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<div class="vv-language-bar">'''English''' · [[Advanced Guide/de|Deutsch]]</div>
= Advanced Guide =
This guide is for players who know the basics and want to play the numbers. Each section explains how a mechanic actually works, with the default values of the game's settings (a server can change some of them), and then lists the tactics that follow from it. For the full reference of each system, follow the links to the topic pages.

== Fleet saving: protecting ships and resources while offline ==
=== What an attack can reach ===
A battle only ever happens at a planet. The defending side is made up of the ships parked at that colony, the fleets that allies have stationed there and the colony's stationary defenses. '''A fleet in flight, outbound or returning, is never part of any battle''', and a spy report lists only the ships at the scanned planet. Everything you carry in a fleet's cargo is equally out of reach while it flies.

The moment a fleet ends its flight at one of your own colonies (a Station mission, or a return home), its ships join that colony's stock and can be attacked there. Fleets you station at an '''ally's''' colony are not hidden either: they join the defense whenever that colony is attacked.

Other things that can cost ships in flight are your own choices: [[Excursions|excursion]] risk (see below) and [[Wormholes|wormhole]] losses. At 0% risk an excursion never loses ships.

=== What a raid can take ===
Only a '''won''' attack takes loot; a draw after five rounds takes nothing. For each resource the attacker can take the smaller of:
* the raid's '''loot share''' of the current stock: '''50%''' for the first three raids by the same attacker in a 24-hour window, then 5 points less per raid (45% for the 4th, 5% for the 12th, nothing from the 13th on). The window starts with the attacker's first successful raid on you and ends 24 hours later. Between alliances at war, the war's share of 50% to 100% applies to every raid, without the reduction;
* the stock above the [[Resource Bunker]] reserve. The reserve is 4% plus 2% per Bunker level (50% at most, reached at level 23) of '''that resource's storage capacity'''. While the planet runs an energy deficit, the Bunker protects nothing.
The attacker's cargo capacity caps the total, filled evenly across the resources, starting with SEM.

Ships destroyed in the battle leave '''40%''' of their resource cost as debris at your planet, destroyed defenses '''60%'''. Combat debris is never reserved: anyone with extractor ships can take it, so a lost fleet can also pay your attacker a second time. See [[Debris Fields]].

=== Protection rules ===
Attack rules are checked at launch and again on arrival (see [[Player Combat]]):
* '''Vacation mode''' blocks every attack, bots included. Because the check repeats on arrival, an attack already on its way turns back if you enter vacation mode before it lands. The price: production on all your planets pauses, and after you reactivate your account you cannot use vacation mode again for 7 days.
* '''Weak-target protection''' blocks attacks in both directions between players when one has less than '''10%''' of the other's points. It does not apply to players inactive for more than 14 days, and alliance wars lift it.
* '''Miner mode''' blocks all player combat; non-aggression and alliance pacts block attacks between the two alliances.
* [[Bots]] raid only players with 75% to 150% of their own points, only when a recent scan promises a clear profit, and at most twice in 24 hours.

=== Timing tools ===
* '''Engine speed''' (5% to 100%) scales flight time and fuel in opposite directions: at 50% a flight takes twice as long and burns half the fuel, at 5% it takes 20 times as long and burns 1/20.
* '''Recall''' works while a fleet is outbound. It returns home in the '''time it has flown so far''': recalled after three hours, it needs three hours back. A returning fleet cannot be recalled again. A fleet recalled while stationed flies the full distance home. Recalled on its way through a [[Void Realm|Rift]], a fleet turns back to the planet it started from.
* A flying fleet keeps its '''fleet slot''' until it is home. You have 3 slots, plus 1 for every 3 [[Command Center]] levels across your colonies (some government options add more).
* An enemy [[Surveillance|Argus probe]] watches a planet for 6 hours without notifying you and lists every fleet landing there or returning from it. Assume your return times can be seen.

=== Recipes ===
* '''One-way save with cargo.''' Load the resources you want to protect and send the fleet on a Station mission to one of your own colonies, choosing target and engine speed so that it arrives about when you are back. Ships and cargo are untouchable the whole way. If you come back early, recall it: it returns in the time flown.
* '''Round trip.''' A Transport or Collect mission to your own colony with a one-way time of half your absence brings the fleet home about when you return. Collect also picks up that colony's stock and carries it home; Transport unloads its cargo at the target colony, which is then exposed there.
* '''Productive save.''' An excursion at '''0% risk''' keeps the ships away and pays rewards; longer outbound flights raise both the reward and the success chance (see [[#Excursions and Void Experience|Excursions]]). An excursion cannot carry resources out, so combine it with spending or a separate cargo save.
* '''Spend instead of storing.''' Construction and research are paid when you queue them, and paid resources cannot be looted. Cancelling the item in progress returns 75% by default; a waiting item in the queue is refunded in full.

'''Tips'''
* Send transports and extractors away too: unarmed ships with cargo or extractor modules take 25% more damage in battle and add to the debris.
* Plan arrivals for when you are online. The dangerous minutes are after a fleet lands, not while it flies.
* Keep the home colony's energy positive overnight, or the Bunker reserve is gone.
* Shape the '''Storage allocation''' on the Production page with the Bunker in mind: the reserve is a share of each resource's storage capacity, so a larger share for a resource also protects more of it.
* Do not route a fleet save through a wormhole: losses and collapses apply to ships and cargo.

== Crafting relics (Archeotech) ==
=== Unlock and materials ===
Archeotech is a [[Biolab]] research. Level 1 costs 1,000 [[Void Experience|VXP]], 100 [[Xenogen]] and 160 [[Artifacts]]; each further level costs 1.8 times the previous one. It unlocks forging and fusion, and your collection holds 20 relics plus 5 per Archeotech level, installed ones included.

Xenogen and Artifacts come from:
* '''Excursions''': each success has a separate 40% roll for Xenogen and for Artifacts, scaled like all excursion rewards.
* '''[[Void Boss Combat|Void bosses]]''': paid in proportion to the shield and hull damage you deal, with your damage capped at 20% of a boss's hull per 24 hours.
* '''[[Planet Events]]''': ''Excavate'' at an Ancient dig site pays Artifacts, ''Attune to the echo'' at a Void echo trades VXP for Xenogen, and ''Calm the crust'' at a Seismic surge pays Artifacts. Event currency rewards grow with the strength of the world's top players.

=== Forging ===
{| class="wikitable"
! Tier !! Xenogen !! Artifacts !! Quality
|-
| Common || 50 || 10 || 0% to 3%
|-
| Uncommon || 2,500 || 500 || 3% to 10%
|-
| Rare || 125,000 || 25,000 || 10% to 25%
|}
Each tier costs 50 times the one below. Every forged relic has a 0.1% chance to come out one tier higher; Common and Uncommon forging also has a 0.01% chance to skip a tier. Quality is rolled anywhere in the tier's range.

=== Fusion ===
Fuse two uninstalled relics of the same tier: both are consumed, and the result has a '''2%''' chance to rise one tier (Common and Uncommon pairs also 0.2% to rise two). Fusion costs nothing extra, and the new quality is rolled from the '''better input's quality''' up to the top of the result's tier, so fusion never makes your best relic worse. Higher tiers: Epic 25% to 50%, Mythic 50% to 75%, Legendary 75% to 100%. '''Auto-combine''' pairs all uninstalled relics of one tier once.

=== Installing ===
A relic goes on a colonized planet that is '''not your home planet''', one relic per planet. Its quality is added as percentage points to that colony's '''bonus resource''', alongside the planet's own bonus and the [[Planet Resource Lab]]. It boosts that resource from every building on the colony except the [[Thermal Borehole]]. Swapping returns the old relic to your collection.

=== Finding relics ===
* Your first 3 successful excursions in any 24 hours each have a 10% chance of a relic (up to 20% with excursion risk); 1% of these finds are Uncommon, the rest Common.
* Any successful excursion of a strong fleet can also find a Rare relic: about 0.01% at 500,000 fleet power and 0.1% at 1,000,000 (for a one-hour flight to a coordinate rested for a day), never above 1%. From about 2,000,000 fleet power the find is Epic.
* ''Excavate'' at an Ancient dig site: a 35% chance of a relic, 15% of them Uncommon.
A find needs Archeotech and a free collection slot, or it is lost.

'''Tips'''
* The math of the ladder: a chain of Common fusions promotes with 2.2% per fusion and uses about 46 Commons on average for one Uncommon, slightly less than the 50 Commons an Uncommon costs to forge; about one promotion in eleven skips straight to Rare. A chain also needs only two slots.
* Fuse same-tier spares even when they rarely promote: every fusion keeps at least the better quality and frees a slot.
* You only need as many relics as you have colonies. Put the best one where the colony produces the most of its bonus resource, since the bonus is a percentage of that output.
* Always keep one or two collection slots free for excursion and event finds.
* Above Rare there is no forging: Epic and higher come from fusion (2% per Rare pair) and lucky finds.

== Raiding economics ==
* '''Three full raids per target per day.''' The loot share drops after the third raid in a 24-hour window, so spread raids over several targets.
* '''Fuel''' grows with the mass of every ship, the distance and the engine speed. Cargo ships that come home empty are pure cost; size the cargo to the target's loot (half of the stock above its Bunker reserve).
* '''Slow flights warn the defender.''' The attack shows up in their movements the whole time; a counterscan reveals you and removes your surprise strike (+20% reaction speed in round 1, +10% in round 2).
* '''Debris is the second payout.''' Send an extractor fleet after a won battle: an Extract mission needs an extractor module on every ship, and combat debris is open to everyone.
* '''Read the target first.''' Spy reports show the stock, the planet's fleet and defense points and the target's last activity. A player inactive for more than 14 days is attackable whatever the points.

'''Tips'''
* At war, the loot share set by the declaring alliance (50% to 100%) applies to every raid, so wars reward repeated raids on the same members.
* A draw takes nothing. Bring enough firepower to finish within five rounds.

== Combat: what the numbers reward ==
The full rules are in [[Player Combat]]. The numbers that drive design decisions:
* '''Firing order''' follows reaction speed. Destroyed ships are removed before the next stack fires, so speed is damage avoided.
* '''Targeting''': each volley is split 80% by the enemy stacks' share of total mass and 20% by their share of ship count. An Aegis counts three times.
* '''Shields''': energy damage hits shields first. A shield bypass share of both weapon types goes straight to the hull: 10% base, plus or minus 1 point per level of difference in [[Vulnerability Protocols]], between 5% and 40%. Physical damage that does not bypass is reduced to 80% before it meets the shields.
* '''Regeneration''': shields recharge 12% to 25% of their maximum between rounds; a defending planet's Shield Emitter adds 1 point per level, up to 25. Hull never regenerates in battle.
* '''Size matchups''' between different skeletons: damage is doubled against targets with at least 5 times your ship's mass, and 1.5 times against targets with 40% to 60% of it.
* '''Civil ships''' (unarmed, with cargo or extractor modules) take 25% more damage.
* '''Critical survival''': would-be losses are split into at most 25 groups, each with a 5% chance to survive.

'''Tips'''
* Use the '''Fleet Simulator''' on a spy report before a big attack. It starts from the middle of each count range; you get one simulation per day for every 3 levels of [[Photonic Computing]].
* Mass decides 80% of where enemy fire goes, so heavy warships draw most of it away from light cargo ships flying with them.
* Against strong shields, a Disruptor (+10 points of bypass) and Vulnerability Protocols levels raise the share of every hit that goes straight to the hull.
* As a defender, a counterscan is worth its 10 G.E.L.D. even without the information: it removes the attacker's surprise strike.

== Intelligence and counter-intelligence ==
* '''Slots''': each [[Espionage]] level gives one slot. A spy probe or counterscan uses one, an Argus probe two.
* '''Spy probes''' cost 10 G.E.L.D. and keep their slot for 5 minutes after arrival. The reveal chance is 50% plus 5 points per Espionage level you have over the target, between 25% and 100% (the Omniscience government option raises the base to 95%). Every scan delivers a report; the chance decides how many building and research levels it shows. Ship and drone counts appear only as ranges: 1 to 10, 11 to 50, 51 to 200, 201 to 1,000 and 1,000+. The target is told who scanned which planet.
* '''Argus probes''' cost 200 G.E.L.D., 50% more for every recent launch; the counter drops by one 24 hours after your last launch and every 24 hours after that. A probe watches for 6 hours, then recharges for 3, and the target is not notified.
* '''Counterscans''' cost 10 G.E.L.D. and one slot, use the same chance with your Espionage against the attacker's, and on success reveal the attacker and the exact ships.

'''Tips'''
* Keep one slot and 10 G.E.L.D. free at all times for a counterscan.
* Espionage works both ways: every level you have above an attacker raises your counterscan chance and lowers theirs against you.
* Read the '''last activity''' line of spy reports to find inactive players.
* Spread Argus launches out: one a day always costs 200, while four in a row cost 200, 300, 450 and 675.
* Watch a target with an Argus probe before attacking: you see when its fleet returns home.

== Production and energy ==
* '''Mine milestones''': Aslit, Crlit and Iopla mines and the SEM Factory produce '''3% more for every full 10 levels''' (+3% at level 10, +6% at 20).
* '''Energy deficit''': with a deficit, all resource and G.E.L.D. output falls by the deficit's share of your generation: producing 1,000 energy and needing 1,200 costs 20% of all output. It also switches off the Bunker.
* '''Power settings''' (0% to 100% per building) scale both a building's output and its energy use.
* '''[[Planet Resource Lab]]''': +2 points per level to the colony's bonus resource, scaled by the lab's own power setting, applied to every building except the Thermal Borehole. Relics add to the same bonus.
* '''[[Energy Grid (Economy)|Energy Grid]]''': +4% Solar Farm output per level, counting the levels of '''all your Energy Grids in the same solar system'''.
* '''[[Fusion Reactor]]''': burns SEM, and its fuel burn ignores production bonuses. It never burns the last 500 SEM; below that its output falls with the fuel it can pay for.
* '''Storage''': 200,000 in total, doubled per [[Resource Storage]] level, split between the four resources by your storage allocation (SEM gets whatever the others leave).

'''Tips'''
* In a deficit, throttle your least valuable mine instead of letting every mine lose the same share.
* When comparing upgrades, count the milestones: the 10th, 20th, 30th level of a mine adds +3% of its whole output on top of the normal step.
* Several colonies in one solar system share their Energy Grid levels; that makes the expensive Grid worth it for a cluster.
* Keep SEM above 500 on planets that rely on fusion power, or production will drop with the energy.
* The Planet Resource Lab uses energy like a mine. Where little of the bonus resource is produced, lowering its power setting frees energy for the mines.

== Excursions and Void Experience ==
* '''Success chance''': 15% base, multiplied by fleet power ((power/1,000) to the power 0.25, at most 2 from 16,000 fleet power), by the outbound flight time (1.0 at one hour, about 1.26 at 10 hours, at most 1.5) and by how long the coordinate has rested since the last excursion by any player (1.0 for a day or a coordinate never visited, about 1.48 for a week, at most 2 after 32 days). A failure leaves a quarter of the built-up rest; a success resets it.
* '''Rewards''' scale with fleet power, up to 25 times at a fleet power of 10% of the world's top players' average points, and with the outbound flight: +25% per hour, at most +50% from two hours.
* '''Risk''' (0% to 50%) multiplies success up to 2.5, rewards up to 5 and the relic chance up to 2, against a chance of up to 50% to lose up to half the fleet and its cargo.
* '''Quota''': the first 3 successes in any 24 hours pay in full, later ones 2% to 6%. A failure still gives 1% to 3% of the VXP a success would have paid.
* VXP is credited when the fleet arrives; Xenogen, Artifacts and resources travel home in the cargo (Xenogen first, then Artifacts, then resources) and are lost if they do not fit.

'''Tips'''
* Two-hour outbound flights max out the reward bonus; longer flights still raise the success chance a little and make excellent fleet saves.
* Use remote, rarely visited coordinates: other players drain the rest of busy ones.
* Use risk on the first three successes of the day, when rewards are full; after the quota it multiplies a payout cut to 2% to 6%, while the loss chance stays the same.
* Bring spare cargo, or the rewards are cut.

== Wormholes and Rifts ==
* A [[Wormholes|wormhole]] only saves time: fuel is charged for the direct distance, and only the outbound flight uses it.
* Every passage adds the fleet's mass to the wormhole's load; the load falls by 10% of its capacity per day. The fleet loses a share rolled from the state '''after''' its own passage: none below 20% instability, up to 3% below 35%, 3% to 10% below 45%, and 10% to 50% from 45%.
* At 50% instability a collapse is scheduled 3 to 6 days ahead. A fleet whose wormhole collapses before it arrives is lost with its cargo.
* A [[Void Realm|Rift]] jump between galaxy and [[Void Realm]] counts as one step between neighbouring systems. Rifts let fleets through only while their galaxy system is at 50% [[Irregularity]] or more, and fleets leave the realm only with empty cargo.

'''Tips'''
* Check the wormhole's state before sending your main fleet: a big fleet can push a quiet wormhole into the shear and pay for it itself.
* Split huge fleets over time so the load can recover in between.

== Related pages ==
[[Fleet Operations]] · [[Player Combat]] · [[Fleet Tactics]] · [[Intelligence]] · [[Surveillance]] · [[Relics]] · [[Artifacts]] · [[Xenogen]] · [[Void Experience]] · [[Biolab]] · [[Excursions]] · [[Debris Fields]] · [[Wormholes]] · [[Void Realm]] · [[Resource Bunker]] · [[Planet Resource Lab]] · [[Bots]] · [[Alliance Diplomacy]] · [[Main Page]]

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Abraxis: Import reviewed reference content