Combat Triangle

Concept · Game mechanic

Battleships beat Explorers, Explorers beat Interceptors, Interceptors beat Battleships: each hull class does better standard damage against one class. It falls out of standard mitigation.

The three combat hull classes form a triangle: a Battleship has the advantage over an Explorer, an Explorer over an Interceptor, and an Interceptor over a Battleship. The advantage is in standard damage — more of the attacker’s standard damage gets through.

It is not a separate bonus. Standard mitigation weights the defender’s three channels by its hull class: a Battleship leans on armor, an Explorer on shield deflection, an Interceptor on dodge. A class with the edge carries its piercing where its prey leans: an Interceptor’s armor piercing meets a Battleship’s armor, a Battleship’s shield piercing an Explorer’s deflection, an Explorer’s accuracy an Interceptor’s dodge. The heavily weighted channel is pierced, so the prey mitigates less. Isolytic damage skips standard mitigation and is untouched by the triangle.

Armada targets, alliance starbases, survey ships and defense platforms sit outside the triangle, and so do outposts, which fight like armadas: their channels are weighted evenly. A hostile is in the triangle by its own hull class, like a player ship.

Ships that are not armadas pick their targets by the triangle, and fire on what sits outside it last — see Targeting.