Galactic Civilizations IV – Space Combat Guide for New Players

Here’s a simple guide to space combat in Galactic Civilizations 4 Supernova. This guide is all about learning the basics of combat in the game. We hope it helps you grasp the combat mechanics and create strong fleets.

Weaponry

In Galactic Civilizations 4 Supernova, you’ve got three types of weapons: Raketten, Beams, and Kinetic. The cool thing is that Missiles and Beams can do something called “volley fire.” It’s like when they work together in a coordinated way to attack.

Volley Fire

Nu, in het spel, if your ships have Missile and Beam weapons, they can use that cool volley fire thing on the galaxy map when facing hostile ships or life forms. Missiles can reach targets up to 4 tiles away, while Beam weapons have a range of 2 tiles.

There’s a nifty tech called “Space War Tactics” that lets your ships and starbases use volley fire automatically against bad guys if they haven’t used it in the last turn. Dus, it’s kind of like a smart way to fight in space!

Wapens

Let’s talk more about the different weapon types in Galactic Civilizations 4 Supernova:

1. Missile Weapons: These are the long-range champions, with a range of 5000 meter. But they’re a bit slow, inname 5 turns to reload, and they’re not super accurate, met -50% nauwkeurigheid. Nog steeds, they can do that cool volley fire up to 4 tiles away on the galaxy map.
2. Beam Weapons: Beams are your reliable, medium-range friends, with a range of 2000 meter. They reload in 3 draait, and they’re quite accurate with a 90% hit rate. Like Missiles, they can also do that volley fire, but their range for it is up to 2 tiles on the galaxy map.
3. Kinetic Weapons: These are the close-range brawlers, with a range of 500 meter. They reload super fast in just 1 draai, but their accuracy is at a medium level, 67%. Echter, they can’t do volley fire, so they’re all about getting up close and personal in a fight.

Weaponry	Range	Cooldown	Speciaal	Volley Fire
Raketten	5000M	5 Draaien	-50% Nauwkeurigheid	4 Tegels
Beam	2000M	3 Draaien		2 Tegels
Kinetic	500M	1 Draai

Defenses

When it comes to defending your ships in Galactic Civilizations 4 Supernova, there are three types of defenses to consider: Ontduiking, Schilden, and Armor. Each of them plays a role in protecting your ships during combat.

Ontduiking: Evasion is like your ship’s first dodge move. It helps your ship avoid getting hit by enemy attacks. If the dodge works, no damage happens. But if the dodge fails, damage occurs. Echter, this damage can be lessened if you have Shields or Armor.

Schilden: Shields are like energy barriers that soak up incoming damage. They’re your ship’s second layer of defense. Any damage that gets past evasion is subtracted from your ship’s Shields. Once the Shields are down to zero, further damage might be mitigated by Armor, if you have it.

Pantser: Armor is your ship’s final defense. When your ship takes damage and has armor, there’s a roll to see if the armor can lessen the blow. If the roll is successful, the damage is reduced. Maar hier is het addertje onder het gras: after every hit, the armor’s effectiveness decreases, and it depletes after 20 hits, regardless of the damage amount. Dus, it’s not a permanent defense, and it can be worn down by sustained attacks.

It’s smart to balance these defenses when designing your ships rather than going all-in on one type. This is a bit different from how things worked in previous Galactic Civilizations games, so keep these defense strategies in mind for successful combat in the game!

Schepen

In Galactic Civilizations 4 Supernova, there are six types of ships: Fighter, Bomber, Fregat, Cruiser, Battleship, and Dreadnought. The Battleships and Dreadnoughts are extra special because they’re considered Capital Ships, which means they’re these big, powerful, and pricey combat ships.

Each ship type has its own job and works differently in a fight. To build a successful fleet, it’s usually a good idea to mix things up, kind of like a teamwork approach. That means having a variety of ships that can work together and support each other, creating a well-rounded and effective fleet.

Targeting Priority

Each ship type has a Targeting Priority which can be seen in the Ship Designer.

In the above screenshot, we see the Targeting Priorities for a Fighter.

Dus, here’s how it works: in Galactic Civilizations 4 Supernova, Fighters have a strategy. They go after Bombers first, and once they’ve taken out all the Bombers, they’ll switch to targeting Fighters. They keep doing this for each type of ship in the list until they finally set their sights on Capital ships. It’s like they’ve got this plan to systematically take out different threats one by one.

Combat Roles

• Fighters: These are your quick and nimble ships. They lead the fleet and have a +50% evasion, which means they’re really good at dodging attacks. Fighters are best at targeting Bombers first, and it’s a good idea to equip them with Kinetic weapons because of their speedy approach.
• Bombers: Bombers go after the big guys, the Capital Ships, Eerst. In het vroege spel, Kinetic bombers work well, and as the game progresses, it’s a smart move to mix in some Missile bombers. These Missile bombers can attack from a distance to weaken Capital ships’ schilden, while Kinetic Bombers help shred the heavy armor of Dreadnoughts when they get closer.
• Frigates: Frigates have a +50% accuracy bonus and average speed. They’re great at targeting Bombers. Equipping them with Beam weapons is recommended.
• Cruisers: Cruisers don’t have any special traits, but they have average speed and focus on taking down Capital Ships. It’s a good idea to mix Beam and Kinetic weapons for them.
• Battleships: Like Cruisers, Battleships don’t have special traits either. They are slower but also target Capital Ships first. A mix of Beam and Missile weapons is recommended for Battleships.
• Dreadnoughts: Dreadnoughts are the big, slow guys in the fleet, but they’re also focused on taking out Capital Ships first. You should equip them with Missile weapons for effective combat.

Hull	Target Priority	Recommended Weapons
Fighter	Bombers	Kinetic
Bomber	Capitals	Kinetic or Missile
Fregat	Bombers	Beam/Kinetic mix
Cruiser	Capitals	Missile/Beam mix
Battleship	Capitals	Missile/Beam mix
Dreadnought	Capitals	Raket

Fleets

In het spel, you need Logistics Points to make fleets. When you start playing, you usually have 10 Logistic Points. Different types of ships need different amounts of Logistics to be part of a fleet.

If you’re new to the game, it’s a good idea to create fleets like a pyramid. That means most of your fleet should have Fighters and Bombers, then some Frigates, Cruisers, and eventually Dreadnoughts.

Bijvoorbeeld, als je dat hebt 18 Logistic Points, your fleet might look like this: 4 Fighters, 4 Bombers, 2 Frigates, en 1 Cruiser.

You can get more Logistics Points by advancing in the Engineering tech tree or from other sources.

Hull	Logistics
Fighter	1
Bomber	1
Fregat	2
Cruiser	6
Battleship	12
Dreadnought	18