Ships are how you do anything outside your own atmosphere. They haul resources, scout other players, settle new worlds, pick debris fields clean and fight. Every one of them is built at the Shipyard on a planet you own, and once built it sits on that planet until you send it somewhere.
SFC2 has nineteen ships. Seventeen are built with ore, crystal and hydrogen. The other two, the Shadow Probe and the Genesis Solar Satellite, are bought with credits and appear instantly.
Where ships come from
Shipyard is in the top nav between Buildings and Defense. Every ship you have unlocked gets a row with its picture, its stats, a quantity box and a Build button. Ships you have not unlocked yet are not shown at all. Instead a line under the last row tells you what the next one needs, so you always know what to research next.
The Current Ships panel on the left counts what is parked on the planet you are looking at. Ships that are out on a mission are not in that count. Check the Fleets page for those.
Each row shows Base next to Current. Base is the raw number from the ship's design. Current is what that ship actually flies with, after your research is applied. A fresh account has the two columns almost equal. Later on the gap is large, and it is the Current column that decides a battle.
Ships need a Shipyard on the planetoid, and a Shipyard cannot be built on a moon. Moons only get the Lunar Base, Capitol, Oracle, Warp Gate and Lunar Dock. You can station a fleet on a moon and fly it out again, but you cannot build one there. A deployed Hephaestus platform cannot build ships either.
Build time
Only ore and crystal count toward build time. Hydrogen is charged but does not slow the job down.
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Every Shipyard level is a smaller and smaller gain, because the divisor only goes up by one. Every Foundry level halves the time outright, so a Foundry is worth far more than another Shipyard level once you are building in bulk. The two credit ships ignore the formula completely and finish instantly.
The build queue
Ships and defenses share one queue per planet. Resources come out of your stock the moment you press Build, not when the ship lands, so a queued batch is already paid for.
- The arrows next to a queued item move it up or down the line.
- Clearing the queue destroys everything in it and refunds nothing. You have to type DESTROY to confirm.
- A queue can hold up to one year of work. The Max button stops there as well as at what you can afford.
- Upgrading the Shipyard or the Foundry blocks new builds on that planet until the upgrade finishes.
There is no way to scrap a finished ship. Once it exists, the only ways to get rid of it are to lose it in battle or to leave it somewhere it gets shot.
Sending ships out
Everything leaves from the Fleets page. Pick a mission, type a destination, pick your ships, dispatch. The eight standing missions are:
- Colonization. Needs a Gaia Class Colony Ship, which is consumed on arrival. Empty slots only.
- Transport. Moves resources between your own planets.
- Deploy. Moves ships to one of your own planets and leaves them there.
- Attack. Carries no cargo out. Whatever you plunder rides home in the holds of the ships that survived.
- Espionage. Probes only, nothing else in the fleet.
- Harvest. Needs at least one recycler. Picks up a debris field.
- Fleet Save. Runs on the harvest code, so it also needs a recycler in the fleet. Sends your ships and your resources out of reach.
- Group Defend. Parks your ships over an ally or buddy planet until the fight is over.
Three more missions show up when they apply: Deploy Platform, Move Platform and Dock Platform for the Hephaestus, and Warp Gate jumps between your own moons.
You can only have so many fleets in the air at once. The cap is your A.I. Tech level plus one, and the Fleets page prints it as "x / y fleets used". A slot is held for the whole round trip, not just the outbound leg.
Solar satellites never appear in the ship list on that page. They are stationary. They generate power for the planet they were built on and they can never be moved, only destroyed.
Utility ships
Hermes Class Probe. A cheap, absurdly fast scout. Send it on espionage and you get a report on the target. How much of a report depends on your Espionage Tech against theirs. It survives and comes home unless it is shot down. Requires Shipyard 3, Jet Drive 3, Espionage Tech 2.
Shadow Probe. A credit-only probe. It is consumed on use, it cannot be seen coming, and it returns a full report no matter what either side's Espionage Tech is. You may only send one per mission, and you cannot mix it with Hermes probes. No Shipyard or research needed.
Helios Class Solar Satellite. A power plant that parks in orbit and uses no planet fields. Output depends on the planet's temperature, so it is much better on a hot inner world than an outer one. It is stationary, has almost no hull, and is easy meat in a raid. Requires Shipyard 1.
Genesis Solar Satellite. The credit version of the Helios. It produces exactly twice the energy, and about 70 percent of any that get destroyed in a battle come back for free afterwards. Nothing else to unlock.
Zagreus Class Recycler. The cheap recycler. Faster than the Dionysus but carries a quarter as much. Fine early, quickly outgrown. Requires Shipyard 2, Jet Drive 3, Energy Tech 3.
Dionysus Class Recycler. The real recycler: 20,000 cargo against the Zagreus's 5,000, for twice the price. Slow, but that rarely matters when you are collecting your own kills. Requires Shipyard 4, Jet Drive 6, Shield Tech 2.
Gaia Class Colony Ship. The only way to take a new planet slot. It is destroyed when the colony is founded, and it carries 7,500 cargo, so it is worth loading up to give the new world a start. Requires Shipyard 4, Pulse Drive 3.
Transports
Atlas Class Cargo. New accounts start with one of these, along with two Artemis and two Hermes. 5,000 cargo and very cheap fuel. At Pulse Drive 5 its engine is swapped out, which doubles its base speed and also doubles its fuel burn from 10 to 20. After the swap it is the fastest hauler in the game. Requires Shipyard 2, Jet Drive 2.
Hercules Class Cargo. Five times the hold of an Atlas for three times the price, with three times the hull. The workhorse for raiding: more capacity per resource spent, and tough enough to survive a light escort fight. Requires Shipyard 4, Jet Drive 6.
Carmanor Class Cargo. 125,000 cargo, the biggest hold on any normal ship. Slow at 4,000 base speed and never gets an engine upgrade, so it drags a mixed fleet down. Best used on its own for moving large piles between your own planets. Requires Shipyard 6, Jet Drive 10, Expedition Tech 4.
Warships
Artemis Class Fighter. The first attack ship almost everyone builds. Cheap enough to throw away, which is exactly what it is for: it soaks enemy shots that would otherwise land on something expensive. Requires Shipyard 1, Jet Drive 1.
Apollo Class Fighter. Twice the price of an Artemis for three times the gun and twice the hull, plus rapid fire on the Atlas. A good early deterrent against cargo raids. Requires Shipyard 3, Pulse Drive 2, Armor Tech 2.
Poseidon Class Cruiser. The fastest warship in the game at 15,000 base speed, and it rapid fires the Artemis six times over, which makes it the standard answer to a wall of cheap fodder. Requires Shipyard 5, Pulse Drive 4, Particle Tech 2.
Athena Class Battleship. The cheapest heavy hull per resource spent, and the backbone of most large fleets. Its weakness is that the Hades rapid fires it seven times. Requires Shipyard 7, Warp Drive 4.
Hades Class Battleship. The fleet killer. It rapid fires the Athena, Poseidon, Apollo, Hercules, Atlas and Carmanor, so it eats other people's fleets. It has no rapid fire at all against defenses, so it is the wrong tool against a fortified planet. Requires Shipyard 8, FTL Tech 5, Warp Drive 5, Laser Tech 12.
Ares Class Bomber. The siege ship. Heavy rapid fire against the Missile Battery and Laser Cannon and useful rapid fire against the Pulse and Particle Cannon, but nothing at all against ships. Bring your own escort. Its engine is swapped at Warp Drive 8, which raises its base speed from 4,000 to 5,000 and then scales it on Warp Drive instead of Pulse Drive. Requires Shipyard 8, Plasma Tech 5, Pulse Drive 6.
Prometheus Class Destroyer. The largest hull and gun you can field in normal numbers, and one of only two ships whose base attack is big enough to hurt a Hephaestus. Only the Zeus rapid fires it. Requires Shipyard 9, Warp Drive 6, FTL Tech 5.
Capital ships
Zeus Class. A moon-sized weapon with 900,000 hull and 200,000 attack that rapid fires nearly everything in the game, some of it in the hundreds. It moves at 100 speed, which means it is only ever practical inside its own solar system. Requires Shipyard 12 plus seven techs, topping out at Laser Tech 14.
Hephaestus Class Attack Platform. The most expensive unit in the game and the only one that turns into a place. Deploy it into an empty slot and it becomes a mobile base: ships stationed on it travel with it for free, it holds a billion of each resource, and it takes no planet slot. It has no gun of its own, and its 150,000 shield means most ships cannot scratch it at all. You may only have one. Requires Shipyard 13, Foundry 3, and six techs.
Ship stats
These are base numbers. Your research raises them, and the Shipyard shows you both figures side by side.
| Ship | Hull | Shield | Attack | Cargo | Speed | Fuel | Engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hermes Class Probe | 100 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 100,000,000 | 1 | Jet |
| Shadow Probe | 100 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 100,000,000 | 1 | Jet |
| Helios Class Solar Satellite | 200 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Jet |
| Genesis Solar Satellite | 200 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Jet |
| Zagreus Class Recycler | 800 | 5 | 1 | 5,000 | 3,500 | 400 | Jet |
| Dionysus Class Recycler | 1,600 | 10 | 1 | 20,000 | 2,000 | 300 | Jet |
| Gaia Class Colony Ship | 3,000 | 100 | 50 | 7,500 | 2,500 | 1,000 | Pulse |
| Atlas Class Cargo | 400 | 10 | 5 | 5,000 | 5,000 | 10 | Jet, then Pulse |
| Hercules Class Cargo | 1,200 | 25 | 5 | 25,000 | 7,500 | 50 | Jet |
| Carmanor Class Cargo | 3,600 | 100 | 10 | 125,000 | 4,000 | 120 | Jet |
| Artemis Class Fighter | 400 | 10 | 50 | 50 | 12,500 | 20 | Jet |
| Apollo Class Fighter | 850 | 25 | 150 | 100 | 10,000 | 75 | Pulse |
| Poseidon Class Cruiser | 2,700 | 50 | 400 | 800 | 15,000 | 300 | Pulse |
| Athena Class Battleship | 6,000 | 200 | 1,000 | 1,500 | 10,000 | 500 | Warp |
| Hades Class Battleship | 7,000 | 400 | 700 | 750 | 10,000 | 250 | Warp |
| Ares Class Bomber | 7,500 | 500 | 1,000 | 500 | 4,000 | 1,000 | Pulse, then Warp |
| Prometheus Class Destroyer | 11,000 | 500 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 5,000 | 1,000 | Warp |
| Zeus Class | 900,000 | 50,000 | 200,000 | 1,000,000 | 100 | 1 | Warp |
| Hephaestus Class Attack Platform | 4,000,000 | 150,000 | 0 | 1,000,000,000 | 90 | 450,000 | Warp |
Speed and fuel are only half the picture on a fleet mission. A fleet always moves at the speed of its slowest ship, and it always burns the sum of every ship's fuel. One Carmanor tacked onto a Hades wing costs you the whole difference. See Starfleet Universe for how distance, speed and fuel turn into a flight time.
Costs and requirements
Research that changes your ships
Three techs raise the stats of every ship you own, everywhere, the moment the research finishes. They are all a flat 10 percent of the base value per level, and they do not compound.
- Armor Tech adds 10 percent of base hull per level.
- Shield Tech adds 10 percent of base shield per level.
- Weapons Tech adds 10 percent of base attack per level.
At level 10 in all three, a 6,000 hull Athena flies with 12,000 hull, 400 shield and 2,000 attack. That is the number the battle engine uses.
The three drive techs do the same job for speed, but at different rates, and each one only helps the ships that use that engine.
| Engine | Speed per level | Ships |
|---|---|---|
| Jet Drive | +10% | Hermes, Shadow Probe, Helios, Genesis, Zagreus, Dionysus, Hercules, Carmanor, Artemis, and the Atlas until it upgrades |
| Pulse Drive | +20% | Gaia, Apollo, Poseidon, the Atlas after its upgrade, and the Ares until it upgrades |
| Warp Drive | +30% | Athena, Hades, Prometheus, Zeus, Hephaestus, and the Ares after its upgrade |
Two ships change engine mid-career, and both swaps happen automatically the moment the research lands.
- The Atlas swaps to Pulse Drive at Pulse Drive 5. Its base speed doubles from 5,000 to 10,000 and it starts scaling on Pulse Drive instead of Jet Drive. The part nobody mentions is that its fuel use also doubles, from 10 to 20 per jump.
- The Ares swaps to Warp Drive at Warp Drive 8. Base speed goes from 4,000 to 5,000 and then scales on Warp Drive. Fuel is unchanged.
Rapid fire
A ship with rapid fire against a target gets extra shots in the same round. A rating of x5 means that once it hits one, there is a 4 in 5 chance it fires again straight away, and it keeps rolling until it fails. The formula is (rating - 1) / rating, so x2 is 50 percent and x7 is about 86 percent. The follow-up shot picks a fresh random target, so rapid fire against a common hull raises that ship's whole output for the round rather than just killing the one unit it started on. A shot that bounces off a shield ends the chain.
Rapid fire is the largest multiplier in the game, and it is why a fleet built around the wrong hull loses to a cheaper one.
Every ship's More Info button lists what it rapid fires and what rapid fires it, so you never have to guess.
Every armed ship, every cargo ship, both recyclers and the Gaia rapid fire all four probes and satellites at x5. The Zeus does it at x1250. That is left out of the table below because it applies to nearly everything. What is left is the part that decides real fights:
| Ship | Rapid fire against |
|---|---|
| Apollo Class Fighter | Atlas x3 |
| Poseidon Class Cruiser | Artemis x6 |
| Hades Class Battleship | Athena x7, Apollo x4, Poseidon x4, Atlas x3, Hercules x3, Carmanor x2 |
| Prometheus Class Destroyer | Hades x2 |
| Zeus Class | Zagreus x500, Atlas x250, Dionysus x250, Gaia x250, Hercules x250, Artemis x200, Carmanor x125, Apollo x100, Poseidon x33, Athena x30, Ares x25, Hades x15, Prometheus x5 |
Only four ships have any rapid fire against planet defenses. This is the whole list, and it is the reason an attack on a defended planet needs Ares bombers in it.
| Ship | Rapid fire against defenses |
|---|---|
| Poseidon Class Cruiser | Missile Battery x10 |
| Ares Class Bomber | Laser Cannon x20, Missile Battery x20, Particle Cannon x10, Pulse Cannon x10 |
| Prometheus Class Destroyer | Laser Cannon x10 |
| Zeus Class | Laser Cannon x200, Missile Battery x200, Particle Cannon x100, Pulse Cannon x100, Gauss Cannon x50 |
When ships die
Thirty percent of the ore and crystal that went into a destroyed ship lands in a debris field over the planet. Both sides' losses go in the same pile, and anyone with recyclers can come and take it, which is why you should harvest your own kills before someone else does. Destroyed defenses leave nothing at all.
Ships parked on a planet fight automatically when it is attacked. They are not a substitute for defenses, because a defense that dies is mostly rebuilt for free while a ship that dies is gone, but a fleet sitting at home is a real deterrent and it is one of the most common ways players lose everything overnight. If you cannot win the fight, move the fleet.
One thing can bring ships back. Alliances that have bought the Repair Dock perk recover a share of the ships a member loses defending their own planet, 10 percent per level and 70 percent at the top level, and the owner has seven days to claim them from the Shipyard page.
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Transports of the "Charon's" design class are mainly intended to ferry robotic drones between any two planets, but SFC2 does not show any signs of having any such drones available. Yet.
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