5-10 min
Missile Defense

Missile Defense

Reaction

Six cities under a falling barrage. You do not shoot the warheads — you shoot a point, and the shell has to fly there first.

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Home / Reaction / Missile Defense

Missile Defense is a free online missile defense game about leading a shot you cannot take back. Warheads fall toward six cities, and your battery sits between them with a limited number of shells. Tapping does not hit anything: it launches an interceptor that flies to the point you picked and only detonates when it arrives, so every shot is a prediction about where a warhead is going rather than a click on where it is. The explosion swells, holds and collapses, and anything caught inside it detonates in turn — so a shell placed between two warheads takes both, and a chain through a cluster is worth more than three careful singles. Later waves split each warhead in two on the way down, which turns a shot taken early into a shot you did not have to take twice. Eight waves, spare shells score, and every city you keep is worth a hundred points. No download, no account.

How to play Missile Defense

  1. Six cities stand along the ground and your missile battery sits in the middle of them.
  2. Tap or click anywhere in the sky. A shell launches from the battery and flies to that exact point.
  3. The shell does not explode until it arrives, so tap ahead of a warhead along the line it is travelling — not on top of it.
  4. The explosion grows to full size, holds for a moment, then shrinks. Anything inside it while it is live is destroyed.
  5. A destroyed warhead explodes too, and that explosion can catch its neighbours. One well-placed shell can clear a cluster.
  6. Each wave issues a fixed number of shells and no more, shown as "Shells" in the readout.
  7. Only four shells can be in the air at once, and there is a short pause between launches.
  8. Every warhead is aimed at a city. Let one through and that city is gone for the rest of the wave.
  9. From wave 3 on, warheads split into two partway down. Hitting the parent above that line costs one shell instead of two.
  10. A wave ends when the sky is empty. You need at least one city standing, and all six is three stars.

Tips

  • Aim at the empty sky in front of a warhead. If you can see your crosshair on the warhead itself, you have already aimed too late.
  • The trail behind each warhead points exactly where it came from, so the line through it is the line it will keep following. Read the trail, not the dot.
  • Explosions are much wider than they look at the moment they appear. Place one between two warheads rather than on either.
  • Shoot the splitters early. Above the split line one shell removes two warheads; below it you have to pay for both.
  • Spare shells are worth points at the end of a wave, so a chain that saves two shells beats two shots that each save nothing.
  • Do not stack shots on the same warhead. Four shells in the air on one target means nothing is covering the other three.
  • Warheads far to the sides take longer to reach — the shell has further to fly, so lead them more, not less.
  • When a wave gets crowded, defend the cities rather than chasing kills. A warhead heading for a gap between cities can be ignored entirely.
  • The cities are your score. Six intact cities are worth six hundred points, which is more than most waves pay for kills.

FAQ

Is Missile Defense free to play?

Yes. It runs in the browser with no download, no sign-up and nothing to buy. All eight waves are included and unlock as you hold them.

Why did my shot miss when I tapped right on the missile?

Because the shell was not there yet. Tapping picks a destination, not a target — the interceptor launches from the battery, flies to the point you chose and detonates on arrival. By the time it gets there the warhead has moved on. Tap ahead of it, along the line its trail shows.

How do the chain reactions work?

A warhead destroyed by an explosion explodes itself, at the spot where it died. That new blast can destroy more warheads, which explode in turn. A single shell dropped into a tight group can take four or five, and since unused shells score points at the end of the wave, chaining is the difference between a good wave and a great one.

What happens when a warhead splits?

From wave 3 on, a warhead breaks into two at a set altitude and each half picks its own city. The parent is destroyed by the split, so the two halves are all that is left to stop. Hitting it above that line is the whole reason to shoot early: one shell instead of two.

Can I run out of shells and lose the wave?

You can run out, but the wave is never unwinnable because of it. Every wave is issued enough shells to cover the most warheads it can possibly produce — including the doubling on splitting waves — so a player who hits with every shot always has enough. The tests assert that, because ammo written next to a salvo count is exactly the kind of number that silently stops adding up.

Is every wave actually survivable?

Yes, and it is checked rather than assumed. A reference gunner that leads its shots holds all eight waves across several seeds, and a gunner that never fires loses all eight. The second half matters as much as the first: without it, a wave whose warheads all fell into the gaps between cities would look defended when it was simply harmless.

Do my cities come back?

Not within a wave — a city lost is lost until that wave ends. Starting the next wave rebuilds all six, so a bad wave costs you its score bonus rather than ending the run. You only lose when all six are gone at once.

Does it work on a phone?

Yes, and tapping is arguably the better input for it. The sky takes the taller portrait frame, the readout sits above it, and a tap anywhere places a shot — there is nothing to drag and nothing small to hit.