Project Stardust Attack and Defend gives one team destructible objectives and the other team time or conditions to preserve them. Community map references describe different layouts, including one objective on Shipyard and two sequential objectives on Requiem. Confirm every current marker, health display, order, and timer in the live round.
Winning requires access control. Attackers must deliver sustained useful pressure; defenders must delay and trade space without losing the next position.
Read the objective layout
At spawn, identify the active objective, whether another stage is visible, approach lanes, defender cover, attacker cover, and the safest rotation between positions. Do not assume an old map diagram matches the server.
If objectives are sequential, attackers should preserve enough ships and systems for the next stage. Defenders should know when the current position can no longer be held and where the next line forms.
Watch the HUD throughout the match. Objective state matters more than a chase away from it.
Build the attacking formation
Attackers need a front that can survive approach, pressure that dislodges defenders, and screens that protect valuable ships from missiles or craft. Keep enough spacing for large hulls to turn.
Do not enter one at a time. Wait for slow ships to reach a contributing lane, identify a focus target, and coordinate direct weapons, missiles, fighters, and spinal pressure. A wave with several simultaneous problems is harder to stop.
Keep a reserve or retreat route. A failed push should not become the loss of the entire team.
Open a lane as attacker
Choose one approach where cover removes some defensive lines. Pressure the ship or screen that controls access, not only the objective marker. Force defenders to turn, retreat, or divide attention.
Long-range ships should make the lane safer for the advancing group. Brawlers should close after defenders are occupied. Missile and carrier pilots should challenge defensive coverage rather than feed it isolated volleys or wings.
Once access opens, move enough pressure onto the objective while screens watch enemy reinforcements.
Build the defensive formation
Defenders should cover approaches and objective space without stacking every ship in one vulnerable cluster. Place durable anchors where they can leave, long-range ships on relevant sightlines, and escorts where point defense protects likely targets.
Preserve a route to the next position. A defender that delays briefly and survives can fight again; a ship trapped after the objective falls contributes no more.
Watch for attackers shifting lanes. Do not let one distant skirmish pull the whole defense away from the marker.
Delay efficiently as defender
Focus ships whose destruction or retreat breaks the attacking push: exposed capital hulls, screens, carriers, or close-pressure ships entering without support. Use cover to reduce incoming lines and force attackers to spend time repositioning.
Interrupt objective damage or access when possible, but do not expose several ships to save a nearly lost position. Communicate the fallback early and form the next line.
Time is a resource. A controlled retreat after meaningful delay can be more valuable than a dramatic final stand.
Handle objective transitions
When a stage changes, both teams must reset priorities. Attackers should not chase retreating defenders so far that the next objective remains untouched. Defenders should not linger in a lost area while attackers establish uncontested pressure.
Fast ships can scout or delay the transition, but they should retain an exit. Large ships need early movement because their rotation takes longer. Carriers should redirect wings and reposition the hull before travel becomes excessive.
Use the Requiem map guide for sequential-position planning.
Select ships for the role
Attackers benefit from survivable approach, sustained objective pressure, screens, and systems that force defenders from cover. Defenders benefit from lane control, interruption, overlapping point defense, and ships that can retreat to another line.
No role is useful if it cannot reach the current objective. A long-range ship must have a relevant sightline. A brawler needs a protected approach. A carrier needs wings close enough to influence the active stage.
Read ship classes before selecting only by tier.
Use weapons around an objective
Objectives create predictable movement. Spinal weapons can control entry lanes, missiles can arrive during a push, and direct weapons can focus exposed screens. Point defense should protect committed capital ships and carriers.
Attackers should observe defensive overlap before launching. Defenders should preserve dual-purpose coverage when a coordinated wave arrives. Both sides should avoid expending every system on a target leaving the relevant fight.
The weapons hub explains each delivery problem.
Common mistakes
Attackers often rush separately, damage the objective without controlling defenders, chase after a stage changes, or send carrier craft across concentrated defenses. Defenders often overstack, fight too far forward, retreat too late, or abandon the objective for a tempting target.
Both sides can lose by blocking large-hull movement around cover. Plan spacing before pressure arrives.
Post-match review
Identify where access opened, which ship enabled it, when the defense should have moved, and whether the team arrived together. Separate objective damage from pressure that merely produced numbers elsewhere.
Choose one correction: wait for formation, clear a screen, protect a carrier, move to the next line earlier, or preserve an attack system for the transition. Combine this guide with maps and combat for a repeatable next round.