Project Stardust Maps

Project Stardust maps turn ship statistics into real advantages and liabilities. Range matters only when a sightline stays open. Speed matters only when a route leads to a useful objective or safe retreat. Durability matters only when focused fire does not trap the hull in an exposed lane. Learning a map means learning where each kind of ship can contribute and leave.

This section covers Requiem, Shipyard, and SUS Fortress using community-documented identities and tactical methods that remain useful when the exact rotation changes. Always read the current lobby, mode, spawn, and objective markers. A remodel, event, or server update can invalidate an old diagram faster than it invalidates good positioning principles.

Community corroborated — checked September 12, 2026: Player references describe different cover density and objective arrangements across these maps. Current mode compatibility, spawn placement, objective health, and geometry must be confirmed in the live round.

Map knowledge begins at spawn

During the opening, identify four things: the nearest cover, the longest exposed crossing, the likely first-contact lane, and a retreat route wide enough for your ship. Then watch where teammates actually move. A planned lane is useless if the supporting group chooses the other side.

Large ships should account for turning room and stopping distance before entering dense structures. Fast ships should avoid outrunning every source of support. Carriers should estimate fighter travel time as well as hull safety. Spinal ships need a lane that supports alignment without preventing an escape turn.

Do not spend the whole opening staring at the tech tree or chat. The first distribution of ships predicts which flank can hold and which one needs observation rather than a solo push.

Requiem: plan for staged pressure

Community documentation associates Requiem with an Attack and Defend layout containing two objectives that are approached in sequence. If that is the live rule, both teams should plan for the transition rather than treating the first objective as the whole match.

Attackers need enough surviving ships and weapon systems to continue after the first position. Defenders should delay efficiently without trapping the entire team in a lost area. Cover, firing angles, and the distance between stages determine whether a retreat becomes a new defensive line or a rout.

The Requiem map guide explains opening reconnaissance, objective transitions, carrier lanes, and recovery decisions for multiple modes.

Shipyard: use structures deliberately

Shipyard is commonly documented as a space filled with industrial structures that create broken sightlines and approach corridors. Community references associate its Attack and Defend version with a single objective. Confirm the current marker and route because cover placement and mode rotation can change.

Dense geometry helps ships close distance, break contact, or mask a missile approach, but it also limits large-hull turning and can separate allies. Use structures to remove enemy lines one at a time. Avoid entering a pocket without checking whether the hull can turn back out.

The Shipyard map guide focuses on cover discipline, lane clearing, objective access, and the special risks faced by capital ships and carriers.

SUS Fortress: fewer, larger obstacles

Community descriptions compare SUS Fortress with Shipyard while emphasizing fewer but larger obstacles. That can create broad exposed spaces between strong pieces of cover. The correct route depends on your ship’s range, acceleration, profile, and the current mode.

One large structure can protect an approach from part of the enemy team, but it can also hide incoming threats and force a predictable exit. Rotate around cover with an escape direction already chosen. Do not assume the far side is safe simply because it is invisible.

The SUS Fortress map guide covers obstacle transitions, control of open gaps, Domination presence, and how to avoid being pinned against a large structure.

Read cover as line removal

Good cover does not merely hide the ship. It removes some enemy firing lines while leaving your own useful line available. Move until only the intended target can punish the exposure. If several enemies can fire at once, the angle is not doing enough work.

Consider the whole hull. A large stern, wing, or broadside can remain exposed even when the camera suggests safety. Third-person perspective can make a structure look closer than it is. Use slow initial movements to learn clearance before attempting a tight turn under fire.

Cover also affects missiles and fighters. A structure may interrupt a path or delay observation, but a wing sent around it can emerge inside concentrated point defense. Keep enough distance to redirect or recover assets.

Create a retreat before an attack

A retreat route should not cross the path of advancing allies, end at another enemy lane, or require a turn the ship cannot complete under pressure. When possible, enter at an angle that lets forward movement become withdrawal without a full reversal.

Set a retreat condition before firing. It might be shield loss, several hostile target indicators, a closed objective window, depleted fighters, or the arrival of a counter whose range controls yours. Leaving early preserves the ship for the next objective cycle.

If an ally retreats through your position, create space rather than blocking the lane. Congestion near cover turns a strong position into a trap.

Match map geometry to weapons

Long-range direct weapons benefit from stable sightlines but should reposition when cover makes the lane irrelevant. Spinal weapons need predictable movement and room for hull alignment. Missiles need a path and arrival time that challenge defensive coverage. Point-defense ships are most useful where their coverage overlaps likely targets.

Close-range ships should identify protected stages in the approach. Crossing every gap in one push is rarely necessary. Carriers should keep the hull behind defensible geometry without sending wings across the entire map on every order.

Use the weapons hub to understand those constraints and the ship classes guide to translate them into team roles.

Adapt each map to the mode

Deathmatch makes safe finishing lanes and disengagement important. Fleet Battle adds the cost of losing high-health ships in exposed gaps. Attack and Defend concentrates attention around objective access. Domination rewards routes that let a ship contest or reinforce capture zones without arriving after the point changes.

Do not copy one opening across every mode. The same piece of cover can be central in an objective round and irrelevant in a kill-focused round. Read the HUD first, then use map memory to shorten the decision.

If the server presents a map or variation not covered here, apply the same four-point scan: cover, exposure, contact, retreat. That produces a safe first route even without a detailed diagram.

Learn a map in three passes

On the first match, prioritize survival and identify landmarks. On the second, test one firing lane and its retreat. On the third, observe the opposite side or a different ship role. Keep the mode in your notes because objective placement changes which route mattered.

Review the moment you became unable to leave. Was it late turning, blocked space, an unexpected enemy line, or following an ally too deeply? Correcting that moment teaches more than memorizing object names.

Map knowledge is successful when it gives you an earlier decision: where to spawn, when to stop, which side to expose, when to rotate, and where the next safe position will be.