Manual

Your first hours

Your planet starts in the Collector galaxy, where nobody can attack you for the first 72 ticks. That time is for starting your economy — not for building an army.

Three things matter, in this order:

• Put asteroids into production. This is where most of your income comes from, and everything else is built on it.
• Build the resource buildings. These add to your planet’s PERMANENT hourly output, so the sooner they stand, the more they bring in.
• Only then build ships. A fleet built too early produces nothing, while eating the resources your economy could have grown on.

Our own measurements say this order decides who gets past the first week: players producing all three resource types are an order of magnitude ahead of those producing only two.

How the world is laid out, and what coordinates mean

Every planet has a four-part address: REGION : SYSTEM : GALAXY : SLOT, for example 1:20:5:3. You see it on the Galaxy, Toplist and Fleet pages, and you use it to pick a target.

The world has four levels, from smallest to largest:

• PLANET (the last part of the address, the SLOT). This one is yours: a player has one planet (“planet” and “world” mean the same thing here). The slot tells you which place you hold in your galaxy (1–10).
• GALAXY (the third part). Your neighbourhood: up to 10 planets with a shared forum, an elected Commander and ministers. It is the smallest community in the game — not billions of stars, just a small neighbourhood.
• SYSTEM (the second part, 0–99). A group of galaxies — think of it as the game’s “cluster”. So in this game a galaxy is NOT bigger than a system; it is the other way round: the system holds the galaxies together. The naming is a legacy of the original game.
• REGION (the first part, 1–99). The top level, which the game also calls the “universe”. Most galaxies are in region 1; with the Closed galaxy Extra you can ask for another region.

SPECIAL ADDRESSES. The Collector galaxy is at 0:0:0 — that is where you arrive after registering. The mercenary (NPC) galaxies, the Frontier, sit at the far edge of the coordinate space (e.g. 1:99:94), so they do not mix with player galaxies.

HOW TO READ AN ADDRESS. The distance between two planets is set by the FIRST part that differs: if only the slot differs, you are in the same galaxy (the shortest trip); if the galaxy differs but system and region match, it is another galaxy in the same system; if the system or region differs, that is the farthest step. Travel times and fuel are covered in the “Travel time” section.

An address only means a PLACE, not rank or worth: it does not tell you who is stronger or richer. The game assigns a galaxy’s address; with the Closed galaxy you can ask for a free one yourself.

Resources: where income comes from

There are three resources — metal, crystal and narion — and two sources:

• ASTEROIDS. They orbit your planet and, while in production, yield every tick. Unidentified asteroids must be surveyed first to reveal which resource they hold.
• BASE PRODUCTION. Your planet’s own hourly output, raised by buildings, independent of asteroids.

Narion is special: it is fleet fuel. Without narion production you eventually cannot launch at all — no matter what sits in your hangar.

Storage has a ceiling for metal and crystal. Once full, further production is LOST — spend it or build storage in time.

New asteroids need a probe — and that needs two chains

Unidentified asteroids are found by the Asteroid probe, and the probe is lifted by a Carrier rocket. Both are LOCKED until you build the factory behind them — until then they do not even appear on the Assembly page.

For the Carrier rocket: Rocket technology (research) → Missile silo factory (building).

For the Asteroid probe: Asteroid probe technology (research) → Asteroid probe factory (building).

All four sit in branch 4 of the Technology page, one after the other. A planet can run 1 building and 1 research at the same time, so you can push both chains in parallel.

Until these are done there is nothing to launch: you can put your existing asteroids into production, but you will not find new ones.

With resource buildings, ORDER matters too

There are two kinds of resource building, and the difference is not cosmetic:

• One kind ADDS a fixed amount to your hourly base production.
• The other kind DOUBLES your base production as it stands.

That gives you your most important early economic decision: build the doubling one LAST. If you double first and then add another building, that last addition is no longer doubled.

The same in reverse: every adding building you put up BEFORE the doubling is worth twice as much.

The exact amounts are printed on the Technology page for each building, highlighted under the description.

Technology: what it gives, what it opens

Buildings and research form a chain: an item becomes available only once its prerequisite is finished. On the Technology page each item shows:

• ITS EFFECT — the concrete, factual effect, where it has one.
• WHAT IT UNLOCKS — which ships, planetary defences or satellites become buildable, and which further research opens up.

If neither is shown, that item is a pure prerequisite: it does nothing by itself and exists to open the next step.

Buildings named "assembly plant" are the gates of production: until the right plant stands, you cannot build that ship class.

Rank rewards: what cannot be bought

Part of the technology tree does NOT open for resources but for experience: you must reach a high enough rank before the research becomes available at all. After that you build it normally, for resources.

These are the strongest lasting bonuses in the game, for economy and combat alike. You can see them locked on the Technology page, together with the rank required, so you know what you are working toward.

Which means experience is not just a title: in the long run it is an economic and military advantage.

Production: ships, defences, satellites

You can build three things, for different purposes:

• SHIPS — these travel. They attack, defend and scout.
• PLANETARY DEFENCE (BVR) — stays on your planet and fights when you are attacked. It cannot attack, but it needs no fuel either.
• SATELLITES — for reconnaissance and tasks around your planet.

Resources are deducted IMMEDIATELY, while the units themselves are credited only when the build time elapses, at a tick. What you have started cannot be cancelled.

Finished units sitting at your base can also be SCRAPPED for part of their resources back. After a certain building, that refund rate rises considerably — the Technology page states it.

Fleets: three tasks, four slots

You have four fleet slots, and every fleet has three possible tasks:

• ATTACK — results in a battle at the target planet.
• DEFEND — sent to another planet, where it fights on their side if they are attacked.
• SCOUT — brings back information, does not fight.

Launching costs narion, and the journey takes ticks. Both depend on distance: the same galaxy is cheapest, another region the most expensive.

A fleet moves at the speed of its SLOWEST ship. A single heavy freighter slows down a fast squadron — organise things that do not move at the same pace into separate fleets.

You also pick a formation before launch. That decision plays out in the battle and cannot be changed afterwards.

Travel time and fuel: how long is a trip?

Trip length is measured in ticks (1 tick = 60 minutes) and depends on two things: HOW FAR you go and WHICH SHIPS you send. The game splits distance into three steps, based on the planet's four-part address (region:system:galaxy:slot):

• WITHIN THE SAME GALAXY: only the last part, the slot, differs (e.g. 1:20:5:3 → 1:20:5:8). The shortest trip.
• TO ANOTHER GALAXY IN THE SAME SYSTEM: region and system are the same, only the galaxy differs (e.g. 1:20:5:3 → 1:20:7:2). +3 ticks over the first step for almost every ship.
• TO ANOTHER SYSTEM OR ANOTHER REGION: the system or the region differs (e.g. 1:20:5:3 → 1:35:2:1, or an address starting with 2:). This is the farthest step, which the game calls "universe". +6 ticks over the first step.

BASE VALUES. For the smallest ships (interceptors, scouts, thieves) it is 4 ticks within a galaxy, 7 to another galaxy and 10 to another system or region. Every larger ship class needs +1 tick on all three steps, and the heaviest ones take 11, 14 and 17 ticks. In short: 4–11 ticks within a galaxy, 7–14 to another galaxy, 10–17 to another system or region.

The fleet's trip is set by its SLOWEST ship — one heavy ship slows the whole group. A fleet carrying mobile BVR also needs +1 tick of loading before departure.

SPEED-UPS (subtracted from the base value, but at least 1 tick always remains):

• The five buildings of the Drive column on the Technology page each give −1 tick on the steps listed: Hyperdrive Manufacturing Plant — within a galaxy; 2nd Generation Hyperdrive — to another galaxy; Narion-enricher — on all three steps; Gravitor system — to another system/region; Zero-point booster system — to another galaxy and to another system/region. With all five built a trip is 2 ticks shorter within a galaxy, 3 to another galaxy and 3 to another system/region. It is calculated at launch (from the buildings you have finished) and does not affect fleets already on their way.
• The Gravitational booster (the top rank reward) cuts the remaining trip time by a further 20%, rounded.
• The alliance "Speed" upgrade gives −1 tick on movement within the alliance (in practice defence missions).

EXAMPLE. A fleet whose slowest ship is in the 10/13/16 class takes 16 ticks to another system. With all five drive buildings that becomes 16 − 3 = 13 ticks.

TRAVEL AND NARION. Fuel grows with distance too: within a galaxy it is the ships' base fuel, to another galaxy ×2, to another system/region ×3. Species fuel efficiency divides it, and the Zero-point booster system cuts a further 25%.

You always get the EXACT figure before launching: after you enter the target, the Fleet page shows the travel time and narion cost, calculated with your buildings and species — there is nothing to work out yourself, only to check.

Transporting mobile BVR: defending an ally

Mobile turrets (Mobile laser, plasma, missile and ion turrets) can be dismantled, carried as cargo to an allied planet and left there to defend it for the rounds you choose. You need the Transport technology research at the end of the "Mobile defense" branch on the Technology page (it requires the Mobile laser cannon platform factory).

The research unlocks four transporters; each carries ONLY its own turret type, 10 per ship:

• Torchbearer — mobile laser turrets,
• Flamebearer — mobile plasma turrets,
• Arrowbearer — mobile missile turrets,
• Stormbearer — mobile ion turrets.

Transporters are unarmed and can only be sent to DEFEND — warships may escort them in the same fleet. At launch, as many turrets are loaded as fit AND as are on your base; the game shows you the number first and asks you to confirm.

The sequence:

• 1 round loading — from now on the loaded turrets do NOT defend your own planet;
• travel to the target;
• arrival (1 round) — the dangerous moment: if the target is attacked now, the transporters can be shot, and whatever is shot down takes its cargo with it;
• 1 round unloading — the transporters have landed ("docked"); the turrets do not fight yet, but they cannot be destroyed either;
• defence for the chosen rounds — the unloaded turrets fight with the TARGET's formation, under your name; the battle report lists you as a defender and the transporters as "docked";
• 1 round reloading — the surviving turrets go back aboard (whatever fell does not come home);
• travel home, arrival, 1 round unloading at home — then the turrets defend your own planet again.

There is a counter: the fighter called the GOSHAWK (unlocked by each species' own Fighter assembly plant) targets transporters first. So it pays to send an escort, and not to time your arrival with an enemy fleet's.

Espionage

Reconnaissance tells you what is on another planet before you send your fleet there. Without it you attack blind — and the most expensive losses almost always come from exactly that.

Scouting is neither risk-free nor always complete: one species keeps fleets that conventional probes cannot detect.

FIVE PROBES, FIVE DEPTHS. Planet probe: score, stock, asteroids, size of the military. Ship probe: every ship by type, added up — the ones at the base and in the fleets together, fleets underway included, but it doesn't tell which ship is where. Planetary defence probe: the BVR units. Military probe: the same ships broken down by location (base + each of the four fleets separately), and the target's species — the only probe that reveals the species. Info probe: the target's news log (whom they attacked, who attacked them).

HOW MANY PROBES? Every launch costs 2 Carrier rockets per probe, and the probes are spent EVEN IF the scan fails. Success depends on the RATIO of the two planets' scores, roughly like this:

• probes needed ≈ 3 × (YOUR score ÷ the TARGET's score), rounded up,
• PLUS one for every Interceptor satellite the target owns (each interceptor destroys one probe).

Example: with 6,000 points against a 2,000-point target you need about 9 probes; if the target is at least a third of your score, a single probe gets through (on top of the interceptors). A planet much smaller than you needs a disproportionate number — that is newcomer protection, not a bug. If you sent too few, the report tells you how many it would have taken.

INTERCEPTOR SATELLITE. Interceptors built on your own planet shoot down incoming probes, one interceptor per probe. Every attempt uses them up: if fewer probes arrive than you have interceptors, you lose as many interceptors as probes came; if more, all your interceptors are lost and the remaining probes continue according to the ratio above.

WILL THEY NOTICE? In most cases (roughly 85%) the target gets some signal about the scan — sometimes only that "someone was watching", sometimes the sender's name, sometimes the probe type too. Success does not depend on it, but expect that reconnaissance rarely stays secret.

EXCEPTION: the Ship probe never sees the fleets of Umbrix (Shadow) planets — the probe is spent and returns without a report.

Combat, briefly

A battle plays out on the plan you gave it before launch. Initiative decides the firing order, weapon count, damage and accuracy decide the damage, and armour decides survival.

IMPORTANT: for initiative, LOWER is better — the unit with lower initiative fires first.

Every ship has its own target class: what you send against what is not interchangeable. The combat page covers the details, with worked examples.

ASTEROID CARRIERS: one carrier brings home at most this many asteroids per type: Ferrokin Trojan 5, Aurin Net 4, Umbrix Vampire 3, the other species' carriers (Vortex, Pupa Robber, Robber, Carrier, Pilgrim) 1. A destroyed or blocked carrier brings back nothing. This is only the upper limit: the loot is at most 55% of the target's asteroids, and less when you attack with overwhelming force — the combat page has the exact rules.

Formations: Wall, Wedge, Sphere

The formation tunes how likely your ships are to HIT, and how likely they are to EVADE enemy fire. There are three, and each is a simple trade:

• WALL — neutral. Adds nothing, takes nothing: ships fight on their base values. This is the default for every fleet and for the base.
• WEDGE (offensive) — +10% hit, −10% evasion. You deal more, you take more. Worth it when your fleet is the heavier one, or when you want to settle a battle fast in few rounds — the attacker only gets three.
• SPHERE (defensive) — −10% hit, +10% evasion. You deal less, you last longer. The defender gets six rounds, so this is often the better pick at home: you only have to hold out, not finish.

The percentage is a MULTIPLIER, not added points: a 60% base hit chance becomes 66% with Wedge and 54% with Sphere. Same for evasion. The modifier does not change ship "quality" — weapon count, damage and armour stay as they are.

HOW THE TWO SIDES MEET: one side's hit chance is set against the other side's evasion. If you pick Wedge and the enemy picks Sphere, your +10% hit and their +10% evasion roughly cancel — but so do your −10% evasion and their −10% hit. There is no "winning" pair on paper; what decides is which matters more to whom: damage or survival.

IMPORTANT: the formation counts for the WHOLE SIDE, not per ship, weighted by ship COUNT. If your base, your fleets and allied defenders fight together, the final modifier is the count-weighted blend of their formations. Next to a 900-ship Wall fleet, a 100-ship Wedge fleet adds just +1% for the whole side. The hit bonus from military rank goes into the same blend.

Two practical rules follow: (1) when a mixed group fights together, the LARGE fleets' formation decides, the small one barely shows; (2) the base has its OWN formation (set it in the "Base" row on the Fleet page) — at home, Sphere is the natural choice, because the base is always defending.

You can change a formation at any time, even for a fleet already en route — every battle starts with the setting in force at that moment (in a multi-round attack, each round's battle separately). So if a spy report reveals what you are up against, you can still switch before arrival.

A starting tip: on attack, Wedge if the target's base and fleet are weaker than yours (finish fast); Sphere if its defence is strong and you just need to survive three rounds to the loot; Wall if you do not know what awaits — it never punishes.

Score: what counts on the leaderboard

Your planet score comes from exactly one thing: EVERYTHING you have accumulated, valued at its resource cost.

• The resource cost of every finished building and research.
• Every ship, planetary defence and satellite you own — those at base AND those in fleets.

All three resources count equally, and the total is divided by a thousand. The score is recalculated at every tick.

Two consequences surprise most players:

• Resources SITTING IN STORE are worth no score. Only what you have already built or produced.
• Losing units costs score. After a lost battle your score drops — not a bug, but the nature of the measure.

Experience points and asteroid counts are NOT part of the score: those are separate measures with their own leaderboards.

Experience and rank

You earn experience points (XP) from combat:

• As an attacker you get 1% of the value of the enemy units you destroy, plus 1 XP for every asteroid brought home.
• As a defender, the same: 1% of the value of the attackers shot down is yours. If an ally defended too, the defenders split it in proportion to their combat strength; in a joint attack, the attackers do.

XP gives you four things:

• A RANK. It shows next to your name in galaxy lists, leaderboards and battle reports.
• A COMBAT EDGE. Your rank raises your fleet’s hit chance in every battle. It works as a multiplier (e.g. +3% = your hit chance times 1.03) and stacks with the battle-stance bonus. When several planets attack together, each planet’s rank counts in proportion to the number of its ships.
• STORAGE CAPACITY. Every XP point raises your metal and crystal storage cap by 5 (narion has no cap by default).
• NEW RESEARCH. The four “rank reward” researches are only available from the right rank, and cannot be bought with resources.

THE RANKS (XP threshold and hit bonus):

• Private: 0 XP — no bonus (the starting rank).
• Sergeant: 2,000 XP — +1%.
• Lieutenant: 6,000 XP — +2%.
• Captain: 14,000 XP — +3%.
• Commander: 30,000 XP — +4%.
• Admiral: 62,000 XP — +5%.
• Fleet General: 126,000 XP — +6%.
• Fleet Marshal: 254,000 XP — +7%.
• Fleet Admiral: 510,000 XP — +8% (the highest rank).

THE RANK REWARD RESEARCHES (Technology page, the “featured development” row). Each one unlocks a building:

• Sergeant → Efficiency-boosting → Production-organizing center: +20% resource production.
• Lieutenant → Higher level training → Elite training base: +1% evasion for your fleet.
• Commander → Aiming-booster → Advanced weaponry factory: +1% hit chance for your fleet.
• Fleet Marshal → Gravitational boosting → Gravitational booster: the remaining travel time is a further 20% shorter.

XP only goes up: losing a battle does not take it away. XP is not part of the score (leaderboard) — it is a separate measure.

Galaxy and alliance

Your galaxy is your neighbourhood: a shared place with a shared forum and elected leaders. Galaxy leaders receive a commission from production, and owe the community something in return.

An alliance is larger and voluntary: a shared treasury, shared research, organised defence and attack. Alliance research grants advantages you cannot reach alone.

You can play solo, but the mid-game is clearly about allies.

Galaxy roles: who can do what

COMMANDER. Elected by the galaxy's members: everyone gives one vote to a planet in the galaxy, and the planet with the most votes is Commander. On a tie there is no Commander until someone changes their vote. Only the Commander can accept or reject applications, send invitations, appoint and dismiss the ministers and the Forum moderator, edit the galaxy's name and motto, and start or stop a vote-out.

WAR MINISTER and COMMERCE MINISTER. Both are appointed by the Commander, and today the two roles have IDENTICAL rights: they can write the minister message shown on the Command Center, send a message to the whole galaxy, and receive a production commission. They cannot admit members, start a vote-out or moderate the forum.

FORUM MODERATOR. Moderates the galaxy forum. By default it is the Commander, and when a new Commander is elected the role moves with them; the Commander can then hand it to anyone, including a minister.

OVERLAPS: the minister message, the galaxy-wide message and the production commission belong to the Commander and both ministers alike (the commission does not stack on one planet). One planet cannot hold both minister roles, and the Commander cannot be their own minister. The Forum moderator role, however, can go to anyone on top of another role. The resource page's production breakdown shows the exact commission.

Alliance roles: who can do what

Each member holds ONE role at a time, so the roles do not overlap: each covers a different area. The only exception is the Founder, who has every right.

• FOUNDER: initially the alliance's creator. Can do everything the other roles can, and is the only one who can assign roles, kick members and change the alliance motto. The role can be passed on with the “Hand over leadership” button in the Members list (the old Founder becomes a Commander). The Founder can only leave after handing over; if they are the last member, leaving dissolves the alliance.
• COMMANDER: the Founder's deputy for membership. Accepts or rejects applications, sends and withdraws invitations, starts or stops a vote-out.
• WAR MINISTER: keeps the war board tidy. Any member can create alliance attacks, targets and defence requests, but only the War minister (and the Founder) can delete or edit someone else's entry, for example an attack's departure round.
• TREASURER: finances. Sets the tax, pays out from the treasury, and starts alliance research (because it is paid from the treasury).
• FORUM ADMIN: moderates the alliance forum.
• MEMBER: can deposit to the treasury, create attacks and defence requests, sign up for others' attacks, delete their own entries, and vote in vote-outs.

On the Messages page any member can write specifically to the Commanders (Founder + Commander), the War ministers or the Forum admins; that only selects the recipients, it is not a permission.

Missions and credit

Missions walk you through the basics of the game and pay credit for it. If you have just started, follow them: their order is not accidental.

Credit is the game’s internal point, spendable on convenience and cosmetic extras. You earn credit from missions, voting and referrals too — not only by buying it.

If you take a break

The game runs in ticks: one tick is 60 minutes, and all production, building and arrivals happen at the tick.

If you cannot log in for a longer while, switch on VACATION mode in Settings: your planet becomes protected, but stops producing in exchange.

If you do not log in, you get a warning after 7 days, and after another 2 days of grace your planet is deleted. Logging in clears the flag by itself.

There is also a "do not disturb" protection window (Credit → Extra, one per purchase): up to 12 hours, starting now or scheduled ahead, set in Settings. During it you cannot be attacked, but you cannot launch attacks, scouting or defence missions either; production keeps running. It cannot be set while an attack is heading your way or your fleet is out; when a scheduled window starts, any fleet you have out turns for home.

Just start — the rest comes as you play

You do not need to memorise any of this: the missions walk you through the basics, and this page is always in the menu. Questions? Our Discord has an #english-help channel — the link is in the game menu.

Start playing — free