru that unles they fired by tiny ships or really bad designed missile systems.

Missiles use a staging system to deal damage, which can be considered a series of Damage Pulses that increase in size. A Missile's radius is divided into 6, and depending on the size of the radius there might also be additional. At each stage, a missile has a set damage based on a percentage of the original damage (it does not care what blocks were destroyed at all), Missile also has a different modifier for armoured blocks I believe, how it damages blocks is different, so that 1000 EHP doesn't hold true quite the same with missiles. Correction, Armour upright just reduces the max blast radius. Very in-depth system.

No, they dont, all weapon blocks have 5 DPS, only specific combinations do les than that. Dont believe it? Place 1 Cannon Barrel, 5 damage, 1 second reload, 5 DPS. Place 1 Missile Tube, 75 damage, 15 seconds reload, 75/15 = 5 DPS.

Almost, Missile/Pulse has a reduced DPS (I think it is 4). This combination was able to front load so much alpha damage that it could practically decide battles on it's own. It was actually lower than that for a bit, but was increased back to 4 after PD and a couple other stat adjustments.

Otherwise, it is all 5 dps/Block, for every weapon except Damage pulse, which is 0.5 dps/Block.

They regenerate 6% to 10% while in combat depending on your remaining shield, aka a ship with 100k shield regeneration would still regenerate 6K to 10K while in combat.

From what I know, Shield regen in battle depends on how much shields you have sort of. There are values in the config that deal with regen rate at 100% and at 0%, and I heard mention of a curve in regen from Calbiri before. But it is still heavily reduced, and existent.

If

• cannon+cannon has : 5+5 = 10 dps for 100 eps

Then

• cannon+cannon+ion has : (5+5+5)*2 = 30 dps for 150 eps
• euqals : 20 dps for 100 eps
• equals : 200% damage/block and damage/energy

Means

• You need 50% volume/blocks for same damage to shields.
• You can use the other 50% volume/blocks for anti-hull weapons.

Cannon+Cannon -> 15 + 15 = 30 blocks, 150/second to shield and hull
Cannon+Cannon -> 10 + 10 + 10 = 30 blocks, 300 to shields, 0 to hull.

You are doing logic wrong Neon, Effects are not "additional" blocks, they replace some of the other weapon blocks. You can not compare 5 Cannons/- to 10 Cannon/Cannon to 15 Cannon/Cannon/Ion. Use the same group size for each please, otherwise your numbers will be weird.

Damage is based on Array size, and the Array is Master+Slave+Effect modules. The outputs of the Array are determined by the Master system alone. If the Master system is split in half, you now have 2 outputs because the game detects 2 Master system groups.



Now I'm off to test an idea based on missile staging.

 

[FullMetalFox]

Missiles use a staging system to deal damage, which can be considered a series of Damage Pulses that increase in size. A Missile's radius is divided into 6, and depending on the size of the radius there might also be additional. At each stage, a missile has a set damage based on a percentage of the original damage (it does not care what blocks were destroyed at all), Missile also has a different modifier for armoured blocks I believe, how it damages blocks is different, so that 1000 EHP doesn't hold true quite the same with missiles.

It is true that missile damage gets distributed similar to an expanding pulse, thats visible in testing. But you have to consider the scale, like say a 4k missile boat, if its well made, 1 million alpha strike damage isnt hard to make on that scale, but a 3-4 layer think armor would be very bulky for such a small ship, while its own missiles would just shred that armor. Thats why amor is rather useles against missiles, unles your enemy is shooting tiny or weak missiles, anything that is big enough to justify multilayer armor will get shoot by weapons that deal way more damage than said armor can take.

Almost, Missile/Pulse has a reduced DPS (I think it is 4). This combination was able to front load so much alpha damage that it could practically decide battles on it's own. It was actually lower than that for a bit, but was increased back to 4 after PD and a couple other stat adjustments.

Otherwise, it is all 5 dps/Block, for every weapon except Damage pulse, which is 0.5 dps/Block.

No idea about Damage Pulse Missiles, never used those so far since they are just to slow, as well as never Pulses themself as they are to limited in range.

But let me take a look in the configs.

<Pulse>
            <Damage style="buff" linear="true" value="2"/>
            <Reload style="nerf" inverse="true" value="7" />
            <Distance style="skip" />
            <BlastRadius style="buff" value="3" />
            <Speed style="nerf" value="3" />
            <Split style="skip" />
            <Mode style="set" value="2" /><!-- Smart Missile -->
            <PowerConsumption style="nerf" inverse="true" linear="true" vlue="2"/>
</Pulse>

So, lets say a Missile+Pulse with 20 blocks, buff value 2 means +200% damage, so 20x75+200% = 4500 damage. Reload nerf 7 means 8 times the reload time, 120 seconds. 4500(damage)/120(reload)/20(blocks) = 1,875 DPS per Block on Missile+Pulse.

Seems about right (ignore the speed, ive got 150ms speed on my test server)

From what I know, Shield regen in battle depends on how much shields you have sort of. There are values in the config that deal with regen rate at 100% and at 0%, and I heard mention of a curve in regen from Calbiri before. But it is still heavily reduced, and existent.

Yes, like i said depending on your remaining shield, from my own testing it seems to be 6% on nearly full shields up to 10% on nearly depleted shields. Did test that by creating a ship with 100.000 shield regen, and firing at it with a cannon+cannon, scaling that cannon up until i saw the first slow decrease in shields, then keep scaling until i hit the next point when shields didnt drop anymore. Althou that test was before the recent shield changes, and i never could figure out the exact math on recharging.

 

[CyberTao]

It is true that missile damage gets distributed similar to an expanding pulse, thats visible in testing. But you have to consider the scale, like say a 4k missile boat, if its well made, 1 million alpha strike damage isnt hard to make on that scale, but a 3-4 layer think armor would be very bulky for such a small ship, while its own missiles would just shred that armor. Thats why amor is rather useles against missiles, unles your enemy is shooting tiny or weak missiles, anything that is big enough to justify multilayer armor will get shoot by weapons that deal way more damage than said armor can take.

While that does seem to be true, the type of armour does matter. Went and tested firing missiles against different hull types and it seems like the different hulls will divide the max radius of the missile by a certain factor. Multiple layers is useless as you said (as the division seems to only care about what block was directly hit, thus rendering even internal bulkheads useless most times), but hull type itself does seem to have an effect on missile damage.

There is also that mythical HP system that will come with a boost to shipwide armour, which should have an effect on missiles, when we finally get that.

1,875 DPS per Block on Missile+Pulse.

Jesus that is weak. I'm not a fan of Missile/Pulse, I was just recalling a number I remembered from a news post.

A word of warning though, don't depend on the weapons screen too much. Last I heard it was incorrect for some numbers and I don't recall hearing it was fixed.

 

[FullMetalFox]

While that does seem to be true, the type of armour does matter. Went and tested firing missiles against different hull types and it seems like the different hulls will divide the max radius of the missile by a certain factor. Multiple layers is useless as you said (as the division seems to only care about what block was directly hit, thus rendering even internal bulkheads useless most times), but hull type itself does seem to have an effect on missile damage.

Last time i tested, my 12 Radius Missles blew equal holes in Hull, Standard Armor and Adv Armor. May have to retest that.

There is also that mythical HP system that will come with a boost to shipwide armour, which should have an effect on missiles, when we finally get that.

That will hopefully change fights a lot, right now its just shields down = dead

Jesus that is weak. I'm not a fan of Missile/Pulse, I was just recalling a number I remembered from a news post.

A word of warning though, don't depend on the weapons screen too much. Last I heard it was incorrect for some numbers and I don't recall hearing it was fixed.

Me neither, and dont worry, i plan my ships systems pretty extensivly, so all my weapons and shield systems are based on the actual math from the block behaviour configs of the respective servers, i mainly do that to calculate optimal ratios and the requiered space/block counts.

 

[Comr4de]

Its 1 up to 20 missiles depending on the % of the slave, 10 missiles is only on 47,4% to 51,5% slave.

This is correct. Sorry, I should've referred to the block behavior config on this one.

 

[Saxopi]

Updated some stuff. Let me know if any information is misleading or otherwise wrong.