Getting Started

**Welcome Cadets!**

Confederate High Command acknowledges the many losses suffered by our finest ships and personnel in the midst of an ongoing galactic catastrophe, which we are calling the Stellar Wind. Our immediate focus is to restore your fleet to its former glory.

### Fleet Building

Understandably, your fleet may have dwindled in size, but there are several ways to expand it. There are four primary avenues for acquiring new ships: ship cores, debris, squadron cores, and frames. Ship cores and debris are more accessible options. Ship cores can be found in various places, including occasional appearances during the campaign and as rewards for daily, weekly, and monthly missions. Debris, on the other hand, are often rewarded in events, daily objectives, and every 5 expeditions. Additionally, you receive two debris and a common core for free each day from the bank. It takes 60 debris to construct one ship. Squadron cores and frames, however, are more challenging to obtain. They can be purchased with Orbs or Manifolds or received from special events. While they may be harder to come by, they provide the guarantee of acquiring any desired ship.

1. Ship Cores: Ship cores are further categorized into Common Cores, Rare Cores, and Ancient Cores.
	* Common Cores: These have a distribution of 45% D-tier ships, 43% C-tier ships, and 12% B-tier ships.
	* Rare Cores: These have a distribution of 45% D-tier ships, 40% C-tier ships, 10% B-tier ships, and 5% A-tier ships.
	* Ancient Cores: These guarantee the acquisition of an A-tier ship.
2. Debris: Debris are also divided into different types based on their rarity and name.
	* Standard Debris: These can provide any ship of the same rarity as their name.
	* Rare Debris: These have a higher chance of yielding rarer ships.
	* Strange Debris: These offer unique and potentially powerful ship options.
3. Squadron Cores: Squadron cores allow you to choose a ship from a specific species or faction. For example, a Confederate Core would grant you the choice of any A-tier Confederate ship.
4. Frames: Frames are divided into Tier A and Tier B frames. Frames provide the flexibility to choose any ship of a specific tier, regardless of the ship's species or faction. Frames are extremally hard to come by, so you should save B frames for the Lost Expedition event. A frames are rewarded for completing the Eiens Relics event

As you can see, early on A-tier ships will be scarce, so your fleet will be primarily composed of B-tiers. The best ships early on are the Yorktown and Intrepid. Yorktown is an extremely tough ship, nigh unkillable to anything of a lower tier while the Intrepid deals extreme amounts of damage. These two ships are best supplemented by the Hornet, Nimitz, and Kitty Hawk \*(See below for explanation).

### Campaign

Cadets, despite being scattered across the galaxy, your objective remains unchanged. Your fleet must reach the galactic core, aiming for the central Pylon. To accomplish this, you will embark on short jumps through the remaining star systems. However, the aftermath of the cataclysm has resulted in turmoil, with each system harboring at least ten hostile fleets, be they Eien, Morling, or otherwise. Reclaiming systems under Confederate control is vital, as they provide valuable resources such as Composite Bosons, Fermi Gas, Ship Modules, Mnemocrystal, Alloy, and Orbs. Additionally, strategic points of interest like Expeditions, Rifts, Arena, Grand Arena, and the Magnetar await exploration once their respective home systems are recaptured during the Campaign.

### Rifts

Rift stations provide module for your ships, higher level modules can more than easily quadruple the power of an individual ship, so collecting modules from Battlestations are more than necessary. Higher level modules can be unlocked from later Rift stations, which in turn are unlocked by campaign progress. The best module sets overall are the Energy Stealer and Shocker sets, from station 2 and 4 respectively. Sets which give bonus armor penetration are never a bad Idea either.

### Expedition

Expeditions aren't as necessary as the previous modes, but are still a good way to obtain rare resources needed to build new ships. Expeditions grant ship debris of all quality and Isogen needed to upgrade abilities. They also give a fair bit of Orbs and alloy as well.

### Arena

Welcome to the Arena, a fierce battleground where player squadrons go head-to-head in intense combat. In this mode, you'll test your fleet's abilities in various challenging scenarios that simulate real battle situations. Discover which squadrons excel, who can heal the most, and who packs the hardest punch. Each season brings new twists, like using fully upgraded ships or other unique conditions. You have 21 attacks each day, with six being free and the rest requiring S-Caches to track enemy fleets. Seasons last two weeks, during which you'll be ranked against other players. The higher your rank, the better the rewards you'll earn.

#### Strategy

Their are two ways of going about combat: Trophy Pushing & Sandbagging

When Pushing, you assemble you best fleet for both defense and offense; allowing you to maintain your rank more easily. This is used when aiming high on the leaderboard and requires you to fight 21 fleets a day for maximum rewards.

Conversely, you could Sandbag your way to the top. By doing this you artificially lower you rating allowing you to fight much weaker squadrons with the hopes the 21 weak squadrons you fight will net you a higher rating than the day before. This also requires running 21 battles a day to make it higher on the leaderboards.

My advice, unless you're going for first place below chapter 70, Sandbagging is more effective overall if you have the Caches to spare.

#### \*

\*Hornet and Kitty Hawk may not excel individually, but their true strength lies in their ability to boost allied squadrons with drones. Hornet provides significant drone support, enhancing the combat capabilities of nearby squadrons. Kitty Hawk launches missiles that inflict damage proportional to the number of deployed drones. Additionally, Nimitz boosts the attack power of all squadrons. Together, these ships form a formidable force, leveraging drones and enhanced firepower to gain a strategic advantage in battle.