Battle Mechanics

Combat in MWarfare is round-based, automated, and heavily driven by unit stats, technology bonuses, and rapidfire matchups. You do not control shots manually. Your job is to send the right fleet.

Quick Facts

Rule	Current `s2` Value
Maximum rounds	6
Ship debris	70% Metal, 40% Crystal, 10% Deuterium
Defense rebuild chance	70% per destroyed defense
Debris decay	1% every 10 seconds

Combat Flow

Every battle follows the same order:

Attacking and defending forces are gathered.
Combat runs for up to 6 rounds.
In each round, units fire, rapidfire can chain extra shots, shields absorb damage, and damaged units may explode.
If one side is wiped, the battle ends immediately.
If both sides still exist after round 6, the result is a draw.

What Counts As The Defender

Depending on the mission, the defender can include:

the target's stationed fleet
allied ACS defenders
planetary defenses

On an attack against a planet, defensive structures always join the defense.

Damage Formula

Each unit attacks with its current attack value after research bonuses.

Ship And Defense Attack

ship_attack
  = base_attack × (1 + 0.10 × Weapon Technology)

defense_attack
  = base_attack × (1 + 0.10 × Weapon Technology + 0.05 × Defense Technology)

Plain-English Version

Weapon Technology helps both ships and defenses.
Defense Technology gives defenses an extra attack bonus on top.

Shield Formula

Damage always hits shields before hull.

ship_shield
  = base_ship_shield × (1 + 0.10 × Mobile Shield Technology)

defense_shield
  = base_defense_shield × (1 + 0.15 × Ion Technology + 0.05 × Defense Technology)

The 1% Shield Rule

If a shot deals less than 1% of the target's original shield value, the shot bounces and does no damage at all.

That is why small ships can become useless against certain high-shield targets.

Hull Formula

In battle, the engine uses hull plating, which is structural integrity divided by 10.

ship_hull_plating = base_structural_integrity / 10

defense_hull_plating
  = (base_structural_integrity × (1 + 0.15 × Defense Technology)) / 10

Ships do not gain extra hull from Defense Technology. Defenses do.

Explosion Check

Once a unit falls below 70% hull, it can explode even if it still has some hull left.

The explosion chance is:

explosion_chance = 1 - (current_hull / original_hull)

Example:

if a unit is at 60% hull, it has a 40% explosion chance
if a unit is at 20% hull, it has an 80% explosion chance

This is one reason large battles can swing quickly after the first round of serious damage.

Rapidfire

Rapidfire means a unit has a chance to fire again immediately after hitting a specific target type.

The chance is based on the rapidfire value:

rapidfire_repeat_chance = 1 - (1 / rapidfire_value)

Examples:

Rapidfire 2 = 50% chance to fire again
Rapidfire 5 = 80% chance to fire again
Rapidfire 10 = 90% chance to fire again

This is why matchup tables matter so much. A unit with the right rapidfire target can massively outperform its raw stats.

See Rapidfire for the full target list.

Shields Reset Every Round

At the end of each combat round:

surviving units keep their remaining hull
shields fully regenerate to maximum

That means:

high-shield units become better in long fights
low-damage fleets can struggle to finish targets

Debris And Defense Recovery

Destroyed ships become debris:

ship_debris
  = 70% Metal + 40% Crystal + 10% Deuterium

Destroyed defenses do not become debris fields. Instead, the game creates recoverable defense resources using the same percentages:

defense_recovery
  = 70% Metal + 40% Crystal + 10% Deuterium

If the attacker wins, those recovered defense resources can be looted if cargo space remains. If the attacker does not win, they stay with the defender.

See Debris Fields for the collection rules after the battle.

Defense Rebuild

After battle, every destroyed defense structure makes an independent rebuild roll.

Current live s2 setting:

rebuild_chance = 70% per destroyed defense

That means defense lines are more durable over time than fleets, especially in smaller repeated raids.

Moon Chance

When enough debris is created, the battle can create a moon.

The battle engine uses:

moon_chance_percent = floor(total_debris / 100,000)

More debris means a higher moon chance.

Practical Advice

Spy first. Combat without current intel is how profitable fleets disappear.
Do not judge fleets by total points alone. Rapidfire and shield thresholds change everything.
Use Combat Simulator before committing large attacks.
Expect long battles to favor units with strong shields and durable hull.
Expect repeated raids to be less effective against players with large defense blocks because of the 70% rebuild rule.