Spectre

Related Pages

 * Guide on kixeye

Additional Facts

 * The Spectre is a Raid Prize submarine (most recently, Tier IV in April 2014 Riptide ).
 * Although not considered as effective in FvF battles compared to the Barracuda, it is effective at prepping base defending fleets, auto-salvaging, and in many raids.
 * Its most notable feature is its enhanced submerge time (1 minute standard) allowing it to destroy many fleets before it surfaces.  Stacks with Nautilus Battery 3 for a total submersion time of up to 83 seconds.
 * With 6 weapons slots and 3 armor slots, it's designed to take a licking, whilst delivering a heavy payload of damage.
 * Its only drawback is just two specials slots (the Barracuda has 3).
 * With siege torpedoes and Nautilus Battery, this hull can be used to clear guarding fleets in bases.
 * Battery 3 allows this sub to stay submerged for 83 secs.
 * The Spectre is currently the largest of all subs, has the highest amount of armor and can hold the most weight.
 * In addition, it boasts by far the longest submersion time, making it very versatile.
 * Being limited to underwater weapons only, the Spectre is only capable of hitting sea-based buildings and guard fleets.  This restricts it to being a prep fleet only but that’s a task that it excels at.


 * With NB3, Engines 3 and Siege Torpedoes, a fleet of Spectres can sail right up the defender’s channel, sinking guards along the way.
 * You might need a few waves to get all the ships but unless they have a very long channel or an Arbiter with Subsonic Cavitator, chances are you’re going to kill their guards unchallenged.
 * This is a somewhat dirty trick that I particularly enjoy using.


 * Most attacking fleets have no sub detection, no method of hitting submerged subs and sometimes no defense against torpedoes (evade can help reduce damage).
 * Putting a Spectre near your entrance gives you enough time to unleash up to 20 volleys of Siege Torpedoes before surfacing.
 * That’s up to 75,600 damage before your attacker even gets a chance to fight back against it.
 * You should be able to sink at least one or two ships quickly, which would then allow your VMs to start leaking through and finishing the job.
 * Of course, any decent attacker is just going to prep your Spectre but that forces them to use a dedicated sub-hunter as part of their prep. (Note, assault missiles mercury or cutlass seawolf are good in getting rid of sub guards at mouth of channel.)
 * Depending on your other defenses, they’re probably going to want Spectres of their own, which makes attacking you at least a three-fleet investment.  Most people won’t go through that much effort.
 * Subs have always been the bane of FvF and Spectres are no exception.


 * With heavy armor, massive firepower, decent speed and long submersion time, Specs can take out most fleets with relative ease.
 * They can obviously run into trouble against sub-hunters but those fleets are usually easy to spot and avoid combat with.
 * For the most part, I’d suggest using Barracudas for FvF but Spectres are more than capable of holding their own.Like all other subs, the Spectre does rather well against regular salvages.
 * Specters can auto lvl 71 salvage fleets and, with the right build, even lvl 75 Elites
 * Subs are hit and miss during raids.


 * Kixeye generally doesn’t want sub-based strategies to do well but they often forget to add in detection or sufficient underwater damage.
 * Many events have been modified after beginning to counter subs. (such as super sonar ships and torps tower etc)
 * As the strongest sub in the game, Spectres are better suited for the task than Cudas, Stalkers or Predators.  They can take a beating and dish it too.
 * There are actually two potential uses for Spectre during raids: No detection, minimal underwater damage.
 * Specters can be used as a regular fleet to complete the raid objective.
 * Use a single Spectre as a decoy to attract all the enemy fire.


 * Most projectiles will splash harmlessly in the water while your primary fleet is protected and able to inflict most of the damage.
 * Takes excellent piloting skills to pull off efficiently.
 * If the raid targets have both good detection and strong underwater damage, such as Typhoons, the Spectre will be essentially useless.


 * Scope it out first with a normal fleet.
 * Suggested Builds
 * Weapons:
 * Best: Siege Torpedo Z or Assault Torpedo B. Siege Torpedo Z hits harder, Assault B has more range
 * If you don't have Siege Z or Assault B, use Assault V, which is a bp dropped by lvl 40 salvage flts
 * Armor:
 * Best: 3x D2-S armor gives you a 15% bonus to stealth
 * If you don't have D2-S, you can put V armor on them to speed them up a bit, but its probably best to leave them without armor, due to repair times
 * Specials (specters only have two special slots, so you will have to pick between two of these):
 * Nautilus Battery 3 gives you more submerged time than any other sub in the game (great for auto-ing salvage fleets. with assault torpedoes and around elite 1 rank, these can auto lvl 71 salvs)
 * Caterpillar drive 3 gives you the best stealth (good for prepping bases/prepping the fleets off of lvl 65 Forsaken Mission targets/killing the artillery off of drac bases)
 * Speed system 3 gives you great maneuverability, but you lose a little accuracy
 * Magnus drive gives you a really good speed boost along with almost as much stealth as caterpillar drive 3. You don't get the turn speed of speed system 3, but this special can be super effective when combined with Nautilus Battery 3. You will still be much slower than nighthawks, and have slightly less stealth, but will stay submerged for slightly longer.


 * Note: If you don’t have Siege Torpedoes, Havocs are your next best option. Likewise for Speed System 3 and Engines 3.