¶ STARSHIP COMBAT GUIDE
Below is a comprehensive guide on ship usage, strategies, meta explanation, and optimal ship stats. Feel free to direct any questions to Vandrayk in game or on discord.
¶ GENERAL STRATEGY
- Know your matchups, dont bring a gunship to 1v1 a corvette, for example
- Diversify your fleet, if you’re bringing something like 5 of the same class, likely you’re about to get countered hard if your enemy has a brain
- Don’t be afraid to run to ost/safezone, but don’t be afraid to risk dying to win a fight. (Oftentimes players will lose one ship and think the battle is lost, stay organized)
- Train in spacearena with your nation members and other players, this helps you prepare for survival combat
- Use /listships to see what your enemy is bringing
¶ FLEET COMBAT
This is one of the most confusing aspects of HE combat, but the most deciding in terms of SvS. I will explain concepts here that are objective and helpful, rather than subjective strategy.
- In any fleet combat situation, coordination and communication are crucial.
- Designate someone with a mic in your group to watch map. They can either sit out of the fight to give call outs, or give call outs during battle.
- Call out relevant things, such as a direction switch, an enemy all by themselves, or if your team isn’t where you want them to be.
- Staying in a tight group is bad, and a skilled opponent will make light work of you
- Go in “squads”, separate accordingly by smaller groups and minimize 1v1 situations. (I.e, if you’re in a 2v2, you shouldn’t be fighting 2 1v1s)
- Dont rush the enemy alone
- Listen to your shot caller
- Don’t run off and abandon your team
¶ SUB-CAPITAL SHIPS
¶ Starfighter (350-500 Blocks) 
Starfighters are a nimble, regen based ship with good dps. These are dirt cheap and HIGHLY effective in the hands of the right pilot, especially as a counter to capital ships. It is the first warship you unlock and should exclusively be used direct control mode (/dc) in every combat scenario. In combat with these you will want to play very aggressively, while backing off whenever your shields get around 30-50%.Think like you are moving out of range of the ship you’re attacking, regenning your shields, and re-attacking.
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Common powermodes for this style of gameplay are 40 40 20, 30 45 25, or switching between 10 45 45 and 45 10 45.
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The optimal starfighter is as close as possible to minimum size (350 blocks) layout is two plasmas on the front, two proton torpedoes on the front, with one particle shield.
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These ships are countered by both Gunships and Corvettes
¶ Gunships (500-2000 Blocks) 
Gunships are multirole ships that serve as one of the direct counters to starfighters, but are relevant in fleet combat due to their access to a heavy laser. These ships are the second warship you unlock and should exclusively be used in direct control mode (/dc) in every combat scenario. These are the most popular ships for pirates to utilize due to their versatility. There are 3 main subclasses of gunships based on blockcount:
¶ Tackle Gunship (500-699 Blocks)
Tackle Gunships have the same speed and weapons as a starfighter, but differ in that they have access to a gravity well. Highly effective ships to have in your fleet as you can run down fleeing capital ships and prevent them from jumping. These will play and feel the same as a starfighter, and albeit slightly larger, will have the same optimal stats as your normal starfighter.
¶ Light Gunship (1,000 Blocks)
Light Gunships are a very niche subclass and don’t have much use case, it is the first gunship to gain access to both the heavy laser and pulse laser, but lacks the light turret which is a critical point to counter SFs. These are useful against larger capital ships in some situations and capacity but are not be recommended for newer players.
¶ Gunship (2,000 Blocks)
The most common gunship, the standard max size gunship has all of the tools necessary to fit into a fleet for countering starfighters and making an impact against larger ships as well. These ships in combat are meant to also play aggressive against starfighters, but adopt the range playstyle like starfighters. They have pulses and heavy lasers at their disposal to apply damage, you should try and remain at the maximum weapon range and disengage when your shields get close to 30-50% to regen, and re-attack when healed up. Also know that pulses can shoot at a straight angle up, therefore giving you a monumental advantage over starfighters, as you can be above or below them at all times where you can hit the starfighter, and they cannot hit you.
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The optimal Gunship will have 3 similar sized shields, 2 pulses facing forwards, on both sides, and in the back, a front bridge made of mostly glass, heavy laser in 3 of the 4 cardinal directions, a gravity well, 3 light turrets on top and bottom for good coverage,
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These ships are countered directly by corvette and countered indirectly by smaller frigates (4.9k, 6.5k)
¶ Corvette (4,000 Blocks) 
(There are no sub-classes for corvettes worth using)
Corvettes are a multi-role support vessel most commonly seen in fleet combat or usage by solo pirates. They have great damage capabilities and survivability and are a direct upgrade to gunships in terms of fleet combat usages. Corvettes are intended to operate in direct control. These ships are able to play aggressively against smaller ships and somewhat against larger ships. Corvettes have pulses, heavy lasers, light turrets, as well as the powerful tri-turret at their disposal.
Against smaller ships, you should play as aggressive as possible, with a powermode such a 10 45 45, and be sure to utilize the vertical plane (Y level) to your advantage with your pulse cannons. Against larger ships, you should play defensively, only ever fighting at close to max pulse range, since you are somewhat slow, larger ships may be able to turn on you quickly and hit a phaser/apply serious damage with heavy turrets. Disengage and regen accordingly when this happens.
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An optimal corvette with have 6 Similar sized shields, 3 pulses facing forwards, on both sides, and in the back, a front bridge made of mostly glass, heavy laser in 3 of the 4 cardinal directions, a gravity well, 5 light turrets on top and bottom spread for good coverage, a tri turret on top, and a tri turret on bottom.
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These ships are evenly matched by small frigates (4.9k),countered directly by 6500 block frigates and countered indirectly by full size frigates (8000)
¶ Frigates (4,000-8,000 Blocks) 
Frigates are the first capital ship (minus minifrigs) and operate as fleet support ships. They directly support other capitals and supercapitals with Heavy Turrets, Tri Turrets, decent tank, and great speed. These ships are some of the harder classes to use as they utilize both /dc and cruise effectively. There are 3 main subclasses of frigate:
¶ Mini-Frig (4600-4900 Blocks)
Mini-Frigates exist as effectively a corvette that has more usages in fleet combat at the trade off of being less effective than corvettes at killing smaller ships. Mini-Frigates gain access to a phaser, and faster tri-turret firerate, while losing access to pulses. These ships mostly fly in direct control (/dc) and are evenly matched against corvettes.
You should play aggressively against capital ships in these, utilizing your phaser (range ~200m) and light turrets to deal massive single shield damage, then retreating to outside of render when your shields get hit hard. While regenning your shields, utilize your tri turret (range 500m) to deal damage.
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An Optimal Mini-frigate has 8 similarly sized shields, a phaser in each cardinal direction, front facing plasmas, mostly glass front bridge, 5-6 light turrets on top/bottom, 2 tri turrets on top/bottom, (1 is acceptable)
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These ships are evenly matched by attack frigates (6.5k), countered directly by Frigates (8000), and countered indirectly by other capitals (10k, 12k)
¶ CAPITAL SHIPS
¶ Common Strategy:
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match your opponents Y level,
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fight at minimum Y level
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“rotate” your shields.(I.E: You are showing the right side of your ship, so those shields are the main ones getting hit. Whenever they get to around 30%, you will switch the side you are showing the enemy to the left so that your right shields can regenerate while the left is healthy.)
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cruise DC (Very easy to understand, something that is harder to apply at all times in combat as it's easy to forget. It works as such:
1. Set your Powermode to 10 40 50
-2. Cruise in a direction til max speed
-3. Set your powermode to 50 40 10
-4. Activate /DC in slot 9, while holding left shift
-5. When you’ve been in this mode for about 7-10 seconds, deactivate /dc while simultaneously setting your powermode back to 10 40 50
-6. Repeat
These steps allow you to cover more ground super quickly, speed past players in a “drive by” fashion attack, and is one of the most valuable techniques to learn in SvS)
- aim lead (Follow your tri turrets and lead a bit in front of the direction they’re shooting, very good for new players to learn and understand how to aim heavy turrets)
- ghosting (while approaching a player to be aggressive, don’t shoot HTs so they don’t have an exact visual on which direction you’re coming from)
¶ Attack Frigate (6500-6900 Blocks)
THIS SUBCLASS IS NOT WORTH USING IN A MAJORITY OF SITUATIONS AND REQUIRE A VERY HIGH SKILL LEVEL TO OPERATE MORE EFFECTIVELY THAN A STANDARD 8K. IT IS INCLUDED IN THIS POST AS SOME NATIONS DO NOT UNDERSTAND THIS AND DECIDE TO USE IT ANYWAYS.
YOU MUST USE /DC & CRUISE IN CONJUNCTION AND ENSURE THAT YOU POSITION YOURSELF TO WHERE YOUR BRIDGE IS NOT EASILY SNIPABLE. IT’S ONLY USAGE SHOULD BE AGAINST SUPERCAPITALS, AS IT'S SMALL PROFILE AND HEAVY TURRETS ALLOW IT TO DODGE INCOMING SUPERCAPITAL VOLLEYS WHILE APPLYING DAMAGE. ALL OTHER SITUATIONS ARE BETTER HANDLED BY AN 8K.
Hard countered by Frigates (8000), Fast Destroyers (10000) and Destroyers (12000)
¶ Frigate (8,000 Blocks)
Frigates exist as the ideal fleet support ship, combining a good balance of tankiness, speed, damage, and versatility. These ships should mainly be flown with cruising, but some situations call for you to enter direct control (/dc). Frigates have access to phaser, tri turret, heavy turret, plasma, light turret, but you should focus on Heavy Turret, Phaser, and Tri Turret.
Play very aggressively against corvettes and smaller vessels, use your phaser to target either the bridge or a specific point on the ship, while also barraging the ship with volleys of Heavy Turret fire. Whenever the ship is out of render distance, switch to tri-turret fire.
Against the same size ship or larger vessels, you should play somewhat defensively. You want to cruise at diagonal angles, a lot of capital ship combat will take place outside of render distance, you want to lead the ship you’re fighting with heavy turrets to hit it at the furthest range possible. This is challenging even for some veteran players, so you can engage at a closer range to attempt to utilize phaser but know that this could backfire terribly. Your mindset should be to preserve your shields and prevent hull damage for as long as possible while simultaneously winning the fight. Against battlecruisers, you want to stay as CLOSE to maximum heavy turret range as possible while still dealing damage.
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An Optimal Frigate is subjective, but by standard they need: 12 shields, (one of these is an enhanced shield, place this one on your bridge), ample heavy turrets and tri turrets on top/bottom of the ship, and a phaser in every cardinal direction.
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These ships are countered by attack destroyers (10k), indirectly countered by destroyers (12k), indirectly countered by cruisers (16k), and hard countered by battlecruisers (20k)
¶ Destroyers (8,000 - 12,000 Blocks) 
Destroyers are the tankier older brother of the frigate. With the same armament, they can fire more heavy turrets and have extra shields to make up more tankiness for the lack of speed. These exist and operate to keep cruisers and attack destroyers in check, while even being able to go toe-to-toe with a battlecruiser for a very short amount of time. There are two subclasses of destroyer worth using:
¶ Attack Destroyer (9,750 - 10000 Blocks)
Attack destroyers exist as a better version of a frigate with a caveat, they get ran down by larger ships a lot easier. Attack destroyers have the same armament as destroyers and a few more shields than a standard frigate. The mindset you should have with this ship is that you are relying on your smaller profile and speed rather than your tankiness per-se. These ships should only be used in cruise, with situationally, sometimes cruise dc
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The Optimal Attack destroyer is subjective, but by standard has 14 shields (one of these is an enhanced shield, put this on your bridge), ample heavy turrets and tri turrets on top/bottom of the ship, and a phaser in every cardinal direction.
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These ships are evenly matched by cruisers (16k), countered by destroyers (12k), indirectly countered by starfighters (350), and hard countered by battlecruisers (20k)
¶ Destroyers (12,000 Blocks)
Destroyers are the largest capital ship (excluding supercapitals) and the tankiest of every ship without a reactor. Their best application is to go toe-to-toe with attack destroyers, and in fleet combat as a “mobile defense platform’, where your smaller ships can fall back to your destroyer to hide behind and regen while you apply massive damage and soak up incoming fire. These ships should only be used in cruise except with certain situations, sometimes cruise dc
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The Optimal Destroyer is subjective, but by standard has 17 shields (one of these is an enhanced shield, put this on your bridge), ample heavy turrets and tri turrets on top/bottom of the ship, and a phaser in every cardinal direction.
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These ships are evenly matched by cruisers (16k), indirectly countered by starfighters (350), and hard countered by battlecruisers (20k)
¶ SUPERCAPITAL SHIPS
(THESE SHIPS ARE HIGHLY END GAME FOCUSED, THEY ARE VERY EXPENSIVE AND DIFFICULT TO USE EFFECTIVELY. ONLY INVEST IN THESE IF YOU HAVE DESIGNED ONE AND TRAINED IN ONE IN SPACE-ARENA. BOTH ION TURRETS AND QUAD TURRETS HAVE SLOW FIRING, SLOW VELOCITY TURRETS. THESE SHIPS ARE DESIGNED AND INTENDED AROUND FLEET COMBAT, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED TO NOT USE ONE OF THESE WITHOUT AT LEAST ONE SUPPORT ESCORT. NEW PLAYERS BEWARE)
¶ Cruisers (16,000 Blocks) 
(There are no relevant subclasses worth using)
Cruisers are the most unique ship class on Horizon’s End, they are a direct counter to nothing, but they are by and far one of the most effective classes to have in a fleet. Their damage output is similar to that of a destroyer, but it’s powerful ion turrets slow down cruise speeds. Upon hit, an ion turret particle will disable all thrusters in a 8 block radius. This means that cruisers can prevent capital ships and even some smaller ships from causing super long chases, and also allows cruisers to slow down enemy capitals so that your own capital ships can apply damage more effectively.
These ships are highly tanky, gaining access to two enhanced shields, they should be played aggressively against anything except battlecruisers. Cruise is the only movement mode available. Cruise diagonally and shift fly towards your enemy, then use your size and speed to bully capital ships to a full stop, your ion turrets have a range of 375m so you need to be close to apply effective damage. Aim for thrusters of any ship you’re fighting when you can.
POWERMODE WHILE FIGHTING: 50 10 40 or 40 10 50, you do not need weapons powermode increased with supercapitals
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An optimal cruiser has 21 shields, (two enhanced shields, place one on your bridge and the other on reactor/fuel/magazines), ion turrets covering all angles on top/bottom, tri turrets on top/bottom, and a top bridge.
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Countered indirectly by fast moving DC based ships (starfighter up to attack frigate), countered directly by battlecruisers (20k)
KEEP IN MIND THAT CRUISERS MUST HAVE FUEL AND A CRUISER REACTOR TO PILOT
¶ Battlecruiser (20.000 Blocks) 
(There are no relevant subclasses worth using)
Battlecruisers are the most expensive and most punishing ship in the game. This is your true pride of the fleet, the magnum opus of HE SvS. Battlecruisers have a damage output that is unmatched by any other class, and their powerful quad turrets rip capital ships to shreds. They also have enhanced shields from their onboard reactors giving them unprecedented tankiness at the cost of speed.
*You should not operate this ship without at least one escort ship, but the playstyle is to be aggressive against anything smaller than you. You will be able to outtank multiple capitals, and you want to have the best chance to apply quad turret damage, cruise towards your enemy while shift flying. Make sure to lead your shots (500m range), against other battlecruisers, you want to again be aggressive if you are not confident in your aim (in render = easier to aim), but a skilled pilot will keep the other battlecruiser as far away as possible as to minimize incoming damage by turning/dodging away from the slow moving enemy quad turret projectile.
POWERMODE WHILE FIGHTING: 50 10 40 or 40 10 50, you do not need weapons powermode increased with supercapitals
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An optimal battlecruiser has 26 shields, (2 enhanced shields, one on the bridge, other on the reactor/fuel/magazines), quad turrets covering as many angles as possible, tri turrets covering as many angles as possible, and a top bridge.
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Countered indirectly by fast moving DC based ships (starfighter up to attack frigate), countered directly by other battlecruisers (20k)
KEEP IN MIND THAT BATTLECRUISERS MUST HAVE FUEL AND A BATTLECRUISER REACTOR TO PILOT