HighFleet is known for its striking complexity and tactical depth—and if you’re new, the opening moments can feel like being tossed into the deep end without a lifeline. This guide is for players who’ve completed the in-game tutorial but are still trying to piece together how to actually play the game well in the campaign. We’ll focus on loadout choices, fuel strategy, ammunition, and how to win early battles with minimal damage. Let’s dive in.
1. Choosing Your Starting Fleet: Less Is More
Right after the tutorial, the game presents you with a daunting selection screen filled with ship choices. The key insight here is this: every ship you add to your fleet burns more fuel, and that fuel cost is exponential—not just in terms of resource use but time spent refueling, money wasted, and reduced strategic mobility.
Start small. A lean, efficient fleet is far more effective than a bloated one. One of the strongest recommendations is to take two or three Lightning-class ships. These are light, incredibly maneuverable interceptors with high thrust-to-weight ratios. They’ll let you avoid damage altogether in many fights and reduce your operational cost significantly. Bring a third Lightning as backup in case one gets damaged.
Avoid heavier ships like the Gladiator early on. While they may seem powerful on paper—with armor, missiles, and flare systems—their lower thrust-to-weight ratio makes them sluggish and fuel-hungry. Worse, if missiles onboard are hit before use, they can explode and do devastating damage to your own ship. Bottom line: in the early game, the Lightning is king.
2. Fuel Efficiency and Strategic Map Movement
After setting your fleet, your next concern is fuel. Use your starting moves wisely—don’t just chase objectives. Identify nearby fuel depots, low-cost refueling cities, and enemy intel centers. Unless you’re pursuing a specific objective (like meeting the Turkins), prioritize maintaining your mobility.
Refuel strategically. Small top-ups can be done anywhere, but large-scale refueling is best done at fuel depots where prices are lower and quantities more manageable. Avoid overextending and keep fuel levels topped up before taking risks.
3. Strike Groups and Combat Preparation
Whenever you’re prompted to engage enemies, prepare a strike group instead of bringing the flagship. The flagship is powerful, but slow and extremely prone to damage. Keep it in reserve and deploy your Lightning ships for combat instead.
Because of their speed and maneuverability, Lightnings can often engage enemies without taking a single hit. Use vertical movement aggressively to dodge shots, and take advantage of your high agility. Remember: the G-forces will black out your screen momentarily, but this is a small price to pay for total evasion.
4. Ammunition Types: Choosing the Right Rounds
One of the most overlooked mechanics in HighFleet is ammo customization. Ships come with default ammunition, but it’s absolutely worth the investment to buy specialty rounds. For Lightning ships equipped with 100mm cannons, proximity fuse rounds are a game-changer. They detonate near enemies rather than requiring direct hits—perfect for fast-paced combat.
Another great backup is incendiary rounds, which light enemies on fire and cause damage over time. They’re especially useful once your proximity rounds run out.
Always check your ship weapons in the Shipworks panel. Hovering over weapons will reveal their caliber (e.g., 100mm, 57mm), helping you buy the correct ammunition type.
5. Winning Battles Without Damage
Once combat starts, stay mobile. Use short bursts to avoid overheating your engines. Target less-armored parts of enemy ships—usually the underside—and try to flank or maneuver underneath them when possible.
With proximity fuse rounds equipped, you’ll notice an immediate difference. You don’t need pinpoint accuracy, which makes taking down multiple enemies far more manageable. A single Lightning can eliminate entire enemy groups without being hit, if piloted well.
If one ship gets too damaged, retreat and swap in the next. That’s why you bring three. Keeping damage to a minimum means less time and money spent on repairs.
6. Intercepting Radio Messages and Using Intel
Early in the campaign, one of your best advantages is intercepting enemy communications. When you catch a signal, use the tuning system to isolate the right frequency. Messages will be visible in plain text at first, showing origin and destination.
Eventually, messages become encrypted. You’ll need a cipher key, which involves matching scrap paper patterns to a code grid and using dials to decipher four-digit codes. It’s a mini-puzzle mechanic that, once understood, unlocks huge strategic possibilities.
Tracking named ships like “Sparrowhawk” allows you to plan ambushes or intercept trade convoys. Knowing where ships are heading lets you position your fast Lightnings accordingly.
7. Capturing and Profiting from Transport Ships
Transport ships are prime targets. They usually have escorts, but taking them down rewards you with gold, fuel, and sometimes valuable hulls. The goal is to eliminate the escorts quickly, ideally without destroying the transport itself.
Use terrain, speed, and weapon fire to lure escorts into line of fire or collide with each other. When successful, you can extract resources, strip hulls, and fly the ship back to base. These operations can net you over 15,000 gold in one go.
8. Final Advice for the Early Campaign
- Stick to fast, efficient ships. Don’t get weighed down with unnecessary heavy armor in the beginning.
- Learn to dodge over tanking hits. Mobility is your defense.
- Experiment with ammunition. The right ammo can turn a hard fight into an easy win.
- Intercept, decode, and plan your moves. HighFleet rewards foresight.
- Fuel is everything. Never let it run low.
The early game in HighFleet is about resource conservation, tactical movement, and surgical strikes. Master these and you’ll have a powerful foundation for handling the brutal mid- and late-game challenges.
If you found this guide helpful, consider it your launchpad to becoming a commander who knows exactly when to strike and when to disappear into the clouds. Good luck out there!
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