How to play

You start on a homeworld with one level of Housing and 100 credits. The homeworld gets +1 credit, metal and crystal per hour on top of its buildings. Three things pay for everything:

• Credits are the empire's money: buildings and research cost credits only.
• Metal and crystal are stored per planet and pay for ships and turrets; ships and turrets cost credits as well.
• Energy is not stored: every building draws some, and a planet without enough slows down.

A good opening, on the Planet page:

• a Solar Plant, so there is energy for what follows;
• Housing, as every building needs people;
• the Metal and Crystal Mines, and soon a Research Lab and a Shipyard.

Every level costs 1.5× the one before. The build queue holds 4 levels per planet (premium 6). Cancelling gives back 90%. Credits are charged when a level is queued, not when it starts.

The Planet page has four screens: Structures (buildings), Defences, Economics (trade routes, sending resources and the Marketplace) and Settings (adornment, overview suggestions, giving up the planet). The build queue shows on Structures and Defences.

Every planet has three limits, shown at the top of the Planet page:

• Area: room for buildings. Each level takes its area. Gaia has 87 and Earthly 85.
• Housing: each Housing level gives the planet's fertility. Most buildings take some housing.
• Energy: each Solar Plant level gives 4 energy, shifted by the orbit. Fusion and Antimatter Plants give a fixed amount anywhere.

The orbit matters. Orbit 1 lies closest to the star: much sun, poor soil.

You may hold 10 planets (premium: no limit). A new colony is founded by an Outpost Ship, which is used up doing it. Its price grows with every planet you hold: see the table below. Rocky and Metallic planets open up with Computer 18. Downgrading a building returns 60% of that level's price as colony credit. Defences come down one level at a time per type, with a wait after each: from 1 hour for the cheapest to 24 hours for the dearest, and not while a hostile fleet you have detected is on its way. A planet other than your homeworld can be given up, one per 24 hours: all its building levels come back the same way, its build and shipyard queues must be empty first, its stock and trade routes are lost, and its fleets stay where they are, so they must fit within your fleet limit with one planet less.

After colony 21 each one costs 1.5× the one before. Colony credit only pays the credits part.

Defences are buildings too: one unit per level, and they fight whenever the planet or a friendly fleet on it is attacked. All figures are in the tables at the end.

Every level of a technology adds 5% to what it improves. Some examples:

• Energy improves energy output;
• Armour and Shielding improve your ships and defences;
• Warp Drive improves speed;
• each weapon technology improves its own weapon.

Computer is special: every level allows one more fleet. The research queue holds 3 levels (6 with premium).

All your labs count together: research speed is the sum of every Research Lab and AI Lab in the empire. A technology's lab requirement looks at your highest lab.

A ship is a design: a hull and one weapon. The turrets always fill the hull's capacity. Every hull carries its own weapon and comes ready-made as a standard design once you have its technology; from the Battleship up you choose one of two weapons and make the design in the Designer (see the hulls table). A hull needs the planet's Shipyard level and its own technology. Designs and ships are listed smallest hull first. Heavier weapons do more damage per unit of capacity and cost a little more per unit: damage grows with turret size to the power 1.2, the price with 1.1. Ships come out of the shipyard queue (8 batches per planet, 12 with premium) into a fleet on that planet.

How many fleets you may have: one per planet, one per occupied planet and one per Computer level, for the whole empire. An empty fleet disbands.

Sending part of a fleet: under Orders, pick how many of each design go (Max fills a row). Hangar on a small craft's row adds as many as the carriers picked can take; on a carrier's row it picks the fewest carriers the small craft need. The ships picked split off into a "Campaign" fleet; recalled, it rejoins the fleet it came from. At the fleet maximum only the whole fleet can leave. Transfer ships moves ships between two of your fleets on the same spot, at once.

Small craft cannot fly on their own and need hangar room in bigger hulls in the same fleet. Drones take 1 unit, Fighters 2 and Bombers 4. Bombers fit only in a Carrier. Without hangar room they can still defend the planet they stand on.

Doctrine: a fleet can name a primary and a secondary target class. It fires everything at the primary class; what is left once those ships are all destroyed goes on to the secondary class, and then to everything still standing. Without a doctrine, fire is spread over all enemy ships by their numbers, and what a destroyed group did not need goes on to the rest. No damage is lost while something can still be hit.

A location is written A01:RR:SS:P: galaxy, region (00–99), system (00–99) and orbit (1–6). Always type the whole address, galaxy included. A fleet flies at the speed of its slowest hull. One system step takes 1 hour divided by the speed, and the shortest hop is 60 seconds.

Fleets only stand on planet positions, and only fight there. Under way they can be recalled or redirected, but they turn from where they are.

A Jumpgate speeds up every fleet leaving that planet. With premium the fastest route may use up to 2 gates of yours or your guild's on the way, inside one galaxy.

Galaxies. Every 14 days a new galaxy (A02, A03, …) can open, once the newest one has 10 active players. New players start in the newest galaxy; each galaxy has its own shape, its own Concordia, Raijin marketplace and Corsairs nests. The map shows one galaxy at a time: type A02 in its search field to look at another.

A fleet reaches another galaxy only from a Jumpgate of yours or your guild's, and the jump counts as a distance of 400. The older galaxies can reach a new one 14 days after it opened; the new one reaches the older galaxies after 28 days, so its players have time to grow. Between galaxies a fleet can only be recalled, and the way back takes as long as it has flown. Shipments and trade routes stay inside one galaxy. You may hold planets in several galaxies; the planet limit counts them all, and the rankings cover the whole game.

A fight has 1 round. Undecided, it ends there, and the attacker can attack again. Shields recover 10% at the start of a round. Weapons differ against armour and shields (see the weapons table).

The battle report shows per ship what each side fought with: ATK (raw damage of all its weapons), ARM and SH, with technology, Command Centers and the command bonus included. Open the line for each weapon and how it does against shields and armour.

Before every attack a Confirm attack screen shows both sides as they will fight, with the same figures, and on a colony its defences and Command Centers. How it ends stays open until you press Start attack.

Debris: after a fight, each side gets 20% of what its destroyed ships cost back at once. 45% stays at the spot as debris, which Recyclers collect at 10 of each resource per hour.

Fighting on a colony: whoever attacks a planet, or a fleet standing on its owner's or a guild mate's colony, fights everything of that side there in one fight: the planet's defences and every friendly fleet at rest on it, each fleet with its own targets. Fleets of players under newbie protection stay out of the fight but still guard the planet. Away from a colony, fleets fight one against one.

Attacking a planet: once that side is beaten and no friendly fleet is left on the planet, the attacker plunders 24 hours of the planet's production. A planet can be plundered once every 24 hours, by anyone.

With a free Command Center slot the attacker also occupies the planet and takes 30% of its production. An occupation needs a fleet of the occupier on the planet; without one it ends after 60 seconds.

The owner can liberate the planet after 7 days, and it is then immune for 7 days. Beaten defences recover 1% per hour while the planet is not occupied; until then they fight with only that share of their armour, shields and firepower.

Concordia is a peaceful empire run by the game. It never attacks, guards its planets and frees an occupied planet itself.

The Corsairs are not peaceful. Their nests lie in thin systems at the edge of the galaxy. From there they raid players above level 15: colonies and fleets at rest outside a guild blob, at most once every 2 days per player. You see them coming like any fleet. A raid fights what it finds, plunders a bare planet if it may, and never occupies.

When a raid loses, a salvage fleet of Recyclers follows (5% of the raid's size) and works the debris for 1 hour. Shoot it down and the debris is yours. Everything they bring home makes the nest stronger.

A nest is a fleet like any other: find it (an autoscout helps) and destroy it for a bounty of 500 credits plus its hoard. The Rankings list the top pirate hunters. A new nest appears elsewhere after 3 days.

One account per player. A free account that was in the game on only one day lapses 7 days after that day: its planets are freed, its ships go to the Corsairs and the account is deleted. Playing on 2 different days keeps it for good; premium accounts never lapse. The overview says when, from the first day.

Lost your password? Use Forgot your password? on the sign-in page: we mail a link that works once, for 30 minutes. Choosing a new password signs out every device. Your email address is used for this only.

Your level grows with the credits in buildings and research and the metal and crystal in your ships, research counting 1.5× and ships 0.6×. Level = value^0.3 up to level 10; from there it grows more slowly, with power 0.22: level 15 is a value of about 13,600, level 20 about 50,000. A player cannot be attacked:

• below level 15;
• below 70% of the attacker's level.

Both protections end for good once you attack someone yourself: whoever chooses to fight can be fought. Fleets of a protected player are not shown as exposed.

Both rules count the highest value of the last 12 hours, for attacker and target alike: taking buildings down, scrapping ships or giving a planet up does not bring you under a limit at once.

A guild has a Guild Master and up to 4 Vice Guild Masters. Its blob lies on a member's colony: fleets parked there are protected as long as there is no active war. If the blob's colony is lost, the leaders have 24 hours to choose a new one. Of their own accord the leaders may move the blob once every 7 days, in war too.

War is declared on another guild and goes live after a fuse of 24 hours, so everyone can move their fleets in time. Peace is only by mutual agreement. A war without a fight for 7 days ends by itself, and the same two guilds may then not declare again for 3 days.

The guild page has a news board, topics and a combat board where members share battle reports for 7 days.

Every guild bears an emblem next to its tag: in rankings, on the map and in battle reports. The Guild Master and Vice Guild Masters compose it from a shape, a division, a symbol and two colours, free for every guild, and can change it once every 24 hours. Premium adds more shapes, symbols, metallic colours and borders while the Guild Master or a Vice Guild Master has it; the emblem stays when premium ends. Emblems need not be unique, but you are warned before copying another guild's.

Guild projects are built in the blob by every member, for a bonus to all of them. The Guild Master or a Vice Guild Master picks what to build, one at a time; members bring credits and the metal and crystal of a planet. Paid in full, a level takes 2 hours × its level to build before its bonus counts (2 h for level 1, 8 h for level 4). Each next level costs 2.5× the last, and what you bring stays with the guild if you leave. A fight lost at the blob during a war costs the highest project one level, at most once a day. When the blob moves, the projects tied to its spot (Guild Gate, Sensor Array, Orbital Drydock, Builders' Consortium) keep their levels but reinstall at the new spot: for 1 hour × their level they give no bonus. That costs nothing; the Trade Hub keeps working.

• Guild Gate (up to level 4): +50% speed per level for fleets leaving the blob (a faster Jumpgate there counts instead). Level 1: 4,000 credits, 2,000 metal, 2,000 crystal.
• Sensor Array (up to level 3): vision of the regions around the blob, one ring per level. Level 1: 3,000 credits, 1,500 metal, 1,500 crystal.
• Trade Hub (up to level 5): +10% trade route income per level. Level 1: 3,000 credits, 1,500 metal, 1,500 crystal.
• Orbital Drydock (up to level 5): +2% fleet production per level on members' planets in the blob's galaxy. Level 1: 3,000 credits, 1,500 metal, 1,500 crystal.
• Builders' Consortium (up to level 5): -2% building cost (and so build time) per level on members' planets in the blob's galaxy. Level 1: 3,000 credits, 1,500 metal, 1,500 crystal.

All three are on the Economics screen of a planet.

Trade routes between two colonies earn both owners credits every hour. Your own planets count too. A Spaceport gives one route from Spaceport level 1, and one more every 5 levels (level 5: 2, level 10: 3).

A route costs at least 25 credits per colony and more over distance, and pays itself back in a few days. Routes keep running during a war. A plundered colony cannot start a new route for 24 hours.

The Trade page is where partners find each other. Post a planet with a free slot on the trade board for 2 days; others see its name, owner, economy and distance, and can ask it for a route without knowing where it is. Its coordinates show only to players with sight of its region. A post drops off once the slot is full or the planet is plundered. Your guild's free slots are listed there too, without posting.

Shipments send metal and crystal between planets, also to guild mates: speed 5, at most 3 under way per planet.

The Galaxy Marketplace of Raijin buys and sells metal and crystal at fixed prices (1.5 and 2.5 credits per unit), minus or plus a 10% commission. How much you may trade per day grows with your Spaceports and income. Nobody can attack it, nor its freighters.

You see what lies in a region where you have a colony or a fleet at rest. Guild leaders can share vision. Elsewhere the map shows only what you saw last: 24 hours back, a week with premium.

A fleet under way to you shows up on your sensors before it arrives: a big fleet up to 24 hours ahead, a small one later. Each Stealth level makes yours look smaller. In the last 10 minutes its ships can be made out.

An autoscout is a fleet of Scoutships that flies the regions on its own. It rests 5 minutes in each to gather what is there. You may run one per 5 Computer levels, at most 3 without premium. Start one from any fleet at rest with Scoutships: if that fleet has other ships too, the scouts split off into a new fleet.

Galactic news tells everyone what happens in the galaxies, never where: big battles (the bar rises with a galaxy's age, from 500 metal and crystal destroyed on its first day), beaten Corsair nests, new guilds, wars and peace, the first colony in an unsettled region, the climber of the week and new galaxies. On your profile you can keep your own name out of it; guild news stays public.

Medals mark what you have done, in bronze, silver and gold; they change nothing in play. A tier reached stays. Your profile shows each with how far the next tier is, the rankings show how many you hold, and a gold medal makes the news:

• Colonist: planets held, 2 / 5 / 10.
• Explorer: regions explored, 10 / 25 / 50.
• Victor: battles won, 1 / 25 / 100.
• Against the odds: battles won against a side 1.5× as strong or more, 1 / 5 / 20.
• Salvager: metal and crystal recycled, 1,000 / 10,000 / 100,000.
• Trader: trade routes running at once, 1 / 3 / 6.
• Pirate hunter: Corsair nests destroyed, 1 / 5 / 20.
• Commander: player level, 10 / 25 / 50.

Players write each other through Messages, up to 30 an hour, kept 30 days. Battle reports and events can be kept for good in the Savebox (10, premium 25). The menu counts the battle reports you have not opened yet.

Bookmarks mark locations on the map and appear as quick targets in fleet orders. Notes are your own notepad.

Premium makes the game more comfortable; it does not buy ships or resources. It gives:

• longer queues: build 6, research 6, shipyard 12;
• no limit on planets;
• premium buildings (Antimatter Plant, AI Lab, Nanite Factory, Android Factory, Terraform, Multi-level Platforms) above level 5; levels you built stay when premium ends;
• more autoscouts, and a week of "last seen";
• the fastest route through Jumpgates;
• fleets that move together: several at once, all arriving in the same moment;
• the Intel page: the fleets you have seen (sizes rounded), a commander looked up by name, your guild's Jumpgates and free route slots, and free planets by type and orbit, all from what you have seen yourself;
• a pop-up when a fleet comes for you;
• repeat orders in the shipyard;
• a bigger Savebox and daily history;
• the full set of 24 commander portraits (two are free for everyone; a portrait or colour you chose stays when premium ends);
• a colour for your name and a premium badge next to it in rankings, messages and your guild;
• skins: a livery for all your ships and defences (others see it in their battle reports) and an adornment per planet (seen on the map); your fleets keep their ember or red so friend and foe stay clear;
• more parts for your guild's emblem while the Guild Master or a Vice Guild Master has premium.

Figures per level. The price shown is for level 1; each next level costs 1.5× more.