Welcome to the squadron, rookie! Here's your... Heh-heh, just kidding - we're all about to die here, the enemy is inbound hot with multiple enemy carriers on intercept, the fighter is the last thing with weapons between them and the carrier, now would you get out and kindly clean up the airspace--

Here's what you're going to fly. Shooting down enemy aircraft adds to the timer that counts down your next upgrade - you get four tiers with six weapons, all needing progressively larger combos to reach. All aircraft can survive multiple hits, but only the fighters can be repaired.

MkI fighter

Armed with an autocannon, it is moderately maneuverable and can shoot down even the toughest hostiles with sustained fire. Progressing through upgrades unlocks a twin autocannon that is apparently twice as powerful and can chew through corvettes really fast at a great distance.

MkII fighter


This fighter is larger than the predecessor, is still as fragile, but has missile weaponry that can take down jets in 1-2 hits. Missiles have limited guidance and can "see" further than the camera, or their own range. An upgrade has twin missile launchers - it's quite powerful and can take out multiple hostiles in one shot.

MkIII Corvette

This thing is a real tank - it fires a 3-barrel chaincannon, is a pretty cool guy and isn't afraid of anything, especially jets. The only reason to worry is fully-connected cannon bursts and its limited endurance - unlike the fighters, it cannot be fully repaired at the mothership. It's quite "steady" and turns frustratingly slowly, especially for ~5m.
But fret not - if you are ever shot down, a fighter will emerge from your burning hull!



MkIV Laser Corvette

An upgrade only affects the corvette's weaponry and doesn't repair the hull, but boy does it affect it. Twin missile launchers, good ole' ram and a laser cannon can obliterate whole squadrons in moments, and it apparently self-repairs to an extent.
Like the MkIII, it's actually a whole lot of hardware bolted onto your fighter, and will be decoupled if shot down, leaving you with the smaller ship as soon as you disengage from what shot you down.

In your quest to defend the mothership, you will be beset by numerous types of enemies from all sides - luckily, an indicator is there to point you in the right direction.

Fighter Jets



Quick, fragile and numerous, they can be quite a threat when massed and lined up for a gun run.

Bombers



These VTOLs shoot four guided missiles that can blow up a fighter in a single salvo. Missiles are targetable and can be destroyed.

Scorpions



Has four engine sections that require multiple hits to destroy and a 4-burst cannon. Sees far and can survive one blown engine.

Minelayers



Otherwise unarmed, miner has three sections, launching mines from the middle. Destroying any two sections sends this guy up (down?) in flames, but if the front section is destroyed, it provides cover for the other sections. Destroying the middle section disables his weaponry, but why do that when you may as well shoot the bastard down.
P.S. What? Destroying the central section doesn't even preclude them from launching mines - don't bother and just shoot its flanks wherever - front, center, back, just get two section destroyed and his turkey is cooked.

Impostors

This guy looks familiar! It has multiple sections and a heavy autocannon. A single burst can mess you up if you get caught.

Carriers



Carriers launch fighters and are hard but necessary to destroy. Their runway houses a huge laser cannon that can destroy your mothership in mere few hits. Each section requires numerous hits to destroy, and you need to blow up 2 engines or 3 sections to kill the carrier so it takes quite a while to destroy. There are 4 engine sections, a hangar, a runway and an engine. These huge ships spawn quite close to the mothership and will reach it in seconds, and although you can disrupt them by destroying the runway, they can launch jets and fire the cannon anyway.

Getting upgrades requires points, and to have enough to keep up with the enemy reinforcements you need to be sustaining combos, which requires racking up kills very quickly. As you get upgraded, you lose the ability to fire weapons, but do not become invulnerable!