Aim with mouse or touch and hold to fire. Keyboard: left and right arrows, space.

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How to Play Moonbase Defender

Moonbase Defender is a free online arcade shooter. Asteroids are falling toward your moon base, and you control the turret that has to blast them apart before they hit. Survive wave after wave, break rocks into smaller pieces for bigger points, and shoot golden power-ups to unleash multi-shot.

It runs in your browser on desktop, tablet and phone, with nothing to download or install.

Controls

MouseMove the mouse to aim the turret and hold the button to fire. Click to start the game.
Touch screensTouch and drag to aim, and keep your finger down to fire. Tap to start.
KeyboardLeft and right arrow keys, or A and D, rotate the turret. Hold Space to fire. Click the game once first so it can receive key presses.
SoundUse the Sound button under the game to mute or unmute. The game remembers your choice.

How to play

  1. Click or tap the game to start. Your turret sits on top of the base at the bottom of the screen and can aim anywhere across the sky.
  2. Hold fire. The turret shoots about five times a second, so you can just keep the button or finger down and steer.
  3. Destroy every asteroid before it reaches the base. Each hit that lands on the dome or right beside it damages your base.
  4. Clear all the rocks in a wave to start the next one. The base repairs a little between waves.
  5. When the base health bar in the top right hits zero, the base is lost. Click or tap to defend again and beat your best score.

Asteroids, points and damage

Shooting a rock breaks it into two smaller, faster rocks until the pieces are tiny. The smaller the rock, the more points it is worth, but the faster the pieces come at you.

Large asteroid20 points when hit, then it splits into two medium rocks. If it lands on the base it does 22 damage.
Medium asteroid50 points when hit, then it splits into two small rocks. If it lands on the base it does 12 damage.
Small asteroid100 points when hit, and it disappears. If it lands on the base it does 6 damage.

Breaking one large asteroid all the way down is worth 520 points, so finishing off every fragment pays off. Rocks that fall onto the ground away from your base do no damage.

Power-up: multi-shot

Now and then a destroyed asteroid drops a golden diamond with a plus sign. It drifts slowly toward the ground and disappears if you let it land.

Multi-shotShoot the diamond to collect it. Your turret fires an extra bullet in a spread, for 5 seconds. Collect more diamonds to add more bullets, up to four at once, and each pickup refreshes the timer. The HUD in the top left shows your current multiplier and the seconds left.

Waves and base health

  • Each wave sends more asteroids than the last, and they fall faster and faster.
  • Asteroids arrive mostly from above, with some coming in from the sides. From wave 3 some of them arrive already medium-sized.
  • The health bar in the top right is blue when the base is healthy, turns orange when health drops to 60 percent or lower, and red at 30 percent or lower.
  • Clearing a wave repairs the base by 8 health, up to a maximum of 100.
  • Your best score is saved in your browser, so you can come back and try to beat it.

Tips for a higher score

  • Shoot early. Hit large rocks while they are still far away, so the fragments have farther to travel before they reach you.
  • Protect the base first. Ignore rocks that are clearly going to land away from the dome. They are harmless, so spend your shots on the ones heading for you.
  • Lead your shots. Bullets are fast but not instant, so aim slightly ahead of a moving rock.
  • Finish the fragments. Small rocks are worth 100 points each, but they are also the fastest. Clear them before they reach the base.
  • Go for the diamonds. Multi-shot covers a wider area, which helps a lot against crowded waves.
  • Watch the health bar. When it turns orange, stop chasing points and clear whatever is closest to the dome.

Features

  • Free to play, with no sign-up and no download
  • Mouse, touch and keyboard controls
  • Endless waves that get faster and bigger
  • Asteroids that split into smaller, faster pieces
  • Multi-shot power-up that stacks up to four bullets
  • Base health that repairs between waves
  • Synthesized arcade sound effects with a mute button
  • Best score saved in your browser
  • Reduced-motion friendly: screen shake turns off if your device asks for less motion