Quick PvP games: how much strategy fits into three minutes

Before the clock starts

The longest decision in Skyfire happens before the match: which seven ships to bring. That is done at your leisure. When you press Battle, matchmaking finds you an opponent, both fleets load, and the clock starts at 3:00.

Minute one: the opening

You begin with energy already in the bank, enough to act immediately. The first choice is the oldest one in strategy: economy or aggression.

• Send a freighter. It flies to an ore deposit in the asteroid field and starts hauling fuel home. Each load is bonus energy. It is also a slow, unarmed target.
• Open with warships. Pressure a lane early and your opponent has to answer before they can set up.
• Wait. Let them commit first, then answer with exactly what beats it.

By the end of the minute you have usually seen half of your opponent's deck and you know which race you are dealing with.

Minute two: the trade

The middle of the match is about value. You spend three energy to stop something that cost five. They spend four to kill your freighter. Somebody's starbase starts taking damage. Small advantages add up, and they add up faster than they seem to.

This is also when the specialist cards do their work: a minefield laid across a lane about to be used, a cloaked ship appearing behind a push, a raider among the freighters.

Minute three: double energy

For the final minute, energy comes in twice as fast. Everything accelerates. The heavy ships that were too expensive to risk earlier are suddenly affordable, and both players can afford to attack and defend at once.

If you built an advantage in the first two minutes, this is where you cash it in. If you are behind, this is your chance: double energy makes comebacks real.

The verdict

Destroying the enemy homeworld at any point ends the match on the spot. If both homeworlds are standing at 0:00, whoever has destroyed more bases wins.

If that is level, there is sudden death. The first base to fall in overtime ends it. There are two overtime periods of a minute each, and the second runs at triple energy. If the board is still level after that, the side whose worst-damaged structure is in worse shape loses. A match therefore lasts between about one minute and 5, and nearly always between three and five.

Why short matches make a better competitive game

A loss costs three minutes

In a forty-minute game a bad start means thirty-five minutes of losing slowly. Here you are in the next match before the annoyance has settled. That makes it much easier to try something risky.

You learn faster

Ten matches is forty minutes. That is ten complete openings, ten midgames and ten endings. Feedback on a deck change arrives almost immediately. Your recent battles are also saved in a battle log, so you can watch back the one that puzzled you.

It fits real life

A battle fits into a queue, a break or the gap before a meeting. On a phone it is played in portrait with one hand. If your connection drops, the game keeps your place and puts you back into the battle when you return, rather than recording a forfeit.

What you give up

Short matches cannot do everything. There is no slow build-up, no scouting phase, no base to design. If you want a game to settle into for an evening, a three-minute battler will feel breathless. Skyfire's long game is outside the match: collecting ships, raising their tech levels, climbing 27 ranks with each race, and learning twelve very different fleets.

Where to play

Skyfire is free in a browser with no download, and on Android and iOS. You can start without an account.