Beginner's Guide
Beginner's Guide
Your first goal in VoidVerse is a colony that can keep producing while you are away. Build up its economy, open research, then turn that income into useful ships. The steps below are a practical route through the current unlocks; keep checking the game's costs, queues and available energy as you go.
Build a reliable resource income
Start in Resources with the Aslit Mine, Crlit Mine and Iopla Mine. All three have no catalog prerequisites. Aslit and Crlit pay for the early mines and power supply; Iopla becomes important for infrastructure and research. Upgrade the resource that is holding back your next useful project rather than forcing every mine to the same level.
Build and upgrade the Solar Farm alongside the mines. It supplies energy without consuming fuel. Mines draw more energy as they grow, and an energy deficit reduces resource production: a higher mine level is less useful if you cannot power it. Check production rates and power settings after upgrades, and reduce an unnecessary consumer if you need time to build more generation.
Watch each resource's storage limit, especially before a long absence. Resource Storage expands capacity, and storage allocation divides that capacity between Aslit, Crlit, Iopla and SEM. Production stops adding a resource when its allocated space is full. Reserve enough planetary fields for the buildings you are planning.
Open research with the Science Network
Build the Science Network from Infrastructure. It has no catalog prerequisites. Research currently requires an effective Science Network level of 2: on a normal first colony, upgrade it to level 2 before trying to start research. Levels are combined across your owned colonies, and a government bonus can contribute to this access check.
Begin with Energy Research, which has no research prerequisites. Research costs come from the selected colony, so keep your mines working while you save for the next level. The Science Network also reduces research time as it grows; it is useful beyond the initial access requirement.
Produce SEM before relying on fusion
Take Energy Research to level 4 to unlock the SEM Factory. SEM means Stellar Energy Modules: it is both a building resource and fleet fuel. Build the factory and give it enough energy to produce a reserve.
The Fusion Reactor unlocks at Energy Research level 5. It produces energy by consuming SEM, and even its first build costs SEM. This makes SEM production the practical step before fusion. Keep the Solar Farm running as a fuel-free base, check your net SEM rate, and avoid using every module for power when you also need fuel for ships. Its SEM upkeep grows by 8% per level. If SEM cannot cover consumption, the reactor's contribution is reduced. Fusion is an additional power option; you do not have to build it before a shipyard.
Build your first ships
The Planetary Shipyard has no catalog prerequisites, so you can build it whenever the colony can afford it. Level 1 on the colony where you want to build is required for ship production. An economy and SEM supply first make it easier to pay for ships and launch them, but SEM Factory and Fusion Reactor are not shipyard unlock requirements.
Use Assembly to create an active ship blueprint, then order it in Shipyard. Component choices are research-gated individually; owning a shipyard does not unlock every hull, weapon or module. A useful early research branch is:
- Energy Research 2 → Photonic Computing 1 → Assembly Engineering 1.
- With Assembly Engineering 1, Energy Research 2 and Photonic Computing 2, you can begin Ship Skeleton.
- Ship Skeleton 3 unlocks the first extractor module for debris collection. The first transport module requires Ship Skeleton 2. These modules cannot be fitted together on one ship.
- For armed designs, begin Weapon Research after Energy Research 1. The first upgraded projectile weapon requires Weapon Research 2; the first upgraded energy weapon requires Weapon Research 3. Chassis Integrity opens the separate hull-plating and shield research branches.
Choose a design for its job. Extractor ships recover debris, cargo designs carry resources, and armed ships help defend your colony and prepare you for combat. Keep investing in production instead of spending your entire economy on a fleet you cannot replace. The Defense section covers the colony's separate defensive units.
Learn fleet missions before raiding
Open Fleet to choose ships, coordinates, mission and speed. Check fuel, cargo capacity, travel time and free command slots before launch. Use Fleet Movement to follow the outbound and return journeys. A shipyard does not provide unlimited simultaneous missions; Command Center upgrades can expand command capacity later, after Photonic Computing 3.
Before raiding another player or a bot, inspect the target through Galaxy, Surveillance and your Reports. Compare the target's defenses with your fleet, plan capacity for loot, and keep enough SEM to launch. An attack can cost ships; do not assume an apparently quiet colony or a bot is undefended.
Attack availability follows the game's protection rules. A target in vacation mode cannot be attacked. Against active targets, miner mode on either side blocks attacks. The current newcomer check also prevents an attacker whose account is at most 30 days old and whose points are at most 10% of the target's points from attacking that stronger target. This check does not guarantee that a new account cannot be attacked. Targets inactive for more than 14 days, or with no recorded login, bypass the miner and newcomer checks, but vacation protection still applies. Use the available missions shown in-game and review Government before changing play modes.
Starting late: look for debris fields
If other empires already have a head start, keep an eye on debris markers in Galaxy. Random event fields grow with the typical strength of active human players in your world, so a small empire can sometimes collect a useful amount without first winning a battle. Fields are shared opportunities, not reserved rewards: another fleet may reach them first.
Work toward an extractor-equipped design and read Debris Fields before launching. Keep developing your mines as well; debris availability depends on events and combat, while your economy gives you an ongoing income.
Resource references: Aslit · Crlit · Iopla · SEM · G.E.L.D. · Resource overview