The next major enemy we'll be discussing today is the capital ships. These fearsome and deadly ships come in many shapes and sizes, but we'll be focusing on only two of them: battleships and carriers. The current demo for Decimation features a test battle formation of three battleships and a carrier. We plan to have increasingly larger battle fleets assaulting the human Star Worlds as the game progresses, and the first level won't throw you into the meat grinder with four capital ships at once!

The alien capital ships are all equipped with hardened defense shields, which are able to withstand conventional weapons, like pulse laser cannons and your missiles. Fortunately, the Sonic bombs that the player's fighter can build are capable of inflicting copious amounts of damage in a split second, which wear the shields down in a hurry. Despite this, it can still take two to three bombs to completely knock the shields offline.

After the player has taken out the shields, they need to act with speed and skill to destroy the cruiser before the shields regenerate and come back online. It's easy to tell if a ship's shields are up, since a bright blue shimmer will appear at the point of impact when the ship is hit by any projectiles. It is also important to note that the player's fighter cannot fly over an enemy capital ship if it's shields are online, because its shields will repel the player's ship, rapidly draining their shields and any crystal reserves. However, if the shields are knocked offline, the fighter can fly over it, allowing for easier targeting of the ship's turrets, which the player's missiles have a particular taste for.

Moving past the shields, all capital ships have a formidable array of turrets that will toss endless doses of death-dealing pain your way. There are three turret types we are aware of: Heavy Plasma Cannons, Missile Batteries, and Particle Beams.

Heavy Plasma Cannons will track the player's ship and fire a steady barrage of plasma bolts. Missile Batteries will launch smart missiles similar to the player's own missiles in one, two, and three missile barrages, and once fired, the missiles track the player's ship but can be evaded due to their limited range. The third turret-type also tracks the player movement and attacks with a concentrated particle beam, dealing sizable damage with a direct hit.

Capital ships also serve as a crystal drop-off point for harvesters, since the Harvesters can only hold about four crystals in their cargo bays. Player's should watch for Harvesters flying in a straight line back to a Capital ship and try to intercept them for a crystal bounty! Once a Harvester makes it safely back to a Capital ship, it will begin unloading its payload. It only takes a few moments to empty their cargo bay and then the harvester will fly off again to continue mining the asteroid fields. It is presently unknown what the aliens are mining the crystals for but it is probably not going to be a good thing for the player.

Our art for the capital ships is stand-in for now, as we have graciously been allowed to use Jim Francis' beautiful art assets from Stars in Shadow by Sven Olsen, their lead programmer. Find out more about Stars in Shadow at their website: Stars-in-shadow.com