Monsters

Space Monsters are unaligned hostile creatures that can occasionally be found orbiting planets. Monsters are very powerful, and can easily decimate small to mid-size fleets, or even large ones if unprepared.

Monsters can be target by a cannon planet if it is close enough, but not the Death Ray. There is no reward for killing a space monster other than 1 xp and its removal as a threat.

The planets they orbit are typically rare and useful, such as cannons, mines, and forges.

Behavior
Monsters will orbit a planet until a player fleet moves to an adjacent planet, at which point the monster will ready to attack (signified by an exclamation mark near them). At the end of the player's next turn, the monster will move to an adjacent player-occupied planet. If the player evacuates all nearby planets of fleets, the monster will still move. If the player moves their fleet to another planet that is still adjacent to the monster's home planet, the monster will move their instead. Once the monster moves, it will fight any fleets on that planet and move back to its home planet on its next turn.

NPC fleets will not provoke the monster to move and attack, but will still fight the monster if they are on the same planet.

Monsters are bound by one-way paths as well, and if coaxed into traveling away from their planet along one, they will take the shortest available route back, fighting any fleets along the way.

Players can take advantage of these behaviors by coaxing the monster to move to block the path of an incoming enemy fleet, or by forcing it down a one-way path to give them a chance to conquer its planet and leave before it returns, turning it into a guard dog.

Types of monsters
There are currently three Space Monsters: Shark, Slug, and Hamster.

Hamster
The hamster fires five shots at your ships, dealing moderate damage to each. It is possible for multiple shots to hit the same ship.

Shark
The shark fires a powerful laser beam at a single ship that deals several hundred damage (exact number unconfirmed). As the battle progresses, this beam will be fired more frequently.

Tip: The shark visibly turns to face its target and pauses before firing, providing a brief window for you to apply a shield or other buff effect to the target if available, potentially allowing it to survive the blast.

Slug
The slug will send out many small fighters to harass your ships, and occasionally spit an acid that deals damage over time.