Overview
In this guide I will be going over different mechanics in the game, Alongside with breaking down the exact specs on ships, weapons, engines and abilities. I will be taking note of my personal favorite playing strategies, and we will be going into the backgrounds and histories of the races at war in Space War Machine.
Overview of Game- Space War Machine
Wage war and stay alive in the ongoing threat universe of Space War Machine. Control units and destroy and create new ships at will. Control your fleet and destroy all enemies. Warp to new systems to escape your enemies or colonize and live in new worlds. Every new system picks from a random range of skys, planets and stars to create a unique and never-ending experience.
Game Modes- Ways to Play
Players are trying to fight for dominance in the galaxy, one star at a time, for high scores and the thrill of destroying the enemy! I like to pick my favorite faction, and go right into an Infinite War match. But you must play the game a couple of times to get the hang of the basic mechanics before you can start going all-out against the enemy spawners in Infinite War mode.
Players can use multiple devices to play. You can use a mouse and keyboard, and you can also use controllers. You can play two players locally with two controllers plugged in. You can also play with 2 players on the keyboard with the respective keys for each player. I like to play with a controller plugged in, but while I test and play on the fly, I will just use the mouse and keyboard.
Creative- Players can play in Creative mode, which allows 3,000,000 resources to start, no enemies but the Maximum unit count that you can create is still set at 30 units at one time. If you need to create more units, you must select units and delete them, or wait for them to be destroyed.
Conquest- Players can play a conquest match. In this match, you start with one enemies in the system with you. Once the enemy is destroyed they victor is announced, and if you win you can gain one system conquered.
Infinite War- Players can also play in Infinite War mode. In this mode there are spawners that will create enemies as time goes on. No matter if you warp to new systems or kill the current enemy, more enemies will spawn. This mode is never-ending and you build to survive! Fight as long as you can or see the enemies expand all over the system!
Alien Races- And their powers
There are ten different races in the game. Each race has its own power that changes combat somehow, all ships benefit from this racial power. There are some races that are usually very peaceful, but you have to watch out for those that are born with evil in their heart. Each race has a special type of planet that they can live on, with the exception of the Zetherin Swarm who can live on any planet.
1. (Angels) Gamiton Legion- Relentless justice from a cloudy planet. This is a race of flying beings and they are said to emit light from their presence. Their special ability is angelic light. All races take damage while in their presence. The angels are bound by honor to fight for what is right, and they follow their commands with blind faith. They have always been at war with the demon race, and they fight for good and justice. They can summon mighty angels with their avatars.
Their area damage actually stacks slightly, so if you can get a lot of units close together you can do massive damage to anything nearby.
Special: AOE damage emitted from all angel ships
2. (Demon) Zelgec Horde- Spreads evil from a smokey planet. This race is humanoid with a tough exoskeleton and they are said the eat the souls of those they defeat in combat. Their special ability is soul absorption. This race is independent, and they do not work well in groups. If you fight demons, they are most likely lead by a powerful demon. They only respect power, and that is only until they can grow enough to kill you.
All demon weapons do lifesteal damage around them, doing a small amount of damage and healing the demon slightly.
Special: Lifesteal on all Demon weapons
3. (Water) Doplphine Peoples- Neutral Good/Practical/Realistic. Sometimes good, sometimes does nothing; from a water planet. This race of blue-tinted water creatures are very peaceful in nature. They are tentacle creatures from a world of water and algae. They are masters of biology. They are said to have mastered shield technology and can bypass it very easily. white/dark blue/ elegant/tentacles Special: Shield EMP + Heals – Armor
4. (Magma Race) Infernal Scourge- Neutral Good/Practical/Humane. Sometimes good, sometimes does nothing; from a magma planet. This race of living fire and stone is said to engulf the entire planet where they live. red/yellow/round/simple Special: Heat Wave + Armor – Shield
5. (Bug) Zetherin Hive- Lawful Neutral/ Independent/ Realistic. Helps Everyone; from unknown planet. Hive Mind society. Very adaptable and can live in any known environment. Very numerous race, but made of many soft shelled creatures. purple/green/orange/random Special: Adaptable + Speed – Damage
6. (Forest) Trillion Forest- Neutral Neutral/ Harmony/ Freedom. Fair and impartial; from a green planet. Gentle and smart creatures based on plant life. Large ships and actually very large plant creatures that can survive in space. They are able to regenerate and heal themselves passively. grey/green/simple/organic Special: Regeneration + Speed – Cost More
7. (Leeches) Slith Counsel- Neutral Evil/ Self reliant/ Dominance without concern/ Dictatorship/ Wicked/ Honor those stronger/ No mercy. Sometimes evil, sometimes does nothing; from a desert planet. Ancient and telepathic race of slug creatures. They are known to take control of the minds of their enemies and most races say they are evil. Raised on a desert planet, these beings are very jealous of all other races just because they have better natural senses. orange/purple/creature ships Special: Purple Capture + Costs Less – Health
8. (Energy) Dark Hurric Order- Chaotic Good/ Independent/ Humane. Doesn’t follow rules; from a dark glowing planet. The Dark Cloak, also known as the Hurric Dark order is a very mysterious race. They are being made purely of energy. Not much else is known about them, but they all seem to serve one purpose: to resurrect the Dark Lord Enemgon, a super being of energy that will cleanse all organic life. Dark grey/yellow/round Special: Stasis Ray + Shield – Armor
9. (Stone) Goyzat People- Lawful Neutral/ Honorable/ Realistic. Helps everyone; creatures that are part of a larger, living, stone planet. They are living energy that inhabits stone. Not having an organic body renders them immune to most other races special abilities. rock/asteroids/simple guns Special: Immunity + Armor – Speed
10.(Machine) Syndrid Armada- Lawful Evil/ Honorable/ Determined. Follows rules but evil; creatures from a metallic world, they can break space and open short wormholes to another location. blue/grey/complicated/geometric Special: Teleport Escape + Health – Heals
Obstacles- Space is Danger
Terraforming could be the first problem you encounter. If you wish to skip this part of the game, the insect race has the special ability to build anywhere. Planets can be different colors, and this shows the atmosphere from space. You can always tell what type of planet you need because it will be the same color as the paint on your ships. If you do not have the right planet, your race can not build factories there. All you need is one correct planet in range to build your factory.
Maximum Population- You can create and destroy your own ships freely to free up slots. Every ship or factory that you make will cost you 1 population to control, for a maximum of 30 units at a time in the simulation for each faction.
Resources- Every time you get a combat factory, you are given a Mass Generator. Creating a utility factory gives you a Fission Generator. This resources tick over time, starting with 50 resources per tick, increasing by +1 as time goes on. Stacks. Each generator takes 1 population.
Asteroids- Asteroids spawn in every system and are cleared throughout the match. They are an obstacle distracting and slowing down your units as they move around searching for enemies.
Blackholes- Certain weapons or stars being destroyed will create blackholes. They are extremely damaging and pull all enemy ships with engines. Blackhole explosions count as a heat weapon, so ships shielded to heat damage, like the Avatar or sonic ships are more likely to survive until the explosion closes.
Enemies- You can look for your enemies with the “Find Enemy” button and send your ships to directly fight them. If you loose where your ships are, you can create new ships and see where they fly. Ships will always start flying toward the closest enemy possible, including asteroids or anything else in space.
Stars- Stars can be small or large, in a range of colors from blue to red. Many systems have multiple stars. It is not uncommon for a system to have two or three stars in the dance of the cosmos. But sometimes they can get too close to each other, destroying one or both, creating a Supernova in the process. If stars take too much damage from rogue starship fire or other damage sources, they will explode creating a Supernova explosion.
Moons- Many planets have a number of smaller moons in orbit around them. These can be claimed by terraformers or destroyed as you see fit.
Artificial Planets- These are special ships with the mass of a small planet. They can be claimed by terraformers, destroyed, or told to move to different locations. They have ship engines but have no weapons.
Wormholes are not an obstacle but they can be used to move to new systems. Take a factory and fly it to the wormhole. The longer the ship stays in the wormhole, it will charge. The more factories that are there, the wormhole will charge faster. Ships in the location of the wormhole will also pass through the jump along with factories. Continue to stay in the wormhole to go to a new system. Once in the new system, continue to charge the wormhole to close it. A new wormhole will open to another system once the previous is destroyed.
Fight- Combat with ships
Use ships to fight
Create the right ships to counter build your enemy, or hope that your overwhelming force is enough to destroy them! You can try to send a sonic ship when you see an enemy heat ship, or you could create a large group of your favorite ships and send them all to attack at once!
Create lots of combat ships to fight your enemies, but use utility ships for defending your factories.
I mostly have a high amount of combat ships created at one time to roam the map and destroy the enemy. I use a small amount of defense ships created by my Utility Factory. This protects my base, but I could always build more.
Explore space- Search for your planet type, or turn every planet into your type with Terraformers!
You can also destroy every planet that you see, and even destroy the stars if you wish…
Mine and destroy planets- Finding the right planet is easy if you create terraformers. Turn a planet and you can instantly build there. This is great for expanding your territory and making new bases on other planets. The more spread out your units are means a higher chance for your survival if you get attacked by super-weapons.
Get Super-being support- Avatars are the gods in the game. They are summoned once their race has gathered a very high price and built from the Combat 3 factory.
Ship Types- Quality over quantity
The player starts with the weakest ships and eventually builds up to creating ships capable of total destruction! Every ship created makes a pitch of noise, so if you listen, you can tell which level ships are being created.
Combat and Utility Ships
You must build Utility ships for defense. Satellites for defense are the first thing you can build from the Utility ships. You can also build ships for healing and terraforming.
Combat ships are different ships with weapons and they have only one purpose to seek and destroy enemies.
Levels 1 through 3
Factories start small and create level 1 ships. Once you upgrade to a larger factory you get larger and stronger ships. Level 3 ships are the Blackhole Generator, Jugganaught, and Avatar.
Ship Weapons- The Three Weapon Types
Weapons
Each combat ship has one weapon type out of three. They are the Heat type, Sonic type, and Metal type.
Heat ships destroy Metal ships. Metal ships destroy sonic ships. Sonic ships destroy heat ships.
These make battle slightly different, but weapon types can be ignored if you just throw out a mix of higher level units. If you find a ship who you can not damage, try to use a different type of weapon ship.
Metal weapons do a high flat damage rate, but the fire off slower than other weapons.
Heat weapons apply the burning. Targets under burning take damage for short while until they stop burning. Heat weapons are a good amount of damage at a decent pace.
Sonic weapons have the ability to block and destroy the other weapon types. They do less damage, but they fire off at a slightly faster pace.
Ship stats- Ships break down by numbers
In this section all ships will be broken down, showing their health, shield, speed, weapons, armor rating, and cost in Mass or Energy.
Level 1 ships
Fighter- Metal Weapon, HP100, SH100, Speed10 Warp 45, Armor 25%, Cost 100 Mass
Speeder- Sonic Weapon, HP100, SH100, Speed20 Warp 55, Armor25%, Cost 200 Mass
Bomber- Heat Weapon, HP100, SH100, Speed 7 Warp 35, Armor 25%, Cost 300 Mass
1 Combat Factory- HP1000, SH1000, Speed10 Warp 1, Armor 95%, Cost 100 Energy
1 Utility Factory- HP1000, SH1000, Speed10 Warp 1, Armor 95%, Cost 100 Mass
Healer- Healing Buff, HP3000, SH300, Speed10 Warp25, Armor 10%,Cost 500 Energy
Terraformer- Planet Buff, HP100, SH1001, Speed10 Warp25, Armor 10%,Cost 500 Energy
Satellite- Shield Wall/ Shield Buff, HP1000, SH1000, Speed0 Warp0, Armor 95%,Cost 500 Energy
Level 2 ships
Dreadnaught- Metal Weapon, HP1000, SH1000, Speed5 Warp 35, Armor 50%, Cost 1000 Mass
Sonic Cannon- Sonic Weapon, HP1000, SH1000, Speed15 Warp 45, Armor 50%, Cost 1000 Mass
Missile Starship- Heat Weapon, HP1000, SH1000, Speed5 Warp 40, Armor50%, Cost 1000 Mass
2 Combat Factory- HP1000, SH1000, Speed10 Warp 1, Armor 95%, Cost 10000 Mass
2 Utility Factory- HP1000, SH1000, Speed10 Warp 1, Armor 95%, Cost 10000 Energy
Star Station- Metal, Heat Weapons, HP10000, SH10000, Speed0 Warp0, Armor 95%,Cost 1000 Energy
Cloaking Satellite- Cloaking Field, HP10000, SH10000, Speed0 Warp0, Armor 95%,Cost 1000 Energy
Level 3 ships
Jugganaught- Metal Weapon, HP10000, SH10000, Speed2 Warp 25, Armor 99%, Cost 30000 Mass
Avatar- Sonic Abilities, HP10000, SH10000, Speed6 Warp 50, Armor 99%, Cost 30000 Mass
Blackhole Generator- Heat Weapon, HP10000, SH10000, Speed3 Warp 30, Armor 99%, Cost 30000 Mass
3 Combat Factory- HP1000, SH1000, Speed10 Warp 1, Armor 95%, Cost 40000 Mass
Terraforming- Space is ours!
A maine science-fiction idea in the game is taking barren planets and making them usable with terraforming. This takes place in the game when you create a Terraformer ship, and they shoot a planet. The planet will start to melt and cycle through different plans until your planet is found. Once the new planet is made ‘green’, you are allowed to live and build there. This allows you to deploy factories. Factories can not be deployed unless there is at least one planet of the correct type nearby.
If you want to build where you like, the easiest way is to pick the Zetherin Swarm, the insect faction. Their special power allows them to build where ever they like.
Build- Factories and ships
You must build both factories and ships, and you must get good at finding and deleting ships you no longer need.