Drone Defense & Shield Guide: Protect Your Station

Raids are triggered by:

• Station Level milestones (every 2 levels from Level 6 onward)
• Time elapsed since the last raid
• High-value buildings in exposed positions (miners, storage containers)

Raid Scaling

Where They Attack

Enemies target the nearest unprotected building to their spawn point. They do not pathfind to your core — they attack whatever is closest. This means:

• Mining outposts on the edge of your station get hit first
• Isolated buildings far from your main cluster are sitting ducks
• Buildings behind walls or turrets are usually ignored in favor of easier targets

Drone Shields are defensive drones that orbit your station in a set radius. When an enemy enters their patrol zone, they engage automatically.

Stats

How to Deploy

1. Build a Drone Bay at your station
2. Craft Shield Drones in the Drone Bay
3. Set the patrol radius (drag the circle in the UI)
4. Assign drones to the bay — they launch automatically

Key Detail: Patrol Overlap

One Drone Bay controls up to 4 drones. Their patrol circles can overlap, creating a zone where multiple drones converge on the same target. This is good — overlapping patrol zones = concentrated fire.

Recommended setup:

• Place Drone Bays at 3-4 points around your station perimeter
• Set patrol radius to cover the space between your station and the asteroid edge
• Overlap at least 2 patrol circles over your most valuable buildings. For outpost defense, see our Freighter & Mining Guide.. For outpost defense, see our Freighter & Mining Guide.

Missile Turret

• Range: Long
• Damage: High (AoE splash)
• Fire Rate: Slow
• Best Against: Groups of small/medium drones
• Ammo: Missile Ammo (crafted in Munitions Factory)

The Missile Turret is your workhorse. One or two of these covering your main production area will handle most raids up to Station Level 10. The splash damage means you don’t need perfect aim — just fire into the cluster.

Positioning: Place on elevated platforms overlooking your station’s perimeter. Missiles arc, so height gives you better range.

Laser Turret

• Range: Medium
• Damage: High (single target)
• Fire Rate: Fast
• Best Against: Heavy/shielded drones
• Ammo: Energy (draws from your power grid)

Laser Turrets are precision tools. They lock onto a single target and burn it down fast. Use them to pick off shielded drones that Missile Turrets struggle with.

Positioning: Place near your most critical buildings (Smelters, Reactors, Storage). Laser turrets have shorter range than missiles, so they need to be close to what they are protecting.

Ion Cannon (Late Game)

• Range: Very Long
• Damage: Extreme (single target)
• Fire Rate: Very Slow
• Best Against: Boss-type enemies and shielded heavies
• Ammo: Ion Charge (crafted from Antimatter)

The Ion Cannon is your endgame defense. It one-shots most enemies and two-shots shielded heavies. The downside: it draws massive power (30+ power/sec) and fires once every 15-20 seconds. Make sure your power grid can handle it.

Positioning: Central location with clear line of sight to all approach vectors.

Layout 1: The Ring (Station Level 6-8)

        [Missile Turret]
            |
[Drone Bay] --- STATION CORE --- [Drone Bay]
            |
        [Missile Turret]

Four turrets at cardinal points. Two Drone Bays covering north-south and east-west. Simple, effective for early raids.

Layout 2: The Shell (Station Level 8-10)

[Drone Bay] --- [Missile Turret] --- [Laser Turret]
      |                                    |
   OUTPOST                              MINING WING
      |                                    |
[Laser Turret] --- [Missile Turret] --- [Drone Bay]

Six defensive positions forming a shell around your station. Drone Bays on the corners, turrets on the sides. Add Laser Turrets near high-value buildings.

Layout 3: The Fortress (Station Level 10+)

         [Ion Cannon]
              |
[Drone Bay] --- [Missile] --- [Laser] --- [Drone Bay]
     |              |            |              |
  BAIT          PRODUCTION    REACTOR         BAIT
     |              |            |              |
[Drone Bay] --- [Laser]  --- [Missile] --- [Drone Bay]
              |
         [Ion Cannon]

Full perimeter defense with Ion Cannons on elevated central platforms, turrets on all sides, and Drone Bays at every corner. Bait structures at the edges draw initial aggro.

Mistake 1: Turrets Without Ammo

Missile Turrets need ammo. If you forget to set up a Munitions Factory or connect it to your turret supply, your turrets are expensive decorations.

Fix: Build a Munitions Factory early. Connect it to your Missile Turrets via a Connector chain. Keep a buffer of 50+ ammo at all times.

Mistake 2: Drones With No Patrol Zone

If you don’t set a patrol radius, drones just hover over the Drone Bay and only engage enemies that come within a tiny default radius.

Fix: Always set patrol radius. Expand it to cover your vulnerable areas.

Mistake 3: All Defense on One Side

Enemies can spawn from any direction. If all your turrets face north, a raid from the south walks right through.

Fix: Symmetrical defense. If you place a turret on one side, place one on the opposite side too.

Mistake 4: Forgetting Remote Outposts

Mining outposts get raided too. A single Missile Turret at each outpost is usually enough for early raids.

Fix: Build one turret and a small ammo buffer at every remote mining station. The cost is minimal compared to rebuilding a miner. See our Freighter & Mining Guide for outpost setup.

Mistake 5: Power Grid Collapse During Raids

Laser Turrets and Ion Cannons spike your power draw. If your grid was already at 90%, adding turrets pushes it over.

Fix: Keep 20% power headroom. Or add a dedicated Small Reactor just for defense systems. Our Antimatter Power Guide covers endgame power scaling.

All defense layouts tested in version 1.0.0.2 across multiple Station Levels. Raid patterns and scaling may change with future updates.