Rapid Fire

Rapid Fire

Rapid Fire (RF) is a combat modifier between unit types. The catalog value (for example ×5) is how many shots one shooter expects against that target type in a round — OGame-style — not a free damage multiplier and not unlimited splash kills.

RF is capped at 20 in combat calculations. Carrier screens can soften effective RF (see below).

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Core rules (remember these)

1. One shot hits one target. Full weapon damage goes into that one unit.
2. Overkill is wasted. If you deal 100 damage to a 10-hull ship, the leftover 90 does not jump to the next ship.
3. RF adds more shots, not bigger guns. Expected shots ≈ catalog RF when you keep hitting that RF type (after screens).
4. RF cannot invent kills if your attack is too weak to finish (or meaningfully chip) the target — you still need damage.
5. Soft / logistics hulls with RF 1 do not donate unused kill slots to capitals.

Without RF	With RF ×R
1 shot per living shooter per round	About R shots per living shooter per round (expected) against that target type
High attack vs soft swarm → mostly 1 kill (rest overkill wasted)	High attack vs soft swarm → about R kills if each shot one-shots
Low attack vs tough hull → chips one target	Low attack × R shots → more total chip damage; may finish a wounded ship in the same round

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Worked examples

Numbers below are toy examples (one attacker, one round, ignore shields/screens) so the logic is obvious. Real battles also use targeting priority, shared shield pools (ships + turrets share one absorb), and Carrier RF cancel.

1) Small attack vs higher hull — no RF

• Attacker: 10 attack, no RF
• Targets: ships with 15 hull each

What happens	Result
1 shot deals 10 into one ship	That ship goes 15 → 5 hull
No second shot	0 kills this round — target is wounded, not dead
Next rounds	Need another ~10 damage into the same (or another) hull to finish

Takeaway: Low attack without RF is slow; you chip, you do not clear lines in one volley.

2) Small attack vs higher hull — with RF ×2

• Attacker: 10 attack, RF ×2 against that type
• Targets: 15 hull each

What happens	Result
Expected ~2 shots × 10 damage	About 20 damage applied as two separate hits
Shot 1	One ship 15 → 5
Shot 2 (often)	Finishes the wounded ship (5 → 0) or chips a second ship
Compared to no RF	You can get a kill in one round that RF 1 could not

Takeaway: RF does not raise the gun from 10 → 20 on one hit. It gives another 10-damage shot. That is how low attack still “feels” RF.

3) Small attack vs lower hull — no RF vs RF ×2

• Attacker: 10 attack
• Targets: 8 hull each (one shot is enough to kill)

Setup	Per round (expected)
No RF	1 kill — 10 damage into one 8-hull ship; 2 overkill wasted
RF ×2	About 2 kills — two separate one-shots; each wastes a little overkill
Not what happens	You do not get floor(10/8)=1 kill from leftover splash without RF, and you do not get floor(20/8)=2 from merging damage into one pool

Takeaway: When you already one-shot the target, RF ≈ extra kills per round equal to extra shots.

4) Very high attack vs tiny hull — no RF

• Attacker: 100 attack, no RF
• Targets: 10 hull swarm (20+ ships)

What happens	Result
1 shot dumps 100 into one 10-hull ship	1 kill; leftover 90 is wasted
Rest of the swarm	Untouched this round by that shooter
Wrong intuition	Not “100÷10 = 10 kills”

Takeaway: Big guns without RF are inefficient vs soft spam — classic reason RF exists.

5) Very high attack vs tiny hull — with RF ×5

• Attacker: 100 attack, RF ×5 against that soft type
• Targets: 10 hull swarm

What happens	Result
Expected ~5 full shots	About 5 kills per round if every shot hits that type and one-shots
Still wasted overkill	Each shot still throws away ~90 vs a 10-hull ship
Hard ceiling (feel)	About RF kills per shooter per round, not millions from raw attack÷hull
Safety in the combat model	Destroys of a given type are also bounded by roughly shooter count × RF (and you still need the damage)

Takeaway: Capitals shred swarms through many shots, not by splashing one mega-hit across the whole blob.

Quick comparison table

Case	Attack	Target hull	RF	Expected this round (1 shooter)
Chip, no RF	10	15	none	Wound only (0 kills)
Chip, RF ×2	10	15	×2	Often 1 kill (two chips)
One-shot, no RF	10	8	none	1 kill
One-shot, RF ×2	10	8	×2	~2 kills
Overkill, no RF	100	10	none	1 kill (90 wasted)
Overkill, RF ×5	100	10	×5	~5 kills (not 10+)

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What players feel in real fleets

• High RF into a type you can kill (or finish with the extra shots) → that line melts fast.
• High RF into a type your gun cannot break → mostly wasted catalog text; raise firepower or pick a better counter.
• Mixing endless cargo/probes in front of capitals does not give capitals free multi-kill budgets.
• Carriers make enemy RF softer against your fleet, but never erase a strong RF edge completely.

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Carrier screen

Carriers (and similar escorts with RF-cancel) soften enemy rapid fire against your fleet:

• Each Carrier contributes cancel/cover points (Carrier: 2 cancel points covering 20 friendly hulls each in catalog terms).
• Screen points are capped (about 3 cancel points max in the combat model).
• Screens cancel at most half of the attacker’s RF advantage — you always keep at least half of a strong RF edge.
• Screens are recomputed each round — lost Carriers mean thinner protection later in the fight.
• Guardian class improves RF cancel effectiveness (about +50% to cancel points).

Screens reduce RF pressure; they do not erase it.

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Practical tips

• Bring Carriers when you expect RF-heavy enemy fleets (Battlecruisers, Destroyers, etc. into your light lines).
• Do not rely on cargo/probes to “soak” RF kill budgets for your capitals.
• Check each ship or defense page’s rapid-fire list when theorycrafting counters — and ask “can this gun actually kill that hull in one shot (or two with RF)?”
• Soft defense spam still needs enough shots that land after shields; RF on turrets only helps if the damage reaches hull. Colony ships and turrets share one attacker shield pool each round (not two separate absorbs).
• Turrets follow the same front-screen bias as fleets when they fire — and when ships + turrets fire together, that priority is applied once to the combined volley.

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References

• Fleet Combat · Targeting and Priority · Damage and Shields · Carrier · Fleet and Ships · Player Classes