Critical Hits in the Infinite Space Trilogy: A Key Aspect of Interstellar Combat

Critical Hits in the Infinite Space Trilogy: A Key Aspect of Interstellar Combat

Throughout the entire Infinite Space trilogy, one major aspect of combat between fleets of ships has been retained: the ability for weapons to inflict critical hits. This is called critseeking, after the strategy of the same name from the tabletop game BattleTech (and, by extension, its various adaptations such as MechWarrior - a brief description of it can be found here). However, within the Infinite Space trilogy, the implementation of critseeking varies slightly between games. 

What is a Critical Hit, and What Are Its Effects?

Simply put, a critical hit is one that damages or disables a piece of equipment installed on the ship being hit. For a critical hit to occur, however, the target's shields must either be offline (i.e. fully depleted and not yet recharging) or absent altogether. The effects of critical hits on various types of equipment are as follows:

• Weapons: Reduced fire rate.
• Engines: Traveling between systems takes longer.
• Thrusters: Reduced speed, thrust and maneuverability during combat.
• Shields: Reduced maximum shield strength.
• Targeting Computers: Reduced fire rate and accuracy for all weapons fitted to the target ship.
• Repair Systems: Reduced hull and equipment repair rate.
• Scanners: Reduced detection range outside of combat.
• ECM Systems: Reduced chance of deflecting incoming missiles.

Note that some equipment (Plasma Coil Cloaker, Anti-Graviton Shunt, Nebular Extent Calculator, and Nebular Prow) will always function normally if they receive critical hits, unless they are disabled by battle damage. However, if a Plasma Coil Cloaker is disabled, the ship on which it was installed will be unable to hide itself from enemy units, and if that ship was cloaked at the time the device was disabled, it will immediately revert to being uncloaked.

Can You Destroy Ship Equipment Through Critseeking?

In general, any component can be disabled if it receives enough damage via critical hits. However, in the original Strange Adventures in Infinite Space, it was possible for components to be destroyed altogether; if the component in question is installed on any of your own ships, it will be permanently removed from your inventory at the end of the battle, assuming your starting ship (which in this game is always a Terran corvette) survives. Also in Strange Adventures, if your fleet encounters a star flare (a rare event not found in any subsequent games), a random piece of equipment onboard one of your ships will be immediately be disabled (although some handheld ports make it possible, though rare, for a flare to not disable any equipment).

Can You Immobilize a Ship Through Critseeking?

Prior to Sea of Stars, any ship could be immobilized in combat if its thrusters were disabled by enemy fire, and any AI-controlled ship whose weapons were disabled would immediately attempt to escape if its thrusters were still functional. Due to balance concerns, neither of these are possible in Sea of Stars; however, a ship that enters combat without functional thrusters will be unable to move forwards for the duration of the battle (although it can still turn), as was the case in previous games in the series. Moreover, some factions (Tchorak, Yellow Kawangi) have ships that are completely immune to critical hits, i.e. no equipment installed on their ships can be damaged or disabled. Finally, fighter bays (which are only found on board carriers and space stations) cannot be damaged or disabled, either.

What Weapons Are Best for Critseeking?

In theory, any weapon can inflict critical hits on a target after its shields have been disabled (assuming it actually has shields in the first place), unless the target is immune to critical hits as stated above. However, just as in BattleTech, projectile weapons are generally the best ones for scoring critical hits, since they fire a single projectile (or a set of projectiles, in the case of the Micro-Meteorite Gun and Mass Driver) at a time instead of a continuous beam that lasts for a short period of time, and the projectile has a greater chance of hitting a single specific component instead of spreading its damage over the entire ship. This also applies to missile weapons, albeit to a lesser extent. The best weapons setup for crits therefore requires the use of multiple projectile weapons, preferably those that only require a small hardpoint at minimum. Larger projectile weapons such as the Gauss Cannon and Plasma Cannon can also have the same effect, but are less accurate and therefore less effective at critseeking.

What Ships and Builds Are Best For Critseeking?

Although any ship or space station in the Infinite Space trilogy is theoretically capable of critseeking with any weapon, Calatian ships, in particular their smaller ones (such as their destroyers and cruisers), are among the best choices available, since they all have at least two small hardpoints (with the larger ones also having at least one medium hardpoint), and their capital ships. Their small hardpoints can accommodate most projectile weapons, including the fast-firing and incredibly powerful Proton Blaster - the best weapon of its kind in the entire franchise. A Calatian destroyer or cruiser armed with nothing but these can be especially effective at disabling ship components, and I always incorporate such builds into my fleets when possible. However, even the humble Neptunium Railgun (which is a starting weapon) can be useful for crit builds, especially low-budget ones, since the Railgun costs only 89 credits to the Proton Blaster's 350.

Above: An example of a vessel inflicting critical hits on another through weapons fire. The Calatian destroyer (left) has bombarded an Urluquai Deep Hunter (right) with several salvos from its four Proton Blaster turrets, disabling many of the Deep Hunter's systems in the process. The diagram shows that both of its weapons have been rendered inoperable along with one of its interstellar drive segments and two of its onboard systems (including its shield generator). Thus, for the remainder of the battle, the Deep Hunter is therefore unable to attack, and its hull will remain exposed due to the ship not having an onboard repair system.

Does Critseeking Work Against Space Stations?

In general, critseeking (a strategy in which a player deliberately aims for critical hits on components) is viable in most battles, but it is particularly useful when attempting to complete the first part of the Urluquai Crusade quest, where you have to disable an Urluquai space station. By disabling its turrets, you will only have to deal with the fighters it launches every so often if there are none left on the battlefield (along with any escort vessels spawned alongside it on higher difficulties), and disabling its built-in Multibot Repair Drone will prevent it from repairing damaged systems; in both cases, this will make it easier for you to neutralize and board the station. In fact, critseeking is very useful against any space station, even Primordius, whose standard equipment list also includes a Multibot Repair Drone.

Is Anything Immune to Critseeking?

As stated previously, the only time when critseeking is inadvisable is when attacking a Kawangi or Tchorak flotilla, since both of these factions have fleets consisting solely of crit-proof vessels, i.e. their components cannot be disabled. And forget about critseeking fighter bays- these components are immune to it (unlike other equipment on carriers and space stations) Apart from these use-cases, however, expect to see a lot of critseeking during combat, both from you and your opponent(s) - entire battles can, and often will, hinge on it. 

In short, just as in BattleTech, critseeking is an important part of combat. Ignore it at your peril, and utilize it when you can.