Editing Vandrayk's Starship Combat Guide (section)

== 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.

Common powermodes for this style of gameplay are 40 40 20, 30 45 25, or switching between 10 45 45 and 45 10 45.

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, and one particle shield.

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, and pulse cannon above 1000 blocks. 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 block count:

==== 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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)

These ships are evenly matched by attack frigates (6.5k), countered directly by Frigates (8000), and countered indirectly by other capitals (10k, 12k)