Spacecraft

The spacecraft designer

Craft Stat Panel Highlighted to see effects of Component Changes in Green/Red

Spacecraft (or craft for short) are aircraft-like small vehicles that can be launched from hangars on larger ships. They can perform a number of roles, including scouting, electronic warfare, anti-missile and anti-craft fire, and anti-ship strikes. Their ability to receive orders after launch makes them more flexible than other tools such as cruise missiles.

Spacecraft Mechanics

Controls

Right-Click Commands

Craft are controlled similarly to ships, but with context-sensitive actions depending on the item the cursor is pointing at when right-clicked. Where multiple valid controls exist, additional commands may be accessed by holding Shift.

Right-click commands

Object clicked	Modifier	Requirements	Action	Explanation
Space		None	Move	Opens the dial widget to allow movement. Holding Shift will allow placement of waypoints as normal. May also be opened via the ship 'move to position' hotkey.
Friendly Ship		None	Guard/Orbit	Craft will move into a holding pattern moving around the target ship. If it has anti-craft/missile armaments, it will be slaved to the ship's PD controller and will attack incoming threats.
Friendly Ship	Shift	Landing Pad	Land	Craft will line up and attempt to land on the target ship. It will orbit the ship until a landing pad is free and the ship is within flight quarters speeds.
Friendly Craft		None	Guard/Orbit	Craft will move into a holding pattern moving around the target craft. If it has anti-craft/missile armaments, it will be slaved to the craft's PD controller and will attack incoming threats.
Friendly Craft	Shift	Target of same craft type	Merge flight	Craft will join with the target craft/flight to form a unified flight.
Enemy Ship		None	Attack Ship	Craft will move towards the target ship and attempt to attack it with appropriate weapons. Behaviour is dependent on the craft's set stance toggles. Craft will automatically deauthorise weapons that cannot harm ships when given an attack ship order.
Enemy Ship	Shift	Craft has standoff illuminator/Jammer/EO module	Designate target for Illumination/Jamming/Scanning	Craft will move into range of the target with its module and enter a holding pattern, attempting to keep the target jammed/illuminated/scanned.
Enemy Craft		None	Attack Craft	Craft will move toward the target craft/flight and attempt to attack it with appropriate weapons. Behaviour is dependent on the craft's set stance toggles. Craft will automatically deauthorise weapons that cannot harm craft when given an attack craft order.

Stance Controls

The craft stance controls

Spacecraft behaviour is controlled by toggling behaviors in the craft stance control board, similarly to ship postures. Spacecraft launch with the default stances shown on the right. The stances are:

HBURN (Engine Hard Burn)

State	Behaviour
OFF	Craft will fly at their cruise speed, using the regular amount of fuel.
ON	Craft will fly at their hard-burn speed, (usually 1.5x cruise speed) and increased fuel consumption (varies by craft type)

FORM (Formation Type)

State	Behaviour
WEDGE	Craft flights will fly in a wedge-shaped pattern, pointing in the direction of travel.
LINE	Craft flights will fly in a line-shaped pattern, perpendicular to the direction of travel.
CROSS	Craft flights will fly in a cross-shaped pattern, perpendicular to the direction of travel.
ECHE	Craft flights will fly in an echelon (diagonal line) shaped pattern.

Craft not in formation will speed up faster than their top speed in attempt to form up; this includes when swapping formation.

MNVR (Maneuvering posture)

State	Behaviour
DIRECT	Craft will fly straight towards their destination, and remain still when loitering.
JUKE	Craft will constantly make small directional changes as they fly or loiter.
EVADE	Craft will constantly make large directional changes as they fly or loiter.

STNCE (Stance)

State	Behaviour
PSV	Craft will follow orders normally, unless dogfighting AI is triggered due to an enemy craft attack.
AGRSV	When not already attacking, craft attack the nearest enemy craft within about 5 km. Does not trigger on missiles.
EVASV	Craft will not automatically engage enemy craft, including when attacked or while guarding. They still dodge attacks with their normal evasion.

WRTB (Return To Base, by Weapon Status)

State	Behaviour
SKOSH	Craft will automatically return to base once all missiles in the flight are expended.
WINCH	Craft will automatically return to base once all ammo, including guns, in the flight is expended.
NEVER	Craft will not automatically return to base.

COHER (Combat Coherence)

State	Behaviour
AUTO	Craft will attack multiple different targets if assigned to attack a craft/missile but will attack the selected target if ordered to attack a ship.
FOCUS	Craft will always attack the selected target.
SPLIT	Craft will always attack multiple different targets.

SALVO (Missile/Bomb Salvo Size)

State	Behaviour
AUTO	Craft will fire as if on UNLIM against ships but will reduce missile amounts against craft/missiles.
ONE	Craft will not fire more missiles against a target if one missile is already in flight for that target. Resets on re-issuing attack order.
TWO	Craft will not fire more missiles against a target if two missiles are already in flight for that target. Resets on re-issuing attack order.
THREE	Craft will not fire more missiles against a target if three missiles are already in flight for that target. Resets on re-issuing attack order.
FOUR	Craft will not fire more missiles against a target if four missiles are already in flight for that target. Resets on re-issuing attack order.
UNLIM	Craft will fire missiles regardless of missiles already in flight.

• The following rules about craft behavior applies for all craft launched with missiles; craft launched only with guns will follow old behavior (i.e. always closing to the range of the shortest range weapon, which is the gun).
• * Craft ordered to attack other craft loiter at about 75% of their missiles' maximum range (and, on STND-IN, no farther than about 4 km), or where they already were if that was closer, and fire missiles at the enemy group.
• Craft will not automatically close with the enemy group to use guns, even when out of missiles.
• Craft will only dogfight with guns if the enemy is within about 1 km beyond gun range, or they were already in gun range when the attack order was issued.

RANGE (Attack Range)

State	Anti-Craft	Anti-Ship
STND-IN	Close to 4000m or 75% of munition max range, whichever is closer	Close to 4000m or 95% of munition max range, whichever is closer
STND-OF	Close to 75% of munition max range	Close to 95% of munition max range
GUN	Close to gun range	Same as STND-IN Anti-Ship

ATGT (Attack Target)

State	Behaviour
ALL	Craft target random aimpoints like a ship would
ENGINE	Craft target drives and main thrusters
DEFWEP	Craft target Point Defense weapons
OFFWEP	Craft target Offensive weapons
SENSOR	Craft target Radar Panels

RADAR (Radar Emissions Control)

State	Behaviour
ON	Craft turn Radar(s) on
OFF	Craft turn Radar(s) off for a −5% Radar signature reduction, equivalent to a ×0.99 Detection range modifier

DEFND (Missile Self-Defense)

State	Behaviour
AUTO	Craft will evade missiles automatically according to the table here
MAN	Evades missiles only during a 30 s window opened with Left Shift + Z. Pressing it again while the window is open restarts the window and makes every craft in the flight drop one pattern at once.

DFTAC (Missiles Self-Defense Tactics)

State	Behaviour
AUTO	Evades missiles automatically. Craft will follow the default evasion behavior for the seeker targeting them described here.
NOTCH	Always notch, starting at 5 s from impact.
SCRAM	Always flee, starting at 5 s from impact.
OUT-G	Jink, starting later, at 3 s or less from impact. Craft will attempt to out-pull the missile as it gets close

CMSR (Countermeasure Usage)

State	Behaviour
AUTO	As in the table here. With DFTAC set to NOTCH, SCRAM or OUT-G, a pattern is dropped only against radar or wake seekers.
ALL	A pattern on every evasion, even if the seeker type is not seduced by them, including evasions from enemy gunfire.
NEVER	No automatic patterns. Manual patterns using Left Shift + Z are still accepted

Craft Stats

(Size, HP, Threat Size, etc.)
Tanto/Pike/Barracuda each achieve cruise and Hburn speed 1 m/s faster than their stat screen indicates. The 33% top speed penalty brings them to their old speeds, the 17% top speed penalty is generated when a fighter's loadout is 1.0 weight, such as when equipping jam pods and no other weight.

ANS

Name	Type	Base Cost	Size/Pad Size	PD Threat Size	HP	Armor	CMD Control Cap	Speed m/s (Idle/Cruise/Hburn)	Speed m/s -17% (Idle/Cruise/Hburn)	Speed m/s -33% (Idle/Cruise/Hburn)	Fuel (Capacity/Loiter Time/Range)
RS-35 Halberd	Skiff	15	1/6x6	1	130/+30	3mm	1/+1	20/45/68	N/A	N/A	1,200/33:20/36km
E-44 Sundial	SEWAC	75	2/10x10	1	135/+30	3mm	0	25/60/90	N/A	N/A	2000/42:40/60km
PF-440 Tanto	Interceptor	8	1/6x6	2	50/+30	1.75mm/+1.25mm	0/+1	35/113/169	35/94/141	35/75/113	1200/11:26/73km
B-86 Claymore	Bomber	12	2/10x10	3	135/+30	3mm/+1.25mm	0/+6	30/65/98	N/A	N/A	2000/13:20/43km

OSP

Name	Type	Base Cost	Size/Pad Size	PD Threat Size	HP	Armor	CMD Control Cap	Speed m/s (Idle/Cruise/Hburn)	Speed m/s -17% (Idle/Cruise/Hburn)	Speed m/s -33% (Idle/Cruise/Hburn)	Fuel (Capacity/Loiter Time/Range)
RS-35 Halberd	Skiff	15	1/6x6	1	130/+30	3mm	1/+1	20/45/68	N/A	N/A	1,200/33:20/36km
RF-286 Pike	Scout	8	1/6x6	1	40/+30	1mm	0	40/131/196	N/A	40/88/132	500/11:07/65km
PF-386 Barracuda	Strike Fighter	8	1/6x6	2	60/+30	1.75mm/+1.25mm	0/+1	35/101/176	35/84/147	35/67/118	900/10:00/60km (1,900 with Fuel Tanks)
B-45 Sturgeon	Bomber	12	2/10x10	3	135/+30	3mm/+1.25mm	0/+6	30/60/90	N/A	N/A	1700/13:36/41km

Craft guns

Gun	Mounted on	Fire mode	Rate of fire	Ammo	Closes to	Max range	Spread at 1 km
35mm Gun (turret)	RS-35 Halberd nose and mission package	Continuous	480 rpm	300	1,575 m	1,750 m	1.7 m
35mm Gun (fixed)	PF-440 Tanto, PF-386 Barracuda nose	2 s bursts, 2 s pause	360 rpm	250	1,225 m	1,750 m	1.7 m
20mm Gun	Tanto, Barracuda, RF-286 Pike nose	1 s bursts, 2 s pause	900 rpm	300	1,225 m	1,750 m	5.2 m
15mm Coilgun (7 pts)	Tanto nose	Single shots	60 rpm	6	1,500 m	1,500 m (min. 400 m)	0.9 m
35mm Gun Pods	Tanto wings	2 s bursts, 2 s pause	360 rpm	100	1,400 m	1,750 m	1.7 m
35mm Gun Pods	Barracuda lower wings	2 s bursts, 2 s pause	360 rpm	100	1,225 m	1,750 m	1.7 m
100mm Gun Pods	B-45 Sturgeon inner wings	Single shots, alternating barrels	120 rpm	20	5,760 m	7,200 m	8.7 m
R-1 Rocket Pods	Barracuda wings	Single shots, alternating	60 rpm	6	2,380 m	2,975 m	17.5 m
R-1 Rocket Pods	Sturgeon inner wings	Single shots, alternating	60 rpm	20	2,380 m	2,975 m	1.7 m

• "Closes to" is the range craft approach to before firing. Once a target is in reach, a gun fires out to the full range of its ammunition.
• "Spread at 1 km" is the width of the firing cone 1 km out, as shown in the craft editor. The Barracuda's rocket pods spread 10 times wider than the Sturgeon's.
• The Halberd's 35mm guns are turrets: 90°/s traverse, ±20° elevation. The nose turret is limited to ±90° traverse; the mission turret has no limit.
• A gun fires only when all of these hold:
  • the predicted lead point is lined up with the barrel, within 10–60 m depending on the gun;
  • the lead point is within range, and no closer than 5% of the ammunition's range: 88 m for 20mm and 35mm guns, 150 m for rockets, 360 m for the 100mm pods and 400 m for the coilgun;
  • no terrain or friendly ship is in the way.
• Fixed guns need the whole craft pointed at the lead point.
• Against ships, guns aim at a random point on the hull, picked again on each attack run, unless the ATGT setting selects a subsystem. Against craft and missiles they aim at the centre.
• The 20mm Gun never fires at ships.
• Craft dogfight with guns when the enemy craft is within gun range + 1 km, when they launched without missiles or rockets, or when RANGE is set to GUN.
• On a gun run, craft match the target's speed.

Craft Radar Stats

Craft radars are broadly very similar, though they have some small differences.

Craft	Radar Shape	FOV	Range	Radiated Power	Gain	Aperture Size	Sensitivity	Positional Error	Velocity Error	Can Lock?	Lock Error Mult.
RS-35 Halberd	Omnidirectional	360	4000m	750kW	60dB	20m2	-35	35m	1m/s	Yes	.05
Internal Radar (Advanced)	Omnidirectional	360	8000m	750kW	90dBm	40m2	-39dB	40m	1m/s	Yes	0.05 (lock held only within 2,000 m)
E-44 Sundial	Omnidirectional	360	10000m	750kW	100dB	80m2	-39	40m	1m/s	No	N/A
PF-386 Barracuda	Front-Facing Cone	60 deg.	3000m	750kW	60dB	20m2	-35	25m	2.5m/s	Yes	.05
PF-440 Tanto	Front-Facing Cone	60 deg.	3000m	750kW	60dB	20m2	-35	25m	2.5m/s	Yes	.05
RF-286 Pike	Front-Facing Cone	60 deg.	3000m	750kW	60dB	20m2	-35	30m	.5m/s	No	N/A
B-45 Sturgeon	Front-Facing Cone	60 deg.	4000m	750kW	60dB	20m2	-35	30m	.5m/s	Yes	.05
B-86 Claymore	Front-Facing Cone	60 deg.	4000m	750kW	60dB	20m2	-35	25m	.5m/s	Yes	.05

How facing changes the return

• Ships use a fixed table of 162 directions. Their displayed signature is the maximum, and most angles are lower.
• Craft and missiles use a radar box fixed to the airframe. Their radar cross-section (RCS) is the area of that box as the radar sees it: each face counts by how squarely it faces the radar.
• The return is smallest nose-on or tail-on.
• It is largest when the radar sees the side, top and nose at once, for example with the craft banked 45°. That happens about 57–63° off the nose for craft, and 65–75° for missiles.
• In level flight the largest return is only 1.24–1.35× the side-on value for craft, and 1.07–1.20× for missiles.
• The displayed craft signature is the side-on value.
  • For craft, the banked peak is 1.6–1.7× the displayed value, and nose-on is 0.73–0.91×.
  • For missiles, the banked peak is about 1.5× the side-on value, and nose-on is 0.38–0.66×.
• Pitch, yaw and roll all change the return, because the box turns with the airframe.
• The same value is used by search radars on ships and craft, by track accuracy, and by missile seekers. A ship holding a fire-control lock reuses the last value computed for that target.
• Detection range grows with the fourth root of the RCS: doubling the RCS gives about 19% more range.
  • A craft seen nose-on is detected at 0.82–0.86× the range of its peak angle.
  • A missile seen nose-on is detected at 0.71–0.81× that range.

The side-on value, which is the displayed signature, is not the largest return. Banked craft peak at 1.6–1.7× about 60° off the nose (Peak column below).

Craft and missile cross-sections

Craft radar cross-section by angle (m², before modifiers)

Craft	Radar box, m (width × height × length)	Side-on (displayed)	Nose-on	45° off nose, level	Peak, banked 45° (angle off nose)
PF-440 Tanto	42 × 42 × 46	1,932	1,764	2,613	3,252 (57°)
RF-286 Pike	44 × 44 × 60	2,640	1,936	3,236	4,206 (63°)
PF-386 Barracuda	57.5 × 57.5 × 70	4,025	3,306	5,184	6,583 (60°)
B-86 Claymore	42.5 × 42.5 × 55	2,338	1,806	2,930	3,767 (61°)
B-45 Sturgeon	77.5 × 77.5 × 90	6,975	6,006	9,179	11,549 (59°)
RS-35 Halberd, E-44 Sundial	90 × 90 × 110	9,900	8,100	12,728	16,175 (60°)

Detection ranges

Detection range in km: nose-on / side-on / peak. Stock radar stats; no jamming, burnthrough or hull modifiers.

Target	RS35 Frontline radar (8 km)	RS41 Spyglass radar (11.5 km)	R550 Early Warning radar (18 km)	E-44 Sundial	ADVR Skiff Radar
PF-440 Tanto	5.0 / 5.1 / 5.8	8.5 / 8.7 / 9.9	9.9 / 10.2 / 11.6	8.5 / 8.7 / 9.95
Tanto with Stealth Coating	4.2 / 4.3 / 4.9	7.1 / 7.3 / 8.3	8.4 / 8.5 / 9.7
RF-286 Pike	5.1 / 5.5 / 6.2	8.7 / 9.4 / 10.5	10.2 / 11.0 / 12.3
PF-386 Barracuda	5.8 / 6.1 / 6.9	9.9 / 10.4 / 11.5†	11.6 / 12.2 / 13.8
B-86 Claymore	5.0 / 5.4 / 6.0	8.5 / 9.1 / 10.2	10.0 / 10.7 / 12.0
B-45 Sturgeon	6.8 / 7.0 / 8.0	11.5 / 11.5† / 11.5†	13.5 / 14.0 / 15.9
RS-35 Halberd, E-44 Sundial	7.3 / 7.7 / 8.0†	11.5† / 11.5† / 11.5†	14.5 / 15.3 / 17.3
S1-size missile	2.7 / 3.4 / 3.8	4.6 / 5.8 / 6.4	5.4 / 6.9 / 7.5
S2-size missile	3.9 / 4.3 / 4.8	6.5 / 7.2 / 8.1	7.7 / 8.5 / 9.5
SGT-300 Pilum	4.2 / 5.4 / 5.9	7.2 / 9.1 / 10.0	8.4 / 10.7 / 11.8

† The radar's maximum range is reached first. The game adds half the target's length to the maximum, so these targets are seen up to 55 m beyond it.

• Craft radars reach 3 km (fighters) or 4 km (Halberd, Claymore, Sturgeon). A 3 km craft radar sees every craft out to its full range. A 4 km one falls slightly short against the Tanto, Pike and Claymore from some angles (3.7–4.0 km).
• Against small missiles craft radars fall well short. A 4 km craft radar sees a Balestra-size missile at 2.0 / 2.6 / 2.8 km.
• The E-44 Sundial's 10 km radar sees a Tanto at 8.5 / 8.7 / 9.95 km.

Signature modifiers

Source	Radar signature	Detection range
Stealth Coating (craft fuselage)	−50%	×0.84
Flight of 6–10 craft	+15%	×1.04
Flight of 11–15 craft	+30%	×1.07
Flight radars off	−5%	×0.99
Radar Absorbent Coating (missile support module)	−40%	×0.88

• Craft modifiers multiply: the craft's own stat × the flight's stat.
• The flight-size values are the defaults in the game code. The values set for flights in the game data were not read.
• If a flight has two modifiers, the smaller one counts at only about 37% of its value. A flight of 6–10 craft with radars off is +13%, not +10%.

Craft countermeasures

A pattern is a string of chaff packets dropped from under a craft as it flies. The packets form one decoy cloud that traces the craft's path. Every craft has a Countermeasures socket that holds one of three launchers.

	Standard CM Launcher	High-Capacity CM Launcher	High-Coherence CM Launcher
Cost (pts)	0	2	2
Pattern Count	4	8	4
Shots Per Pattern	10	10	20
Shot Spacing	0.25 s	0.25 s	0.125 s
Time to lay a pattern	2.25 s	2.25 s	2.375 s
Packet lifetime	6 s	6 s	6 s
Cloud lifetime	8.25 s	8.25 s	8.375 s
Radar return multiplier	×1	×1	×2
Wake strength	100	100	200
Sets off missile fuzes	No	No	Blast-frag warheads, 33% per contact

The second to fourth rows use the in-game stat names. Each shot drops one chaff packet. The game shows the High-Coherence spacing as 0.13 s; the exact value is 0.125 s.

The chaff cloud

• Packets drop 8 m below the craft and stay where they were dropped.
• The cloud is one box around all live packets, padded by 10 m.
  • Length = craft speed × 2.25 s + 10 m (2.375 s for High-Coherence).
  • Thickness is at least 10 m. Craft jink while evading, which makes it thicker.
• The cloud is full size from the last packet until 6 s. After 6 s it shrinks from the oldest end. It is gone at 8.25 s (8.375 s for High-Coherence).
• The box is aligned to the map axes, not to the flight path. A trail flown diagonally across the map makes a larger box.
• Its radar return is the area of the box as the radar sees it, times the multiplier. Seen side-on, a cloud returns its length × 10 m. Seen end-on, it returns at least 100 m² (200 m² for High-Coherence).
• Its wake can be seen from all directions. A craft's own wake is strength 1 before modifiers and can only be seen within 75° of its tail.
• It fools active radar, semi-active radar and wake seekers.
• It does nothing against EO (electro-optical), passive radar or home-on-jam seekers. Missiles with an EO validator reject it.
• It is not flagged as a point-defense target, so seekers set to ignore small targets still see it.
• It cannot be shot down.
• Pattern counts refill when the craft is relaunched.

Cloud radar return seen side-on, straight flight along a map axis at cruise speed (rounded)

Craft	Cruise speed	Standard	High-Coherence	The craft itself, side-on
RS-35 Halberd	45 m/s	1,110 m²	2,340 m²	9,900 m²
E-44 Sundial	60 m/s	1,450 m²	3,050 m²	9,900 m²
B-45 Sturgeon	60 m/s	1,450 m²	3,050 m²	6,975 m²
B-86 Claymore	65 m/s	1,560 m²	3,290 m²	2,338 m²
PF-386 Barracuda	100 m/s	2,350 m²	4,950 m²	4,025 m²
PF-440 Tanto	112 m/s	2,620 m²	5,520 m²	1,932 m²
RF-286 Pike	130 m/s	3,030 m²	6,380 m²	2,640 m²

Cruise speeds are from the spaceframe data. The wiki's craft table lists the Tanto, Barracuda and Pike at 1 m/s faster.

A Standard cloud from a Tanto grows for 2.25 s, holds 262 m until 6 s, and is gone at 8.25 s. Its side-on return is the length × 10 m (Tanto row above).

When craft drop countermeasures

• Craft drop countermeasures only while evading. An evasion starts when a missile is 5 s or less from impact (3 s or less with DFTAC OUT-G).
• Each evasion drops at most one pattern, at its start. An evasion lasts up to 6 s.
• When a different threat becomes the most urgent, a new evasion starts and drops a new pattern. A staggered salvo can use up several patterns.
• A new pattern can't start until 2.5 s after the previous one began.
• Craft know the incoming missile's seeker types without needing intel on it.

Evasion manoeuvres:

• Notch: fly straight away from the missile for 1.5 s (2.5 s when the Halberd, Barracuda, Pike or Tanto notches against a seeker that is neither radar nor wake), then turn across its path, presenting a side profile in the hopes that seduced missiles will be unable to re-acquire. The pattern drops at the start, while the craft is still flying away, so the trail is usually not side-on to the missile.
• Scoot: turn onto a new, partly random course. The code tilts the direction to the missile by angles fixed to the map, so the course is not at a set angle to the missile.
• Flee: fly straight away from the threat.
• Jink: turn hard across the line to the threat. DFTAC OUT-G uses this against missiles.
• Sweeping turn: turn around to face an attacker behind the craft.

Default evasion against missiles (DFTAC AUTO, CMSR AUTO)

Missile seeker	Halberd, Barracuda, Pike, Tanto	Claymore, Sturgeon, Sundial
Radar, or radar + wake	Notch + pattern	Notch + pattern
Wake only	Scoot + pattern	Scoot + pattern
Any other	Notch, no pattern	Flee + pattern

Against gunfire from enemy craft:

• The Halberd, Barracuda and Pike jink when two or more enemy guns are firing at them and the fire is 1 s from impact. Two guns on one enemy craft count as two.
• The Tanto turns to face an attacker behind it under the same conditions, and its flight-mates are ordered to attack the shooter.
• The Claymore, Sturgeon and Sundial flee when gunfire is 5 s from impact.
• The same gun can't trigger another evasion until 12 s after the last one started.
• None of these drop a pattern unless CMSR is set to ALL.

Stance settings

Setting	Behaviour
CMSR (countermeasure use) AUTO	As in the table above. With DFTAC set to NOTCH, SCRAM or OUT-G, a pattern only against radar or wake seekers.
CMSR ALL	A pattern on every evasion, including evasions from enemy gunfire.
CMSR NEVER	No automatic patterns.
DEFND (missile self-defense) AUTO	Evades missiles automatically.
DEFND MAN	Evades missiles only during a 30 s window opened with Left Shift + Z. Pressing it again while the window is open restarts the window and makes every craft in the flight drop one pattern at once.
DFTAC (missile self-defense tactics) NOTCH	Always notch, starting at 5 s from impact.
DFTAC SCRAM	Always flee, starting at 5 s from impact.
DFTAC OUT-G	Jink, starting later, at 3 s or less from impact.

Gunfire evasion does not depend on DEFND.

High-Coherence and proximity fuzes

• The High-Coherence cloud is solid to missile proximity fuzes.
• A missile with a blast-fragmentation warhead has a 33% chance to detonate on the cloud each time its fuze touches it.
• The only stock missile with an older-style proximity warhead, the FBU-15 bomb, is set to detonate on ships only, so it ignores the cloud.
• Flak shells don't detect the cloud.
• Standard and High-Capacity clouds don't set off fuzes.

Other craft decoys

• Missile Decoy Projector (B-86 Claymore, Support, 10 pts)
  • Fires when the Claymore launches a missile at a ship.
  • Launches 3 decoys, 0.25 s apart, toward the target inside a 3° cone, at 1.04× the speed of the missile they cover.
  • 2 patterns per sortie, with a 5 s reset after each.
  • Each decoy has 15 HP and flies for up to 20 s. Its radar box is a 100 m cube at ×2.5 return, about 25,000 m² seen face-on.
  • Each decoy is flagged as both a point-defense target and a decoy. Enemy PD turrets give priority to decoys flying straight at them. Defensive missiles never engage decoys. Seekers set to ignore small targets ignore them.
• Sprinter Masquerade (ANS RS-35 Halberd) and Ferryman Masquerade (OSP RS-35A Halberd)
  • Mission package, 15 pts, mass 4.
  • The craft shows on enemy sensors as a Sprinter corvette or a Ferryman clipper until it is identified.

Designing Craft

(Different types of craft, ships that can carry craft, etc.)

Loadouts (ANS)

Example Tanto Craft Screen

RS-35 Halberd

Classification	N	E1	E2	E3	E4	MP
Missiles & Pods		S1	S1	S1	S1
Other Munitions	35mm*					35mm*

Component	Option 1	Option 2	Option 3
Nose	35mm Gun
Mission Package	ELINT Sensor	Spring Masquerade	35mm Gun
Avionics	Helmet-Mounted Display	Missile Control Computer
Fuselage	Ablative Foam
Engine	Articulated Nozzle	Shrouded Exhaust
Countermeasures	Standard CM Launcher	High-Capacity CM Launcher	High-Coherence CM Launcher

E-44A Sundial

No Offensive Weapon Options

Component	Option 1	Option 2	Option 3
Mission Package	ELINT Sensor
Fuselage	Ablative Foam
Engine	Articulated Nozzle	Shrouded Exhaust
Countermeasures	Standard CM Launcher	High-Capacity CM Launcher	High-Coherence CM Launcher

PF-440 Tanto

Classification	N	W1	W2	B1	B2	B3	B4	W3	W4
Pods		Illum. Pods							Illum. Pods
		Jam. Pods							Jam. Pods
Mssiles & Bombs		FBU-15	FBU-15	FBU-15*	FBU-15*	FBU-15*	FBU-15*	FBU-15	FBU-15
		KBU-15	KBU-15	KBU-15*	KBU-15*	KBU-15*	KBU-15*	KBU-15	KBU-15
		S1	S1	S1*	S1*	S1*	S1*	S1	S1
				S2*
Other Munitions	20mm*
	15mm*
	35mm *	35mm						35mm

Component	Option 1	Option 2	Option 3	Option 4
Nose	20mm Gun	35mm Gun	15mm Gun	Nose Illuminator
Centerline	S1 Missile Bays	S2 Missile Bays	Centerline Fuel Tank
Avionics	Helmet-Mounted Display	Missile Control Computer
Fuselage	Ablative Foam	Ceramic Tile	Stealth Coating
Engine	Articulated Nozzle	Shrouded Exhaust
Countermeasures	Standard CM Launcher	High-Capacity CM Launcher	High-Coherence CM Launcher

B-86 Claymore

Classification	B1	B2	B3	B4	B5	B6	B7	B8
Bombs	KBU-22*	KBU-22		KBU-22*	KBU-22*	KBU-22		KBU-22*
	KBU-22				KBU-22
	CBU-40*				CBU-40*
Missiles	S2*	S2*		S2*	S2*	S2*		S2*
	S3*				S3*

Component	Option 1	Option 2	Option 3
Centerline	S2 Missile Bays	S3 Missile Bays
Fuselage	Ablative Foam	Ceramic Tile	Stealth Coating
Support	Missile Decoy Projector	Missile Control Computer
Engine	Shrouded Exhaust
Countermeasures	Standard CM Launcher	High-Capacity CM Launcher	High-Coherence CM Launcher

RS-35A Halberd

Classification	N	E1	E2	E3	E4	MP
Missiles & Bombs		S1	S1	S1	S1
Other Munitions	35mm*					35mm*
	35mm Flech*					35mm Flech*

Component	Option 1	Option 2	Option 3	Option 4
Nose	35mm Gun
Mission Package	Wake Sensor	Ferryman Masquerade	35mm Gun	Internal Radar (Advanced)
Avionics	Helmet-Mounted Display	Missile Control Computer
Fuselage	Ablative Foam
Engine	Articulated Nozzle	Shrouded Exhaust
Countermeasures	Standard CM Launcher	High-Capacity CM Launcher	High-Coherence CM Launcher

Barracuda

Classification	N	T1	T2	B1	B2	B3	B4	T3	T4
Pods					Fuel Tanks	Fuel Tanks
				Illum. Pods			Illum. Pods
				Jam. Pods			Jam. Pods
Missiles & Bombs		S1	S1	S1	S1	S1	S1	S1	S1
		KBU-15	KBU-15	KBU-15	KBU-15	KBU-15	KBU-15	KBU-15	KBU-15
			R-1		R-1	R-1		R-1
				R-2		R-2
				S2		S2
Other Munitions	20mm*
	35mm Flech.*			35mm Flech.		35mm Flech.
	35mm*			35mm		35mm

Component	Option 1	Option 2	Option 3
Nose	20mm Gun	35mm Gun	Nose Illuminator
Avionics	Helmet-Mounted Display	Missile Control Computer
Fuselage	Ablative Foam	Ceramic Tile
Engine	Articulated Nozzle	Shrouded Exhaust
Countermeasures	Standard CM Launcher	High-Capacity CM Launcher	High-Coherence CM Launcher

RF-286A Pike

Classification	N	E1	E2	E3	E4
Pods		Fuel Tanks		Fuel Tanks
		Illum. Pods		Illum. Pods
		Jam. Pods		Jam. Pods
Missiles & Bombs		S1		S1
Other Munitions	20mm*

Component	Option 1	Option 2	Option 3
Nose	20mm Gun	Nose Illuminator
Fuselage	Ablative Foam
Engine	Articulated Nozzle	Shrouded Exhaust
Countermeasures	Standard CM Launcher	High-Capacity CM Launcher	High-Coherence CM Launcher
Top	EO Targeting Ball

B-45A Sturgeon

Classification	W1	W2	W3	W4	W5	W6	W7	W8
Missiles & Bombs			CBU-40		CBU-40
	KBU-22	KBU-22					KBU-22	KBU-22
			R-1 Pod		R-1 Pod
	R-2	R-2					R-2	R-2
			R-3		R-3
	S2	S2					S2	S2
			S3		S3
Other Munitions			100mm AP		100mm AP
			100mm HE		100mm HE
			100mm HE-HC		100mm HE-HC

Component	Option 1	Option 2	Option 3
Fuselage	Ablative Foam	Ceramic Tile
Support	Missile Control Computer
Engine	Shrouded Exhaust
Countermeasures	Standard CM Launcher	High-Capacity CM Launcher	High-Coherence CM Launcher

Modules

Type	Name	Cost (pts)	Component Mass	Stats/ability	Restrictions
Avionics	Helmet Mounted Display	2	0	Missile Launch Angle: +300%	Tanto, Barracuda, and Halberd only
Avionics	Missile Control Computer	3	0	CMD Control Cap: +1	Tanto, Barracuda, and Halberd
Support	Missile Decoy Projector	8	0	2 salvos of 3 decoys triggered when initiating any weapon launch; 5 second recycle time	Claymore
Support	Missile Control Computer	5	0	CMD Control Cap: +6	Claymore and Sturgeon
Fuselage	Ablative Foam	2	2	Frame Integrity: +30	None
Fuselage	Ceramic Tiling	6	0	Skin Thickness: +1.25 mm	Only on Fighters & Bombers
Fuselage	Stealth Coating	6	0	Radar Signature: -50%; Target Size: -66%	Tanto and Claymore
Engine	Articulated Nozzles	3	0	Turn Rate: +33%	Not on bombers (Claymore and Sturgeon have shrouded exhaust only)
Engine	Shrouded Exhaust	2	0	Wake Signature: -33%	Useless
Countermeasures	Standard CM Launcher	0	0	Pattern Shot: 4; Shots per Pattern: 10; Shot Spacing: 0.25s	None
Countermeasures	High-Capacity CM Launcher	2	0	Pattern Shot: 8; Shots per Pattern: 10; Shot Spacing: 0.25s	None
Countermeasures	High-Coherence CM Launcher	2	0	Pattern Shot: 4; Shots per Pattern: 20; Shot Spacing: 0.13s	Useless

Launch and Recovery Sequence

Select Armaments -> Give Flight Sortie Command -> Arm on a pad or strikedown slot -> Launch -> pad stays busy for Deck Traversal Time -> Return -> Land -> Disarm while that pad spends its traversal time -> Stored -> Repair if a repair slot is free

Arming/disarming time

A Craft must be readied before it can sortie from a carrier. This includes loading fuel and ordinance onto the Craft. The duration to complete the readying operation depends on the the size and ammunition loaded the time that. This ranges from arming a vehicle without armaments with virtually little to no time to a significant amount of time such as your bombers.

When a craft returns, any unspent ordinance must be removed and returned to stores, this occurs before the craft is repaired.

Some Carriers have bonuses to Arming Speed, and the Gear Deck Locker can increase the speed as well.

Deck Traversal Time

Deck Traversal Time is a pad turnaround. After a craft launches, or after it is recovered and stored, that pad cannot take another craft until the traversal time has elapsed. It does not delay the craft that is launching.

Recovering a craft also ties up the pad for the deck traversal time (after a short close delay). The craft is stored and starts disarming while that pad wait is still running.

Some Carriers have bonuses to Arming Speed, and the Flight Deck Traversal System can increase the speed as well.

Craft Repair

Damaged craft are repaired after disarming, one per free repair slot. A craft that is repairing, or still waiting for a slot, can still be launched, and it sorties with whatever damage it still has.

The number of slots that a craft can repair at is equal to the number of Spacecraft Repair Slots on the selected Hull. Carrier Hulls like the Levy, Moorline and Journeyman each have 1 slot and can only repair one craft at a time. Non-carrier hulls have no slots and cannot repair craft by default.

Levy Repair with 2 Preflight Slots

Each Spacecraft Repair Station adds one repair slot on top of the hull base. For example, a Marauder with 1 Spacecraft Repair Station can repair 1 Barracuda Strike Fighter at a time.

Preflight Slots

The number of slots that a carrier can arm craft is equal to the number of small and large launch pads on the selected Carrier. For example the Levy has 2 Large and 4 small pads, and the Journeyman 2 Large and 2 Small pads, while the number of pads for the Moorline is directly related to the number of Bank Hangar's installed. Both the Journeyman and Moorline can install additional small mounted hangars for additional size 1 preflight slots.

This number can be increased with Spacecraft Strikedown Stations, this will allow additional craft to be armed in addition to the ones that can be armed on the launch pads. Craft armed there move onto a launch pad as soon as one is free, which is after the previous launch or recovery finishes its deck-traversal wait, and they keep the arming progress already made. For example, a Levy or Journeyman with 2 Spacecraft Strikedown Stations can arm a 4 wing Claymore Torpedo Flight at the same time and launch them much faster than they would otherwise.