Tutorial · version 2.1.0 · solo edition
This tutorial walks through a first game. The full rules, with every table, are in the manual (docs/manual.pdf).
Open the game and choose on the opening sheet: GALAXY size, RIVALS (one to three computer houses), SKY shape, SKILL, TURNS and FORTUNES. Press BEGIN. You start at your home world (the green ring) with two scouts, a transport and three warships.
The left column tells you things: your empire, the selected star, research, the advisor and dispatches. The right column is where you act. Click or tap a star to select it. Drag empty space to pan; use the wheel or ZOOM + / ZOOM − to zoom; FIT shows the whole cluster. Keys: ENTER ends the turn when no button is focused, O opens Strategic Command, K opens the Fleet Registry, I shows sensor coverage, W next world, F next idle ship, M set course, U undo, L worlds, B battles, G charts, D diplomacy, ? help.
Each laboratory costs 18 + 12 times the number already built and increases that world’s research output by 30%, to a maximum of five levels. Research laboratories boost RP without diverting any additional production points from industry and shipbuilding. A science-oriented house should build labs on high-output worlds first.
Worlds normally scan four hexes. Each sensor array costs 18 + 12 times the previous array level and extends scanning by two hexes; up to three arrays fit on a world. Scanners reveal new worlds and passing enemy fleets, but nearby nebulae still hide fleets beyond one hex. Press I to shade the hexes covered by your own scanners.
Press O or COMMAND for the strategic overview: worlds, people, stock, production, laboratories, scanner arrays, fleets and known rival contacts. It shows explored-star percentages without exposing unseen enemies. Press K or FLEETS to open your fleet registry, including routes and arrival estimates; select a fleet to return to its map location. On narrow screens, COMMAND, FLEETS and WORLDS are available below the map.
Set a colony’s standing order to SCIENCE to build research labs (up to three), a sensor array and industry over future turns as stock permits. Other standing orders still emphasize expansion, defense and shipbuilding. The scientist computer houses also build labs, and every computer house may invest in frontier scanners.
Give all your orders, then press END TURN. Every house's orders then resolve together: ships move, battles are fought, transports land, blockades are laid, worlds grow and produce, research is counted. Nothing happens until you end the turn, so take as long as you like.
Select a world with ships, choose how many of each with − and +, press SET COURSE and click a star. Or drag from your world to the star, or right-click it. The course is drawn hex by hex with a mark where the ships will stand at the end of each turn. Ships may only go to stars within RANGE of one of your worlds; scouts reach half as far again. Violet nebula hexes cost two moves.
When warships or bases of houses at war share a star, they fire round by round; a hit depends on attack against defence. Enemy warships in orbit blockade a world. Transports invade an enemy world once its bases and warships are gone: ten troops each against half its people. Your score counts people, industry, bases, research and warships.
You win by conquest (every rival gone), by hegemony (60% of all people and three times the next house), or with the best score when the turn limit is reached.
You lose when your last world falls and no transport of yours survives, or when a rival reaches hegemony or the best score at the turn limit.
The game saves itself in this browser after every action and every turn; RESUME on the opening sheet continues it. EXPORT SAVE writes the game to a file you can IMPORT SAVE later or on another computer. NEW GAME (N) starts again; it warns you which turn you would leave behind.