Game Tips

Crucial Tips

Missions

Missions

Follow the missions exactly without doing anything else up to the 'Go to Unicorn Sectors' and 'Fight an enemy Player' mission, after that one, stop doing the missions, they're not worth it. Don't speed the repairkits in the first missions, wait it out if you can, you waste a lot of currency you will need later.

If you can't enter the station/factory while early game, make a new account. (Press the yellow button besides chat. Press Logout or go to Settings > Account > Change Account.) Link for browser site if you can't log out through facebook/android: http://pocketstarships.com/eng/play/

General

[1] NEVER build a bloodstorm, leviathan or scorpio, they are weak compared to other ships in each of their classes. If you have already built one of these ships, stop upgrading it immediately.

[2] If you have bought the starter kit, do not upgrade the ship you got past lvl 1.

[3] Mine 29k (At the least 12k) wormheart (black and orange asteroid) in Darkwood. Try to not kill too many players (they give massive xp), or pirates, you will be locked out of Darkwood at lvl 16 xp.

Wormheart

[3a] Try to go to darkwood in a group. There are veteran players in both factions that have unicorn accounts strictly for the purpose of destroying unicorn sector outposts. If the outpost in darkwood is destroyed so are the resources which are transferring. Figure out the time of day that your faction controls darkwood without interference and play then. (You get 10xp for every wormheart rock mined, if you pull twice on the rock rather than 3 times you avoid receiving xp; less xp = more time in darkwood)

[3b] If you have not made immense progress in the game (got at least 8k wormheart / many parts / a Fighter, Engineer or Tank), but are above XP lvl 15, it may be a good idea to make a new account.

Unicorn Sectors

[3c] Once you have collected 29k wormheart from Darkwood, you can start to collect other resources from pirate sectors and don't have to worry about keeping your XP lvl below 16 any more.

[4] Avoid PvP beyond unicorn sectors until you get a decently upgraded Assault Class Fighter/Tooler/Tank

[5] Concerning the starter pack, which is an offer that comes very early game. If you are going to spend money on the game it is advised to buy the $1.99 starter pack, but NOT the other $15(?) starter pack. The solar of the $1.99 starter pack is cheap, but don't upgrade the ship, it is only a slightly better version of the bloodstorm. (the $15 pack's ship is only a slightly better version of the Leviathan, don't upgrade that either, if you did happen to buy the $15 pack (not advised))

[6] Don't build (except Assault Launcher I, and a lot of repairkits if they're lvl 0) or upgrade (except unicorn to lvl 1, and asteroid/refined storage) anything before you have some kind of Fighter, Engineer or Tank. You can, buy gold parts, but only gold parts, to upgrade your refined storage to 30k early game.

The Battle Class Shop Ship

[7] Ships bought in the shop are regular ships with a different paint job, not really worth it.

[8] Ask more experienced players if you have any questions and if you are going to do anything seemingly important, like what to upgrade and what to build. Also read the rest of this page on the wiki.

Glitches to Avoid

[1] There is currently a bug which causes you to not be able to use a booster slot, permanently. It happens when the amount of boosters you use drops below 0. So it is highly advised to not use your last booster, and when you click a booster and it doesn't seem to work, to stop clicking it immediately, lest it drops below 0. Don't let boosters drop to 0 either. Looks like already fixed.

[1a] Make sure while loading boosters in the station they're always 'synced', in other words if you load them and for a slight gap you stop loading them (your finger misses, or doesn't hit properly), don't load them further until the game caught up. (wait untill the back button isn't greyed out anymore). This should prevent any in-station booster bugging. (not entirely confirmed)

[1b] It also may be a good idea to, when unloading boosters in the station, to be especially careful when you come close to 0, and to not overclick.

Basic Tips

Currency

[1] Don't spend solar on anything but:

• CPU's, Rotors, Engines, Toolboxes (sometimes other gold parts, but try and avoid that)

• Maybe lockboxes. (only lockboxes which give ships if you have enough keys). It is not recommended as lockboxes which drop from killed players have more luck for a ship than ones bought.so it is recommended to kill players to get them.

• Maybe upgrading solar questbot to lvl 5. (Which means you get 5 solar free every 12 hours, that is if you send it 2 times a day).
• Maybe adding more production,refining,transfer slots (not too good an idea if you don't have the means to build a lot of things and if you don't have a almost maxed ship)

  

[2] Solar is acquired from,

• Completing achievements,
• Opening Mystery boxes (do not open them if they require solar to open, sometimes they are free to open)
• Money boxes (which are received every time you lvl up your DP level.)
• Faction alerts
• Daily rewards (rarely)
• Alliance challenges

[3] Try to buy things like engines, CPUs, and upgrade questbots when you have free VIP (from daily rewards, it gives -25% prices)

[4] Spacebucks are easily acquired and are used for purchasing robots, boosters, generators and ammo from the shop.

Spaceships

[1] Always make sure you work on upgrading one ship at a time.

[2] Never sell any of your ships (don't sell the unicorn either) (except the bloodstorm, if you really want to). If you did sell your unicorn and want it back, you can ask on support.spectaclegames.com (by sending a ticket, remember to include your in-game account name)

[3] There are 4 ship types:

• (1) Fighter - fast (300), small shield, high damage high fire-rate weapons, for killing players / distracting guards.

• (2) Engineer (Tooler) - normal speed (230), medium shield, for healing players/making enemy players slow, not for killing (unless maybe you use a tooler for attacking - Max weapons, emp and mini-nukes)
• (3) Tank - slow (150), high shield, high damage low fire-rate weapons, for killing outposts, lasting a while in PvP (you may need nukes to win though, players will escape).
• (4) Hunters - Basically useless, do not build.

[4] Lockbox ships have 10% more shield than regular ships, it is a good idea to try and get them.

[5] It is a good idea to build your ships' weapons first (in case you get a box ship).

[6] Ships bought in the shop are regular ships with a different paint job, not really worth it.

Weapons

[1] Every Class has two basic weapons, namely the Blaster I and Launcher I, which every ship in the class can use (Note: Engineers can't use the Blaster I). Every ship type of that class has weapons that only it can use.

• Engineers can use repairbeams and EMP weapons.
• Fighters can use the Blaster II and Launcher II (starting from the battle class there is also Multishot Blasters and Multishot Launchers available for use).
• Tanks can use the Heavy Blaster and Heavy Launcher (starting from the battle class there is also Cluster Blasters and Cluster Launchers available for use).

[2] Weapons require barrels, coils, and CPUs to upgrade, which are all very hard to find, upgrade weapons according to importance and plan ahead what you will upgrade.

[3] Do no upgrade the Battle Class EMP weapon, once upgraded, it does not work. Do not build the Capital Class EMP weapon, it does not work at all, and the Assault Class EMP weapon can sometimes be buggy. (may be better not to upgrade it)

Repairkits

[1] Build as much assault repairkits as possible while they are level 0, when they are upgraded beyond level 0 (level 1, level 2 and level 3) they require wormheart to build, which can be hard to acquire.

[2] Repairkits are generally cheaper while they are low level, build many of them while they are unupgraded.

[3] Repairkits require wrenches, hammers, and toolboxes to upgrade, which are all very rare, be patient while finding the parts, there are only 3 repairkit types in total.

Boosters

[1] There are 5 types of boosters,

1. Damage (which gives a damage increase),
2. Shield (which reduces the amount of damage you take),
3. Speed (which increase your ship's speed),
4. Stealth (which hides you from other players' sight, currently not entirely working),
5. Slug Rolloff Booster (not very useful, not recommended to build it).

[2] It is recommend to upgrade all your boosters (except slug rolloff) to lvl 3, starting with damage and shield boosters.

[3] Do not upgrade your boosters past lvl 3 until you have a lvl 5 battle class ship with decently leveled guns and generators. Once you have a lvl 5 battle class ship with decently leveled guns and generators, upgrade your damage, shield and speed boosters to lvl 6 (it can be useful to leave stealth at lvl 3 always, since it is much cheaper to buy).

[4] Do not upgrade your boosters past lvl 6 until you have a lvl 5 capital class ship with decently leveled guns and generators. Once you have a lvl 5 capital class ship with decently leveled guns and generators, upgrade your damage, shield and speed boosters to lvl 9 (it can be useful to leave stealth at lvl 3 always, since it is much cheaper to buy). It can also be useful to not upgrade your speed booster fully, but to leave it at a slightly lower lvl than lvl 9.

Robots

[1] There are 5 types of robots,

1. Gunbots (which gives a damage increase),
2. Mechanibots (which repair your autonomously every 10 seconds while you're outside the station),
3. Rockies (which increase the amount of asteroids you mine per hit),
4. Botyguards (which randomly absorbs a set amount of damage, however it absorbs shots not very often at all and also makes you take hits from guards and pirates you wouldn't have taken if they weren't equiped, and thus it is recommended to NOT use botyguards or upgrade them),
5. Wise Bots (gives an XP increase, NOT recommended to upgrade, since you reach the maximum XP lvl very quickly, after which it becomes useless).

[2] There are 3 different varieties of every type of robot, namely,

1. regular bots (which are bought in the shop for spacebucks/built, the higher the lvl of the bot, the more expensive it is to buy,),
2. golden robots (which can be collected from opening giftboxes and lockboxes and from daily rewards, they occasionally appear in daily rewards), they are upgraded as the regular bots are upgrade, eg. if your gunbot upgrades from lvl 1 to lvl 2, your gold gunbot will also upgrade from lvl 1 to lvl 2.
3. platinum robots (which can be purchased in the shop for 10 solar, no matter what the lvl, the cost stays 10 solar). They are upgraded separately from regular robots and golden robots.

[3] Start by upgrading your mechanibot to lvl 3, after that upgrade your gunbot to lvl 3 and then your platinum gunbot to lvl 3. Once these are upgraded you can decide if

• you would like to upgrade your rocky, platinum rocky or platinum mechanibot
• or if you want to save parts for when the robots need to be further upgraded.

[4] Do not upgrade your robots past lvl 3 until you have a lvl 5 battle class ship with decently leveled guns and generators. Once you have a lvl 5 battle class ship with decently leveled guns and generators, upgrade your mechanibot, gunbot and platinum gunbot to lvl 6, if you would like, upgrade your rocky, platinum rocky or platinum mechanibot once the first 3 are lvl 6.

[5] Do not upgrade your robots past lvl 6 until you have a lvl 5 capital class ship (possible lvl 3, if it will be used only for farming) with decently leveled guns and generators. Once you have a lvl 5 capital class ship (possible lvl 3, if it will be used only for farming) with decently leveled guns and generators, upgrade your mechanibot, gunbot and platinum gunbot to lvl 9, if you would like, upgrade your rocky, platinum rocky or platinum mechanibot once at least the gunbots are lvl 9.

[6] It is not recommended to build robots (except the alien robot, which can only be built) but to buy robots in he shop.

[7] It is recommended to not use solar to upgrade the alien gunbot (at least not early game), but to just use parts gotten from raids. Raids will however be too hard for you while early game, it is recommended to not do them yet unless you have a tooler / maxxed falcon. Do not wory about the alien gear for now.

Nuclear Weapons (Nukes)

[1] There are many nukes available, some are built and some acquired by opening lockboxes / getting daily rewards (they occasionally appear in daily rewards). See the nukes page for a list of nukes and their specifications.

[2] It is recommended to only upgrade the nukes you really need first.

1. If you use a Fighter, upgrade the rocket strike.
2. If you use an Engineer, upgrade the savior (if you plan to be a healer) or black hornet (if you plan to be a sabotour, slowing down enemy ships, or a healer-sabotour) or mini nuke (if you plan to use an offensively based engineer).
3. If you use a Tank, firstly upgrade the little devil, secondly upgrade the mini nuke (as even assault tanks can equip 2 types of nukes at the same time) thirdly upgrade the fat devil (remember though these can only be acquired from giftboxes, lockboxes or daily rewards, consider carefully if you want to upgrade them if you use other types of ships, and use them very sparingly, recommended only for use in big battles).

[3] Do not upgrade your nukes past lvl 3 until you have a lvl 5 battle class ship with decently leveled guns and generators. Once you have a lvl 5 battle class ship with decently leveled guns and generators, upgrade the nukes you use to lvl 6, according to their importance.

[4] Do not upgrade your nukes past lvl 6 until you have a lvl 5 capital class ship with decently leveled guns and generators. Once you have a lvl 5 capital class ship with decently leveled guns and generators, upgrade the nukes you use to lvl 6, according to their importance. (beware, lvl 7+ nukes require wormtear and bluetonium to build, do not upgrade until you can acquire these resources with relative ease)

Generators

[1] Generators are equipped on ships and cost 200 solar to remove, place your generators wisely. Generators are permanent (unless they are removed by the player) and have no expirery time. There are 5 types of generators, namely,

1. Shield Hardener, which absorbs a set amount of damage from all sources (energy weapons, missile weapons, nukes, and even pirates) they are a must on every ship.
2. Missile Deflector, which absorbs a set amount of missile weapon damage. (recommended for long range battling)
3. Energy Deflector, which absorbs a set amount of energy weapon damage. (recommended for short range battling)
4. Nuclear Deflector, which absorbs a set amount of nuclear weapon damage. (recommended for healer based and sabotour-healer based engineers)
5. Repairkit Amplifier, which increases the amount that a repairkit heals. (not really recommended)

[3] Generators can be extremely hard to upgrade (especially the missle- energy- and nuclear deflectors). It is recommended to upgrade your shield generator first to lvl 3 and then a generator of your choice (depending on your play style and ship choice) to lvl 3. It would be best to stick with upgrading these generators first before trying to upgrade another.

[4] It is not very important to upgrade generators like boosters, robots and nukes (that can however be useful), but it is however recommended to buy many generators while they are low lvl and cheap. It is also recommended to always prioritize upgrading your shield generator.

PvP (Player vs Player) and PvP-Sectors

[1] Do not build an outpost in PvP sectors for no reason if you can't defend it. You can build during alerts and if there is wormheart / wormcrystal / wormtear in a sector, you can build in that sector.

[2] If there is an alert involving an enemy royal guard (castle) sector, don't build the outpost until 2m10s (unless an enemy player comes in, you can build then to prevent them from building).

[3] Concerning the guards in the royal guard (castle) sectors (sectors on the edge of the map).

1. You can attack the guards if your faction is trying to take control of the sector, you have to then lure them away from the outpost and players attacking it. (it is preferable that you be in a fighter while doing this, if there is another fighter doing the task, let them, especially if you are not in a fighter)
2. Once an outpost is built, new guards will spawn, do not attack them if an engineer with a repair beam equipped is present, if they do attack you first, go to the jumpgate, enter it and exit it again, the guards will then attack the outpost.
3. If an outpost is built and no engineer with a repair beam is present, kill all but 2 of the guards, DO NOT kill the last 2 guards, they have to to be dragged around the map.
4. You can also kill all but 2 of the guards if there is a engineer with a repair beam present, the last 2 just need to be let attack the outpost after the others are killed. (drag them to the jumgate and enter and exit)

[4] When there is an enemy Battlefleet incoming, DO NOT build any outposts, DO NOT destroy any enemy outposts. At the end of the timer there needs to be 1 person (or more, but try to get 1 person in every sector) in all non-royal guard sectors (sectors on the edge of the map) that are neutral (blue) or of your own faction. (this slows the enemy battlefleet) It is more important that there is people in Battle Class and Capital Class sectors than Assault Sectors when a Battlefleet hits.

[5] When there is a Battlefleet of your own faction incoming, get out of the PvP sectors so your faction can have fast Battlefleet.

PvE (Player vs Environment)

[1] It's is a good idea to kill pirates in lvl 2 pirate sectors (especially goldolite lvl 2 pirate sectors) for parts while you are still new to the game (after you got the wormheart from Darkwood). Make sure to mine resources while you kill them to keep production going.

[2] It seems that the faster pirates are killed the more parts drop, try give the pirates a few seconds to get closer to you at the beginning of a wave, then kill them quickly.

[3] More parts drop from lvl 1 and 2 sectors than 3-5 sectors. Also more gold parts drop from lvl 6 sectors

Alliances

[1] It is not recommended to make your own alliance at all, as this is very expensive (1000 solar), all that solar can be better spent.

[2] Rather join existing alliances and try to fill the alliances so there can be maximum DP in each.

Advanced Tips

Ship Configurations

Assault Class Fighter

[1] Speedy Config - High speed, decent firepower / defence (depending on if damage / shield booster is equipped), recommended to have at least 1 gunbot equipped, 2 gunbots will provide more firepower.

• Guns ............. Assault Blaster II + Assault Launcher II
• Boosters ....... Damage Booster / Shield Booster + Speed Booster
• Robots .......... Mechanibot / Platinum Mechanibot / Platinum Gunbot + Gunbot
• Nukes ........... Rocket Strike
• Generators ... Shield Hardener + Missile Deflector / Energy Deflector

[2] Tanky Config - Regular speed, high firepower and defence, but can use a lot of repairkits to heal damage taken, since no mechanibots are equipped. Most powerful straight up battle config.

• Guns ............. Assault Blaster II + Assault Launcher II
• Boosters ....... Damage Booster + Shield Booster
• Robots .......... Gunbot + Platinum Gunbot
• Nukes ........... Rocket Strike
• Generators ... Shield Hardener + Missile Deflector

[3] Vulture Config - Low firepower and defence, this config is used to nuke enemy players while they don't expect it, this config requires a lot of nukes.

• Guns ............. Assault Blaster II + Assault Launcher II
• Boosters ....... Damage Booster / Shield Booster / Speed Booster + Stealth Booster
• Robots .......... Mechanibot / Platinum Mechanibot / Platinum Gunbot + Gunbot
• Nukes ........... Rocket Strike
• Generators ... Shield Hardener + Missile Deflector / Energy Deflector

Assault Class Tank

Note: Tanks usually require a lot of nukes to be successful in getting kills.

[1] Long Range Config - This config makes it easy to hit players that that are at medium and long ranges from you, and is probably more versatile and easier to use. Using 2 gunbots will make this tank most effective against other players.

• Guns ............. Heavy Assault Blaster + Assault Launcher I
• Boosters ....... Damage Booster + Stealth Booster / Shield Booster / Speed Booster
• Robots .......... Mechanibot / Platinum Mechanibot / Platinum Gunbot + Gunbot
• Nukes ........... Little devils + Mini nukes / Fat devils / Slug nukes
• Generators ... Shield Hardener + Missile Deflector

[1] Short Range Config - This config makes it easy to hit players that that are close to you, but is probably less versatile and harder to finish players. Using 2 gunbots will make this tank most effective against other players.

• Guns ............. Assault Blaster I + Heavy Assault Launcher
• Boosters ....... Damage Booster + Stealth Booster / Shield Booster / Speed Booster
• Robots .......... Mechanibot / Platinum Mechanibot / Platinum Gunbot + Gunbot
• Nukes ........... Little devils + Mini nukes / Fat devils / Slug nukes
• Generators ... Shield Hardener + Energy Deflector

Assault Class Engineer

Note: It is not recommended to upgrade the the special engineer nukes (multiple heal nukes and hornets nest) as this can be very expensive. Only upgrade if you have a box engineer and you'll only use engineers in the near future.

[1] Healer Config - This config's main function is to heal and assist players of the player's own faction.

• Guns ............. Assault Repair Beam + Assault Launcher I
• Boosters ....... Speed Booster / Stealth Booster + Shield Booster
• Robots .......... Mechanibot + Platinum Mechanibot / Gunbot / None
• Nukes ........... Heal Nuke / Black Hornet
• Generators ... Shield Hardener + Nuclear Deflector

[2] Saboteur Config - This config's main function is to slow down and kill enemy players using royal guards / battlefleet. It would be a good idea to use stealth, attack a player and go back into stealth, speed boosters may be useful. You can also nuke players with the mini nuke.

• Guns ............. Assault Speed EMP + Assault Launcher I
• Boosters ....... Speed Booster / Shield Booster / Damage Booster + Stealth Booster
• Robots .......... Mechanibot / Platinum Mechanibot + Platinum Mechanibot / Gunbot / Platinum Gunbot
• Nukes ........... Black Hornet / Mini Nuke
• Generators ... Shield Hardener + Missile Deflector

[3] Attack Tooler Config - This config's main function is to kill enemy players, and can also be used like the Saboteur Config. Always have 2 gnbots equipped to make killing players easier, also have ammo on your launcher.

• Guns ............. Assault Speed EMP / Assault Repair Beam + Assault Launcher I
• Boosters ....... Damage Booster + Stealth Booster / Speed Booster / Shield Booster
• Robots .......... Gunbot + Platinum Gunbot
• Nukes ........... Mini Nuke (The Black Hornet can possibly be used if the Assault Repair Beam is equipped, but will decrease attack power by a lot)
• Generators ... Shield Hardener + Missile Deflector