PixelStarships

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This page is about Pixel Starships (aka PSS), a computer game that lets you manage and develop your own starship and crew, in a manner that is quite similar to many other management games where you start small and work your way up to higher levels along a pre-defined development path.

The unique characteristics of Pixel Starships are its retro-graphics style and - for me the selling point - the ability to "program" your starship and crew so that they perform their duty autonomously, i.e. without the player's interactive control, during starship battles.

I decided to create my own wiki page because for a newbie like me there are too many things either "under-explained" or totally unexplained on the PSS fandom.com wiki. Maybe I should have tried to improve the fandom.com wiki, but as is often the case, writing my own summaries helps me understand things better.


References

Reference sites:


Utility sites:


Guides and articles:


Glossary

AP damage
Armor piercing damage. See the PSSCombat wiki page for details.
Carrier
A style of play, or ship strategy. It launches craft from the Hangar to attack the enemy.
CCJ
Continue Current Job. An AI action that becomes available with the Python 3.0 research.
Crew Capacity
Depending on the context, the PSS wiki uses this term to mean one of the following:
  • The number of crew members that an individual bedroom can house.
  • The number of crew members that the entire ship can house. This is the sum of the crew capacity of all bedrooms that are currently installed on the ship.
  • The number of crew members that can target one room. Friendly and enemy crew capacity are separate. Example: A room with crew capacity 3 can be targeted by 3 friendly and by 3 enemy crew members, for a total of 6.
FF
Focus fire. Battle tactics to focus weapon fire on as few rooms as possible so that the enemy ship's hull is damaged as soon as possible (as opposed to systematically destroying one room after the other, which may delay hull damage for too long).
GA
Galactic Alchemist. A specific crew member who is infamous for her large Arson ability, which when boosted by training and Ability enhancing equipment can start powerful fires that are very difficult to extinguish.
Gunship
A style of play, or ship strategy. It uses laser and other weapon rooms to focus fire on a single room and DPS the enemy to death.
Hollow Shield
A ship that has a hollow shield has a Shield Generator room installed but does not power it. The ship thus gets the initial shield HP at the start of the battle, but once the shield wears off it is not regenerated.
Hull sniping
A technique that inflicts hull damage by shooting at destroyed rooms instead of picking one room and "focus firing" it the whole battle. Of course you need something to destroy random rooms - most common are boarder droids, "ghost" boarders that pop in and out, and AP damage sources like railgun or javelin missiles. The point of hull sniping is to try and get hull damage in by avoiding enemy repairers, whereas focus fire tries to get hull damage in despite enemy repairers repairing the focused room.
Items
Items are a kind of resource available to the player. Unlike Minerals or Gas or Starbux, which are currency-like and uniform resource types, items are quite varied and have names. This wiki has a dedicated page for items.
Pen Spam
A style of play, or ship strategy. It uses penetrator missiles that deal direct hull damage to wear down the enemy ship in long, drawn-out battles.
Power Argument
Some equipment items provide a boost to the Special Ability value of a crew member. In-game this boost is called "Power Argument" (or "PowerArgument" without a space character). The Power Argument value is not a flat value added to the Special Ability value, it is a percentage! For instance, if an equipment item has a Power Argument value of +12, then it increases the crew member's Special Ability value by 12%.
PPG
Pixel Perfect Guide. A website with up-to-date and useful information. The URL is in the "References" section.
PSS
Pixel Starships.
RSS
Resources.
Segmented ship
A ship where not all rooms are interconnected, and crew members in one segment cannot walk to rooms in the other segment(s).


Q & A

How does the shield work?
Projectile and energy weapons have to overcome the shield. Missiles, however, bypass the shield. TODO: What about craft? The Shield Generator will always start off with a full shield at the beginning of a fight, even if it has no power. When the Shield Generator is destroyed, the shield HP will immediately drop to 0. However, depowering it will not cause this to happen. In addition, leftover shield damage is not carried over. For example, 5 shield damage to a 3 HP shield will take down the shield, but the remaining 2 damage will not be carried over to affect System, Crew, or Hull health. TODO: How exactly is the shield HP determined? Is this the shield generator room's Capacity stat? How exactly is the shield HP replenished? Probably is related to the shield generator room's Reload Time stat.
When tapping a mineral or gas crate in your inventory, its descption says "Also convertible to <n> supply boxes." What does this mean? What is a supply box?
Supply boxes, or simply Supplies, are the resource that is used for building and maintaining a fleet's Starbase. Cf. the PSS wiki.
What does the lock icon in a crew member' character portrait mean?
Repeatedly tapping it toggles the lock between locked/unlocked state. When the lock is in locked state the crew member cannot be fired, i.e. it cannot be dragged into space to get rid of it. The crew also cannot be blended. This protects you from accidentally destroying a valuable crew member.
The combat system appears to be turn-based. How does it work exactly? When do ships attack? When do crew attack? When do crew repair? When do crew heal? When do crew walk?
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How exactly are AI commands processed?
On the AI wiki page you can find a number of tables that contain all the AI script processing rules that I have been able to gather from various sources. Based on those rules I have made an attempt to write the AI command processing loop in pseudo-code.
How can I see how much HP a room has?
The number of green pips is equal to the room's HP. A more in-depth explanation can be found on the PSSCombat wiki page.
Are there different types of turns? Somewhere I read the term "repair turn", so is there also a "combat turn" or a "heal turn"?
No, there are no different types of turn. "Repair turn" is just a figure of speech for when a defensive crew member performs repair activities.
How do crew members who want to teleport back to your ship (incoming) queue up? Do they share the same queue with crew that want to teleport to the enemy ship (outgoing)?
There is no incoming queue. Teleporting back is instantaneous and does not use up the Teleport room's charge (in fact the Teleport room does not even have to be operational - see the next question). Crew simply target a room on your ship, which instantly teleports them back to the Teleport room on your ship, from where they then walk to their target room. If the target room's capacity has already been reached due to other crew members already targeting the room, then the targeting action will be invalid and the crew member will do something else.
What happens if a crew member is on the enemy ship and uses an AI action to target a friendly room, but the friendly Teleport room is destroyed? Is the AI action invalid, i.e. the AI command is not executed at all? Or is the AI action valid, i.e. the AI command is executed, resulting in the crew member becoming inactive until the friendly Teleport room is repaired?
Neither. Teleporting back works even if the friendly Teleport room is destroyed. So the result is that the crew member teleports back and walks to the friendly room she is targeting. This has been determined experimentally.
What happens if a crew member is on the enemy ship and uses an AI action to target a friendly room, but there is no path from the friendly Teleport room to the friendly target room? Is the AI action invalid, i.e. the AI command is not executed at all? Or is the AI action valid, i.e. the AI command is executed, resulting in the crew member teleporting back but then becoming inactive and staying in the friendly Teleport room?
The AI action is invalid, i.e. the AI command is not executed at all. This has been determined experimentally.
Can friendly weapons fire hit your own crew members (i.e. your boarders on the enemy ship)?
Yes!
Is crew damage dealt by crew members applied to all enemy crew members in the same room? (the PSS wiki implies that this is the case)
No, it's not! In hand-to-hand combat a crew member only deals damage to one enemy crew member - the one it is engaged in combat with. Note that Special Abilities are different, they are not hand-to-hand combat and some of them (Poison Gas) will deal damage to all enemy crew members in the room.
Does Poison Gas also damage friendly crew members who happen to be in the same room?
No.
Does Healing Rain also heal enemy crew members who happen to be in the same room?
No.
Are the "Current HP" AI conditions legal for a room AI script? If yes, does the "Target Condition Room" action refer to the room itself?
Yes, they are legal. The game UI does not allow to select the "Target Condition Room" action for any of these conditions, so the second question cannot be answered - but it's moot anyway because nobody wants to fire on her own ship.
If an AI condition targets a room type for which several rooms exist, which particular room instance does the AI select?
According to PPG, this works differently if the script is "owned" by a room or by crew:
  • Script owner is a room: The game selects a random room instance. However, the choice is the same for all rooms that choose in the same frame. Also, subsequent frames cycle through room instances.
  • Script owner is a crew member: The game selects the room instance that is the closest to the crew member's current position. If the crew member is on your ship and targets an enemy room type the game selects a random room instance because the teleport distance is equivalent for all enemy rooms.
What happens if an Engine Room, Shield Room or Teleport Room uses the "Target Condition Room" AI action? This does not make any sense, also these rooms have no other targeting actions available.
The question is irrelevant. It does not matter whether the weird "Target Condition Room" AI action is valid or invalid because these rooms have no other targeting AI actions. It's probably a bug and, having no consequences, can be ignored.
Assuming no crew is present in a room, how do the room's "Max Power" and "Reload Time" stats and the amount of energy currently assigned to the room interact, to produce the room's actual reload time?
The "Reload Time" stat denotes the time it takes for a full recharge when the maximum amount of energy units (denoted by the "Max Power" stat) is assigned to the room. If less energy than the maximum is assigned, the reload time increases. The increase is linear. Example with a hypothetical room with "Reload Time" = 3 seconds and "Max Power" = 4. With 4 energy units assigned, the room recharges in 3 seconds, with only 1 energy unit assigned the room recharges in 12 seconds.
Is a room's reload time affected when the room is damaged?
Yes! A room's current HP is directly linked to its current maximum power consumption. An undamaged room's HP is equal to the "Max Power" stat. When the room is damaged the room's HP is reduced and the room's maximum power consumption also decreases correspondingly - with fractions being truncated. For instance, a room with 2.9 HP can consume only a maximum of 2 power. Because a damaged room can no longer consume as much power, its reload time increases accordingly (assuming, of course, that the maximum amount of energy units was assigned to the undamaged room).
Can Power Setting actions be invalid? For instance, if an action says "Increase Power By 1" but there is insufficient energy, is that action invalid?
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Can Ammo Selection actions be invalid? For instance, if an action says "Set Highest Hull Damage" but no item has any hull damage, is that action invalid?
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Do Special Abilities trigger if a crew member that can be affected is just passing through but does not target the same room that the Special Ability wielder is in? For instance, if a friendly/enemy crew member is entering a room, will a Healing Rain/Poison Gas ability trigger?. In the case of boarding crew waiting for a chance to teleport, an enemy boarder's Poison Gas or Critical Attack does trigger.
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How is a room's crew capacity determined, i.e. the number of crew that can target it?
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What does the "Capacity" stat mean for the Academy, Anti Craft Laser, Gym and the Minigun rooms?
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What does the "Man Capacity" stat mean for the Missile Launcher and Hangar rooms?
?
What does the "Man Rate" stat mean for the Minigun room?
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What happens if a crew member enters a Security Gate that is undamaged but not fully charged? Does the Security Gate deal no damage at all, or does it deal partial damage?
It deals no damage. This can be compared with a Teleport room: If the Teleport room has no full charge it is not operational. This means that when a Security Gate discharges and deals damage to a crew member, a second crew member who follows the first may walk through the Security Gate unharmed during the time that the Security Gate recharges.
What happens if a crew member enters a Security Gate that is damaged? Does the Security Gate deal no damage at all, or does it deal partial damage?
It deals no damage. Energy units can be allocated to rooms up to the maximum of their current HP, with fractions truncated. A Security Gate can have only 1 HP at maximum. As soon as the Security Gate receives a fractional amount of damage, say 0.1, its HP drops to 0.9, which for energy unit allocation is truncated to 0. The Security Gate immediately loses its charge, and without energy units allocated cannot regain that charge until it is repaired. Note: This answer does not apply to security rooms that have more than 1 HP, for instance the Small Gas Trap (which can be purchased in the Dove Shop) which has 2 HP.
What happens when a crew member with Ultra Dismantle enters a Security Gate? Does the Security Gate trigger first, or does Ultra Dismantle disable the Security Gate before it can deal its damage?
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An article on pocketcaptains.com says that a crew member with Ultra Dismantle has to eliminate all enemy crew in the room first before she can use the ability. Is this true?
No, this is false.
Does the Special Ability Rush Command trigger if a rechargeable room is allocated no energy, either intentionally or because it is destroyed?
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Assuming two crew members with the same Special Ability (e.g. Critical Attack) target the same room, one crew member is already in the room, the other enters the room by walking (i.e. not via teleport). Which crew member activates her Special Ability first?
  • Counter-intuitively, the crew member entering the room activates her Special Ability first.
  • The source for this information is a discussion on the official PSS Discord server, initiated by .Xeon. in the "bugs-android" channel on 26 July 2019 with the observation "Timing on in room crew going first has been broken in latest updates. Crew in a room used to always go first." Several people then argued, with supporting evidence from testing, that .Xeon. was wrong and that it has always been the case that the crew member walking into the room has the initiative. Screenshot from the response by user "Bril - Trek Fed".
  • It does not matter on which ship the two are. In the same discussion, user Astherisk asserts that he tested both scenarios: 1) Boarder entering room with defender; and 2) Defender entering room with boarder. Although he didn't repeat the test on the other ship, it's probably safe to assume that the logic is the same on both ships.
  • There is a certain amount of uncertainty whether the above information is actually true. From the Discord discussion it remains unclear whether the people who did the testing have done so using different combinations of Special Abilities. If they always tested the same combination, then the effect they observed might have come from the fact that one of the Special Abilities has precedence over the other (e.g. Critical Strike might trigger before Poison Gas). TODO: Investigate!
When activating Special Abilities, are there any rules of precedence which Special Ability is activated first?
The question is irrelevant because in all scenarios where two crew members from opposing sides can meet each other there are clear rules which crew member activates her Special Ability first.
Is Healing Rain a "heal over time" effect, or is it instant? When reviewing battles I have observed rather long Healing Rain animations, which leads me to suspect that it is a heal over time effect.
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If two crew members from opposing sides engage in hand-to-hand combat, and they are ready to attack on the same frame, which of the crew members attacks first?
?
When a crew member deals damage to an enemy crew member in hand-to-hand combat, is it correct that the attacking crew member's Attack stat value is simply subtracted from the attacked crew member's current HP value?
Yes.
In hand-to-hand combat, is it possible for a crew member to attack more frequently than just every 1 second? If yes, what is needed to affect the attack speed?
?
The Speed stat denotes how fast a crew member walks and runs. What do the Speed stat numbers mean exactly?
See the entry for the Speed stat on the PSSCrew wiki page.
Unknown Material and Dark Matter are materials required to craft high-level equipment. Where can one obtain the two materials?
The only currently known sources are the Daily Sale, the Dropship, the Dove Shop and Scratchies.
How do landmines get destroyed?
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While the ship is idle crew members can be seen to wander around in the room that they have been placed. So how does the game position crew members in the room at the start of a battle?
I am not aware of a canonical answer to this question, but the order in which the game positions crew members certainly does not match the order in which the user places them when she drags them into the room. Most likely, the game places crew members from left to right in the order of seniority - at least that's what I found during some of my experiments that were dedicated to crew ordering. Note: Initial positioning can be important to coordinate the AI actions of the first few seconds of a battle. Example: If you have Rush Command crew that rushes the Teleport room with 100%, then you want the first boarder to be already positioned in the middle of the Teleport room so that he is teleported immediately. This means that exactly one of the other crew who initially is in the Teleport room must have higher seniority than the boarder.
What happens if a fire is ignited on the same frame that a crew member repairs the room? Is the fire duration already reduced by the repair action or or not?
?


Hot tips

This section has a few things that I find extremely important, but which I think are hard to find out for yourself.

  • Armor up! Install as much armor as you can buy from the Shop and upgrade it to the maximum level as soon as you can. Armor heavily reduces the damage that enemy ship weapons do to your ship even if the room is destroyed! Armor protects each room it touches horizontally and vertically, but not diagonally.
  • Focus your weapons on as few rooms as possible. Aka "focus fire" tactics. The goal is to destroy the enemy ship's hull, i.e. to reduce the enemy ship's HP to zero, but weapons generally deal their damage to the hull only after a room is completely destroyed. By focusing on fewer rooms you start to hammer on the enemy ship's hull sooner.
  • You can borrow crew from the fleet even if your ship already has the maximum number of crew it can house.
  • The game runs on 40 frames per second. In every frame all AI scripts are processed once.
  • Crew members cannot repair a room that is on fire. Crew members wait until the fire is extinguished (and meanwhile take fire damage) before they begin repair. Crew members actively work on extinguishing the fire using their repair stat, any sprinklers present will also reduce fire duration. The fire damage dealing processing is exceedingly complicated - refer to the PSSCombat wiki page for details.
  • An AI targeting action is not valid and is therefore not performed if the target enemy room has no health. This means that once a weapon room has switched targets away from a destroyed room, it is impossible to retarget that room and deal further hull damage.
  • Crew members cannot damage the enemy ship's hull. Once they have destroyed their target room further damage to that room is discarded.
  • A crew member that targets another room than the one she is currently standing in does not take part in the defense of that room, nor does she help to repair it. This situation occurs whenever a crew member is unable to go to the room she is targeting because the transport facility she wants to use is blocked. Currently I am aware of two such scenarios: 1) The crew member has to wait for a lift. 2) The crew member wants to teleport to the enemy ship, but the Teleport room has been destroyed.
  • At ship level 8 you can research Atomic Disassembly which can then be used to recycle surplus Equipment items into Stardust. In turn these can be upgraded back into a number of semi-useful items. Specifically the XP-boosting "[...] Guide To The Galaxy" items are interesting to speed up crew leveling between level 30-40.


Rooms

See the PSSRooms page on this wiki.


Crew

See the PSSCrew page on this wiki for general information on crew.

See this wiki page for a list of my crew.


The combat system

See the PSSCombat page on this wiki.


AI

See the PSSAI page on this wiki.


My strategies

See the PSSMyStrategies page on this wiki.


Items

See the PSSItems page on this wiki.


Singleplayer Missions

See the PSSMissions page on this wiki.


Dove Shop

See the PSSDoveShop page on this wiki.


The Dropship

Appearance:

  • The Dropship, if it is available, will hover close to your ship so that you can see it even if you have the main screen zoomed in.
  • The Dropship refreshes every 24 hours (around 8pm EST USA) but sometimes server issues delay or don't update at all.
  • If you dismiss the Dropship it will reappear every time the main screen loads with whatever options you have not yet claimed for the day.


Content:

  • The Dropship has a box of starbux that will give you between 3-10 starbux.
  • The Dropship also offers to purchase two crew members. Their price depends on their rarity and your current cost for crew in the Shop. Because these are not random options they cost more than hiring a crew member of the same rarity in the Shop (up to 4 times the regular Shop cost).
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