Economy, construction, and research¶
Use /planet, /resources, /facilities, /queue, and /tree before an order. The displayed cost and lock reason use the current server state.
Resources and ownership¶
Metal, crystal, and deuterium belong to one planet or moon. A balance on another world cannot pay a local bill. Use transport to move it. Energy is a local rate, not a stored resource. Research and dark matter belong to the account.
A new homeworld starts with 500 metal, 500 crystal, and no deuterium. Production continues while you are offline. Vacation stops production. A moon produces no resources. Fractions accrue internally, even when a display shows whole units.
The server settles elapsed production when it reads or changes a world. A countdown reaching zero on the client does not itself complete an order. The server scheduler settles queues and sends updates. Refresh after reconnecting.
Production formulas¶
E is the universe economy speed. L is the completed mine level. P is Plasma Technology. T is floor((minimum temperature + maximum temperature) / 2). Position bonuses are fractions, such as 0.35 for 35%.
| Mine | Output per hour before energy and crawlers |
|---|---|
| Metal | 30 × L × 1.1^L × E × (1 + P × 0.01) × (1 + metal position bonus) |
| Crystal | 20 × L × 1.1^L × E × (1 + P × 0.0066) × (1 + crystal position bonus) |
| Deuterium | 10 × L × 1.1^L × (1.36 − 0.004 × T) × E × (1 + P × 0.0033) |
Level zero produces no mine output. Each planet also receives 30 × E metal and 15 × E crystal per hour. This passive output needs no energy. Metal bonuses apply at positions 6–10. Crystal bonuses apply at positions 1–3. The position table gives every value.
Energy and crawlers¶
| Component | Energy |
|---|---|
| Solar Plant | floor(20 × L × 1.1^L) |
| Fusion Reactor | floor(30 × L × (1.05 + 0.01 × energy technology)^L) |
| Solar Satellite | max(0, floor((T + 160) / 6)) per unit |
| Metal or Crystal Mine | consumes ceil(10 × L × 1.1^L) |
| Deuterium Synthesizer | consumes ceil(20 × L × 1.1^L) |
| Active crawler | consumes 50 |
The production factor is min(1, energy produced / energy consumed). It is 1 when consumption is zero. Extra energy gives no extra mine output. Energy shortfalls scale all mines together.
Active crawlers equal min(owned crawlers, 8 × (metal level + crystal level + deuterium level)). Each active crawler adds 0.02% to mine output. Inactive crawlers consume no energy and give no bonus. The crawler multiplier is 1 + active crawlers × 0.0002.
Metal and crystal output equal passive output plus the mine output multiplied by the production factor and crawler multiplier. Deuterium uses those two multipliers, then subtracts fusion fuel.
Fusion consumes ceil(10 × E × L × 1.1^L) deuterium per hour. Net deuterium can be negative. The stored balance stops at zero. Current limitation: fusion energy does not shut down when fuel reaches zero. Do not use an external simulator that assumes automatic shutdown.
Production boost¶
A dark matter boost multiplies each final resource rate by 1.25 for 24 hours. The current implementation includes passive output and the net fusion deduction. Thus it also multiplies a negative deuterium rate. Energy output and storage capacity do not change. A settlement that spans the expiry uses the boosted rate only before expiry.
Storage and overflow¶
Each resource has its own storage building. The capacities are:
| Storage level | Capacity at E = 1 | Capacity at E = 5 |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 10,000 | 50,000 |
| 1 | 20,000 | 100,000 |
| 2 | 40,000 | 200,000 |
| 3 | 75,000 | 375,000 |
| 4 | 140,000 | 700,000 |
| 5 | 255,000 | 1,275,000 |
Production stops adding a resource at its cap. Fleet deliveries can exceed that cap. A later production refresh preserves the excess. Spend or transport it before production can add more. Quest rewards use separate capacity rules: see quests.
If one cost exceeds storage, waiting cannot solve the shortage. Upgrade the matching storage or deliver resources. Energy cannot be transported.
Costs, prerequisites, and fields¶
For a target level L, each resource costs floor(base × factor^(L−1)). Building and research factors differ by item. Units cost unit cost × count. The catalog lists every key, cost, factor, prerequisite, and allowed body.
All prerequisites must be complete. Queued prerequisites do not unlock a purchase. Purchases charge the selected world's resources immediately. Later production does not reserve money for an unpaid order.
Each ordinary building level uses one field. Ships, defenses, satellites, and crawlers use no fields. Terraformer adds five fields per level and consumes one, for a net gain of four. Lunar Base adds three and consumes one, for a net gain of two. Reserve room for the next expansion building.
Queue rules¶
| Queue | Scope | Maximum active rows | What runs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction | Each planet or moon | 5 | Building upgrades and demolitions in sequence |
| Shipyard | Each planet or moon | 5 | Ship and defense batches in sequence |
| Research | Account | 1 | One technology level |
The construction and shipyard lines run at the same time. A batch can contain 1–1,000,000 units of one type. Completed units arrive individually while the rest of the batch continues. Use /queue for stable queue IDs, times, and remaining counts.
Shipyard or Nanite Factory upgrades block new batches. Queued batches block those upgrades. Research blocks an upgrade of the laboratory that started it. A laboratory upgrade blocks research from that planet. A different eligible planet can start research if the account slot is free.
/cancel ID cancels your queue row. A building or research level refunds its paid resources. A batch refunds only unfinished units. Completed units remain yours. Later rows move forward in the same line. Completion and cancellation race on the server: a completed row cannot be refunded.
/rush ID spends dark matter on the first row of a construction, shipyard, or research line. It does not let a later row overtake its line. The scheduler still applies the completed row.
Tearing a level down¶
Use /demolish <building> or /teardown <building> to remove one completed building level and free its field.
Demolition costs the resources for that level and takes its current build time. It uses one of the five construction slots. The level and field change when the work finishes. Before completion, /cancel ID refunds the full cost. /rush ID can shorten the work.
The Terraformer, Lunar Base, satellites, and crawlers cannot be demolished. The same building cannot have another construction row. Shipyard, Nanite Factory, and laboratory locks also apply. A lower Missile Silo must still hold all existing and queued missiles.
Commander codex shows the price and time under demolish. The commit-tier tool demolish_building places the order.
Duration and rounding¶
M and C below are the full metal and crystal cost of the target level or one unit. Deuterium does not contribute to duration. Each result is floored to whole seconds, with a minimum of one second.
building = (M + C) × 3600 / (2500 × (1 + robotics) × 2^nanite × E × early)
unit = (M + C) × 3600 / (2500 × (1 + shipyard) × 2^nanite × E)
research = (M + C) × 3600 / (1000 × (1 + laboratory network) × E)
For building target levels 1–5, early = (7 − current level) / 2. The current level is the target minus one. The divisors are 3.5, 3, 2.5, 2, and 1.5. At target level 6 and above, the divisor is 1. Units and research receive no early divisor.
A batch duration is the rounded per-unit duration multiplied by its count. Research uses the highest completed laboratory level across your planets. With the Intergalactic Research Network it adds the levels of further laboratories. Queue duration is calculated when you place the order.
Example: Metal Mine 1 costs 60 metal and 15 crystal. At E = 1 with Robotics 0 and Nanite 0, it takes floor(75 × 3600 / (2500 × 3.5)) = 30 seconds. At E = 5 it takes 6 seconds. These are formula examples, not a promise about a live universe's speed.
Research effects¶
| Technology | Effect |
|---|---|
| Energy | Fusion output and prerequisites |
| Laser, Ion | Prerequisites for later equipment |
| Hyperspace | Prerequisites, including the Jump Gate. No cargo multiplier |
| Combustion, Impulse, Hyperspace Drive | Ship speed for the hull's assigned drive |
| Espionage | Intelligence detail and counterespionage |
| Computer | 1 + level fleet slots |
| Astrophysics | Colony count and allowed positions |
| Plasma | Metal +1%, crystal +0.66%, deuterium +0.33% per level |
| Weapons, Shielding, Armour | Corresponding battle stat +10% per level |
| Graviton | Deathstar prerequisite |
| Intergalactic Research Network | One more laboratory joins research per level |
Graviton needs Research Lab 12 and 300,000 spare energy on the paying planet when queued. It consumes no metal, crystal, or deuterium. Its duration reaches the one-second minimum. The energy is a gate, not a stored payment. The current gate remains 300,000 at later levels.
Intergalactic Research Network¶
The Intergalactic Research Network (research_network) needs Research Lab 10, Computer Technology 8, and Hyperspace Technology 8. Level 1 costs 240,000 metal, 400,000 crystal, and 160,000 deuterium. Each level doubles that price.
Your best laboratory always counts. A further laboratory joins only if its level meets the research's own laboratory requirement. A Lab 6 joins Energy Technology but not Hyperspace Technology, which needs Lab 7. Planets without a laboratory add nothing.
Example: Labs 12, 11, and 10 with network level 2 time most research at level 33. That is 34 / 13, about 2.6 times faster than Lab 12 alone. The research screen header shows the network level and laboratory count. Every research time it shows already includes the network. Commander codex reports the level it used as timed_at_lab_level.
Early rescue and queued levels¶
A narrow rescue rule can discount the first Solar Plant's metal cost. It applies only when energy production is zero, consumption is positive, and you lack the normal metal cost. You must still have the required crystal and deuterium. The metal charge becomes your available whole metal balance, or zero if empty. The building list still shows the normal price and affordability. The purchase path applies this discount. Later solar levels use normal costs.
Queued building levels reserve fields immediately. Multiple upgrades of one building use the highest pending target level to price the next one. Queued expansion does not create usable fields before completion. Commander upgrade_building(count=N) queues separate purchases. If a later purchase fails, earlier successful rows remain and the response identifies how many succeeded.