The Supporter is a fast and very maneuverable light assault ship. They are equipped with two rapid-fire short-range laser turrets. Useful for killing expanding constructors in the early-mid T1 stage. Similarly to Grunts on land, Supporters pack a relatively high DPS, but only at close range.

Try to keep their broadside facing enemies while attacking to maximize damage. Their turrets are not able to shoot over each other, so only one will be used when facing the enemy head-on.

Similar to the Pawn/Grunt matchup, Supporters have lower damage but higher accuracy than their ARMADA counterpart (Dolphin).

BAR's flanking damage rules allow Supporters to punch above their weight when used in numbers. Swarm heavier ships on multiple sides to multiply your damage.

The Construction Ship is a good builder in terms of build power and speed. Even a single one of these assisting the lab almost doubles its output of units provided that you have the resources. On top of Commander’s build list they're able to produce more advanced T1 defences like the Floating Heavy Laser Turret and give access to T2 Shipyard. It adds 50 to your metal and energy storage capability

Use them for assisting the lab and quickly expanding, claiming the metal spots with underwater metal extractors.

Death Cavalry is a stealthy resurrection submarine. They are not visible to units on the surface if your enemy doesn’t have sonar nearby. Use them as support to provide repairs, reclaiming and resurrecting wrecks. They are relatively cheap and provide essential support to your navy maneuvers, don't forget to mix them in your fleet. Don't forget however the high energy cost of building and using them.

Resurrecting requires 50% of unit's energy cost.

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Herring is a light missile boat that can fire at surface and air targets. Less a scout than the Supporter, it fills a harassment & spotting role with its long sight and firing range. They outrange torpedo launchers, and harass expanding constructors very well.

Their AA firepower suffers vs. serious aerial attacks, but effectively protects your early fleets from EMP drones and gunships.

They are hopeless vs. direct combat ships like Dolphins, and submarines. Never over-build these.

Until you have Oppressors, Herrings can effectively destroy inland metal extractors and other infrastructure with their range.

The Riptide is an assault frigate equipped with three light plasma cannons with decent range. It resides in the middle-ground between gunboats and destroyers. It’s main use case is defending from Destroyers, as its range and speed allows it to outmaneuver them and deal some significant damage, though you need to make in big numbers to pull that off.

Cost-wise, you can make two of these for every destroyer, so it is a good investment for fighting against them. However, they get easily countered by submarines, against which they have no weapon. Frigates also share destroyers' vulnerability to air units.

Riptides have a higher cost, but stronger armor and weapons then their Armada counterpart (Ellysaw).

Orca is a stealthy assault submarine. They are equipped with powerful torpedo launchers that can deal some lethal damage to structures and ships within seconds, though they are also very vulnerable due to low health. They are kind of a glass cannon.

Orcas are invisible to radars and the units on the surface, so if your enemy is not careful enough you can sneak one or two of these into his base and cause some havoc.

The main use case for those is taking down underwater metal extractors and trapping fleets, which don’t include proper anti-submarine units, like Destroyers.

Oppressor is the heaviest of T1 ships. It’s biggest advantage is its durable armor and versatility. They are equipped with a powerful long range plasma cannon and a depth charge launcher. Their range allows them to outrange all ships and also torpedo static launchers, which makes them a great choice for pushing the front-line. They are also used as a good counter to submarines. However, due to slow movement and low maneuverability, they can get easily overrun by lighter ships.

It is a good idea to provide them with an escort of lighter ships and repairing support. They are costly and leave very precious wrecks, so take good care of them!

Oppressors have a higher cost, but also higher damage compared to their ARMADA counterpart (Corsair)

Phantasm is a radar jammer ship, allied units nearby vanish from enemy radar. While bereft of armaments the Phantasms plays a vital role in keeping your ships from the enemy radar screens. But beware, the Phantasm will not stop the enemy spotting your ships visually and line of sight will make the Phantasm ineffective.

Combining a cloaked unit with a jammer makes a given unit totally invisible.

Place one amongst a group of missile cruisers. While undetected they can maneuver around the enemy flanks and bring about terrible damage to the foe. Once the attack is complete they can escape out of sight and become difficult to hunt down.

Pathfinder is a naval engineer. Similar to Twitchers on land, these are used to assist T2 constructors and to quickly build T1 units in the field. Notably, they can build Floating Construction Turrets, plant powerful naval mines and produce T1 combat units such as Oppressors, and Riptides.

Never underestimate the destruction a carefully positioned minefield can bring about. With them you can rapidly secure large areas. Mines are effective until you are able to produce the more powerful T2 ships to fend off hovercraft assaults.

Raider ships give T2 Cortex fleets a fast and fierce attacker, complete with light AA for fending off drones and seaplanes. While almost as expensive as Destroyers, their speed, flamethrowers (450 range) and decent armor make for a highly effective strike force.

Use them to destroy vulnerable naval infrastructure and hunt down high-value ships, such as cruise missile boats.

However, their only defense vs. submarines is to outrun them, and T2 adv. torpedo launchers that home in on targets nullify their speed advantage. They also struggle to defeat Cruisers, a mainstay of T2 fleets.

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Advanced Construction Sub is the T2 sea constructor. Their typical first tasks are upgrading your metal extractors, building fusion reactors and then advanced metal makers.

They have a higher build power than the T1 Construction Ship and grant a small boost to both your metal and energy storage. Guard them with other constructors or naval engineers to assist with building.

In addition to T2 economy structures, they are able to build advanced torpedo launchers and the underwater experimental gantry.

Predator is a submarine killer. It is ideal for obliterating enemy submarines, in particular the T2 battle submarines. Predators deal additional damage to submarines, move more swiftly, turn faster and have a better angle of fire compared to other submarines. These attributes give the Predator unmatched lethality against battle submarines which against an unguarded fleet would cause devastation..

Always include a few of these in your T2 navy.

Arrow Storm is an anti-air ship. Wielding a mighty flak cannon and light missile launcher the Arrow Storm is capable of obliterating entire waves of enemy aircraft. Light aircraft disintegrate like confetti and even heavier aircraft fall from the sky under the hail of fire from the Arrow Storm.

Include at least one of these in their fleets to help destroy the enemy even when in the skies.

Buccaneers are medium assault cruisers, positioned as an upgraded version of Destroyers and a frequent part of any T2 naval group. Wielding both high-intensity lasers for surface targets and depth charges for subs or ships, they are highly flexible combatants.

Quite fast for a T2 ship, they are useful in early T2 sea warfare for outgunning any T1 vessels, and remain a mainstay of fleets thereafter. They are especially good at countering hovercraft.

Cruisers are completely defenseless vs. air units! Keep them covered by Arrow Storms or fighters!

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Support Ships fulfill 3 roles: intel; mobile energy generation; and anti-nuke capability on water.

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Each ship makes roughly a third as much as a Fusion Reactor at almost a third of the cost. This allows you to take the bulk of your energy infrastructure with your fleet.

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Kraken is a battle submarine with unmatched damage and range. The threat they pose to unguarded fleets is not to be underestimated and their ability to deal damage at range makes them truly dangerous. While devastating in the correct circumstances the Kraken is vulnerable to both submarine killers and torpedo launchers.

The ideal use of them is to destroy heavy ships and protect the sea from T3 amphibious units.

Utilize their range and try to keep a good safe distance.

Messenger is a missile cruiser. They are equipped with a heavy long-range missile launcher and a medium anti-air missile turret. Their focus is typically to get to the shore of an enemy and unleash an overwhelming first strike against their defences. A few missiles will completely level most structures and their range exceeds all land-based defence structures, even Annihilators, so the only realistic way to counteract them is to intercept them or hit them with tactical nukes.

A high missile trajectory enables them to shoot over mountains and other natural land barriers, which can stop other ships that use plasma cannons. As their munitions are not plasma based they will also completely ignore plasma shields.

Take advantage of the element of surprise by combining them with jammer ships to hide them from enemy radar, and let them sneak in close enough before starting the bombardment.

Despot is a heavy battleship. They are equipped with a powerful long-range plasma cannon and heavy laser. They are masters of ship to ship warfare; sinking enemy ships with ease and even taking the fight to land based targets.

While their heavy armor makes them a difficult target to take down for most foes, Battle submarines are the natural enemy of the Despot as it cannot target the underwater vessel and will take significant damage from it.

The Black Hydra is Cortex's flagship—a floating fortress combining awesome fire power with exceedingly long range. Construct one of these and watch as your enemy's fleet pales into insignificance.

They are equipped with two plasma cannon turrets, three laser turrets (830 range) and even a small anti-air missile launcher. Their main cannon range exceeds even that of the missile cruisers and possess such might that plasma shields will provide only a temporary respite from the shells.

While the cannons obliterate targets from afar, the lasers give the Black Hydra incredible lethality at shorter ranges too. Owing to the range and mobility a Black Hydra is able to destroy any T3 unit they clash with, as long as it doesn't get too close.

They achieve maximum damage when oriented to their targets from the broadside, so they are able to shoot all cannons and lasers at once.

While they are also equipped with medium anti-air missile launchers they are still vulnerable to heavier aircraft and possess no anti-submarine weaponry so never leave them bereft of an escort.