Paused
Ticks are stopped and the game is locked — nothing else can be clicked or triggered while this is up.

## Galaxy Map

Scroll to zoom · Double-click to drill in · Backspace to go back
Click a system to inspect it.

## Resources (0)

## Tech Tree

## Utility Build Queue

Power Plants, Research Labs, Academies, and Engineering Labs each share one build slot across your whole empire — only the first entry in each list is actually under construction; none of the four block each other.

## Advisors

Hire and promote with resources from your Academies (Influence, mixed with minerals and Research) — a real tradeoff against tech-tree spending, not a free bonus.

## Advisor

## Advice

Concrete next actions for this advisor's domain, based on your current empire — recomputed fresh each time you open this.

## Engineering

Devices are a separate track from the Tech Tree, funded by minerals and Influence. Every Engineering Lab you build adds its own full invention speed, and every 5th Lab opens one more parallel invention slot.

## Fleet

## Intel (satellites)

## Event Log

## Settings

Show How to Play at launch Simple Mode — Advisor Fields of Expertise never block anything

Fields still exist and can still be trained at an Academy — they just won't lock techs, buildings, ships, diplomacy, or Devices behind a minimum level.

Mute sound
Volume: 60%
Play background music (loops)
Track:
Music volume: 30%

## Legend & Galaxy Seed

Unscouted Home Ship docked (badge) Alien: unmet/allied/war/conquered Pink outline = selected
Seed:

## How to Play

Build up your colony, explore the galaxy, and find the long-forgotten Kestrel System — deal with whoever holds it, and colonize its lost planet Solarus, to win.

- is your home colony. Other systems show a colored icon by star type once scouted, or if not. A badge means a ship is docked there; an alien badge () shows contact status. The selected system gets a pink outline.
- Click a system on the map to select it — the panel below shows its star type and, once scouted, its planets and how many moons each has. The map is scrollable both ways; use Home / Previous Colony / Next Colony above it to jump straight to and center on any of your colonies. Ships in transit visibly move across the map toward their destination.
- Click a planet in that list to see it enlarged, its native resource, and its moons. Click a moon to inspect it the same way. Use the "← Back" links to return.
- Create Colony: on any uncolonized planet or moon, found a colony for a small resource cost. Once colonized, you can build its native mine (matching that body's resource), a Power Plant, and a Research Lab (both buildable anywhere) — each costs minerals and takes real time to finish, then produces automatically every tick. Research points come only from a built Research Lab, so build one to unlock the Tech Tree.
- Shared build slots: Power Plants share one build slot across your entire empire, and Research Labs share a separate one — queuing a second Power Plant anywhere while one's already under construction just puts it in line (see the Utility Build Queue panel); a Research Lab can still build at the same time, since it has its own independent slot. Native mines aren't affected — every colony builds its own mine independently.
- Resource-mine gate: you can't build a Power Plant, Research Lab, or any ship until at least one native mine exists somewhere in your empire — this stops you from spending your starting stockpile on a non-income building and getting stuck with no way to earn more. Every native mine (whatever resource it's for) also trickles +1 Ferrite/tick and +1 Crystallite/tick as byproducts, but each pauses once that resource passes 200 — it's a safety net, not free income.
- Power trickles in slowly at all times (even with zero Power Plants) — it's meant to be scarce, since researching techs now costs Power too.
- Demolish: any built building can be demolished from its colony's panel for a 50% resource refund, if you want to reclaim resources or free up a mistaken build.
- Resources panel (right): your shared stockpile — Ferrite, Crystallite, Silicon, Titanium, Hydrogen, Isotopes, Biomass, Power, Research, Influence, and four exotic resources — pooled across every colony you found, shown two-per-row as a glyph, a short code, and a rounded value. Click any one to expand it into a detail panel (exact quantity, its source building, and a short description) — click again, click elsewhere, or wait 10 seconds to close it.
- Tech Tree panel: researching a tech costs both Research and Power up front, then takes real time to complete (like a building) — only one tech researches at a time, globally. Some need a prerequisite tech first. Grants include faster fleet travel, faster mining/collection, and unlocks for battleships and weapons.
- Aliens: a few systems are alien-held — first contact (any ship arriving there) triggers a Meeting, and a "Meet" button on any contacted system's panel opens one again any time afterward. Options grow with your relation: gifts, selling surplus resources, pooling Research, buying/selling/exchanging star charts, a Non-Aggression Pact, full Alliance, and (once allied) Military Aid. From the system panel you can also Propose Alliance or Declare War directly.
- War is not free: an alien you're at war with will occasionally raid one of your colonies — destroying a building or stealing resources — the longer you leave it unresolved. Press the attack or sue for peace; don't just sit on a war.
- Fleet panel: build Scouts, Battleships (needs Battleship Hulls), Satellite Carriers (needs Orbital Satellites), and Cargo Ships.
- Selecting vs entering: click an unselected system/planet/moon (on the map, or a row in the info panel) to highlight it; click it again to actually enter. Right-click (or long-press on phone) opens a context menu — Enter, or Send Scout / Send Cargo / Send Sat. Carrier / Send Battleship to dispatch the first idle ship of that type there directly. While a ship is docked in a system, use its own Reposition dropdown (in the Fleet panel) to move it to a specific planet/moon there instantly (no travel time).
- Satellites: a Satellite Carrier can Load Satellite while positioned on one of your colonies, then Deploy it at any planet/moon it's currently orbiting (empty or alien-held). Deployed satellites report live in the Intel panel. Deploying one over a still-neutral alien system carries a real risk — if they notice, contact turns to war outright.
- Cargo Ships: load a resource, fly to an allied alien system, and Trade Here to exchange the cargo for Ferrite/Crystallite.
- Battleships: send them anywhere — they just dock on arrival, no automatic combat. At a system you're at war with, once you have battleships docked there, click Attack (in that system's panel) to fight — every docked battleship joins the fleet and their attack combines. Combat runs several rounds with real variance: you might lose ships even on a winning fight, and a losing fight still damages the target permanently (attack again later, or bring more ships, to finish them off).
- Ticks pass automatically at an adjustable speed (0.05×–20×, header controls). Still (⏸) is a soft pause — ticks stop but everything else stays usable; Hard Pause stops ticks and blocks all interaction until pressed again. Unscheduled events and Diplomatic Meetings always pause the game and wait for the galaxy view with nothing else open before popping up, so none can interrupt you mid-orbit-scene or stack behind another window.
- New Galaxy: type any number as a seed and click it to start over with a fresh (but reproducible — same seed always gives the same galaxy) layout.
- Save / Load Game: 10 named slots, kept in this browser. Saving into an occupied slot asks before overwriting; loading asks before discarding your current progress. Each slot can be exported to a file or deleted from the picker; Import loads a file back in and lets you pick which slot to place it in.
- Settings panel: toggle whether How to Play opens automatically, control sound/music volume, and switch on Simple Mode if you'd rather Advisor Fields of Expertise never block anything (they still exist and can still be trained, just without the gating).
- Hover a system on the map to see its name — only if you've already discovered it (unscouted systems just show "Unknown system"). Search next to the nav buttons jumps straight to any known system by name.
- Winning: one alien-held system in every galaxy is the Kestrel System, holding a planet called Solarus. Ally with or conquer its holder, then Create Colony on Solarus, to win.
- Advisors each carry four Fields of Expertise (0–10) on top of their Novice/Expert/Master rank — raised by sending them to study at an Academy building, one advisor at a time, empire-wide. More Academies speed up every course, and every 5th one lets a single course teach multiple fields at once. Some techs, buildings, ships, and Devices need a specific field at a minimum level before they're available at all — if something shows "Needs expertise," an advisor needs a course first, not just more resources.
- Engineering Lab: unlike other utility buildings, one produces nothing by itself — but every extra Lab speeds up Device invention, and every 5th one opens a parallel invention slot.

Everything that happens gets logged in the Event Log panel.

Advisors, Engineering/Devices, and hidden systems/resources aren't covered above — see the full Colonial Compendium for those, or the Commander's Walkthrough for a step-by-step guided campaign with explanations of what to do and why.

Show this at launch

## Choose a slot

Occupied slots show an export or delete button. Use Import (behind this dialog) to load a save from a file into any slot.

## Diplomatic Meeting

## Event

## ★ Solarus Colonized