Warfare: the rapidfire counter web

Combat on this server is built around a counter web: every hull and every gun has designated predators and prey, driven by rapidfire. There is no single "best fleet" — the right composition depends on what the spy report shows. This article maps the whole web (retuned 2026-07-13).

How rapidfire works

Rapidfire (RF) N means a unit averages N shots per combat round against that target type (after each hit it re-fires with probability 1−1/N). No entry = 1 shot. High RF dealt = you clear that target fast; high RF taken = you melt against that gun. Ships explode when their hull drops below 70% — chip damage kills at scale.

The ship counter-triangle

• Light Fighter — cheap shot-absorber. Countered hard by Battleship (RF 4), Destroyer (RF 9), Cruiser (RF 6) and every wall gun. Pure LF swarms no longer beat anything defended.
• Heavy Fighter — cheap cruiser-skirmisher (RF 2 vs Cruiser).
• Cruiser — sweeps Light Fighters (RF 6) and hunts Destroyers (RF 2). Prey of the Battlecruiser.
• Battleship — the anti-swarm brick (RF 4 vs LF). Prey of the Battlecruiser (RF 7).
• Battlecruiser — the mid-game apex: eats Battleships, Cruisers, Heavy Fighters and cargo. Countered by the Destroyer (RF 2), Bastions (RF 80) and every supergun.
• Destroyer — THE Battlecruiser counter (RF 2) and a fighter sweeper (RF 9/4). Slow and deuterium-hungry; hunted by Cruisers and Reapers.
• Bomber — pure wall-cracker (RF 20 vs launcher/laser walls, 5 vs Plasma, 2 vs Flak). Dies to any escort fleet — bring one, or bring a Juggernaut.
• Reaper — capital harasser (RF 2 vs Battleship/Destroyer) that auto-scoops battle debris: 40% after attacks, 80% after expedition fights (capped by its cargo).
• Deathstar — siege monopoly: the only hull that destroys moons. Slow enough that fleets outrun it.

The heavy game (Juggernaut → Tempest → Leviathan)

• Juggernaut — the anti-defense workhorse: RF 32 vs launcher/laser walls while still fighting ships (unlike the Bomber). Also the ship-side Tempest counter (RF 2). Punished by Bastions (RF 16) and superguns.
• Tempest — the apex raider: RF 600 vs light walls, 200–256 vs fighters, 56 vs Cruisers/Battleships, 12 vs Battlecruisers and Leviathans. Loses to equal-cost Juggernauts, Orbital Sentinels (RF 64) and Singularity Cannons (RF 28). Never send Tempests at a capstone turtle without cracking it first.
• Leviathan — the super-capital (Graviton Resonance capstone): rapid-fires entire fleets (RF 1920 vs LF, 88 vs BC). Cannot destroy moons. Its killers: Orbital Sentinel (RF 36), Tempest wings, Singularity Cannons (RF 10), Deathstars (RF 8). Since the capstone rework, every Graviton Resonance level past the unlock adds a stacking bonus to the attack, shields and armor of the whole capital line (Juggernaut / Deathstar / Tempest / Leviathan) — the energy surplus it demands doubles per level.

Defense — turtles are real now

• Every old wall is a specialist now (defense-roles rework): six turrets that used to be the same gun at different prices each own one slice of the ship roster — and keep a deliberate hole. Mixed walls or free loot.
• Rocket Launcher — soak bodies plus an anti-freight picket (RF vs cargo ships, Recyclers, probes): raiders who bring loot haulers unescorted feed the wall. Still shredded by every real warship.
• Light Laser — the early anti-swarm chip (RF 3 vs Light Fighter) for the long stretch before Flak unlocks. Cruisers and up ignore it.
• Heavy Laser — cruiser-burner (RF 8). Battleships walk over it.
• Gauss Cannon — the line-breaker: RF 8 vs Battleship, 5 vs Battlecruiser. No anti-swarm mount at all — fighter dilution chews it.
• Ion Cannon — anti-cracker EMP: RF 8 vs Bomber, 5 vs Reaper — the ships that exist to level walls. A naked Bomber wing regrets an ion line; a mixed raid still cracks it (the Bomber keeps the bigger RF edge back).
• Plasma Turret — the old line's anti-capital alpha (no rapidfire needed; 3000 base attack). Utterly helpless against swarms — pair it with Flak or die to fighters.
• Flak Battery — anti-light: RF 160 vs LF, 80 vs HF, 32 vs Cruiser, 16 vs Battleship. Ends fodder raids.
• Bastion — the keystone: RF up the whole ladder incl. 80 vs Battlecruiser. Nothing rapid-fires a Bastion — crack it with Juggernauts, missiles or mass.
• Singularity Cannon (Planetary Fortification capstone) — anti-capital: RF 400 vs BC, 28 vs Tempest, 10 vs Leviathan. Since the capstone rework, every Planetary Fortification level past the unlock hardens the shields and armor of every defense unit and raises the shield-dome stack caps — its energy price doubles per level.
• Orbital Sentinel (capstone) — the Leviathan answer (RF 36) and the biggest gun in the game. Each one drains 50,000 energy from the planet around the clock — fortress worlds are energy empires first. Throttle standby Sentinels on the resources settings page.
• Shield Domes — stackable since the fortification rework: they mount no guns, they exist to soak and bounce fire away from the wall behind them (any shot under 1% of a dome's shield glances off — the Planetary tier shrugs off everything below capital ordnance). Stack caps rise with Planetary Fortification (and the Academy dome talent); every dome drains energy around the clock (Small 1k / Large 5k / Planetary 100k). Massed capitals chew through screens; a Juggernaut wave out-shoots them by sheer barrel count.
• Interplanetary Missiles — the anti-turtle valve: they ignore rapidfire entirely and grind down any gun line, superguns included. Anti-Ballistic Missiles are the only defense.

Debris economics

• Destroyed ships leave 50% of their cost as debris; destroyed defense leaves 10% — rolled from everything destroyed in the fight, before the defender's repairs.
• Destroyed defense auto-repairs after battle: 50% base chance per unit, up to a hard cap of 80% with full investment (Engineer officer +10, Academy Defense-recovery +10, Rock'tal Citadel +10). It never reaches 100% — grinding a wall always destroys something, and the debris is yours either way. Missile kills are never repaired.
• Surviving Reapers auto-collect 40% of attack debris (both sides roll — attacker first) and 80% of expedition-battle debris; the rest needs Recyclers.

Reading a spy report → picking a fleet

1. Wall is launcher/laser filler → Juggernauts (Bombers pre-unlock) + escort, fodder stays home.
2. Flak Batteries in numbers → no fighters, no pure swarms. Capitals only.
3. Ion Cannons in numbers → don't send Bombers naked; escort them or lead with Juggernauts.
4. Gauss line → no Battleship walls; Heavy Lasers → no Cruiser spam. Read which specialist is missing and attack the hole.
5. Bastions present → leave the Battlecruisers home; bring Juggernauts and missiles.
6. Sentinels/Singularity line → this is a capstone fortress: IPM barrage first, or overwhelming mass, or pick another target.
7. Defending fleet is BC-heavy → Destroyers. LF swarm → Cruisers/Battleships. Capitals → Sentinel-covered turtling or your own Leviathans behind Tempest screens.
8. Always run the simulator first — defender tech multipliers are invisible in spy reports and swing everything.