§ 01
Controls
There is no key-rebinding screen yet, so this is the complete list. One rule is worth internalising before the rest: right-click is always a command and never opens a context menu, anywhere in the game.
Watch out
A, W, S and D pan the camera and A toggles engage-on-sight on the current selection. Panning left with a fleet selected will flip its stance. The arrow keys pan without that overlap.
Camera
The galaxy is bigger than the screen. Panning and zooming are the two things you will do most.
| W A S D | Pan the cameraHeld, not tapped. Ignored while Ctrl is down. Note that A is also the engage-on-sight command key — panning left with ships selected will toggle their stance. |
| ↑ ← ↓ → | Pan the cameraIdentical to WASD, and free of the command-key overlap. |
| Shift | Pan three times fasterHeld together with any pan key. |
| Mouse wheel | Zoom in and outZooms toward the cursor, not the screen centre. Zoom far enough into a system and each planet starts reporting its own numbers. |
| Middle-drag | Drag the cameraCancels camera-follow if a ship was being followed. |
| Mouse to screen edge | Edge-panRamps up the closer you get to the edge. Can be turned off in Settings. |
| Double-click a star | Zoom into that system |
| F | Follow the selected shipPress again to release the camera. |
| Enter | Jump to the current battleSame as clicking the battle banner. With several fights running it follows whichever the banner is showing. |
Selecting things
Left mouse selects. It never issues an order — that is always the right button.
| Left-click | Select a star, planet or shipOn empty space, clears the selection. Zoomed out, clicking a fleet blob takes the whole cluster rather than one hull. |
| Left-drag | Box-selectTakes every ship you own inside the box, starbases excepted. |
| Click the same star again | Cycle through the ships in orbitStar, then each ship type in turn, then back to the star. |
| Double-click a ship | Select every ship of that type on screen |
| Tab | Cycle the fleet by ship typeWith a star selected it steps through the types in orbit; with a fleet selected it narrows to one type at a time, then back to the whole selection. |
Giving orders
Right-click is always a command, everywhere in the game. It never opens a menu. What it does depends on what you have selected and what you clicked.
| Right-click empty space | Move thereSeveral ships spread into a ring formation around the point. |
| Right-click a star | Move, colonize, bomb or mineRead from the selection: a colonizer settles, a bomber attacks a populated enemy world, a miner picks the richest world it can work, anything else just flies there. |
| Right-click a planet | Act on that specific planetSame intent rules, but aimed at the one world instead of the system. A warship right-clicked onto a planet takes up a geostationary orbit. |
| Shift + Right-click | Queue a waypointAppends to the current orders instead of replacing them. Chains as far as you like. |
| Right-drag | Form a lineWith two or more ships selected, drag out an axis and they sort themselves along it, evenly spaced. Shift appends the formation as a waypoint. |
| Right-click with a star selected and no ships | Set a rally pointShips built at that star inherit the route. Shift extends it into a multi-leg path; right-clicking the rally target itself clears it. |
Fleet commands
These act on whatever is currently selected.
| A | Toggle engage-on-sightOn by default for every ship. Turn it off to walk a fleet past a fight instead of into it. |
| C | Toggle auto-colonizeColonizers only. They pick their own targets rather than waiting for orders. |
| P | Arm patrolThen right-click for a two-point patrol, or Shift-right-click several times and finish with a plain right-click for a closed loop. Press P again to cancel a running patrol. |
| V | Arm warp-to-positionRight-click commits the warp. Warping is four times interplanetary speed but starts with a stationary spinup, and taking a hit during spinup cancels it. |
| Shift + V | Arm a warp queueStays armed so each right-click appends another warp waypoint. |
| Esc | DisarmBacks out of patrol or warp arming without issuing anything. |
Map overlays
Overlays paint information straight onto the map. They only ever show what you have actually scouted: live values where you have vision, dimmed last-known values where you have been before, and nothing at all where you have not.
| O | Ownership washOn by default. Tints each system in its owner's colour with a territory bubble. Stacks with the others. |
| M | MineralsThree bars per world — concentration, remaining lifetime reserve, and minerals sitting on the surface. |
| G L | SettlementEither key opens the same layer. Three bars — habitability, maximum population, current population. |
| Y | Ship-count badgeOn by default. A plain count of identifiable combat ships in orbit, red if any of them are not yours. Stacks with the others. |
| E | Scan ringsOn by default. Draws how far each of your sensors actually reaches. |
| R | Trade route arrowsOff by default. |
| Ctrl + R | Create a trade routeClick the source planet, then the destination. Esc cancels. With a freighter selected the new route is assigned to it automatically. |
Building
Every planet has its own build queue. Ships need a starbase at that star before they can be queued at all.
| Shift + click a build button | Queue five at onceWorks for structures and ships alike. |
| Shift + click a queued item | Cancel all of that typeA plain click cancels one. Cancelling refunds what was paid. |
| Right-click a route row | Unassign that routeDrops the route from every freighter in the selection. |
Game and window
| Space | Pause and unpauseThe only rebindable action in the game. In multiplayer only the host can pause. |
| Esc | Back out, one layer at a timeCloses the panel view, then disarms, then unfollows, then deselects, then zooms out to the galaxy, and finally opens the in-game menu. |
| Mouse back button | Back out of the bottom panelThe thumb button on the side of the mouse, if yours has one. |
| F11 | Toggle fullscreenWorks in the menus as well as in a match. |
Minimap
| Left-click | Jump the camera thereWith nothing selected it also picks up the star under the cursor. |
| Right-click | Move order, without moving the cameraShift appends it as a waypoint, same as on the main map. |
Activity feed
| Left-click a pill | Jump to the eventDrops a ping at the location so you can find it again. |
| Right-click a pill | Dismiss it |
Replays and statistics
Every match is recorded. Open one from the Replays menu; these keys work while it plays. Orders are ignored in a replay.
| Space | Pause or resume the replayThe same pause key as in a match. |
| . | Step one tickWhile paused. |
| [ ] | Slower / fasterFrom 0.25x to 16x. |
| F | Fast mode on or offRuns the match as fast as it will go, without one-shot effects. |
| Home | Restart from the beginning |
| Tab F1 | Switch to the other player's viewYou see what that player could see. |
| V | Reveal the whole mapPress again for the viewpoint player's fog. |
| Click or drag the timeline | Jump to that momentInstant inside the lighter band, the part of the match already analysed. |
| S | Match statisticsIn a replay and on the end screen. Click a chart to jump there. |
| F2 | Match statistics, anywhereIn your own match it shows your own numbers only. |
| D | Statistics dock on or offA slim strip of trends above the timeline. |
| Esc | Close the statistics, or leave the replayWith the statistics open it only closes them. |
§ 02
Ship statistics
Distances are world units. Move scan is how far a hull spots enemy ships; detail scan is how close it must be to read a planet in full and to identify what an enemy hull actually is. The starbase is built as a structure rather than queued as a ship, which is why it has no build time here.
| Class | Cost | Supply | Build | HP | Speed | Attack | Range | Cooldown | Evasion | Move scan | Detail scan | Warp spinup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scout | 50 | 1 | 5s | 40 | 100 | — | — | — | — | 600 | 450 | 1.5s |
| Fighter | 100 | 1 | 12s | 180 | 75 | 64 | 0–70 | 0.8s | 12–30% | 80 | 70 | 2s |
| Frigate | 200 | 2 | 18s | 400 | 37.5 | 60 | 0–100 | 0.8s | — | 350 | 262 | 4s |
| Cruiser | 300 | 3 | 22s | 280 | 30 | 80 | 60–360 | 0.45s | — | 80 | 60 | 6s |
| Bomber | 200 | 2 | 14s | 120 | 42.5 | — | — | — | — | 80 | 60 | 3s |
| Colonizer | 200 + 50 pop | 1 | 20s | 80 | 50 | — | — | — | — | 80 | 60 | 3s |
| Miner | 300 | 1 | 24s | 80 | 25 | — | — | — | — | 80 | 60 | 4s |
| Freighter | 250 | 1 | 20s | 120 | 30 | — | — | — | — | 80 | 60 | 3.5s |
| Starbase | 400 | — | as a structure | 1000 | — | 180 | 0–380 | 0.7s | — | 200 | 150 | — |
§ 03
What each hull is for
| Class | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Scout | The best sensor package in the game and the only mobile source of full planet detail. Unarmed, fast, and cheap enough to lose. |
| Fighter | Cheap autocannon swarm. Dodges a quarter of what is thrown at it and closes inside a cruiser's blind spot, where the cruiser cannot answer. |
| Frigate | Armoured brawler with a heavy sensor suite. Wins the close fight against fighters and spots targets for cruisers that cannot see their own range. |
| Cruiser | Missile sniper. Outranges everything by a wide margin but cannot fire inside 60 units, and cannot see anywhere near as far as it can shoot. |
| Bomber | Kills population, not ships. Orbits an enemy world and grinds it down; strip a planet to zero and it reverts to neutral, buildings and all. — kills 1 population every 2s. |
| Colonizer | One-way trip. Costs population as well as minerals, and is consumed founding the colony it delivers. — delivers 50 population and 100 minerals, then is consumed. |
| Miner | Extracts minerals into a planet's stockpile at the rate of one fully-staffed land mine. Works neutral worlds as well as your own. — extracts at the rate of 1 land mine. |
| Freighter | Hauls minerals or colonists along standing trade routes. Non-combatant; can hold several routes and cycles between them. — carries 150 minerals or 50 colonists per run. |
| Starbase | Immobile defender anchored to its planet, and the thing that lets that star build ships at all. |
§ 04
Structures
Every planet has its own build queue and its own caps. Mines and factories are limited to max(1, size / 2) each, so a small world runs out of room long before a large one.
| Structure | Cost | Build | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mine | 40 | 4s | Extracts minerals from the planet's concentration. Needs workers to run at full efficiency. |
| Factory | 80 | 8s | Adds to the planet's production rate, which is how fast its build queue advances. |
| Starbase | 400 | 30s | Required before this star can queue ships at all. One per star. Also fights — it is the toughest thing in the game. |
| Scanner I | 400 | 16s | Fixed sensor array at the system centre. Sees further than any ship you own. |
| Scanner II | 1600 | 32s | Requires Scanner I, and replaces it on completion. Roughly doubles the reach again. |
§ 05
Sensors
Two ranges matter, and they are not the same number. The first is how far you detect that something is there. The second is how close you must be to read a planet's real figures, or to tell a cruiser from a freighter. Only scouts and star-mounted scanners grant the second one.
| Sensor | Sees ships within | Full planet detail within |
|---|---|---|
| Scanner I | 700 | 350 |
| Scanner II | 1500 | 750 |
| Scout (best mobile sensor) | 600 | 450 |
§ 06
Economy formulas
All of these run per planet, once per game year. Nothing here is per system — a five-planet system is five separate economies.
| Quantity | Formula | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Workforce | population / 2 | Only half your population works. The rest are dependants. |
| Building efficiency | min(1, workers / (buildings x 10)) | Every mine and every factory wants 10 workers. Below that they run slow. |
| Maximum population | size x 10 x (habitability / 100) | Size sets the ceiling, habitability sets how much of it you can reach. |
| Mine and factory caps | max(1, size / 2) | Per planet, not per system. A small world runs out of slots fast. |
| Miners per planet | floor(size / 10) | Extra miners sent to a full world contribute nothing. |
| Minerals per year | (mines x mine_efficiency + miners) x concentration / 100 | Land mines and orbiting miners both feed this. |
| Production per year | factories x factory_efficiency + population / 200 | This is how fast the build queue advances. |
| Lifetime minerals | 2 x size x concentration | Everything a planet will ever yield. Mining faster does not mine more. |
| Population growth | pop x 0.00428 x (hab / 100) x (1 - pop / max_pop) | Fastest at half the cap; it stalls as the world fills up. |
§ 07
Combat rules
| Rule | Value | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Miss chance | 20% | Flat, before the target's evasion is rolled. Only scouts and fighters have evasion. |
| Engagement range | 400 units | Ships within this distance of each other form one battle. |
| Warp speed | 4× normal | Preceded by a stationary spinup. Taking damage during spinup cancels the warp. |
| Warp arrival | 350 units out | You always drop in on the rim of the system, never on top of the star. |
The counter triangle
- Fighter beats cruiser — closes inside the cruiser's 60-unit minimum range, where missiles cannot fire.
- Cruiser beats frigate — outranges the frigate's 100-unit reach by 3.6x and kites it.
- Frigate beats fighter — armour and damage per shot beat the fighter's evasion in a close brawl.
§ 08
Galaxy sizes
| Map size | Star systems | Play area |
|---|---|---|
| Small | 16 | 6000 × 6600 |
| Medium | 24 | 9000 × 9900 |
| Large | 36 | 12000 × 13200 |
Stars are never generated closer than 720 units apart, and are drawn from a pool of 30 names. Each system holds two to six planets.
§ 09
Match rules
| Rule | Value | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Simulation rate | 20 Hz | Fixed. Host and client run the same tick from the same seed. |
| One game year | 0.5 real seconds | 10 ticks. Time passes about 2 years per second. |
| Match length | 30 minutes | If nobody has won by then, most systems takes it. A domination hold still running at that moment plays out first (overtime, up to 2 minutes). |
| Domination | 60% of systems for 2 minutes | Reach that share and keep it: the top of the screen counts the hold for both players. Dropping below it before the time is up resets the count. |
| Supply cap | 120 per player | Every ship takes supply, from the moment it is ordered until it is gone. A ship that no longer fits cannot be ordered. Starbases are free. |
How a match ends
- Elimination — a player with no systems and no colonizer left is out. The last one standing wins.
- Domination — hold 60% of the systems in the galaxy for 2 minutes. Both players see the count at the top of the screen; lose a system and drop below the share, and it starts again.
- Timeout — at 30 minutes, whoever holds the most systems wins. A tie is a draw. If a domination hold is still running then, the match goes into overtime (up to 2 minutes): it ends when the hold completes or is broken.
§ 10
AI opponents
Difficulty is a matter of how well an opponent plays, not what it is allowed to do. Every AI runs on the same public commands you do and sees exactly the same fog of war — none of them can read your position through it.
- Settler — The gentlest opponent. Expands slowly, skips half the actions it could take, never mines neutral worlds and never builds freighters. Start here.
- Rusher — Builds fighters early and attacks as soon as it has a handful. Punishes a slow opening.
- Expansionist — Scouts harder and colonises faster than the others, then converts the bigger economy into cruisers.
- Brain — A different architecture rather than a harder version of the same one: it picks an objective and commits to it. The most coherent opponent in the game.
§ 11
Network ports
| Port | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| Game traffic | UDP 7777 | The host must have this port reachable. Forward it for play over the internet. |
| LAN discovery | UDP 7778 | The host broadcasts once a second. Joiners on the same network see the game in the list without typing anything. |
| Players | 2 | One host, one joiner. The host is authoritative and pauses for both. |
The walkthrough for actually getting two people into a match is in the guide.