HighFleet – Status Readout

Status Readout Guide

Always keep an eye on the status readout on the left of the screen to see what your ship is deficient in, flashing in red. The workspace also has various flashing alerts:

• Indicates that the part has not been attached correctly.

• Indicates that the part does not have enough power.

• Indicates that a weapon part is missing ammo.

Hull Parts

Step one should always be to fill out the underlying Hull frame of your craft. You can’t connect weapons, power units, thrusters etc to your ship unless you have empty Hull slots with attach points. Hull parts come in a variety of sizes – you may need larger hull segments in order attach larger parts.

Click on the Hull category and choose a hull part, move it over to the starting bridge part and nudge it until it “snaps” into one of the green attach points. Click to attach it. If you miss the attach point, an exclamation mark will flash – just click to select the hull part and try again.

Armor

These are similar to Hull parts, but they cannot be used to attach other parts – they are only for protection. Add Armor at the end of building your craft once the main parts are set. Use it on the outer edge or to protect sensitive parts. It offers decent protection against direct fire, however comes at the cost of substantial added weight.

Chassis

In order to land in a town, you need a chassis to support the ship. Attach at least two Chassis parts to the side or underside of the craft to act as landing struts. If placing at the side, ensure their legs reach far enough below the ship’s superstructure to account for some flex when landing.

Weapons

Unless you’re making a pure Utility ship, you’re going to want some offensive capability. Weapons are the most resource intensive parts as they need not only sufficient power supply, but also ammo stores and crew to man them – so you need to think carefully about your armaments.

Ammo

Weapons, of course, require ammunition to be useful, so the system will alert you when your ship doesn’t have sufficient ammo storage to match its armaments. Similar to adding power supply units, you need to add these ammo stores. Check the status readout to see how many units of ammo are required, and how many you currently have.

Power Generators

As you start adding parts to your ship, you may notice they have a high voltage sign flashing on them. This is because you don’t have enough power to run those parts – in fact, when you first start building you have no power supply whatsoever.

There are two different sizes of Generators, and depending on what you have installed on your ship, you may need multiple units to fully supply your ship. Make sure you leave enough space for power, or add more generators incrementally while you build to ensure your design won’t be caught short. Check the status readout to see how many megawatts of power are required, and how many you currently have.

When you highlight a part that requires power, it will show power tracing through the ship to the relevant generator. These connections are automatic and you don’t need to concern yourself with routing.

Crew Quarters

Many parts, from your generators to radars, require crew to operate and maintain them. Your ship always has a bridge that holds a minimal crew, but you may need to add auxiliary crew quarters once you build out your rig. The crew status will flash red if you have insufficient crew to man your weapons and utility parts.

Thrusters

At some point, your aircraft needs to actually fly. A veritable gunship loaded down with weaponry will require substantial thrust to even get off the ground, while a speedy recon vessel will have a very different profile. Your thruster capability needs to be sufficient for the weight of your ship, in other words ensure you have a suitable thrust/weight ratio for the type of maneuverability you desire for that craft. Position of thrusters is also very important, as this impacts the dynamics of your flight and especially turning profile. Keep your craft’s center of gravity in mind for stable flight. Experimenting with iterations in the test arena is the only way to ensure you get the balance right.

Fuel Storage

Attach enough Fuel Storage parts to drive the Thrusters – the status readout on the right will tell you your range with the fuel available. Keep an eye on this as you add more parts to the ship, which increases your weight and hence reduces your fuel efficiency.

Utility

Beyond the essentials, you can also kit out your ship with a variety of utility parts to specialize its role in your fleet. Examples include a Fire Suppression System, an Aircraft Deck, Automated Defences, ELINT Sensors, or Tactical Arms.