Galactic Defense

Hold the line against ten waves of descending invaders. Shoot fast, dodge dives, and milk the UFO.

Objective

You pilot the last cannon on the surface. Each level drops a formation of aliens that marches sideways and steps down whenever it hits an edge. Clear the wave before any survivor reaches your altitude. Survive ten levels with three lives — lose them all, or let the formation touch the ground line, and the run ends.

Controls

Input	Action
←  →  /  A  D	Move cannon left / right
Space  /  ↑  /  W	Fire (one bullet on screen at a time)
Space / Enter	Start the run, or respawn after death
Esc	Pause & open settings (ship speed 1–8)

How it works

• Formation march — the swarm steps faster as you thin it out and faster again on higher levels. Bullets speed up too: alien shot speed scales with 1.2 + level × 0.15.
• Enemy roster — Scout (green, 10 pts), Soldier (cyan, 20 pts), Commander (magenta, 30 pts), Sentinel (yellow, 50 pts, takes two hits), Bomber (orange, 40 pts — drops a double salvo of bullets straight down when killed), and Splitter (red, 30 pts — spawns two fast kamikaze mini-divers on death).
• Kamikaze dives — from level 3 onward, bottom-row aliens peel off the formation and swoop on a curved path toward your cannon. Killing one mid-dive pays triple the normal score.
• UFO bonus — a saucer crosses the top of the screen every 700–1,200 frames. Hitting it pays a random reward from 50, 100, 150, or 300 points.
• Bunkers — four green arches sit between you and the swarm. Each block has 3 HP — bullets from either side chip them, and a kamikaze that crashes into one is destroyed but punches a hole.
• Power-ups — kills have a ~12% combined chance to drop a falling capsule. Catch it for a ~20-second buff: F rapid fire (cooldown drops from 18 to 7 frames), S slowdown (alien march and bullets slow to ~45%), shield (absorbs one hit), II double barrel (two parallel shots), or +1 extra life. Only one +1 can drop per level.
• Level timer — every wave has a 2:00 countdown shown in the HUD. The timer is cosmetic urgency — you don't die when it expires — but every second left when you clear the wave adds 10 points to the time bonus.

Scoring

• Scout / Soldier / Commander: 10 / 20 / 30 points.
• Sentinel / Bomber: 50 / 40 points. Sentinels need two clean hits — the first only flashes them.
• Diving alien: base score ×3. A diving Commander is 90, a diving Sentinel 150.
• Mini-diver (splitter spawn): +15 per kill.
• UFO: one of 50, 100, 150, 300 — chosen at random on the hit.
• Time bonus: +10 per second left on the level timer when the last alien falls.

Strategy

• Fire is gated, not throttled. Only one bullet (or one pair, with double barrel) can be in flight at a time. A missed shot costs you the next kill — pick targets you can actually hit, not the centre of the swarm.
• Bank the UFO. A 300-point saucer is worth more than ten Scouts. Move toward the edge of the screen as soon as you hear its warble, and don't waste your single bullet on aliens while it's in range.
• Hunt divers, not the formation. A kamikaze pays triple and removes itself from the row that would have shot at you next. From level 3 on, prioritise the pulsing red diver over the slow grid.
• Crack Sentinels early. They take two hits and clog the formation — the longer they live, the faster the remaining aliens march. Burn rapid-fire on a yellow row.
• Treat Bombers like landmines. Killing one drops two extra bullets from its corpse position. Don't sit directly under an orange alien when you finish it — sidestep first.
• Splitters spawn worse than they look. Each red death births two homing mini-divers worth 15 each — cheap points if you have rapid fire, an instant life-loss if you're flat-footed. Shoot Splitters from a corner, not from under them.
• Save bunkers for late-wave panic. The arches degrade with every shot — yours included. Don't grind through your own cover trying to snipe a slow row when stepping out clean is faster.

Play Galactic Defense →