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Colony Defense Layers

This page explores how colonies defend themselves — what types of defenses exist, how they interact with attackers, and what tradeoffs defenders face when investing in protection.

It does not describe final game behavior. It captures the current direction and unresolved design choices.

Goal

The goal is a defense model that:

  • gives defenders meaningful investment decisions rather than a single optimal build
  • creates asymmetric vulnerabilities that attackers can plan around
  • makes defense structures valuable without making a fully-fortified colony impenetrable
  • integrates with the ship class system so that different attacker fleet compositions face different defense profiles

Core Problem

Ogame-style defense turrets have a known failure mode: once a player maxes their defenses, attacking becomes mathematically pointless. The defender becomes a static invincible target, and war stops being interesting.

The defense system needs to impose real costs on attackers and reward defender investment — but must not remove the possibility of a meaningful attack against a committed defender.

Working Direction: Two Defensive Layers

Colonies have two distinct defensive layers. Each layer must be engaged separately. To reach a colony's core objectives — stockpiles and surface infrastructure — an attacker must fight through both.

Layer 1 — Orbital Defense

Orbital defenses occupy the space around the colony. They are permanent structures that cannot be moved. They are optimized against large hulls: cruisers and battleships take full damage from orbital platforms, while frigates and corvettes take reduced damage and can pass through with acceptable losses.

Orbital defenses protect:

  • bombardment range (a battleship cannot bombard if orbital defenses are intact)
  • the colony's garrison fleet (orbital platforms buy time for garrison ships to engage)

When orbital defense structures are destroyed, they leave a debris field — the same debris mechanic as destroyed ships. A heavily defended orbital layer is itself a valuable debris target.

Investment tradeoffs:

  • Heavy orbital investment forces attackers to bring dedicated orbital-clearance ships before bombardment becomes possible
  • But orbital defenses do not protect against corvette raids — corvettes pass through with losses but reach the surface

Layer 2 — Surface Defense

Surface defenses protect the colony directly — its stockpiles and infrastructure. They are engaged only by ships that can reach the surface: corvettes and specialized siege variants.

Surface defenses protect:

  • stored resources (raid target)
  • production and development infrastructure (bombardment target at close range)

Surface defenses are hardest to damage from outside — an attacker must have ships capable of surface operations to engage them at all. Battleships and cruisers cannot touch surface defenses directly.

Investment tradeoffs:

  • Heavy surface investment stops or slows corvette raids
  • But surface defenses offer no resistance to orbital bombardment from battleships once the orbital layer is cleared

Defense Structure Types

Specific structure types are not yet locked, but working directions:

Type Layer Role
Weapons platform Orbital Damage per wave against passing ships
Point defense grid Orbital Reduced damage bonus against small hulls (corvettes/frigates)
Shield array Orbital Absorbs damage before platform structures take hits; replenishes between battles
Early warning station Both Extends fleet detection range (see Fleet Detection)
Surface battery Surface Direct damage against surface-operating ships
Garrison hangar Surface Stations a small permanent defense fleet without player manual deployment

Stationed Garrison Fleets

In addition to fixed structures, a defender can station a fleet at a colony permanently. Stationed fleets fight through all waves until destroyed or the attacker retreats. They are the most flexible defense — they can counter any ship type — but they have an opportunity cost: a stationed fleet cannot be used offensively.

The garrison hangar structure allows a small fleet to be maintained at a colony as a permanent fixture, separate from the player's main fleet capacity.

Defense as Economic Investment

All defense structures can be destroyed and leave debris. A heavily fortified colony is therefore a high-value target in a different sense: defeating its defenses yields a large debris field, not just the colony's stockpile.

This preserves the strategic tension from the colony-conquest model: a more developed colony is always a more valuable target, and heavy defense investment signals wealth.

Open Questions

  • Do orbital and surface defense structures rebuild automatically over time, or does the player need to manually initiate repairs?
  • Is there a cap on how many defense structures a colony can support, or is investment effectively unlimited?
  • Can a defender deliberately demolish their own structures to deny debris to an attacker?
  • Does the garrison hangar fleet count against fleet limits, or is it a separate capacity?
  • Should defense structures provide any bonus to a stationed fleet (e.g. fire support) or operate independently?
  • Are there structure types that benefit the attacker's side — e.g. a forward operating base that a raiding fleet can use to reduce travel time?