Complete Dark Fog combat guide for Dyson Sphere Program. Signal towers, battlefield analysis bases, energy turret placement, and how to clear Dark Fog bases at every stage of the game.

Dark Fog is the combat system introduced in the Rise of the Dark Fog update. Enemy AI builds bases on planets, sends attack waves, and evolves over time. Ignore them and your factory gets destroyed. Fight smart and you get rare drops that make endgame faster.

This guide covers every stage of Dark Fog combat from your first landing to clearing entire star systems.

First Contact - Defend Before You Mine

The moment you land on a planet with Dark Fog, they know you are there. You have a grace period of roughly 10-15 minutes before the first attack wave arrives. Use this time to set up basic defenses.

Your first defense needs three things:

Drop a Battlefield Analysis Base (BAB) as soon as you unlock it. The BAB does two critical things: it auto-targets incoming Dark Fog units within range, and it repairs nearby buildings. Place your Energy Turrets in a circle around the BAB so their coverage overlaps at the perimeter.

**Pro tip:** The BAB has a repair function that works on nearby buildings. Keep it within range of your turrets and it will automatically repair damage between waves. This saves massive amounts of manual repair time.

Mid-Game Defense - Expanding Your Perimeter

Once you unlock Signal Towers, your defense options open up significantly.

Signal Towers extend the targeting range of your BAB. Each tower covers a large radius and can be chained indefinitely. Place them along the path between your base and the Dark Fog base to push the defense perimeter outward.

Signal tower

Energy

Missile

Build this setup for mid-game defense:

1. Deploy Signal Towers in a line toward the nearest Dark Fog base
2. Place 2-3 Missile Turrets per BAB cluster (they outrange everything)
3. Add Energy Turrets for close-range wave defense
4. Keep a few Repair Drones in the BAB for automatic fixes

The Signal Tower network creates a "dead zone" between your base and the enemy. Dark Fog units crossing this zone get targeted by all your turrets before they reach your factory.

Offense - Clearing Dark Fog Bases

Dark Fog bases grow stronger over time. The longer you wait, the harder they become to clear. Attack early, attack often.

Early Game Assault

Rush Grenade technology on the tech tree. Craft 200 Grenades and manually throw them at the Dark Fog base core (the glowing orb in the center of the base). The core is the weak point - destroy it and the base stops spawning.

Mid-Game Assault

Once you have Missile Turrets and Improved Missiles, clearing bases becomes safer:

The key is to build a forward operating base (FOB) near the Dark Fog base. Drop a BAB, surround it with turrets, and let automation do the rest.

Endgame Assault

Plasma Turrets and Implosion Cannons make short work of any Dark Fog base. Build a cluster of 8 Plasma Turrets around a BAB, let them charge up, and watch the base melt in seconds.

Dark Fog Farming - Why You Want Some Bases Alive

Here is the counterintuitive truth: you do not want to clear ALL Dark Fog bases from a system. Leaving one low-level base alive lets you farm rare items.

Dark Fog drops include:

Looking for the basics first? Check our DSP Smelting Array Blueprint Guide to build a solid production foundation before tackling combat.