Tutorial

Note: This "Complete guide to Starblast.io" was first contributed on Reddit by Arkthe. Do note not all of the info is up to date

Beginner Section

As a beginner, you need to only understand the basics of the game and simple tactics to be able to further your progress as a player. Personally, I would consider someone a beginner with less than 24 hours of playing the game. So I'll tell you the first thing you should know is that there is survival mode, which kicks in after a player gets one of the four Tier 7 ships or after 60 minutes.

The second thing you should know is the upgrade choices you have. Here is a rundown of the upgrades you're able to purchase with gems from top to bottom.

Upgrades

Shield upgrades

Shield Capacity - Able to increase the total amount of shield on your ship
Shield Regen - Able to increase how fast your shield recharges

Energy upgrades

Energy Capacity - Able to increase the total amount of energy on your ship
Energy Regen - Able to increase how fast your energy recharges

Damage upgrades

Pulse Damage - Able to increase damage at the cost of more energy per pulse
Pulse Speed - Able to increase the speed and knockback of the pulse

Movement upgrades

Ship Speed - Able to increase the top speed and how fast the ship accelerates
Ship Agility - Able to increase the turn speed and acceleration of the turn and renders ship do more crash damage

Now that you've looked into the various upgrades and their basic uses, let us dive into the deep sea of different ships and tiers, along with the very basic understanding for each one of them. Please take note that the upgrades reflect on the Tier, for example; Tier 1 can upgrade Damage once, Tier 2 can upgrade Damage twice, and so on. Also, take a look at u/-Loveship's Ship Tree sometime.

You can also hit Esc to pull up the ship tree on a menu that comes up on the right side of the screen.

Ships

Tier 1 -- 5 gems to upgrade, 20 to go up to Tier 2.

Fly: The starting ship, most basic of them all. Recomended to not upgrade anything and just fill the gem capacity. Also considered annoying by some, because the speed and agility are used to troll. It's relatively small compared to the rest of the ships, which generally gets larger as the tiers raise. Moves to either the Delta-Fighter or the Trident when gem capacity is maxed out. It might also be used as a tag-team to take down much higher Tiers, but other than that there isn't much to talk about this one, so...

Tier 2 -- 10 gems to upgrade, 80 to go up to Tier 3.

Delta-Fighter: Widely used and a pretty decent Tier 2. Shoots three weak pulses a time, but if each pulse hits it packs a punch. Would not suggest using this to fight and rather to mine asteroids instead. Same goes for the Trident. Once gem capacity is maxed, you can either choose the Pulse Fighter, a formidable Tier 3 ship which is good for fighting and mining. Or you can choose the Side-Fighter, which is stellar for mining and okay for combat.
Trident: Same mining and combat ability as the Delta-Fighter. Nothing special about it... the Tier 2s don't have a lot of variety compared to the higher tiers. Once gem capacity is maxed, you can either pick the Y-Defender or the Shadow X-1. Although, I would rather pick the Y-Defender because it's fighting and mining ability is leaps and bounds over the Shadow X-1.

Tier 3 -- 15 gems to upgrade, 180 to go up to Tier 4.

Side-Fighter: Very good mining ability, if you are looking to move up to Tier 4 fast then I fully recommend this. Also can hold it's own against the other Tier 3s, except for the Y-Defender. Destroys the Tier 2 ships with ease, and does okay against non-maxed Tier 4 ships. Half the time I use Pulse-Fighter and the other half I use Side-Fighter.
Pulse-Fighter: Combat ability is balanced with its mining ability. Love using this because it's a good option for staying alive and destroying your foes. Does very well against Tier 2s, Tier 3s, and some Tier 4s. Its speed is useful for chasing and running away while dealing moderate damage at the same time.
Shadow X-1: I tend to avoid this... agility and shield are low, as well as damage when comparing it to the Y-Defender or Pulse-Fighter. In most situations, this should not be the choice of ship. Not much else to say about this. The Y-Defender or Pulse-Fighter would be a better option if you're going for the Pioneer as a Tier 4.
Y-Defender: Extremely formidable and dangerous Tier 3 ship. Even with the nerfs in recent updates, it still kicks ass in a fight! I've taken down multiple Tier 3s single-handedly. Plus, taking down T4s with the Y-Defender is a walk in the park. Mining with this is okay, not the best, but still good and able to clear asteroids fairly well. Be wary if you come across this as a Tier 4 and below.

Tier 4 -- 20 gems to upgrade, 320 to go up to Tier 5

X-Warrior: Mining with this is a dream. Large or small asteroids, it's good for mining. Okay in combat, though, the Side-Interceptor and Pioneer is obviously better in that area. If you look to quickly get the T-Warrior or Aetos and aren't paranoid about enemies, this is the ship you go to!
Side-Interceptor: Personally I feel like the gap on the Side-Interceptor should be closer in, nevertheless it's a balanced ship for both combat and mining. The Side-Interceptor has two good options to upgrade to in the X-2 and FuryStar. You would only want to go side-interceptor if you're looking for high agility and speed tier sixes in the A-Speedster and Condor or are looking to mine up to tier seven with the rock tower.
Pioneer: Just about the only formidable Tier 4 in combat. Avoid fighting if you are not near maxed with it, though. Mining is decent enough to get you through to Tier 5 at a steady pace. Then again, I would only use it if A-Speedster, Condor, or Rock-Tower is your preferable type as a Tier 6.
Crusader: A monstrous amount of shield for a Tier 4. Great mining with this one, I like bashing into rocks with it for faster results. Other than that it's a pretty well-balanced ship and can do well against its own tier, and tiers below it, excluding the Y-Defender. And if you do have the Crusader, you're probably headed for the O-Defender.
Mercury: So I just tested this ship out as of 2/17/2017. Seems pretty decent to me, able to hold its own against the Y-Defender and Tier 4s. Had it maxed, glad we finally have a Tier 4 that's able to destroy the Tier 3s with relative ease. Although, it is still lacking against multiple opponents. Wouldn't mind if the developers gave it a little 20-40 shield buff in the future.

Tier 5 -- 25 gems to upgrade, 500 to go up to Tier 6

U-Sniper: It's bad and good for combat at the same time, it really depends on what you're doing. If it's a smaller ship you are aiming at, you will only hit with one pulse because of the gap between them. Other than that, it's an excellent fighter, I would say. For mining, though... it really sucks, big time. The recoil makes it irritating because it pushes you back a lot. You really should only use this for maps with plentiful and large asteroids. I must say, though, the reward for getting the Advanced-Fighter pays off pretty well.
T-Warrior: This is a decent ship, shooting five spread-out shots from its front. It crushes Tiers 1-5 fairly easily, due to its energy regen combined with the shield capacity. It resembles the Delta-Fighter because of its multiple shots, and will definitely make someone pay for getting in close. Not to mention the mining is also very good with both small and large asteroids.
Aetos: The 2/13/2017 update made it better, but not by much. It's still heavily lacking compared to the other Tier 5 ships. Mining is mediocre with it, and its upgraded options are subpar with the H-Mercury and Condor.
Shadow X-2: The X-2 fires two close pulses from its front that do moderate damage. The X-2 has very low agility but high speed and decent firepower, but is horrible at mining due to its low mass and mediocre firepower. It upgrades to the Condor and A-Speedster, but I would recommend the FuryStar unless you plan to stay at the X-2 to fight others.
FuryStar. The Furystar fires two very concentrated pulses from its front canon. It is decent at mining and combat, and is the best option to mine up to A-Speedster. It will hold its own in combat, but still be careful, as a maxed tier five should still be able to beat it.
Toscain: I'd say the Toscain is one of the least mentioned ships in the game, and it's a forgettable tier five. It still has its uses though, and can mine well, but is not very good in combat. It upgrades to the Barracuda and Rock-Tower, which are both decent tier sixes. I would not suggest trying to kill other ships with the Toscain, even maxed.
Bat Defender: Sturdy ship with plenty of shield capacity to smash into asteroids for much faster mining. Would recommend using it on maps with medium-large asteroids because of its slow speed. Now for fighting, I've chased off some Tier 5s so I wouldn't say it's too shabby. It's a very good miner because of its high shields and moderate firepower. Definitely, crushes Tier 4 ships beneath its feet. Nice, well balanced, but maybe a little too good for being able to access the O-Defender.

Tier 6 -- 30 gems to upgrade, 720 to go up to Tier 7.

Advanced Fighter: Boy, do I love using this one. The power! Being able to fling everyone across the map is just too satisfying. Although I don't use it that often because the mining with the U-Sniper is horrendous and I hate it. Mining is similar to most Tier 6 ships, just ram your way into asteroids use your front pulse only.
Scorpion: I use this one a lot, mainly because it's powerful and easy to get to using the route I take along the left side. Pretty much the second most powerful Tier 6 in the game, falling just behind the Advanced Fighter. Able to annihilate almost anyone who crosses its path, they run in fear at the sight of it. Mining is also likewise other Tier 6s.
A-Speedster: My old friend, the first Tier 6 ship I had gotten. Its combative ability isn't as pwerful as the Scorpion, Advanced Fighter, and the O-Defender. You have to admit the thing is agile and packs a punch for such a little guy being no larger than a Y-Defender. It has the speed of a Condor while packing a punch of power between the ability of an O-Defender and a Scorpion. Very, very versatile. Mining with it is odd because it doesn't have the ability to really ram into the asteroids like the other Tier 6s do. It still is a very good ship if used correctly and maxed.
Condor: Maybe I'm being a little rough with this one, but still, I find it more situational than practical. It only has the power of an O-Defender while its large body makes it easier to hit. Being able to chase down smaller ships seems like a specialty of it, though. Personally, I would be more scared of a Condor than a Scorpion if I was Tier 1-4. Once again, mining is likewise most Tier 6s.
Rock-Tower: One of the best ships, mainly because of its firing manner. It has pretty big energy capacity, really big shields and regen, and stable firepower. Its firepower is weak compare to other tier 6th but last really long, so if you find another ties 6, Rock-Rower will just smash it. It is very good for mining up to tier seven.
Barracuda: Really good ship, mainly because of its dash. If you're on map with A LOT of asteroids you can travel along the map and find "miners" that only mine and have a lot of gems, and then you dash in them and crash them in the asteroids. But this ship has its weakness - no firepower, that means that you can kill someone only with your shields, which means that you are pretty much useless until your shields regenerate if you are low.
O-Defender: Well now for the last one, and I have to say the O-Defender is an absolutely lethal ship. Easily one of the top 3 in the game. The combination of bursts with medium damage pulses with a literal colossal amount of shield capacity, not to mention the insane shield regen it has... makes it hard to kill for any ship. The only ones I know of that can put up a decent fight against an O-Defender is the Advanced Fighter, the Scorpion, and the A-Speedster.. Mining is extremely easy as you can run over hordes of large asteroids without taking much damage at all.

Tier 7

Odyssey: Will one shot most of everything. Has massive amounts of shield capacity. Tier 7s are supposed to be very overpowered compared to the rest so I think it needs a little speed buff in my opinion!
Shadow X-3: Well this is the one I use most of the time now. Mainly because its speed can chase people down in survival mode, as well as one-shotting most ships with ease. Moderate shield, but fast and strong. Definitely my favorite, though it has a risk of being killed by heavier tier sixes like the Advanced fighter.
Aries: It's nearly the same as Odyssey, but it has less powerful bullets and faster recharge. Also it has more shields (+50) and it is slower. Because of it's bullet strength (that is smaller than Odyssey's) Odyssey usually wins.
Bastion: It's the best ship to fight with players (but not Odyssey and Aries) because it has VERY large amount of energy that recharges long time, but when its time to battle it kills nearly everything. It has also big recharge of shields, average speed, small mass (bad to Odyssey and Aries), and really bad agility.

Tactics

Planning ahead

So in this section, I will only be focusing on basic strategies to advance in the game and get a competitive edge over other players. So what I usually do to get ahead of everyone else, in the beginning, is to look at u/-Loveship's server listing (thank you loveship). Then I simply wait for a new server to pop up and join in as fast as I can. Please also keep in mind that your wait for a new server depends on the time of day in your location.

Minimap awareness

So the first thing you need to look out for is people on your radar. Make sure to frequently peek at your minimap so you know what's going on around you because if you don't then you'll end up dead very quickly. Keep track of the leader and all the dots around you. If you see someone on the radar heading to you directly, you can either assume these four things.

He is running away from someone (only if you see someone behind him, and if so, you better run too)
He is simply passing by (very rarely)
He is out to kill you (usually)
He wants to team (rarely)

Based on what we know, you have to make an assumption to take preemptive action to eliminate any threat posed to you. (1) If they are simply running away from someone and the aggressor is stronger than you, just move aside so you don't die. (2) If they passing by, let them, but if they stop near you, assume they are either; (3) out to kill you or (4) wants to team. This situation is generally more dangerous than him running away from someone or simply passing by. Be wary of teams heading toward you as well, that's usually a very bad sign.

Ship management

Your first concern should and will be energy regen so that you are able to mine and fight better. Upgrading it significantly increases your survivability. Once you've fully upgraded your energy regen, you will want to invest one or maybe two points into damage because if you aren't using more energy than you're gaining, you're really wasting it. Just think of it like this.

Energy constant regain rate at 10/Second. 50 energy capacity. Each pulse uses 2 energy 5 times per second. As you can see, the mathematical equation would look a little like; 50 - (10/Second - 10/Second)
The energy capacity remains at 50 and you're only using your regen instead of capacity - regen. But now you upgrade your damage a little bit and here's what happens.
Energy regen 10/Second. 50 energy capacity. Energy usage -15/Second. Math; 50 - (10/second - 15/second) now you use your 50 extra energy in 10 seconds. In other words, You're using 15/Second and then going back to 10/Second once your capacity reaches 0. Therefore it's more profitable.

I tried to explain that in the simplest way possible, hopefully, you guys know what I'm talking about here. Next up on our priority list is shield regen, so that you can bump into asteroids more often (faster mining) and recover from battles sooner. Then the next down the line would be shield capacity, obviously, so you can take more hits during a fight and destroy asteroids faster. After that would be speed, then energy capacity, then pulse speed, and lastly agility. Although I would try to avoid spending extra gems unless you're being bothered, or until you reach your preferable Tier 6 or Tier 5 ship on occasions.

Mining

There isn't much to talk about since this is a very basic concept but I might as well lay it out there. If you have full shield capacity and you're sure no one around you is going to attack, might as well bump into the asteroids a little bit to mine faster than you would normally use just your pulses. If there are people around and you keep bumping into the asteroids, they will probably kill you a lot easier than if you hadn't. Just be careful when doing that, and cite to Tactics - Ship Management for farming efficiently using your energy regen. Also, you will want to go for faster ships on maps where there aren't very many asteroids or small asteroids in general.

My tactics for getting through tiers extremely fast is simple. Here's a little something that should help. Oh and by the way, always upgrade energy regen fully.

Tier 1: Just get to Tier 2 as soon as you can.
Tier 2: Invest in energy regen, then get to Tier 3.
Tier 3: Same thing again, invest fully in energy regen and 1 point in damage (only with side-fighter)
Tier 4: Same thing again, just upgrade your energy regen, but if you see that when you're firing, you still have full energy, upgrade damage to 1 or 2 points.
Tier 5: Max energy regen, at least 1 point in damage. If it's already really powerful leader (so its nearly end of match) you can upgrade your ship completely.
Tier 6: Fully upgrade everything (if you're leader, if not, just upgrade regen and mine as fast as you can and run from everyone so nobody kills you)
Tier 7: Don't run kill everyone, but first mine at least 1/4 your's gem capasity, because if you will find powerful team saying "KILL LEADER HELP TEAM" they will probably put down your shileds and kill you, but if you will have some gems, you will kill someone with gems, take this gems, kill another one, than another, and win.

Teaming

Whether or not your team is entirely up to your preference. In some cases, teaming will work out for both players, and in other cases, it may end up stabbing you in the back. Always be wary when you're teaming with someone or multiple people perhaps, but if you're leader, to have a good team, just find tier 3-4 and say "TEAM OR KILL" and thats all.

Battling & Surviving

If you want to survive, try not to draw much attention at all. Going around killing a whole bunch of people before you reach a maxed Tier 6 will bring you many annoyances and prove to be fatal in the long run. Now, if you're in a battle and you are getting your ass beat, then spend all your gems, if you have any. That way you will have more upgrades to your ship, which will take less time to get to the next tier than if you hadn't done it. Losing a life and some points isn't really that big of a deal unless you are at 0 lives or have died repeatedly without making progress, but the most important thing is to "don't bite more than you can chew", so if you have 1 life you must consider, that if someone will kill you 1 time, you will have 0 lifes and it's a big chance that you will die, so if you have 1 life, it's better to just mine and do not battle with anyone.

You may also want to do calculations in your head to determine if you can beat an enemy or not, this is crucial to your advancement. Consider everything that could and couldn't happen, such as checking to see what their shield is like, and what yours is as well. The number of gems both of you have, and the firepower comparison between both ships. It's also better if you can get the drop on them as well, for the advantage. Don't forget as well, when the shield reaches 0, the hull strength will be dependent on the gems.