Prerequisites
This guide assumes you have completed the beginner tutorial, understand the tech tree, and have played at least one full round. If you are new, start at Beginner Tutorial.
Optimized Build Orders
Build order efficiency is about minimizing idle build queue ticks. The optimal early-game sequence depends on your government.
Democracy Build Order (Ticks 1–30)
T1: Metal Mine L2 | Queue Basic Metallurgy
T3: Research Lab L1 | Queue Industrial Logistics
T6: Crystal Mine L1 | Queue Advanced Methodology
T9: Metal Mine L3 | Queue (free slot)
T12: Shipyard L1 | Train 5 Fighters
T15: Metal Silo L1 (if income > 8,000M in storage)
T18: Colony Pod dispatch | Colonize second planet
T22: Metal Mine L2 on planet 2 | Queue Nano-fabrication
T28: Shipyard L2 on home | Shipyard L1 on planet 2
Democracy’s +15% income makes this sequence 12–15 ticks faster than baseline. The goal: have 3 planets and Nano-fabrication researched by tick 35.
Dictatorship Build Order (Ticks 1–30)
Dictatorship’s 25% construction speed bonus lets you compress the build timeline. Start the same as Democracy but every military build completes 25% faster. Use this for Shipyard rushing:
T1: Metal Mine L2 | Queue Basic Metallurgy
T3: Shipyard L1 (completes T6 instead of T8)
T6: Train 10 Fighters immediately (factory running)
T9: Metal Mine L3 | Capital Weapons queued
T14: Cruiser × 3 | Begin raid cycle
Dictatorship is the only government that can field Cruisers before tick 20 in a standard galaxy. Use this window to raid weak neighbors.
Fleet Compositions by Government
There is no universal best fleet. Government type directly determines your optimal composition.
Anarchy: Steal + Fighter Swarm
Anarchy’s +30% Steal effectiveness and +20% spy success make covert raiding your primary income source. Build order priority:
- Shadow Network tech (gives +30% steal bonus)
- Ghost Protocol tech (undetectable operations)
- 20+ Steal ships + 10 Fighter escort
Strategy: scout 5+ targets within 5 LY. Run 3–4 simultaneous Steal missions every 12 ticks. A fleet of 20 Steal ships hauls 40,000 resources per raid. At 3 raids per 12 ticks you generate 120,000 extra resources — equivalent to 400M/tick income on top of your mines.
Democracy: Economic Blitz + Diplomatic Shield
Democracy players build the fastest empires economically. Your fleet composition should lag behind your economic lead — use diplomacy to stay neutral while you build.
Fleet goal: enough Fighters to deter small attacks (3:1 attacker ratio = too costly). Do not build Battleships until tick 60. Spend your superior resources on reaching Economic Supremacy tech for the 0% market fee.
Use your diplomacy speed bonus to negotiate ceasefires early and allies readily — being liked is a Democracy player’s greatest weapon.
Dictatorship: Cruiser Rush
Dictatorship’s 25% build speed on military structures combined with -10% upkeep makes the Cruiser rush viable. A Cruiser fleet of 15 ships with Capital Weapons tech deals enough DPS to eliminate any early-game planetary defense.
The window: ticks 20–45. After tick 45, Theocracy and Xantha players start hitting Tier-3 tech. Rush your targets before the tech window closes.
Theocracy: Research Lock
Theocracy’s +20% research speed combined with Xantha synergy (if available) compresses the Tier-4 tech timeline by 30+ ticks. The strategy: research Ghost Protocol + Omega Defense + Annihilation Drive before any other player.
Omega Defense (immune to EMP) combined with full Planetary Shield + Fortress Doctrine makes your planets nearly impenetrable. Let your alliance do the attacking. You supply the Deuterium (your +15% defense lets you neglect early military investment) and break through defenses for them with Annihilation Drive Battleships.
Espionage-Heavy Playstyle
If you choose an espionage focus (Anarchy government + full Espionage Branch tech):
- Priority targets: identify the #1 economic player and the #1 military player in the first 20 ticks via Planetary Scans. They are your primary intelligence targets.
- Double-stack: run Planetary Scan + Resource Drain simultaneously (2 spy agents from Basic Infiltration). Never leave agents idle.
- Sabotage timing: hit enemy Shipyards the tick before their fleet completes training. A Sabotage on a Shipyard L8 sets their build timeline back by 8–12 ticks.
- Ghost Protocol end-game: at tick 60+, Ghost Protocol means you can Sabotage anyone without diplomatic consequence. No evidence = no war declaration.
Market Manipulation Tactics
Advanced players use the market as a weapon:
- Crystal dump: at tick 20–25, sell 10,000 Crystal at 10% below market price. Other players buy it and stop mining. At tick 30, Crystal demand spikes for research wars. You rebuy at a premium — but you already have full labs and a Deuterium stockpile while others scramble.
- Deuterium lock: in the final 20 ticks, corner the Deuterium market by buying all listings and listing nothing. Specialty ships (EMP, SK) become unaffordable for your enemies right when they need them.
- Metal undercutting: if you are Democracy with Economic Supremacy (0% fee), you can list Metal at 1% below market continuously, skimming 0% fee vs. competitors’ 2% fee. Over 50 trades this generates 20,000M+ advantage.
Alliance Coordination
Running a large, coordinated alliance is a viable strategy regardless of government:
- Role assignment: Leader handles diplomacy and war declarations. Officers manage bank. Members focus on personal production. Recruits earn promotion by consistent bank deposits.
- Fleet coordination: use the Alliance Fleet Ping system (mark a target planet on the shared map). Synchronize fleet arrivals within 2 ticks for simultaneous combat — separated arrivals let the defender pick them off.
- Ceasefire brokering: Democracy’s diplomacy speed bonus makes its players the fastest deal-makers in an alliance — use one to isolate one enemy while pacifying two others simultaneously.
- Bank management: bank interest (3% per 10 ticks, flat for every government) compounds. A 500,000M bank generates 15,000M per 10 ticks passively. Protect the bank by distributing lead members across different quadrants so a single wipe cannot drain it.
Continue to Round Signup Walkthrough for the registration process.