Combat

A combat encounter

Combat is turn-based and begins with a full hand of cards. All cards cost one or more resources to play, shown in the lower part of the card. Resources are carried over between turns. Cards are played by dragging and dropping them over the crosshair region and then they are added into the Cooldown pile.

The player's deck is made up of two piles and the player having the first turn. Clicking on either the Draw Pile or the Cooldown Pile will display all cards in both, sorted by remaining Cooldown. Cards can be discarded to free up a card slot by right-clicking on them, which sends them to the Cooldown Pile.

• Cards in the Draw Pile can be drawn next turn as long as the hand is not full.
• Cards in the Cooldown Pile will be moved to the Draw Pile once their Cooldown expires.

Some cards have a Persistent Effect, which will last for a set amount of turns. Some Persistent Effects remain active for as long as the Upkeep condition is met. Active persistent effects are displayed above the resources and cards panel.

Enemy actions are based on their equipment. Each enemy equipment has a card slot indicating the next action. Cards gain one pip each turn. When all pips are filled, the card's border turns white, signaling that it will be played next turn. Each enemy equipment has a Durability value can be reduced by Precision cards. If Durability reaches 0 the enemy equipment is disabled for 3 turns.

When an enemy ship takes Hull Damage that damage is also spread over its equipment. Cards with Precision can choose which equipment to deal its full damage to. Shield Points block incoming damage but are halved at the start of each turn so they're best deployed the turn before an enemy attack.

Crew members have abilities you can activate during combat. Abilities cost Command Points instead of resources and they have a Cooldown after use. The Command Points capacity is 3 times the number of crew on board. Command points recharge when traveling to a new node based on Morale, which can be temporarily or permanently changed by events.

After each combat encounter you will gain Credits and cards and may also gain equipment, subsystems, an A.I. Core or salvage you can sell at stations. Picking a card can be skipped to gain an additional 15 Credits (30 for Elite and Boss combat encounters).

Heat

The heat indicator

Heat can be added to a ship either from reallocating Reactor Power during a combat encounter (effect only takes place after the next card is played) or by cards that have Ignite. Each ship has a Resistance and Dissipation value.

• Resistance is the amount of Heat a ship can sustain before taking Overheat damage
• Dissipation is the amount of heat removed at the end of each turn

Every point of Overheat deals 1 Hull Damage at the start of your turn. Heat reduction is calculated before damage so it is safe to exceed Resistance by 1.