Terran ships are oriented more towards offense than Sargon ships. That said, Terran ships still have very good defensive ships. In this guide, I'll discuss the pros and cons of various ship types. Also note, for the requirements, I forget/don't know what the requirements are for many ship types, so if you spot an error, please tell me!
Fighters
Terena: 13 damage, 5 point defense, 19 hit points, 16 speed, carries 25 goods.
Requirements: Fighter's Bay 1.
You will make this ship sometime in your Xeno career, guaranteed. You will build this ship to initiate raiding of inactive players and mines. I had 80 before I switched to another ship type. Others continue on, most noticeably StillMi, who has over 2,500 Terenas.
The Terena has only two good things about it, and they are related to each other. It is cheap and fast to make. That is all. Yet quantity has a quality of it's own, as the saying goes (I do believe it was started by Stalin). It doesn't matter if your opponent can destroy 5 ships for every loss he takes if you've got 10. Plus, at a certain point, you can overwhelm someone so much that they cannot even inflict a decent kill/death ratio. Also, Terenas, being cheap, make excellent spy ships as spying results in death if any major resistance is encountered.
That said, the Terena needs to heavily outnumber any other ship (Besides the colony or spyships around) or it will be annihilated. Also, it is a horrible defender, with only the next fighter, Mr. Burns, having a worse point defense. Expect to take heavy losses if you only outnumber your opponent a *mere* 5 to 1 ratio or so.
Pro: Cheap! Very cheap! Useful for suicide missions!
Con: Unless in overwhelming numbers, will suffer devastating losses. Low quality!
Mr. Burns: 25 damage, 3 point defense, 39 hit points, 16 speed, 30 goods.
Requirements: Fighters Bay 1, Science Lab 1.
This is an offensive fighter. It costs more than the Terena but has a very large offensive boost. You can still achieve large fleets, although not as large as Terena fleets. The major weakness of Mr. Burns, though, is his single-purpose use. He cannot defend. All the resources you spend on Mr. Burns cannot be used to prevent attacks on your colony.
Pro: Great offensive, pretty cheap, fighter.
Con: The Terena can defend better. Seriously.
The Turk: 10 damage, 25 point defense, 54 hit points, speed 12, 40 goods.
Requirements: Fighters Bay 1, Science Lab 9, Armory 1
The Turk is the opposite of Mr. Burns. This defensive ship is more expensive, however, and has a larger requirement, although a science lab is needed for many later ships. But by that point, you may as well just upgrade your structures a bit more and build the later ships. Again, it is a single-purpose ship, but geared for defense. It may be better in a raid than a Terena just because it has much more hit points, but that is small consolation.
Pro: Great defensive, moderately expensive fighter.
Con: High requirements, Not something you'd use on the offense.
Hera: 44 damage, 35 point defense, 80 hit points, 20 speed, 50 goods.
Requirements: Fighters Bay 1, Armory 9.
I will have to admit right now that I am heavily biased towards the Hera. I will at least try to justify this.
The Hera costs a massive amount of resources (for a fighter) and has high requirements. You will not have a large number of Heras. I have been building Heras for almost a month now, and I have less than 250. But for the Hera, sheer numbers do not matter.
This ship has the highest attack, defense, speed, goods, and hit points of any Terran fighter. She is a multi-purpose ship, and fights better than anyone else in her class. Even Sargon fighters do not fare well against the Hera, although it can be close if the Sargon is on defense. The Hera has almost as many hit points as a battleship. I ran a simulation where 600 Terenas faced off against 200 Heras, to the death, with Heras on the offense. For the loss of 50 Heras, every single Terena was annihilated. The Hera stands for quality.
Pros: Highest quality ship. Can perform attack and defense, better than any other fighter. Considers 1 to 3 odds a *Target-rich environment*.
Cons: Highest cost ship. Will almost always be in a "Target-rich environment". High requirements.
Battleships:
I'll have to skip battleships for now, as I haven't gotten to them in the game yet. However, I will note that Terran battleships follow the same pattern as the fighters, but without the Terena option.
Cruisers:
Nova: 124 damage, 110 point defense, 63 hit points, 10 speed, 120 goods. Requirements: Hangar Array level 3.
Hyperion: 93 damage, 118 point defense, 43 hit points, 6 speed, 150 goods. Requirements: Hangar Array level 15, Armory level 15, Starbase level 15.
The Nova does not have many hit points, like the other cruiser, the Hyperion. This is a major flaw in the cruiser class, as it will suffer major losses if it goes up against any other ship compared to the resources invested in it. Why would a cruiser be used then? The answer is simple: a cruiser can degrade enemy buildings. Cruisers are siege ships, and like artillery, they should not be used as front-line units. They will need to be part of a fleet that will serve to screen them, absorbing casualties and causing enemy ship deaths.
The Nova is by far the superior cruiser. The Hyperion has the highest point defense for the Terran fleet, but only has slightly more hit points than the Mr. Burns fighter. So, you should not use it for defending your colony, as other, more healthy units are available that are also cheaper. Also, the Hyperion requires a level 15 Hangar Array. That is a massive resource requirement.
Pros: Can destroy buildings.
Cons: High resource cost, and requirements to build a Hangar Array are high as well.
Best Cruiser: Nova, as it costs less, has much lower requirements, and is better offensively, where you would actually want to use a cruiser.
Chronos: Builds colonies.
Requirements: Hangar Array level 1, Starbase level 20.
The Chronos is a colony ship. If you want another colony (which is yes) then you will need to build 10 Chronos to make a colony. It is not a combat ship, and I would hesitate to even send it to raid a mine, unless an enemy fleet was incoming. It is extremely expensive.
Special Fighter, the Ghost: 1 damage, 1 point defense, 35 hit points, 32 speed, 0 goods.
Requirements: Fighters Bay level 1, Science Lab 5, Starbase 5.
The Ghost is a spy. It is the second fastest ship in the Terran fleet, and cheap. However, spying is a very lethal business and the Ghost will almost always be destroyed. If you need intelligence on an enemy colony as soon as possible, the Ghost can do it. In most instances though, the time savings will not be essential, and the Terena will be a better spy choice.
Skyguy delenda est.
Fighters
Terena: 13 damage, 5 point defense, 19 hit points, 16 speed, carries 25 goods.
Requirements: Fighter's Bay 1.
You will make this ship sometime in your Xeno career, guaranteed. You will build this ship to initiate raiding of inactive players and mines. I had 80 before I switched to another ship type. Others continue on, most noticeably StillMi, who has over 2,500 Terenas.
The Terena has only two good things about it, and they are related to each other. It is cheap and fast to make. That is all. Yet quantity has a quality of it's own, as the saying goes (I do believe it was started by Stalin). It doesn't matter if your opponent can destroy 5 ships for every loss he takes if you've got 10. Plus, at a certain point, you can overwhelm someone so much that they cannot even inflict a decent kill/death ratio. Also, Terenas, being cheap, make excellent spy ships as spying results in death if any major resistance is encountered.
That said, the Terena needs to heavily outnumber any other ship (Besides the colony or spyships around) or it will be annihilated. Also, it is a horrible defender, with only the next fighter, Mr. Burns, having a worse point defense. Expect to take heavy losses if you only outnumber your opponent a *mere* 5 to 1 ratio or so.
Pro: Cheap! Very cheap! Useful for suicide missions!
Con: Unless in overwhelming numbers, will suffer devastating losses. Low quality!
Mr. Burns: 25 damage, 3 point defense, 39 hit points, 16 speed, 30 goods.
Requirements: Fighters Bay 1, Science Lab 1.
This is an offensive fighter. It costs more than the Terena but has a very large offensive boost. You can still achieve large fleets, although not as large as Terena fleets. The major weakness of Mr. Burns, though, is his single-purpose use. He cannot defend. All the resources you spend on Mr. Burns cannot be used to prevent attacks on your colony.
Pro: Great offensive, pretty cheap, fighter.
Con: The Terena can defend better. Seriously.
The Turk: 10 damage, 25 point defense, 54 hit points, speed 12, 40 goods.
Requirements: Fighters Bay 1, Science Lab 9, Armory 1
The Turk is the opposite of Mr. Burns. This defensive ship is more expensive, however, and has a larger requirement, although a science lab is needed for many later ships. But by that point, you may as well just upgrade your structures a bit more and build the later ships. Again, it is a single-purpose ship, but geared for defense. It may be better in a raid than a Terena just because it has much more hit points, but that is small consolation.
Pro: Great defensive, moderately expensive fighter.
Con: High requirements, Not something you'd use on the offense.
Hera: 44 damage, 35 point defense, 80 hit points, 20 speed, 50 goods.
Requirements: Fighters Bay 1, Armory 9.
I will have to admit right now that I am heavily biased towards the Hera. I will at least try to justify this.
The Hera costs a massive amount of resources (for a fighter) and has high requirements. You will not have a large number of Heras. I have been building Heras for almost a month now, and I have less than 250. But for the Hera, sheer numbers do not matter.
This ship has the highest attack, defense, speed, goods, and hit points of any Terran fighter. She is a multi-purpose ship, and fights better than anyone else in her class. Even Sargon fighters do not fare well against the Hera, although it can be close if the Sargon is on defense. The Hera has almost as many hit points as a battleship. I ran a simulation where 600 Terenas faced off against 200 Heras, to the death, with Heras on the offense. For the loss of 50 Heras, every single Terena was annihilated. The Hera stands for quality.
Pros: Highest quality ship. Can perform attack and defense, better than any other fighter. Considers 1 to 3 odds a *Target-rich environment*.
Cons: Highest cost ship. Will almost always be in a "Target-rich environment". High requirements.
Battleships:
I'll have to skip battleships for now, as I haven't gotten to them in the game yet. However, I will note that Terran battleships follow the same pattern as the fighters, but without the Terena option.
Cruisers:
Nova: 124 damage, 110 point defense, 63 hit points, 10 speed, 120 goods. Requirements: Hangar Array level 3.
Hyperion: 93 damage, 118 point defense, 43 hit points, 6 speed, 150 goods. Requirements: Hangar Array level 15, Armory level 15, Starbase level 15.
The Nova does not have many hit points, like the other cruiser, the Hyperion. This is a major flaw in the cruiser class, as it will suffer major losses if it goes up against any other ship compared to the resources invested in it. Why would a cruiser be used then? The answer is simple: a cruiser can degrade enemy buildings. Cruisers are siege ships, and like artillery, they should not be used as front-line units. They will need to be part of a fleet that will serve to screen them, absorbing casualties and causing enemy ship deaths.
The Nova is by far the superior cruiser. The Hyperion has the highest point defense for the Terran fleet, but only has slightly more hit points than the Mr. Burns fighter. So, you should not use it for defending your colony, as other, more healthy units are available that are also cheaper. Also, the Hyperion requires a level 15 Hangar Array. That is a massive resource requirement.
Pros: Can destroy buildings.
Cons: High resource cost, and requirements to build a Hangar Array are high as well.
Best Cruiser: Nova, as it costs less, has much lower requirements, and is better offensively, where you would actually want to use a cruiser.
Chronos: Builds colonies.
Requirements: Hangar Array level 1, Starbase level 20.
The Chronos is a colony ship. If you want another colony (which is yes) then you will need to build 10 Chronos to make a colony. It is not a combat ship, and I would hesitate to even send it to raid a mine, unless an enemy fleet was incoming. It is extremely expensive.
Special Fighter, the Ghost: 1 damage, 1 point defense, 35 hit points, 32 speed, 0 goods.
Requirements: Fighters Bay level 1, Science Lab 5, Starbase 5.
The Ghost is a spy. It is the second fastest ship in the Terran fleet, and cheap. However, spying is a very lethal business and the Ghost will almost always be destroyed. If you need intelligence on an enemy colony as soon as possible, the Ghost can do it. In most instances though, the time savings will not be essential, and the Terena will be a better spy choice.
Skyguy delenda est.
