From Cadet to Admiral — Learn by Doing
Skip the manual. Learn Netrek through scenarios, tactics, and bite-sized lessons.
Everything you need to survive your first five minutes.
Fly a starship on a team of up to 8 players
Dogfight enemies with torpedoes, phasers, and plasma
Conquer planets by bombing armies and dropping your own
Take all 10 enemy planets to achieve genocide and win
Each warp level halves your turning speed. This is the single most important thing in Netrek.
Planets win games, not kills. A pilot who takes 3 planets is worth more than one who gets 20 kills. Everything — bombing, escorting, ogging, even dogfighting — serves the planet game.
Three weapons, two beams, one goal: don't die.
Distilled from guides by Charlie, Lance, and generations of veteran pilots
Vary between warp 3-8 unpredictably. Predictable speed = dead pilot.
Tractor an enemy, fire a torp spread, then release. This is the #1 dogfighting technique.
Press d to detonate enemy torps near you. Burns fuel but saves your life.
Shields absorb damage. Only lower them briefly for repair.
You can orbit for repairs and fuel. The enemy can't.
A straight-line course is a torpedo magnet. Weave constantly.
Cloaking burns fuel, disables weapons, and experienced players can track you anyway. Save it for planet runs.
Chasing into enemy space means fighting near their planets. They repair, you don't.
Check it constantly. A surprise carrier at your back is worse than losing a dogfight.
Phasers at max range do almost no damage. Close the distance first.
The most important technique in Netrek. Master this and you'll win most 1v1 fights.
Lock tractor beam on the enemy. They start getting pulled toward you.
Fire torpedo spread directly at them. They're being pulled into the volley.
Multiple torps connect. Enemy shields shattered. Follow up with phasers.
Netrek is a team game. Every player has a job. Here are the five battlefield roles.
The most important player on the team
The carrier picks up armies from friendly planets and drops them on enemy planets. This is how you win. Everything else on the team exists to support the carrier or stop the enemy carrier.
Clear the path for the carrier
The escort flies ahead of or alongside the carrier, engaging any enemies that threaten the army drop. A good escort makes planet-taking possible; without one, carriers die.
Kill the enemy carrier at any cost
The ogger's job is simple and brutal: find the enemy carrier and destroy it before it drops armies. This is often a suicide mission. Trading your ship for a carrier full of armies is one of the best trades in Netrek.
The term "ogging" comes from Terence Chang, an early Netrek server admin who logged in as robot slot "Og" and pioneered the suicide-attack strategy. Before Og, nobody deliberately suicided. It changed the game forever.
Destroy enemy armies on planets
Before planets can be taken, their armies must be eliminated. Bombers orbit enemy planets and destroy armies, preparing targets for carriers. This is often done with Scouts for their speed.
The team's fortress — repair, refuel, defend
The Starbase is a massive, nearly immobile station with enormous shields and firepower. Allies dock to repair and refuel. Losing your starbase is devastating — 30-minute rebuild timer. Requires Commander rank.
Bombs enemy planet down to 4 armies
Picks up armies, cloaks, heads to target
Clears defenders around target planet
Carrier orbits, beams down armies — planet taken!
Meanwhile, oggers hunt the enemy carrier trying to do the same thing to your planets.
What would you do? Test your Netrek IQ with these real game situations.
Think about it, then tap to reveal the answer
Pick up 12 armies and take both planets. With 6 kills you can carry 12 armies in a CA. Beam up, cloak, take the farther planet first (while you're at full strength), then take the closer one on your way back. The DD will struggle to catch a cloaked CA that keeps moving. Two planets in one run is a massive swing.
Think about it, then tap to reveal the answer
Ogg the carrier, ignore the escort. Fly straight at the Assault Ship at max warp. Fire everything. Use tractor to hold it. Even if you die, killing a loaded Assault Ship (potentially 20 armies) is worth 10 of your Scouts. The escort can't save it if you close fast enough. Call for help with E distress so teammates know to converge.
Think about it, then tap to reveal the answer
Drop your armies first, then help. Your 8 armies are more valuable than the starbase fight. Beam them down at the nearest friendly planet (takes 10 seconds). Then go help the starbase. If you die fighting with armies, your team loses both the armies AND the starbase. Never risk armies in combat you can avoid.
Think about it, then tap to reveal the answer
Phaser the plasma, then disengage. Phasering a plasma torpedo destroys it before it hits you. A BB plasma does 130 damage — enough to kill you at half shields. After killing the plasma, you've won the exchange. A half-health DD vs. a half-health BB is a losing fight because the BB's weapons and shields are much stronger. Warp out, repair, re-engage on your terms.
Think about it, then tap to reveal the answer
Bomb. Early game is all about army attrition. Refit to a Scout and bomb enemy planets. Don't waste time dogfighting in the middle of the map — those kills are meaningless until planets are bombed and ready to take. The team that gets bombing done first gains initiative. Every minute spent dogfighting aimlessly is a minute the enemy might be bombing your planets.
The language of Netrek. Tap any term to learn more.
The tactical knowledge in this guide was distilled from decades of community wisdom. The NeoNetrek Academy honors the original authors whose guides taught generations of pilots:
Original guides available at netrek.org/clueguides and netrek.org/beginner
The best way to learn is to play. Jump in, make mistakes, and get clue.
Launch NeoNetrekPractice against robots first, then join a real game when you're ready.