Combat

Combat in Interstellar War is real-time, tick-based, and influenced by ship fitting, crew skills, range, and positioning. Understanding the mechanics gives you a significant edge.

How Combat Works

You fire your weapons. The game never fires them for you. Each shot is an action you take, resolved the moment you take it:

Cooldown check — Has this weapon finished reloading?
Range check — Is the target within that weapon's range?
Accuracy roll — Can you hit it?
Damage calculation — How much does the hit deal?
Damage application — Shields absorb first, then hull takes the rest

Weapon Cooldown

Each weapon has its own 15-second cooldown, and it starts when that weapon fires — not on a clock the game keeps. A ship with three weapons can put all three shots out at once and then wait fifteen seconds, or stagger them and have something ready more often. Which of those is better depends on what you are fighting.

The tick is not your trigger

The 15-second tick is the universe's heartbeat, and it is easy to confuse with your reload because the two happen to be the same length. The tick moves ships toward their destinations, docks them, runs hyperspace jumps, and hands each NPC with a target to a combat job. NPCs shoot on the tick. You shoot when you click. Waiting for a tick before firing wastes the time you waited.

Accuracy

Whether your shot hits depends on three factors:

Factor	Effect
Tracking	Your weapon's ability to follow a moving target. Higher = more accurate
Target Handling	The enemy's evasion stat. Higher handling = harder to hit
Range	Shots at close range are more accurate. Shots at max range suffer a penalty

In shape, your hit chance scales with the ratio of your tracking to the target's handling, then is modified by range. A dice roll decides the outcome — if you pass, you hit; if you fail, you miss entirely and deal no damage.

Range Modifier

Accuracy is strongest at close range and degrades as you approach the edge of your weapon's range. At max range the penalty is severe enough that many shots will miss outright.

Tip: Close the distance before engaging. Fighting at the edge of your range wastes shots.

Damage

When a shot connects, damage is built from three things:

Component	Meaning
Weapon output	The raw power of your weapon module
Module size modifier	A random multiplier based on weapon size category
Gunnery skill	Your gunner's skill level (0–255). Higher gunnery significantly increases damage — a maxed gunner roughly doubles your output

Critical Hits

Every shot has a small chance to critically hit for bonus damage. Crits are pure luck — no skill or module affects the chance.

Damage Application

Damage is applied in order:

Shields absorb damage first, point for point
When shields are depleted, remaining damage hits the hull
When hull reaches zero, the ship is destroyed

There is no damage resistance or armour typing — it's a straight numbers game.

Cloaking

The cloak module hides your ship from enemy scanners:

Cloaked ships are invisible to enemies (unless they're in your faction or fleet)
Allies can always see your cloaked ship
Firing weapons automatically decloaks you
There's a 15-second cooldown between cloak toggles to prevent spam

Cloaking is ideal for scouting, ambushes, and escape.

Siege Warfare

Siege modules enable attacks on starbases and fortified positions:

Activating siege mode locks your ship in place for 5 minutes
You cannot move, cloak, or jump to hyperspace during siege
Siege is required for certain high-damage attacks on structures

Attacking Starbases

Starbases can only be attacked when their vulnerable flag is active. They fight back with automated weapon batteries in three roles:

Battery	Role
Short Range	Hits hardest per shot but struggles to track fast, agile targets
Medium Range	A balanced battery with good tracking against most ships
Long Range	Low per-shot damage but extremely high tracking — very hard to evade, even at speed

A fully built-up starbase fields many of each. Starbases hit hard. Don't attack one alone.

Bombarding Planets

Planets can be damaged using bomb modules (type 5). Bombs deal bonus damage against planetary targets compared to standard weapons. You cannot bomb planets belonging to your own faction.

When a planet's health reaches zero, it loses faction control.

PvP vs PvE

Not all systems allow player-vs-player combat:

PvP systems — Players can attack each other freely
Non-PvP systems — Only NPC combat is allowed
Same-faction combat — Some systems prevent allies from attacking each other

Check the system flags before picking a fight.

NPC Fleet Behaviour

NPC fleets have their own AI:

Behaviour	What They Do
Aggressive	Hunt players, focus fire on highest threats, coordinate with fleet
Defensive	Only engage if attacked, protect structures
Patrol	Move between areas, engage targets of opportunity
Escort	Follow specific ships, engage threats to their charge

Aggressive NPC fleets will call in reinforcements from their fleet. Don't assume one NPC means one fight.

Combat Tips

Close range wins — accuracy drops sharply at max range
Watch your power — if drain exceeds powernet, shields drop and modules go offline
Disengage to repair — passive repair kicks in every tick
Numbers matter — multiple ships focusing fire overwhelms any single target
Know when to run — losing a ship is expensive. There's no shame in warping out

Game Guide