Solar Realms Elite

Overview

Solar Realms Elite is a massively multiplayer turn-based strategy game. You rule an interstellar empire from a retro BBS-style terminal. Your goal: become and remain the most powerful empire in the galaxy.

Key Concepts

• Turns — You get 5 turns per real day. Each turn represents one year of game time.
• Protection — New empires receive 20 turns of protection. While protected, you cannot attack or be attacked, and you cannot perform most covert operations.
• Planets — Colonize different planet types to generate income, food, military, research, and population growth.
• Military — Build soldiers, fighters, cruisers, and defense stations to attack enemies and defend your worlds.
• Treaties — Form alliances to prevent attacks, enable trade, and call allies for defense.
• Score — (Credits + Bank Savings)÷100, plus Population, plus Military (HC 50, LC 25, DS 20, Fighters 5, Soldiers 2 each), plus 500 per Planet, plus 10 per Covert Agent. Higher score = greater power and larger max bank loan (Score × 10).

Game Flow

Each turn follows this sequence:

1. Lottery — Optional Super Lottery ticket purchase
2. Earnings Report — Income from planets, trade tariffs, bank interest
3. Maintenance — Pay upkeep for planets and military (auto-deducted)
4. Food — Buy or sell food for your people
5. Covert Operations — Spy, sabotage, or aid rebels*
6. Bank — Deposit savings, take loans, invest in bonds
7. Government Spending — Buy military, colonize planets, command ship
8. Battles — Attack empires or pirates
9. Trading — Exchange goods with treaty partners
10. End of Year — Population changes, score update, final report

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How to Play

Getting started is simple. This guide walks you through your first turns.

Step 1: Enter the Galaxy

Register a new empire name and password. You start with 6 starter planets (Food, Ore, Tourism, Supply, Urban, Government), 50,000 credits, 200 food, 100 soldiers, and 5,000 population.

Step 2: Play Your First Turn

From the Main Menu, press [1] Play Turn. The turn wizard guides you through each step.

• Lottery — You can buy a lottery ticket (1,000 credits) or skip.
• Maintenance — Your forces require upkeep. If you can afford it, press Enter to pay all at once.
• Food Market — Check your food stock. If short, buy from the Galactic Coordinator's market.
• Bank — Deposit excess money for 3% interest, or take a loan if desperate.
• Spending — This is where you build your empire. Buy military and colonize planets.

Step 3: Form Treaties

Before you can trade or call allies, you need treaties. From the Main Menu, press [2] Diplomacy.

• Neutrality — Prevents attacks, enables trading. Good for early empires.
• Free Trade — Like Neutrality, but earns 5% of each partner's planetary income as tariffs.
• Defense Treaties — Allies send troops when you're attacked.

Step 4: Attack or Grow

During the Battles step, you can:

• Conventional Attack — Capture planets and money. Requires matching the enemy on 2 of 3 fronts.
• Guerilla Ambush — Surprise attack. No allies called, but risk of discovery.
• Pirate Raid — Recover stolen goods from pirate factions.

Step 5: End Turn

After trading, your turn processes. Population changes, score updates, and you see a full year report. Then you're back to the main menu.

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Planet Types

Each planet produces different resources. Choose wisely — your planet mix determines your strategy.

Type	Price	Income	Description
Food	25,000	200 food/turn	Critical. Produces 200 food units per turn (not credits) to feed your population and army. Shortages cause starvation and deaths.
Ore	30,000	3,500/yr	Stable income. Unaffected by civil war or insurgency. Reliable fallback income.
Tourism	35,000	5,000/yr (peak)	Highest average income, but collapses during civil unrest. Requires Peaceful insurgency level.
Supply	40,000	N/A	Produces military units each turn. Set balance (0-100) between soldiers and fighters via Operations Menu.
Government	50,000	2,500/yr	Required for generals. Each planet supports 50 generals. Covert agents operate here.
Education	40,000	1,500/yr	Increases immigration (+15 people per planet). Boosts population growth.
Research	60,000	1,000/yr	Chance for breakthroughs: +20% food income, +10% tourism, +5% cruiser strength, +2% taxes, or Mothership.
Urban	30,000	1,800/yr	Increases birth rate (+10 per planet) and urban capacity. Long-term investment — compounds every year.
Petroleum	45,000	Galaxy-wide	Income varies with galaxy supply. Few planets = high price. Many planets = low price. Causes pollution.
Anti-Poll	35,000	N/A	Absorbs petroleum pollution. Each planet removes 3 pollution/turn. Protects tourism income.

Important Notes

• You can release (sell for $0) any planet from Government Spending.
• Planet income is graduated by insurgency level. At Under Coup, all industry income drops to 0%.
• Tourism income drops with pollution and any insurgency above Peaceful.
• Petroleum income is galaxy-wide — price = 240 - (total petroleum planets × 2), minimum 20.

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Military Units

Unit	Price	Sell	Type	Role
Soldiers	100	N/A	Mixed	Ground combat. Control planets. Need 1 General per 50 soldiers. Cannot be sold — lower your draft rate to discharge instead.
Fighters	500	167	Offensive	Attack defense stations. Need 1 Carrier per 100 fighters (Mothership waives this).
Defense Stations	2,000	667	Defensive	Fire back at enemy fighters. Determines fighter front winner.
Heavy Cruisers	10,000	3,334	Mixed	Deep space combat. Boosted by Command Ship. Core of conventional attacks.
Light Cruisers	5,000	1,667	Mixed	Fire 5 pre-battle rounds at 15% kill rate — each round kills enemy Heavy Cruisers outright and Light Cruisers at half rate. Also count toward the cruiser front.
Carriers	8,000	2,667	Offensive	Transport fighters to battle. Also needed for trading (cargo capacity).
Covert Agents	3,000	1,000	Offensive	Perform espionage, sabotage, hostage-taking, and more.
Generals	5,000	1,667	Defensive	Required: 1 per 50 soldiers in conventional attack. Political leaders on Government planets.

Special Units

• Command Ship — 50,000 credits per upgrade, 4 upgrades to max (+25% strength each: 25% → 50% → 100% → 200%). Grows a further +5% per turn once started. Effectiveness multiplier = 1 + (strength ÷ 200), so at 200% your Heavy Cruisers fight at 2× power.
• Mothership — Research breakthrough reward. Active for 5 turns. Its fighter wing strafes the enemy garrison (5 pre-battle rounds at 15% vs their soldiers) and waives carrier requirements while active.

Maintenance Costs (per unit per turn)

Soldiers	5 credits
Fighters	10 credits
Defense Stations	50 credits
Heavy Cruisers	200 credits
Light Cruisers	100 credits
Planets (each)	300 credits

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Diplomatic Treaties

Treaties ensure protection and enable trade. You can have one active treaty per empire pair — proposing a new type replaces the existing treaty between you.

Type	Defense Bonus	Trade	Tariffs	Notes
Neutrality	None	Yes	No	Prevents attacks. Basic treaty for beginners.
Free Trade	None	Yes	5%	Earns 5% of each partner's planetary income as tariffs.
Minor Alliance	15% soldiers 10% cruisers	Yes	No	Ally sends forces when you're attacked.
Total Defense	25% soldiers 20% cruisers	Yes	No	Stronger defense commitment than Minor.
Armed Defense Pact	40% soldiers 10% cruisers	Yes	No	Soldier-heavy defense. Best for ground defense.
Cruiser Protection	50% cruisers	Yes	No	Heavy Cruisers only — Light Cruisers do NOT contribute.
Custom	You choose %	Yes	No	Set your own soldier and cruiser percentages.

Treaty Rules

• Binding treaties (days > 0): Cannot attack or perform covert ops on each other. Breaking triggers deferred cancellation.
• Expired treaties (days = 0): Still exist but no longer binding. Attacking cancels them immediately.
• Deferred break: If you break a binding treaty, the other empire is protected until they log in and see the notification.
• Trading: Both proposing and accepting trades require an active treaty — expired (days = 0) or broken treaties block new trades. Trades proposed while a treaty was active are also cancelled at accept time if the treaty lapses in between.

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Covert Operations

Covert agents allow you to perform espionage, sabotage, and subversion. Starred (*) ops are unavailable while in protection.

Operation	Effect	Limit	Cost
Send Spy	Get enemy status report (troops, money, planets)	Unlimited	1 agent
Insurgent Aid*	Increase target's insurgency level by 1	1/day/target	1 agent
Support Dissension*	Target loses 5% of soldiers (12h delay)	1/day/target	1 agent
Demoralize Troops*	Reduce target soldier training (5% fewer soldiers)	1/day/target	1 agent
Bombing Operations*	Destroy up to 30% of target's food	1/day/target	1 agent
Relations Spying*	Discover target's treaties	1/day/target	1 agent
Take Hostages*	Steal 5% of target's money (12h delay)	1/day/target	1 agent
Bribe Personnel	Guarantee next spy report succeeds (no capture risk)	1 active bribe	3,000 credits

Delayed Operations

Dissension and Hostages have a 12-hour delay. They execute when the target next plays their turn. This makes timing important — hit them before they have a chance to respond. Delayed ops are limited to 3 queued at once and consume their daily op slot at queue time.

Bribing

Normal spying has a 20% capture risk. After bribing (3,000 credits, 24h duration), your next spy report is guaranteed successful with no capture risk. The bribe is consumed after one use.

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Solar Bank & Bonds

The bank is available during your turn. Manage your finances wisely.

Bank Actions

Action	Effect	Notes
Deposit	Move money to savings	Earns 3% interest per turn. Interest added to earnings.
Withdraw	Move savings to cash	Instant. No fees.
Loan	Borrow money	Max loan = Score × 10. Auto-repays 10% per turn. Lasts 5 turns max.
Repay	Pay back loan early	Reduces principal. Early repayment lowers total cost.

Galactic Coordinator Bonds

• Cost: 8,500 credits
• Payout: 12,000 credits
• Maturity: 6-10 turns (random)
• Bonds mature automatically each turn. You must manually redeem them for payout.
• Matured bonds show in the Bank screen with a Redeem button.

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Battle Mechanics

There are three attack types. Choose based on your strategy and the enemy's defenses.

Attack Types

Type	Generals Needed	Allies Called	Captures	Risk
Conventional	Yes (1/50 soldiers)	Yes	Planets + Money	High losses if mismatched
Guerilla	No	No	None (defender +1 insurgency)	30% chance of discovery. You lose 25% of committed troops; defender loses 20%.
Pirate Raid	No	No	Recovered goods	Costs 15% of your money
Psionic Bomb	No	No	Insurgency +2–3 levels	Costs 5,000 credits. 70% success rate.
Spy on Pirates	No	No	Intelligence	Free. Reveals pirate faction strength and net worth.

Conventional Attack — Three Fronts

To win, you must control 2 of 3 fronts:

1. Soldier Front — Your soldiers vs. enemy soldiers. Win by having more soldiers. Generals required (1 per 50 soldiers).
2. Fighter Front — Your fighters vs. enemy Defense Stations. Win by having more fighters. Carriers required (1 per 100 fighters).
3. Cruiser Front — Your Heavy Cruisers vs. enemy Heavy Cruisers. Win by having more effective HC. Command Ship and armor plating research boost this front.

Light Cruiser Bonus

Light Cruisers get 5 pre-battle bonus rounds at 15% kill rate per round — each round destroys enemy Heavy Cruisers outright and enemy Light Cruisers at half rate. Both sides fire: if the defender also fields LC, their pre-battle salvo hits your forces before the main battle. LC mass is a race.

Defense Stations

Each Defense Station kills approximately 0.5 enemy fighters during the fighter front battle.

Winning

Winner casualties are ~15%. Loser casualties are ~30% when defending successfully, ~35% when an attack fails. Stalemate if 1-1-1 on fronts.

Protection Voiding

To attack while under protection, you need Score ≥ 5,000 AND either:

• 1,000+ soldiers, or
• 50+ Heavy Cruisers, or
• 100+ Fighters

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Strategy Guide

Different planet mixes create different playstyles. Here are proven strategies.

The Industrialist (Ore + Supply)

Focus: Ore and Supply planets.

• Ore income is stable even during civil war — no tourism collapse risk.
• Supply planets generate free soldiers/fighters every turn.
• Great for defensive play and attrition wars.
• Weakness: Lower peak income than tourism-focused builds.

The Tourist King (Tourism + Urban)

Focus: Tourism and Urban planets.

• Tourism has the highest income per planet (5,000 at peak).
• Urban planets boost population growth, increasing tax income.
• Great for fast score growth in peaceful times.
• Weakness: Civil war or high insurgency collapses tourism income to near-zero.

The Researcher (Research + Mothership)

Focus: Research planets and stacking breakthroughs.

• Each Research planet has a 5% chance per turn for a breakthrough.
• Persistent bonuses stack: +20% food, +10% tourism, +5% cruiser strength, +2% tax.
• Mothership breakthrough waives carrier requirements for 5 turns — massive fighter advantage.
• Weakness: High upfront cost (60,000/planet), low base income.

The Warmonger (Government + Military)

Focus: Government planets for generals, + Heavy Cruisers.

• Government planets support 50 generals each — critical for large armies.
• Heavy Cruisers with Command Ship dominate the cruiser front.
• Conventional attacks capture planets and money directly.
• Weakness: High maintenance costs. Need constant wars to fund the military.

The Saboteur (Covert Agents + Insurgency)

Focus: Covert agents, bombing, and insurgent aid.

• Bomb enemy food to starve them out.
• Insurgent Aid to push them toward civil war.
• Dissension and Demoralize to reduce their army effectiveness.
• Weakness: Requires constant agent investment. Risky if caught.

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Veteran Tips

• Food first, always. Shortages cause population death and score loss. Overbuy slightly — surplus can be sold.
• Buy Food planets early. They cost 25,000 and produce 200 food/turn each — at 5,000 population you need ~50 food/turn (population × 0.01 + army × 0.02), so a couple of food planets covers you and frees the market for selling surplus.
• Build the Command Ship early and often. Each 50,000-credit upgrade adds +25% strength (4 upgrades to 200%), it passively grows +5%/turn once started, and at 200% your Heavy Cruisers fight at double power. The single best credit sink in the game.
• Petroleum timing. Buy petroleum planets when galaxy supply is low (price 200+) — each planet pays that price × its output every turn. When the galaxy floods with petroleum, stop buying; releasing a planet returns nothing, so over-investing is a trap.
• Anti-Pollution ratio: 2 Petroleum planets add +4 pollution/turn while 1 Anti-Poll removes only 3 — a 1:2 ratio slows the damage but still leaks +1/turn. Go 1:1 (or better) if you rely on Tourism income.
• Tax rate sweet spot: 10-20% is safe. Above 30% causes riots. Above 50% guarantees civil disorder.
• Draft rate: Births only replace ~2% of population per turn — a draft above 2% slowly bleeds your workforce. Keep it 0–1% in peace, spike it to 100% for one turn when you need a sudden army (population recovers, soldiers persist).
• Supply balance: Early game, 80% soldiers / 20% fighters. Late game reverse to 20/80 for cruiser-heavy assaults.
• Before attacking: Spy on the target. Know their troop counts before committing forces.
• Allies matter. Defense treaties add 10-50% of your allies' troops. A strong alliance can double your defense.
• Guerilla discovery: If discovered, the enemy learns your identity. Use only on targets you plan to fight conventionally anyway.
• Lottery tickets: Cheap at 1,000 credits. Jackpot grows by 5,000/day. Worth buying if you have spare cash.
• Protection turns: Don't waste them. Build planets and military aggressively while safe.
• Release planets: Releasing gives zero credits back — only worth it to shed maintenance costs on planets you no longer want, or to rebalance a bloated planet mix.

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Turn System

Understanding how turns work is critical to mastering the galaxy.

Turn Limits

• You receive 5 turns per real day. Unused turns do not roll over.
• Turns reset at midnight server time (daily reset).
• Each turn represents one year of game time.

Turn Lifecycle

1. Begin Turn — From the Main Menu choose "Play Turn", then click "Begin Turn" (or press Enter). This locks your turn slot for the day.
2. Wizard Steps — Navigate through Lottery → Earnings → Maintenance → Food → Covert → Bank → Spending → Battles → Trade → End.
3. Navigation Safety — You can leave the Play screen mid-turn (to check Scores, Messages, etc.) and return later. Your progress is saved automatically.
4. Forfeit — If you need to abort, click "Forfeit Turn". Actions taken are kept, but the turn is not processed. Forfeiting consumes one of your daily turn slots.
5. End Turn — After the final step, your turn processes: population changes, income is applied, maintenance is deducted, and your score updates.

Operations Menu

During the Spending step, press [*] to open the Operations Menu. This gives you quick access to:

• Messages, Solar Bank, Covert Ops, Diplomacy
• Lottery tickets, Tax/Draft/Supply settings
• Imperial Status, Scoreboard, and Abdication

The Operations Menu lets you manage your empire without leaving the turn wizard.

Forfeit Turn

If you need to abort your turn, click Forfeit Turn. Any actions you've taken (purchases, bank transactions, attacks) are kept, but the turn will not be processed for population growth, score updates, or daily earnings. Forfeiting consumes one of your daily turn slots — you can start a new turn later in the same day only if you have turns remaining.

Recovery

• If you disconnect or refresh during a turn, the game will offer to Resume Turn when you return.
• If your browser session is lost but the server still shows a turn in progress, a recovery screen appears with "Resume" and "Forfeit" options.
• Stuck turns are automatically cleared during the daily reset.

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Keyboard Shortcuts

Master the terminal with these hotkeys.

Key	Action	Context
Enter	Begin Turn / Skip Step / Confirm	Play screen
Escape	Return to Main Menu	Any screen (not during active turn)
?	Open Help Modal	Any screen (not in input fields)
*	Open Operations Menu	During Spending step only
1	Play Turn	Main Menu
2	Diplomacy	Main Menu
3	Messages	Main Menu
4	Scores	Main Menu
5	Market	Main Menu
R	Battle Reports	Main Menu

Operations Menu Shortcuts

During the Spending step, press [*] to open the Operations Menu. From there:

• M — Messages
• B — Solar Bank
• C — Covert Ops
• G — Diplomacy / Trading
• L — Buy Lottery Ticket
• T — Set Tax Rate
• D — Set Draft Rate
• S — Supply Balance
• P — Public Works (calm unrest, costs 25,000 × level)
• W — Waiting Trades
• I — Imperial Status
• V — View Scores
• A — Abdicate
• * — Return to Spending

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Economy Deep Dive

Credits win wars. Here is exactly where money comes from and where it dies.

Income Formula (per turn)

Taxes = Population × Tax Rate × 0.5. At 10,000 population and 10% tax: 50,000/turn — taxes are your single largest income source. Insurgency multiplies the whole economy by its tax penalty (level 3 = ×0.3).

Worked Example — Year 10, Mixed Empire

3 Ore (10,500) + 2 Tourism at Peaceful (10,000) + 2 Government (5,000) + 2 Education (3,000) + 1 Research (1,000) + 2 Urban (3,600) = 33,100 planetary income. Add taxes on 8,000 citizens at 10% (40,000 — taxes dominate) and 3% interest on 50,000 savings (1,500). Gross ≈ 74,600.

Costs: 11 planets × 300 = 3,300 maintenance, 1,000 soldiers = 5,000, 200 fighters = 2,000, galactic tax = 5% of planetary income (1,655). Net ≈ +62,600/turn before spending. That surplus is your war chest.

Where Money Leaks

• Maintenance on dead weight. A Light Cruiser costs 100/turn forever. If it never fights, it's a debt. Sell or die with purpose.
• Insurgency. Level 3 halves your taxes and guts tourism. One Psionic Bomb can cost you more than any raid.
• Market panic-buying. Buying 2,000 food at 30cr when the price was 15 burns real credits. Buy ahead during surplus.
• Interest works FOR you too. 100,000 in savings = 3,000/turn forever, compounding. Late game, the bank is a planet you don't maintain.

The Compounding Rule

Savings interest is applied to balance, not income — it compounds. 100,000 saved grows to ~134,000 in 10 turns with no deposits. Compare: bonds return 41% flat over 6–10 turns. Savings wins on patience, bonds win on speed.

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Battle Math Walkthrough

Conventional combat resolves in phases. Follow one attack end to end.

The Setup

You: 2,000 soldiers, 40 generals, 800 fighters, 10 carriers, 60 Heavy Cruisers, Command Ship at 100%. Target: 2,500 soldiers, 500 fighters, 30 Defense Stations, 40 Heavy Cruisers.

Phase 0 — Light Cruiser Opening

If you field Light Cruisers, they fire first: 5 rounds × 15% × your LC count, killing enemy HC outright and LC at half rate. This is why LC-heavy armies punch above their weight.

Phase 1 — Fighter Front

Your 800 fighters (after transport) hit the enemy's 500. Defense Stations kill ~0.5 fighters each: 30 stations ≈ 15 of your fighters die here. Carrier math: 800 fighters need 8 carriers — bring them or your fighters don't fly (unless the Mothership is active).

Phase 2 — Cruiser Front

Effective HC = base × (1 + Command Strength ÷ 200) × (1 + armor research%). At 100% Command Strength your 60 HC fight as 90 effective (1.5×); at the 200% cap they fight as 120 (2×). The enemy's 40 lose the front either way. Winners push through and capture.

Phase 3 — Soldier Front & Occupation

2,000 soldiers vs 2,500 — you lose the ground front unless generals (you have 40, need 40 for 2,000) and allies close the gap. Win 2 of 3 fronts and the attack succeeds: planets and credits change hands.

Casualties

The winner loses ~15% of committed forces, the loser ~30%. Wins are cheap; losses are catastrophic. Never attack without a spy report.

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Reading a Spy Report

Your agents deliver the target's full status. Here's what each number tells a commander:

• Soldiers vs. yours — the ground front. You need roughly 1.25× their count (accounting for the 15%/30% casualty asymmetry) plus 1 general per 50.
• Heavy Cruisers — the cruiser front. Compare against your effective HC (base × command ship bonus), not your raw count.
• Defense Stations — how many fighters their walls will kill. Stations × 0.5 = expected fighter losses. Bring 2× their station count in fighters to dominate the front.
• Money (on hand) — raids and successful attacks steal from cash first. High cash = juicy target. Savings are partially raidable too, at half rate.
• Food — if low, a Bomb Food op starves them before their next turn. Follow up with a conventional attack while they're weak.
• Insurgency — high insurgency means their income is already crippled. Attack economies in freefall; they can't rebuild defenses.
• Protection turns — if any remain, you cannot touch them. Wait it out or pick another victim.

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Defense Handbook

Attacks are won by armies. Defense is won by arithmetic done in advance.

The Defense Stack

• Defense Stations — your anti-fighter wall. Each kills 0.5 enemy fighters per battle. 50 stations gut a 500-fighter alpha strike before it lands.
• Generals — required for YOUR conventional defense at 1 per 50 soldiers. No generals, no organized ground front.
• Heavy Cruisers — your counter-punch. Survive the fight and they bleed the attacker's HC front.
• Defense treaties — allies inject 10–50% of their troops into your defense. A single strong ally with a Total Defense treaty is worth 25% of their soldiers standing on your soil.
• Protection turns — 20 on creation, 10 more if eliminated. Never let it lapse with an empty treasury.

Garrison Sizing Rule

Check the scoreboard. Whoever is above you can reach you. Keep soldiers + HC within 60–70% of the empire one rank above, and keep 200+ fighters home to feed your Defense Stations targets. A defense that wins 1 of 3 fronts loses the war — aim for stalemate at worst.

When Attacked

• You'll get a system message with full losses. Compare against your spy records of the attacker.
• Defense treaty allies deploy automatically if the treaty was active when the attack landed.
• Retaliate the same turn if you can — attackers often send troops away from their own defenses.

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The Ten Deadly Mistakes

1. Ignoring the food clock. Starvation kills population faster than any enemy. Check the advisor every turn.
2. Selling soldiers back. You can't — every drafted citizen is a one-way trip. Draft 1–2%, never 10.
3. Buying Tourism during a feud. One Insurgent Aid op from an enemy and your 35,000-credit planet earns nothing.
4. Attacking without spies. The 15%/30% casualty math only works in your favor if you actually outnumber them.
5. Letting savings sit at zero. 3% compound interest is free score and a raid buffer. Keep 2–3 turns of income banked.
6. Ignoring the Command Ship. It's 50,000 credits for a permanent, stacking cruiser multiplier. Buy it the moment you field Heavy Cruisers.
7. Breaking treaties casually. The victim is notified and protected — and every empire watching marks you as a treaty-breaker with a 12-hour window of vulnerability.
8. Forgetting carriers. 100 fighters with no carrier = those fighters never leave the hangar. Buy the transport first.
9. Hoarding protection. 20 free turns of building is the strongest economic window in the game. Wasted protection is wasted empire.
10. Fighting the whole galaxy. One treaty network can bring 50% of their combined troops against you. Make friends before you make graves.

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Mid-Game Transitions

The build that wins your first 20 turns will lose you turns 50–100. Pivot deliberately.

Early → Mid (Turns 20–60)

• Swap pure income for mixed economy: keep 2 Tourism max, add Ore as your stable base.
• Start the Command Ship — its +5%/turn begins compounding only when built.
• Convert savings into Education + Urban: population is the snowball that funds everything later.
• Sign Free Trade with the biggest economies — tariffs scale with THEIR growth, an alliance that pays you to exist.

Mid → Late (Turns 60+)

• Military research and Heavy Cruiser mass decide late wars. Command Ship at 200% turns 100 HC into 200 effective.
• Replace Neutrality treaties with defense pacts — by now you have things worth stealing.
• Petroleum becomes a galaxy-wide market play: if total galactic supply is low, each planet prints money. Watch the price per turn.
• Covert ops shift from economy attacks to pre-attack softening: Dissension their soldiers, then hit them conventionally the same day the op lands.

Reading the Lobby

• The scoreboard is a target list. The empire above you is your next goal; the empire below you is your next meal.
• Watch treaty webs, not single empires. Attacking one member of a defense cluster attacks them all.
• New empires in protection are future allies — gift them a treaty now, collect a loyal partner later.

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Advanced Mechanics

The systems below run behind the scenes. Knowing them separates rulers from conquered footnotes.

Food & The Galactic Market

• Your empire eats population × 0.01 + army × 0.02 food per turn (fighters count as half a man, Heavy Cruisers as 20 men, Defense Stations as 5).
• Food planets produce 200 food each per turn, reduced by insurgency and pollution.
• The market starts at 5,000 supply / 15 credits. Price rises ~1 credit per 100 units bought and falls ~1 credit per 200 units sold. Floor: 5 credits.
• Strategy: buy food when supply is high (cheap), sell when the galaxy is starving. Food is a commodity — play the cycle.

Insurgency Levels (0–7)

Insurgency cripples your economy. Each level cuts income harder:

Level	Status	Tourism	Taxes	Education/Industry
0	Peaceful	100%	100%	100%
1	Mild Unrest	80%	90%	100%/100%
2	Occasional Riots	50%	50%	90%/90%
3	Violent Demonstrations	20%	30%	60%/80%
4	Political Conflict	10%	20%	30%/50%
5	Internal Violence	5%	10%	10%/30%
6	Revolutionary Warfare	2%	5%	5%/10%
7	Under Coup	0%	0%	0%

• Emigration also rises with insurgency (50 citizens per level, per turn).
• Psionic Bombs push the target up 2–3 levels instantly. Insurgent Aid pushes +1.
• Recovery is slow — passive decay drops 1 level after 3 quiet days. The Public Works Program (Operations Menu) buys an instant −1 level for 25,000 × current level credits. Prevention (anti-pollution, avoiding enemies) still beats cure.

Pollution

• Each Petroleum planet adds +2 pollution per turn; each Anti-Pollution planet removes 3.
• Above 20 pollution, emigration starts (+30/turn) and tourism drops 2% per pollution point (floor 30%).
• 1 Anti-Poll per 2 Petroleum is the classic ratio; go 1:1 if you're tourism-heavy.

Population Engine

• Births: 2% of population + 10 per Urban planet, per turn.
• Immigration: +15 per Education planet (scaled by insurgency).
• Emigration: 50 per insurgency level, +30 if pollution > 20.
• Deaths: 0.5% base, rising with overcrowding (capacity = 2,000 + 500 per Urban planet).
• Population can never go negative — but it can take years to recover a slaughtered workforce.

Elimination & Rebuilding

Lose ALL your planets and you are eliminated but not destroyed: you receive 10 turns of protection, 3 starter planets (Food, Ore, Urban), and 5,000 population to rebuild. Your attackers cannot touch you while you recover — use the breathing room to fortify before your protection expires.

Pirates — The Renewable Target

• Five factions roam the galaxy (Crimson Fleet → Dark Corsairs), growing stronger daily (+5 soldiers, +1 HC, +1,000 net worth, capped).
• Raids cost the greater of 1,000cr or 15% of your money — loot scales with what the faction has left, so drained pirates pay nothing.
• Recovered soldiers come from the pirate garrison. A healthy faction is a renewable resource of credits, men, and food.
• Spy on Pirates is free and unlimited — always check a faction's strength before committing troops.

The Mothership

• Research breakthrough reward (5% chance per Research planet per turn, shared pool).
• Active for 5 turns: your fighters conduct 5 bonus pre-battle strafing rounds at 15% kill rate against the defender's soldiers — a 500-fighter wing kills ~375 enemy troops before the battle even starts. Also waives carrier requirements while active.
• Waives carrier requirements while active. Stack it with a Command Ship for a devastating conventional window.

Daily Lottery

• Tickets cost 1,000 credits each; unlimited tickets multiply your odds.
• Jackpot starts at 50,000 and grows +5,000/day, capped at 250,000. Winner takes all, drawn at the daily reset.
• Odds are weighted by tickets held. One ticket is a lottery; a hundred is an investment.

Your Advisors

The advisor panel flags threats before they kill you: food shortages (with the exact deficit), unprotected status after protection expires, insurgency warnings, overcrowding, and market opportunities. When the advisor turns red, act — the galaxy won't wait.

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Credits

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