A black hole with its accretion disk, rendered in the game

The galaxy

Worlds to claim

Every star system is a whole solar system, and no two skies are alike. From temperate homeworlds to molten hells, from red dwarfs to pulsars, from gas giants to black holes: these are the places you'll settle, mine, defend and take. Every image here is rendered in the game.

In-engine render

One continuous camera

Galaxy, system, gravity well

Zoom smoothly from a map of the galaxy to a single ship's turrets. No loading screens, no mode switches: orders work at every scale.

Galaxy

Star systems and interstellar bodies (black holes, rogue planets, nebulae, derelicts) joined by hyperlanes. Fleets cross from jump point to jump point.

System

A star at the centre with planets on slow, real orbits; the inner ones move faster. Ships phase-jump from well to well: right-click a world to go there.

Gravity well

One body and the space around it: where fleets fly at sublight, stations are built and every battle is fought.

Planets & bodies

Thirteen kinds of ground

Each world type has its own surface, resources and future. A faction thrives on some and merely survives on others, so the map you are dealt shapes the war you fight.

Terran world, rendered in the game
Colonisable

Terran

Oceans, continents and air you can breathe.

The richest homes for a growing population: the kind of world empires are built on, and fight over.

Oceanic world, rendered in the game
Colonisable

Oceanic

A global ocean broken by island chains.

Heavy storm systems wheel across a planet-wide sea. Settlements cling to the islands and the shallows.

Arid world, rendered in the game
Colonisable

Arid

Steppe and badlands around shrunken seas.

Salt flats and dry coasts mark where the water used to be. Hard living, but living.

Desert world, rendered in the game
Colonisable

Desert

Sand seas, plateaus and canyons.

No open water anywhere: every drop is imported, recycled or dug out of the rock.

Tundra world, rendered in the game
Colonisable

Tundra

Cold plains and taiga under great ice caps.

Short summers, long nights and enough ground to build on for those who can stand the cold.

Frozen world, rendered in the game
Colonisable

Frozen

Glaciers and fractured ice plains.

An ice-sheathed world where colonies burrow beneath the sheet for warmth and water.

Volcanic world, rendered in the game
Colonisable

Volcanic

Basalt crust and rivers of lava.

Barely habitable and gloriously rich in Metals. Some worlds are worth taking for what lies under them.

Toxic world, rendered in the game
Colonisable

Toxic

Hidden under a corrosive cloud deck.

Nobody sees the ground from orbit. Domes and sealed cities make it a home anyway.

Irradiated world, rendered in the game
Colonisable

Irradiated

Scorched by radiation, faintly glowing.

Blasted by its star, the surface gives off an eerie light. Only the stubborn settle here.

Barren world, rendered in the game
Colonisable

Barren

Airless, cratered rock.

Silent and cold, but solid ground in the right place is a strategic prize.

Dead planet world, rendered in the game
Colonisable

Dead planet

Dry ocean basins and the ruins of old cities.

Once alive. Ash-grey land and empty cities keep the secret of whatever ended it.

Asteroid world, rendered in the game
Colonisable

Asteroid

Irregular rock riddled with mining sites.

Large asteroids can be settled; asteroid fields feed harvesters with Metals and Crystals.

Gas giant world, rendered in the game
Gas

Gas giant

Banded storms deep enough to swallow worlds.

Not conventionally colonisable, but its moons and its Gas make it a key position in any system.

Stars

Twelve suns, twelve moods

The star at the heart of a system sets its light and its character, from furious blue giants to dim brown dwarfs. Each class is rendered from its real colour temperature.

O-type blue star, rendered in the game O-type blue starRare, massive and furiously hot.32,000–45,000 K B-type blue-white, rendered in the game B-type blue-whiteHot, bright and short-lived.11,000–30,000 K A-type white, rendered in the game A-type whiteWhite, fast-spinning, few spots.7,600–10,000 K F-type yellow-white, rendered in the game F-type yellow-whiteA little hotter and larger than the Sun.6,100–7,400 K G-type yellow, rendered in the game G-type yellowA Sun-like main-sequence star.5,300–6,000 K K-type orange, rendered in the game K-type orangeA cooler, long-lived orange dwarf.3,900–5,200 K M-type red dwarf, rendered in the game M-type red dwarfSmall, dim and prone to flares.2,400–3,800 K Red giant, rendered in the game Red giantA swollen dying star with vast convection cells.3,000–4,500 K Blue supergiant, rendered in the game Blue supergiantEnormous, brilliant and unstable.18,000–30,000 K White dwarf, rendered in the game White dwarfA dense stellar remnant, small and blinding.8,000–30,000 K Neutron star, rendered in the game Neutron starA collapsed core sweeping beams of radiation.Pulsar Brown dwarf, rendered in the game Brown dwarfA failed star: dim, banded, faintly glowing.1,300–2,400 K
A black hole's accretion disk, rendered in the game

Beyond the planets

Black holes and stranger places

A black hole is a place in its own right on the map: an event horizon wrapped in a blazing accretion disk, its gravity bending the light of the stars behind it.

Between and within the systems lie asteroid belts full of Metals and Crystals and ambush cover, nebulae that hide fleets and blind sensors, comets on long orbits, and the derelicts of older wars.

  • Asteroid belts: mining bases and ambush terrain
  • Nebulae: Gas, concealment and sensor interference
  • Comets, rogue planets and derelicts

What the worlds give

Four resources. No busywork.

A deliberately lean economy: everything you build comes down to three materials and money.

Metals

Hulls, stations, armour, infrastructure and repairs. Cut from asteroids by harvester lasers; volcanic worlds are rich in it.

Crystals

Advanced systems: high-tech weapons, shields, sensors, research and capital ships. Also mined from asteroid fields.

Gas

Reactors, engines, energy weapons and strike craft. Harvested from gas giants, which never run dry, and from clouds, which do.

Credits

The empire's money, earned from population, taxes and trade between your stations, as long as the freighters get through.

Pick your first world

Register interest to hear when you can.

Register interest