This is an addendum to the StarDrive Plus: Starting Out As The Humans (2023) article and was intended to be released within a week or two of that article. Be sure to take a look at it if you haven’t seen it, or if you find this one confusing and need to refresh your memory. 🙂

All factions in StarDrive Plus (a single installer for StarDrive 1 with the Black Box and Combined Arms mods) have access to a common set of orbital defense platforms/stations. Although they can use the same weapons as ships, they’re most effective when armed with specialized weapons that can only be used on these hulls.

Since these hulls are used by all factions, a design created while playing one faction will show up when playing another faction, once all the modules used in the design have been unlocked. They are affected by faction traits, such as module HP, weapon accuracy, maintenance cost, etc. Different battle station designs are available to AI players for each faction.

Every orbital platform and station requires a planet to build a construction ship. The construction ship is consumed, but its cost is included in the listed costs for the platform/station. Unless you choose to create a very expensive construction ship design. Every refit also requires a construction ship.

These orbital defenses do benefit from rapid replenishment of ordnance from the planet between battles, which is helpful, but they do not during a battle.

Kinetic Turrets: All players start with the 2×2 Kinetic Turret, making it the starting defense platform weapon. There are several Kinetic Turret designs that come with the game/mod. The main weakness of this weapon on a defense platform is its 120 degree firing arc. On a Small Defense Platform with three Kinetic Turrets, only one turret can fire most of the time, and on occasion, two turrets.

Small Defense Platforms (SDP)

Since we start the game without any shields, I created this design with Steel Armor. I’ve found it holds up reasonably well, for what it is, in combat testing. It’s cheap to maintain compared with later versions.

The SDP K 1S (K = Kinetic Cannon, 1 = Nuclear Power, S = Steel):

If this is your first SDP, turn off the Toggle Symmetry button in the bottom right. You adjust the firing arcs by left clicking and holding down the mouse button on a turret, then move the mouse left or right. Release the mouse button when it’s at the desired angle. The angle of the center line is displayed in the middle of the turret. The text can be quite small.

Set the top turret to 0 degrees, the right turret to 120, and the left turret to 240. This will make them all equidistant, and together the will cover a full 360.

The SDP K MS 1:

Due to the high cost of shield generators, I prefer to skip this one and keep using the Steel Armor version above until I research Energy Shielding.

The SDP K ES 1 (ES = Energy Shield):

The SDP K ES 2 (2 = Fusion):

Orbital Kinetic Cannons: These 2×2 specialized defense platform weapons are unique in that they have a 360 degree firing arc, which means that no matter where the enemy is, all the OKCs will fire, not just the ones on that side of the platform. They also have roughly 2.75x more range than Kinetic Turrets. However, they can only be used on Small and Heavy Defense Platforms. They’re more than worth it. There are three levels with increasing firepower.

The Small Defense Platform Mk2 included with the game/mod is absolutely horrendous. Don’t even think about using it.

The SDP OK1 ES 1 (OK1 = Orbital Kinetic Mk1):

The SDP OK1 ES 2:

The SDP OK1 ESa 2:

The SDP OK1 DS1 2 (DS1 = Deflector Screen 1):

To improve SDP shields further, it seems necessary to research either Quantum Fusion or Extreme Anti-Matter, which is beyond the scope of these guides.

Adding any more ordnance requires reducing the shielding.

You might have noticed that none of the SDPs have point-defense. There simply isn’t room for any of the typical options. However, later in the game you might want to try researching Missile PD I and swapping out one OKC. The Missile PD is the only 360 degree PD, but it only targets missiles, not fighters.

I’ve also considered trying an SDP with three Missile PD I turrets to see if it could provide some PD for neighboring defense platforms, but I haven’t had a situation where I could test it.

Heavy Defense Platforms (HDP)

The HDP is the first defense platform large enough to incorporate both armor and shields.

The HDP OK1 ES 1S:

Four 2×2 Energy Shields provide substantial shielding for its size, and it has four Heavy MGs to provide PD. I’m hoping the two 2×2 reactors are far enough apart that the explosion of one will not reach the other one. Using a Bridge provides HDPs with better accuracy than SDPs, as well as a higher repair rate, and some EMP protection.

I would set Toggle Symmetry to on for this one. Set the top two MGs to center on 315 and 45 degrees. Set the bottom two MGs to center on 225 and 135 degrees.

The HDP OK1 ES 1R (R = Reactive Armor):

This is the same design using Reactive Armor. It’s worth noting that the stats for the Heavy MGs improve with each generation of armor as well, although the increase in ordnance usage is problematic. I typically use this design since I usually get Reactive Armor by the time I’ve researched frigates.

HDP OK1 BS1 2R:

This is a more technologically advanced design that probably deserves Ceramic Armor, but that’s yet another thing to research. It has both Battle Shields and Deflector Screens, so they both need to be researched. However, I think having both is stronger overall. To provide enough power, it uses 2×2 Cold Fusion Reactors. As a plus, the damage from these is less severe when they explode.

Taking this further, the next step might be to switch to Mk 2 Orbital Kinetic Cannons. You’d have to drop one of the shield generators to add more ordnance. Then it would definitely make sense to switch to Ceramic Armor. The added ordnance would allow the heavier ceramic HMGs.

Orbital Missile Launchers: There are three sizes of Orbital Missile Launchers. These specialized defense platform weapons are guided and have a 180 degree firing arc.

These 2×3 Light Orbital Missile Launchers won’t fit on a Small Defense Platform, so the Heavy Defense Platform or larger is necessary to use them effectively. They generally seem more effective on stations, since they can use the larger ordnance storage modules, but I’ll provide a couple of HDP designs here.

The HDP LOM ES 2R (LOM = Light Orbital Missile):

There isn’t a lot of armor, but it does have two 2×2 shield generators. Since it wouldn’t hold enough ordnance for four Light Orbital Missiles, I put on two Missile PD I’s.

The HDP LOM DS 2R:

Here I wanted to switch to Deflector Screens, which use more power, and therefore I had to use a 2×2 fusion reactor. Alternatively, you could use Battle Shields, since they use the same amount of power.

Small Stations (SS)

Stations are much larger than platforms, but ultimately serve a similar purpose. They can’t use Orbital Kinetic Cannons, so Orbital Missiles are a straightforward choice. Then there’s a choice of which one, since they come in different sizes. One of the largest advantages of stations is perhaps the ability to use 3×3 Ordnance modules, which are much more efficient.

The Terran Small Station Mk1 that is included with the mod:

I’m posting a picture of this design that comes with the mod because I both think it’s a good design, and also because it has a number of techs, so you might not see it if you don’t have them all, like I did. It’s a relatively low-tech (for a station) design, so I’m listing it first.

The SS LOM ES 3R (3 = Cold Fusion or Extreme Fusion):

I actually designed this before I noticed the Terran Small Station Mk1 included with the mod. I mention this because it turned out to be similar in many ways. I put more tech into this design, so it takes a bit more research to get to, but I’m happy with how it turned out. It has more survivability in several ways:

• Twice the shields, with full coverage in the corners.
• Protection against armor piercing rounds from the 3×3 plates.
• Four Ordnance Fabricators will allow it to continue fighting with a substantially reduced RoF in longer engagements.
• Two Bridges provide a bit more EMP protection and repair rate.

The armor on the corners is definitely weaker, and I didn’t include the 1×1 Rocket Launchers. I wouldn’t have thought the Rocket Launchers would be all that effective with their narrow firing arcs, but I’m curious. If desired, they could be added easily by converting some 1×1 Bulkhead segments to solar to make room. .

Ceramic Armor would definitely be a good upgrade for this design. It has better resistances, in addition to having more HP than Reactive Armor. This design just needed so much research already that I didn’t include it here.

Normally, adding shield amplifiers would be a good upgrade, but I tried and didn’t find a good way without researching Quantum Fusion. Unless… you decide to switch over to Solar or Fairy Armor, since they produce power.

You could also look at a new design that uses Heavy Orbital Missiles.

The SS Fighter ES 3R:

This is my first serious attempt at a fighter defense station. Or as the game calls it, an orbital hangar. It’s effectiveness will naturally vary dramatically depending on which fighter design it launches.

I set mine to Short Range, so it launches the fighters when the enemy is at a range of 7500. When set to Long Range, it will launch them at 60k with the sensor, and at 40k without it. My dilemma is if they launch at 40k or 60k, then they fight without the assistance of planetary defenses and defense platforms, and 12 fighters aren’t enough to do much on their own. So, I have them wait.

One idea is to create some designs that focus primarily or even entirely on sub-light, since defensive fighters never need to warp beyond the width of the system they’re in, and when launched at short range, they can get away with not having the ability to warp at all.

Station CIC

If you decide to design a Small Station with more than a couple of gun turrets, either ballistic or energy, then it would definitely make sense to use a CIC instead of a Bridge. One example would be a station loaded down with Auto Turrets. A CIC will provide the largest accuracy bonus possible. Missiles don’t benefit as much from accuracy bonuses, since they’re guided. However, I’ve been told that the missiles target a specific hull square, and more accuracy will increase hits to that specific spot. They still have to bring down the shields first, though. Regardless, a CIC would still provide the station designs above with its other benefits.

When it comes to a Battle Station, I would always use a CIC. It’s much larger in size, a much larger investment, and you should definitely have the CIC researched by then, whereas you may or may not when it comes to the Small Station.

Now, Dynamic Launch is the typical setting, which launches the fighter design that has the highest Strength Rating that you have available. What’s good about this is it will automatically change as we research new technologies, using designs made in previous games if available, or using new designs we make after the carrier or station was built, without having to refit.

However, as I discussed in the Strength Rating section, this can be a problem if it uses a design you don’t like. A high damage, but super slow design, for example, which the enemy can easily cut down.

When designing fighters, there is an option to set them to “Carrier Only”, which means they won’t show up on colony build menus, and they will only be used by hangars. Unfortunately, there’s no option to set hangars to only use “Carrier Only” designs and ignore buildable designs.

Some Thoughts on Armor

The Steel through Tritanium line is typical go-to for anything that doesn’t use an engine. Their main downside is their mass, but that isn’t an issue on designs that don’t move.

Shapememory and Bionic Armor don’t seem to be worth using due to the high power consumption. I suppose if you didn’t pack as many shields as possible in, then there would be power for it. However, is it worth the trade-off, especially when compared with Ceramic?

Organic Armor says it produces ordnance, but I found that it produces so slowly, it might as well not bother. As of version 8.1Q, it takes 10 3×3 plates to equal one Ordnance Fabricator. So really, this armor is about HP regeneration.

There’s a big problem with the line from Shapememory through Advanced Bionic Armor though. Every plate requires power close enough to reach it, which can be impossible on many designs. Power doesn’t travel through adjacent plates, which would make sense and work a LOT better. I guess this is probably why they added the Wireless Power Transmitters, but I would much prefer they made it so that power traveled through adjacent armor plates.

Solar and Fairy Armor can be a good option on stations as it both produces a good amount of power and increases shield HP somewhat. Fairy Armor also adds a slight warp speed bonus, but that doesn’t help us here. You’re mainly trading armor HP and damage resistances for power generation. After Fairy armor, Shield Amp Armor and up provide more shield HP, but now they draw power, rather than providing it. All-in-all, this line is only good if you put all of the emphasis on the shields. This armor doesn’t hold up well once the shields go down. Definitely combine this with research into Shield Efficiency under the Upgrades tab if you go this route.

Here is an example where I started with the SS LOM ES 3R design above and used Solar Armor to provide the power to upgrade the shields:

• I converted the 3×3 armor plates to Solar Armor and left the 1×1 plates as Reactive Armor.
• The station loses a ton of armor HP, but eight 3×3 plates generate a good deal of power. If I used this power for other things, then the defenses would be much weaker, but in this image, I used the power to upgrade the shields to 4 Battle Shields and 4 Deflector Screens.
• Then I replaced 1×1 bulkhead squares with shield amplifiers until I used up all of the power.
• The end result is the loss of 64,000 Armor HP, with much lower Kinetic and Explosive damage resistance, and an increase of 28,000 Shield HP, with 100 Deflection. The original had 19.2k Shields and after the changes, it has 47.2k. These stats are from version 8.1Q. The exact numbers may change, but hopefully the way it works won’t.
• This only works if you have space to add shield amplifiers.

If you would prefer all of the shield generators to be Battle Shields or Deflector Screens, rather than half and half, you can do that

Battle Stations

Battle Stations are beyond the scope of this guide, but there’s one thing I want to mention.

As the largest station, this is where the large 4×4 modules come into the picture. The massive reactors, ordnance containers, shield generators, alongside the weapons, result in capabilities far beyond what multiples of smaller designs could accomplish. So if you’re looking at the tech tree and wondering where you would have a use for the biggest modules, Battle Stations, Battleships, and Titans are where.

Outro

While orbitals have reduced maintenance compared with ships, it still takes a lot for them to be effective, and they have to be built at each colony (or at least each good colony). At the start, you can get away with just building them at your homeworld.

The Combined Arms mod added the cool Orbital Kinetic Cannons and the Orbital Missiles, but for some reason, there are no equivalent “Orbital” energy weapons. In the vanilla game, orbitals could only use the ship weapons, and Ballistic, Missile, and Energy weapons had roughly equivalent range. Now though, it’s hard to see a good use case for offensive energy weapons on an orbital. I could see energy PD. Maybe someone will give me a good idea for an energy weapon orbital in the comments.

Orbital platforms and stations rotate slowly, so putting large, narrow arc weapons on doesn’t work well. It’s not something that can orient the gun towards the enemy and hold it there. It will keep turning.

There you have it, folks! Don’t hesitate to ask any questions you might have in the comments below and I’ll try to help you.

The enemy can send their fleets against you, but they will smash against the anvil of your planetary defenses.