---
title: 'Sweeper'
---

# Sweeper

![Sweeper](images/sweeper.png)

Sweepers are both offensive and defensive [ships](/wiki/ships/). They are a variant of a
[fighter](/wiki/fighter/). The Sweeper has a greater combat rating than the
[fighter](/wiki/fighter/), but lacks the ability to be deployed. Sweepers provide both the best on
planet protection and the best elminator of planetary defenses. Sweepers can also be used to clear
[Mining Platform](/wiki/mining-platform/)s off of Asteroids. You can build a sweeper after level 16
of the [Munitions Lab](/wiki/munitions-lab/).

If you lead an attack with a wave of sweepers they will wipe out any defensive [ships](/wiki/ships/)
on the planet, thus making way for your assault [ships](/wiki/ships/) to gain access to the planet.
If a sweeper survives its encounter with the defensive [ships](/wiki/ships/), it will return home to
be used in future battles. Sweepers, however, do not trigger SAWs like when escorting a
[colony ship](/wiki/colony-ship/) to an uninhabited planet. They do trigger them when attacking the
planet with the SAW directly. (Alternatively, use other cheaper [ships](/wiki/ships/) such as
[scanner](/wiki/scanner/)s or [stake](/wiki/stake/)s preceding the [colony ship](/wiki/colony-ship/)
by a few minutes to trigger SAWs before the [colony ship](/wiki/colony-ship/) arrives.)

There is no way to repair sweepers attack rating at this time.

The reset time for defending sweepers is calculated as it is with [fighter](/wiki/fighter/)s.
Sweepers also make for the best on planet defensive ship that there is. Both [Drone](/wiki/drone/)s
and [Fighter](/wiki/fighter/)s will have a lower Combat Rating than a Sweeper when they are all
built on the same planet.

If you want to send a sweeper to one of your own colonies for defense, it will have to be moved
there by one of your cargo carriers.

**Categories:** [Ships](/wiki/#ships)

## Community notes

> **CrayonEraser:** defense: reset time is dependent on speed offense: think it just keeps attacking
> until it's dead then returns to planet, so also dependent on speed.

> **vegeta:** best warship ever!

> **Dementia:** Must have been a change. I sent in a bunch of sweepers to escort an excavator and
> they were taken out by SAW's on a different planet.