Main Sequence combat and defense guide

The threat model

The official store description is direct: your industrial activity wakes an ancient alien defense network that identifies you as a threat. The game frames defense around protecting what you have built, or taking the fight to enemy defense platforms and shipyards before the next wave arrives.

That gives you three defensive moments to plan for:

1. Detection: a threat appears while your ships and station are doing normal work.
2. Response: your fleet moves to intercept, your station weapons engage, or both.
3. Recovery: repair damage, replace losses and restore production before the next attack.

Build defense in layers, not a single turret

A single weapon system can fail: it might be destroyed, out of range, or on the wrong side of the station. Layering means each layer buys time for the next one.

A distributed factory is not automatically safer. Every additional station is another asset to defend and another supply route to protect. The right balance depends on how much of your production can survive a single loss.

Station defense: make the first loss survivable

Station Plasma Turrets are a confirmed module. The patch notes show their cost changed during the September playtest, which is a useful reminder that defense economics are still being tuned.

• Cover the valuable side. Put weapons near the dock, storage or production cluster you cannot replace quickly.
• Do not block your own fleet. Leave a flight path and docking approach clear.
• Keep the power area protected. A turret without power is scenery. The same station grid that runs your factory runs your defense.
• Plan for a breach. Keep a storage buffer and a repair route so one destroyed machine does not stop the whole science chain.

Exact turret range, damage and power draw are not published in our sources. Place turrets by coverage and access, then adjust in-game once you can see their actual readouts.

Fleet response: mobility is the point

The developer describes ships as the backbone of both transport and defense. In a threat, that means your combat response can come from somewhere else: a nearby mining ship, a dedicated patrol, or a mixed fleet that was already moving cargo.

A simple fleet principle

Do not build a fleet of identical generalists. Decide which ships are expected to fight and which are expected to flee. A hauler that stays to fight can turn a defense win into an economic loss; a combat ship that chases a target across the system can leave the station undefended.

The exact weapon stats for the Plasma Cannon, Plasma Lance and Shield Generator Mk. 1 are not public. Use the ship Designer readout and the in-game UI to decide what works, and read the ship design guide before committing to a combat hull.

Repair and recovery

Repair Packs are confirmed: the August 2025 playtest added them as an Assembler-crafted item that can be used from the pilot seat to repair ships. That makes the Assembler part of your defense logistics, not just your production floor.

• Keep a small stock of repair supplies before a fight, not after.
• Do not send a damaged ship on a long route without a repair plan.
• Check the station’s power and assembly line after an attack; a factory that survived the hit may still be offline.
• Replace losses deliberately. Rebuilding one ship that has a clear role is better than replacing a mixed fleet at random.

No public source gives repair amounts, cooldowns or the full damage model. The useful rule is logistical: treat consumables as part of your fleet readiness.

Peaceful mode and difficulty

The developer said in June 2026 that peaceful mode was already available in the demo and that more customization of combat, research and automation difficulty was planned for Early Access. The exact options and whether they can be changed mid-save are not documented in our sources.

Peaceful mode is useful for learning the factory systems before adding defense pressure. It does not make the game’s combat design irrelevant; it simply separates the two learning curves.

What is still unknown

We are deliberately not building an enemy stat database yet. The public sources do not establish:

• Exact enemy health, damage, range or attack patterns;
• Wave timing, spawn conditions or difficulty scaling;
• Turret coverage, shield strength or repair values;
• Whether every enemy type appears in every mode or sector;
• How cooperative scaling changes threat difficulty.

The modules database lists confirmed defense equipment without inventing values. For the broader early-game path, start with the beginner’s guide.