Welcome, Commander. You start with one planet and an unexplored galaxy. This guide covers your first hour: growing your home world, building your first ships, and finding out what's out there.
Open the game and pick New commander. Choose a name and a password, and you're in. The line under the logo shows which universe you're joining and how fast it runs.
For your first two weeks, a welcome reward is waiting each day you play: resources, ships, xenite and more, seven in all. They open by themselves while today's is waiting; after that, the gift button in the top bar opens them. Day 3 brings 10 Spy Probes and 5 Small Cargo ships, just right for exploring.
Every fifth player level also earns a reward in the same window, so check back as you grow.
The Overview shows your planet at a glance:
- The top bar lists your resources: metal, crystal, deuterium, xenite, energy, people, water and food. The small green and red numbers show how much you gain and use each hour.
- Production shows how full each store is and how long until it fills. Click a resource to see where it comes from and where it goes.
- Queues show what is being built or researched and when it finishes.
On the Buildings page, start with the basics:
- Metal Extractor, Crystal Refinery and Deuterium Synthesizer produce your three main resources.
- Solar Array makes the energy they run on. If energy turns red in the top bar, build more before anything else, because mines produce less without it.
- Habitat, Water Extractor and Hydroponic Farm grow your population. People are the crews your buildings and ships need.
- Research Lab and Shipyard unlock research and ships.
You can line up to five orders; they're built one after another. Each kind of building takes one field on your planet, however far you upgrade it (the Fields bar at the top right). Your homeworld has room for every kind of building; other planets are smaller, so choose what to build there.
Tip: A locked card tells you what it still needs, for example "Needs Xenotechnology 1". Click a card's picture to see what the building does.
Research makes everything better, and it counts on every planet you'll ever own. Begin with Energy Technology, then Combustion Drive: you need it to build Spy Probes, your first explorers.
The Shipyard builds ships; the tabs sort them into warships, civil ships and exploration ships. To start out, you need:
- Spy Probes: tiny and very fast, perfect for scouting.
- Small Cargo: for moving resources between your planets.
The number under each ship is how many you have docked.
The galaxy is made of star systems, and every planet starts undiscovered. Nobody knows what a world holds until a fleet reaches it.
Moving around the map:
| Mouse | What it does |
|---|---|
| Left drag | Move across the galaxy |
| Right drag | Rotate the view |
| Scroll | Zoom in and out |
| Click | Select a star, planet or anomaly |
| Right-click | Open its actions |
On a phone or tablet, drag with one finger to rotate and pinch to zoom.
Use the search box above the map to find systems, players or bots, and the filters to show only the stars you've charted, your colonies, enemies, pirates or anomalies.
Click a star and press Enter to look inside the system. Select a planet to see its details and actions at the top of the side panel.
Select an undiscovered planet and press Spy (charts it). The fleet dispatcher opens in three steps:
- Target & mission: already filled in when you start from the map.
- Ships: choose how many Spy Probes to send. Two are plenty for an uncharted world.
- Cargo & options: not needed for spying.
The dispatcher shows the flight time and the fuel before you launch. Use Launch at or Arrive at to time a flight for later.
Want to chart a whole system at once? Press Spy system on the system card. It sends a probe to every planet worth a look in one go.
Fleet Command (the Fleet page) tracks everything you've sent out:
- Active: fleets on their way, with a countdown. Click the arrow to recall one.
- History: missions that are over, each with a summary on the right of how it went ("Charted", "Player world", "Pirate haven found", ...). Click a mission to read its reports.
- Radar: foreign fleets your scanners can see.
When your probes reach a new world, it is revealed for the first time. It can be a terran, desert, ocean, ice, volcanic, toxic, crystalline, barren or gas giant world, each with its own size and riches. You might also find:
- Nothing but the planet: a free world you can settle later.
- Another empire's home: your probes send back what they saw. Spy reports appear in Messages under Spy.
- A pirate haven: pirates hold the world and must be defeated before anyone can settle there.
- Derelict ships, supply caches or ancient archives: free ships, resources or research.
- An unidentified signal: a mysterious anomaly at the edge of the system. Send a fleet to find out what it is. It could be treasure, drifting ships, or a trap.
- Colonize. Build a Colony Ship and send it to a free world you've charted. You can hold four planets at first; the Command Nexus on your capital raises the limit.
- Defend. Pirates and other players may come for your resources. Build defenses and a Planetary Shield, and keep an eye on the Radar.
- Expeditions. The Expedition button on the Fleet page sends ships into deep space to search for resources and lost ships. It's a gamble, but often pays off.
- Join a clan. On the Clan page you can found or join a clan: share your star charts, guard each other's planets and attack together.
- Talk. Write to other commanders from Messages, the Rankings or their planets on the map.
Tip: Almost everything has a right-click menu: planets, stars, fleets, ships, queue entries and messages. It's the quickest way to get things done.
Ready for more? These guides go deeper:
| Guide | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Your planets | Planet types, building fields, the surface map, people, water, food, energy, storage, colonies, moons and stations |
| Buildings | Every building and what it does |
| Research | Every research and where to start |
| Ships | Every ship, crews, fleet auras and Quantum ships |
| Defenses | Cannons, shield domes and the Orbital Ring |
| Fleets and combat | Missions, attacking, invading, intercepting and how battles work |
| Dangers | Pirates, illness, other empires and other risks |
| Exploration | Charting worlds, anomalies, expeditions and scanners |
| Growing your empire | Player levels, rewards, the Xenite Exchange, clans and your settings |
Good luck out there, Commander.