Competition 13

It's time for ship building competition #13! Some things have changed, so be sure to read all the way through. These rules apply to both Rookie and Veteran brackets.

There's a review video here, but make sure to read the details here, too!

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Brackets

There is a veteran and rookie bracket. The veteran bracket is for experienced competition players. The rookie bracket is for anyone who’s never entered the competition before or if you’ve entered the competition before this point and didn’t do well you can opt to join the rookie bracket. You will not be allowed to enter both the Rookie and Veteran brackets. Veterans are not allowed to enter the Rookie bracket but Rookies are allowed to enter the Veteran bracket if they are feeling lucky. Please mention which bracket your competition entry is for. If you win the Rookie bracket twice you’ll be asked to join the Veteran bracket going forward. The winner of both brackets will fight to see an overall winner. Both brackets will follow the same competition rules mentioned below. The bracket rules are new and subject to change in the future as we get feedback so please make any suggestions to help us improve things.

Goal & Prize

Create the most effective combat ship(s) and see how it holds up against the competition! All submitted ships will compete in a bracket competition. See build details below. The winner receives the Competition Winner flair.

Combat rules:

• This will be a 6v6 ship competition.
• This is NOT an Ironman competition.
• The game's AI will control all the combat.
• The default orders will be on, so hull repair will be enabled during combat.
• Ships will fight each other twice and the ship with the best 2 out of 3 wins moves on. If both ships are destroyed at the end of the round it is a wash and discarded.
• Combat has no time limit. If ships are stuck in a loop, judges can call the battle early or set the ships farther apart to re-enagage.

Submissions

All ships must be submitted by April 19th, 2026 at 9 pm EST. Johnny_Struggles and Totengeist will not submit any ships to participate in the tournament, as they'll be running the battles.

You may submit your ships in the following ways:

• Submit to the Discord Ship Showcase and tag as a competition entry
• Send a Steam Workshop or Shipyard link to Johnny_Struggles, or post them to Steam, GOG, or Reddit
• Send a .ship file to Johnny_Struggles

We will allow up to 2 submissions from each contestant, and each submission must meet the requirements below. The tournament bracket is randomized! 🚀

Build Requirements

• You must use your own designs.
• Build up to 6 ships with maximum dimensions of 32x112 squares (no cost limit). You may decide how many of each ship up to the limit of 6 total should be fielded.
• Minimum speed is 10.
• Maximum speed for AI Fast Moving Jet / Strafing Run is 120. This will equal 84 during the competition.
• All other AI top speed is 80
• Armor is allowed
• Must have 1 Docking Port
• Radiation blockers can be used to make a "shield". No other objects are allowed for this.
• Maximum of 1 row of radiation blockers to use as a shield.
• No exterior hull wall removal trick.

Only for ships that have crew:

• Must have a breathable atmosphere where spacesuits are not required by the crew.
• Must have habitation equal to or greater than the number of crew you have.
• These are the only requirements, please keep your crew alive!

AI options:

Choose from the AI strategies listed below that your ships will use. To allow your ship to change strategy based on the situation, choose "Default / Auto-select.” The AI will NOT change the strategy for any other AI options selected. If you don't choose “Default / Auto-Select” AI, you can also choose which side of your ship faces the opponent (port/left or starboard/right").

Strategies to choose from. StrategyVeryCloseOrbit: Broadside orbits within gatling gun range. CloseRangeAggressive: Broadside orbits in cannon range just outside of gatling gun range. MediumRangeOrbit: Broadside orbits at the far end of cannon range. LongRangeSniper: Broadside orbits at railgun range well outside of cannon range. FastMovingJet: Forward-facing strafing Runs, flies straight at the opponent, then circles around to do it again. Default / Auto-Select: The AI will adjust to the situation. It may not always choose the most advantageous strategy.