Choose a role that suits you
Your role changes how you play. It affects combat, income, research, recon, and building costs, so choose the one that fits the kind of commander you want to be this round.
A practical guide
Relica Wars Guide
Relica Wars is a planning game with a war waiting underneath it. Grow your economy, keep your power under control, and learn enough about a target before you send ships. The rest becomes much easier once those habits are in place.
Build
Learn
Scout
Choose
Getting started
Your first few moves
You do not need to understand the whole game before you begin. Choose one sensible goal, make sure your economy and power can support it, and scout before you spend ships or resources you cannot easily replace.
Get the economy moving
Money and metal pay for growth, while power keeps that growth running. Population supports income, pilots, and scientists. A large fleet is not much use if you cannot crew, power, or replace it.
Train people with a plan
Your population can become scientists or pilots, but every conversion has a cost. Residences support civilians, specialists, and ship crew, so leave yourself enough room to keep the empire working.
Follow a research path
Research branches unlock in order. You will usually get more from finishing one useful tier than from leaving several upgrades half-finished.
Scout before you strike
Recon shows you what a target owns and what may be protecting it. An attack made in the dark can cost ships, generals, power, and several revolutions of progress.
Talk to your system
Your planet's alert level, council bonuses, treasury, and wars can change what your actions are worth. If a decision affects everyone, talk to the people sharing the system first.
The basics
A few useful conventions
Bonuses are shown as percentages from normal. Positive values improve the result, negative values reduce it, and 0% means there is no change. The game keeps the underlying calculations consistent, so you do not need to convert between percentages and multipliers.
Bonuses stack
Role, research, council, relic, and system effects can all contribute to the same result.
Combat uses the same language
Attack and defence bonuses change the strength of the fleet you send or defend with; they do not add ships.
Some effects are shown against normal
For example, recovery damage at 25% means the defender takes 25% of its usual damage.
Revolutions are the game clock
Queued actions, cooldowns, and timed effects move forward when the next revolution arrives.
Power drain is usually per unit
Population, scientists, platforms, drones, ships, and powered buildings can each add to your drain.
Steals use the target's stock
A hack takes the stated percentage from the target's stored resource, not from your own stock.
The game clock
What happens each revolution
Every revolution is one turn of the game. When it arrives, construction and ship queues move, income is added, power is checked, scientists produce research, drones recover, and war timers move on. Check your next-revolution preview before making an expensive decision.
Queues move
Buildings and ships progress through their queue slots and finish over future revolutions.
Your economy changes
Money, metal, population, and net power are affected by buildings, your role, research, council bonuses, and wars.
Power is checked
Your generation is compared with the drain from people, platforms, ships, drones, scientists, missiles, and powered buildings.
Scientists produce research
Your scientists create research units using your research bonus. The training limit resets at the next revolution.
Drones recover
Used hack runs come back over time, while buildings and research update your drone production and storage.
Wars move on
Alert changes, active wars, cooldowns, and public war events all advance with the same clock.
Your economy
Resources and what they do
You do not need every resource in huge amounts. You need the right resource at the right time: money to act, metal to build, power to keep things running, and people to crew ships or produce research. Let one of them fall too far behind and the rest of your plan will slow down.
| Resource | What it pays for | A useful habit |
|---|---|---|
| Money | Construction, pilot training, ships, missiles, market purchases, and many operational costs. | Keep a cushion so an attack, failed hack, or treasury request does not leave you stuck. |
| Metal | Platforms, buildings, ship hulls, missiles, and infrastructure-heavy growth. | If you want platforms, ships, or buildings quickly, metal production needs to keep up. |
| Power | Stored reserve and operating capacity for population, ships, drones, scientists, platforms, missile silos, and defenses. | A positive net power figure matters more than a big reserve. Watch what is draining it. |
| Population | Income base, pilot training source, scientist training source, and vulnerability target. | People are useful but power-hungry. Training one scientist costs 1,000 money and gives up a civilian and some workforce room. |
| Platforms | Total buildable space for structures and the basis of your physical empire. | Empty platforms do not produce anything, but they still use power. Expand with your grid in mind. |
| Scientists | Generate research units every revolution. | You can train up to 10% of your workforce each revolution. Scientists can make up 25% for most roles, or 55% for the Scientist role. |
| Research Units | Permanent research progress and unlocks. | Spend them where the next unlock gives you a real option: ships, infrastructure, missiles, combat, economy, or drones. |
| Drones | Recon scans, resource hacks, population strikes, and defending against hostile hacks. | Drones are both your eyes and your shield. Resource hacks work best when your drone strength beats the defender's. |
| Pilots | Required crew for ship construction and fleet growth. | Train pilots before queuing a large batch of ships, or the bay may sit waiting for crew. |
| Net Worth | The long-term score used for rankings, target comparisons, hack calculations, and visibility. | Platforms, ships, buildings, defence units, drones, pilots, and scientists count. Money, metal, power, population, and research units do not. A developed platform counts its own value plus the building on it, while defence units use their separate value. |
Choose your style
Commander roles
There is no best role for everyone. Each one gives you a strength and asks you to accept a weakness. Pick the role that matches your plan for the round, then build around what it does well instead of trying to make it good at everything.
Economist
Choose the Economist when money is likely to hold you back. Metal will be the tradeoff, so keep your extractors, market trades, or system support close behind.
- Attack
- -10%
- Defence
- +10%
- Money
- +100%
- Metal
- -35%
- Power
- 0%
- Research
- 0%
- Recon
- 0%
- Build cost
- 20k money / 15k metal
Miner
The Miner is a good fit for construction and ship-heavy plans. The attack penalty is real, so build a solid base before you start picking fights.
- Attack
- -50%
- Defence
- +60%
- Money
- 0%
- Metal
- +100%
- Power
- 0%
- Research
- 0%
- Recon
- 0%
- Build cost
- 15k money / 20k metal
Admiral
The Admiral hits harder than most roles, but pays for it with a weaker economy. You can apply pressure early, as long as you can afford the losses when an attack goes badly.
- Attack
- +100%
- Defence
- 0%
- Money
- -40%
- Metal
- -40%
- Power
- -40%
- Research
- -40%
- Recon
- +25%
- Build cost
- 15k money / 15k metal
Scientist
The Scientist reaches useful research sooner. Turn that head start into ships, buildings, income, or weapons instead of simply collecting research points.
- Attack
- -10%
- Defence
- +25%
- Money
- -10%
- Metal
- -10%
- Power
- -10%
- Research
- +400%
- Recon
- 0%
- Build cost
- 17.5k money / 17.5k metal
Data Scientist
The Data Scientist gets the best value from information. Build drone capacity, scan often, and use what you learn before you risk a fleet.
- Attack
- 0%
- Defence
- +5%
- Money
- 0%
- Metal
- 0%
- Power
- 0%
- Research
- -40%
- Recon
- +400%
- Build cost
- 17.5k money / 17.5k metal
Fusion Engineer
The Fusion Engineer makes a power-hungry empire easier to run. It is a strong choice if you want large populations, active defences, missile silos, and fleets online together.
- Attack
- -10%
- Defence
- +10%
- Money
- -10%
- Metal
- -35%
- Power
- +100%
- Research
- 0%
- Recon
- 0%
- Build cost
- 18k money / 18k metal
Diplomat
The Diplomat is difficult to break, but slower to attack and research. Survive the early pressure, work with your planet, and make enemies spend too much to move you.
- Attack
- -60%
- Defence
- +200%
- Money
- -50%
- Metal
- -50%
- Power
- 0%
- Research
- -75%
- Recon
- 0%
- Build cost
- 20k money / 20k metal
Admiral follows the Attacker profile, and Data Scientist follows the Hacker profile. Recon is your
role's drone-production bonus; it increases each revolution's output, while your facilities still
limit how many drones you can keep.
Growing your empire
Construction and platform planning
Construction turns empty platforms into a working empire. Before you build, ask what problem the structure solves: income, power, fleet capacity, defence, or support for your system. The most expensive mistakes usually come from building first and checking the grid afterwards.
Survey Platforms is the safer way to expand. You spend money, metal, and power now, then receive
the platforms over 10 revolutions. Surveys cost the same for every role, start cheaper than
construction, and become more expensive as the round goes on. Attacks are faster, but they come with
the obvious risk of fighting someone for the space.
New commanders start with 3,500 platforms and
receive a one-time grant based on the age of the round. At revolution 593,
that grant is 34,906 platforms. Platforms still draw
power even before you build on them.
Starter grant
You can receive up to 35,000 extra platforms when your account is created. The grant grows with the age of the round.
Base survey cost
The starting cost is 2,000 money / 1,250 metal / 800 power for each platform.
Round scaling
Each revolution adds 12 money / 8 metal / 6 power to the cost of each platform.
Current survey cost
At revolution 593, one platform costs 9,104 money / 5,986 metal / 4,352 power.
Construction spend
Building on an empty platform uses your role's platform cost, whatever the building type. New accounts receive 50% off for their first 72 revolutions.
Buildings that grow the economy
- Residences: give you more workforce and a stronger income base. Civilians, scientists, pilots, and ship crew all need that room.
- Metal Extractors: make the metal you need for platforms, ships, and infrastructure.
- Solar Panels: provide steady baseline power.
- Trade Hubs and Stock Markets: improve money production. The stronger versions need research first.
- Fusion Cores and Metal Refineries: advanced ways to produce power and metal after you unlock infrastructure research.
Buildings for fleets and defence
- Frigate Pads and Destroyer Bays: set how many ships you can build. Cloaked raiders use the heavy-bay capacity.
- Recon Drone facilities: produce and store the drones used for scans and hacks.
- Turret and Tachyon platforms: give you slots for defence units built in Ship Bays. Active Tachyon Beams also make cloaked raids less reliable.
- Missile Silos: store missiles and Photon Intercept Lasers. They draw standby power even when empty, and more when loaded.
Building balance reference
These are the base values for each building. The cost to place a building comes from your role's platform cost above. For Turrets and Tachyon Beams, capacity is the number of units the platform can hold and defence is the strength of each unit. Your actual income can still change with role, research, council bonuses, relics, wars, the power grid, and the normal 1-10% variation from one revolution to the next.
| Building | Base grant | Net worth | Resource or capacity | Planning note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residence | +3 population and +100 max population | 1 | Population, money base, pilot training room | Population adds money per revolution, so residences are both growth and economy. |
| Frigate Pads | +20 frigate capacity | 1 | Frigate bay capacity | Limits how many frigates you can support across built ships and queued ships. |
| Destroyer Bays | +20 heavy ship capacity | 1 | Destroyer and cloaked raider bay capacity | Used by destroyers and cloaked raiders, so stealth fleets compete with destroyer plans. |
| Metal Extractor | +250 metal | 1 | Metal per revolution | Core metal source for platforms, ship queues, and more construction. |
| Solar Panels | +250 power | 1 | Power per revolution | Baseline grid generation for growth, fleets, scientists, and drones. |
| Trade Hub | +500 money | 1 | Money per revolution | Main early money building before advanced infrastructure research. |
| Missile Silo | +1 silo space | 1 | Missile and interceptor storage | Each silo adds stockpile room for missiles and Photon Intercept Lasers. |
| Recon Drones | +10 drone storage and +1 drone production | 1 | Drone capacity and drones per revolution | Drone production research can multiply production before the storage cap is applied. |
| Turrets | 100 turret slots per platform; 300 defence per built turret | 1 | Turret capacity and defence | Construction creates turret platforms; build the actual turret units from Ship Bays. |
| Tachyon Beams | 90 beam slots per platform; 400 defence per built beam | 1 | Tachyon capacity and defence | Construction creates tachyon platforms; build the actual beam units from Ship Bays. |
| Fusion Cores | +1,250 power | 1 | Power per revolution | Advanced power generation that helps carry high-drain builds and defenses. |
| Metal Refinery | +1,200 metal | 1 | Metal per revolution | Advanced metal production; can be powered down when the grid is under pressure. |
| Stock Markets | +1,500 money | 1 | Money per revolution | Advanced money building unlocked through infrastructure research. |
Demolition can rescue a bad build, but it still costs time and resources. Check the next-revolution
preview and your power grid before placing a large batch.
Keep the lights on
Managing your power grid
Power decides whether the rest of your empire can keep working. You can have plenty of money and metal and still be in trouble if people, scientists, drones, ships, platforms, silos, and defences are using more power than you produce.
Growth brings a bigger power bill
Population, scientists, drones, ships, and platforms all add to your drain. Watching building output alone is not enough.
You can switch off some circuits
Turrets, Metal Refineries, Tachyon Beams, and Missile Silos can be taken offline when power is tight.
Restarting is not instant
Critical defences and silos may take several revolutions to come back online.
Zero power forces a shutdown
If stored power reaches zero, switchable systems go offline and the grid enters recovery. New power first rebuilds an emergency reserve.
A brownout can be recovered
Optional circuits stay offline and defences suffer a zero-power penalty until the grid recovers. Build a positive projected grid and reach the displayed reserve before restarting them.
Loaded silos use more power
Every silo uses standby power, and loaded slots add arming and guidance load. A Neutron Bomb takes three slots, so it adds three loads.
Research can turn power into an advantage
Fusion Engineers, Fusion Cores, Solar Panels, council bonuses, and power research can make a difficult grid much easier to run.
Technology
Spend research wisely
Your scientists create research units every revolution, and you decide where to spend them. The best time to spend is when the next tier opens something you actually need: a ship, a building, stronger defence, better recon, or a way to fix your economy.
Training scientists
Each revolution, you can train up to 10% of your workforce. Scientists can occupy up to 25% for most roles, or 55% for the Scientist role. Each one costs 1,000 money and replaces a civilian, so you give up some income and room for pilots or ship crew.
Branches unlock in order
If tier three is locked, finish tier two first. Part-finished research is saved, so you can come back to it later.
What the branches do
Frigate and Destroyer branches open new hulls. Attack and Defence improve combat. Economy and Power help you grow. Drone research improves recon, Special Weapons opens missiles, and Infrastructure opens advanced buildings.
A good early choice
Pick the branch that fixes your current problem: hulls if you want to attack, infrastructure if income is tight, drones if you need information, or power if the grid is struggling.
Your fleet
Ships, generals, and combat
Ship Bays turn your economy into a fleet. Frigates and destroyers do the main fighting, while cloaked raiders become a population threat once unlocked. Stronger ships need more research, pilots, resources, power, and bay space, so a fleet is always an economic decision too.
- Train pilots before queueing ships that need crew, or the bay will wait for them.
- Keep part of your fleet at home if your score makes you look like an attractive target.
- Ships assigned to a general are away until that general returns.
- Away ships cannot launch, defend you, or take defender losses until they return.
- A target with no defending ships can still have defence if its turret or tachyon grid is online.
- Offline, starting, or unpowered defence units add no defence.
- Council bonuses: council attack and defence bonuses apply to frigates and destroyers. Cloaked raiders are different: they face the defence grid without the usual role, research, or council fleet bonuses.
- Phase Interference: active Tachyon Beams make cloaked-raider attacks more likely to fail, raising the base chance from 25% toward a maximum of 40%. Frigate and destroyer attacks are not affected.
- Combat margin: once you break through, the gap between your adjusted attack and the target's adjusted defence affects damage and loot. The current result starts at -25%, reaches normal at 125% attack strength, and tops out at +25% at 150% attack strength. Platform capture normally does not use this scaling.
- Anti-bash: there is no simple cooldown that blocks every attack. If a much stronger non-war attacker keeps landing successful hits, the target builds pressure during the 24-revolution window. After 2 qualifying hits, recovery lasts 12 revolutions.
- During recovery: defender damage is set to 25% of normal, loot to 25%, and platform capture to 25%. Normal war attacks keep their normal platform gain.
- Inactive players: someone who has not logged in for 72 hours is treated as inactive. Anti-bash does not reduce attacks against them, and the normal 30-platform minimum still applies. Logging in makes them active again.
- Wars and retaliation: active wars can bypass anti-bash, as can a recent successful retaliation within 72 revolutions. Failed attacks do not add pressure, and changing attackers does not clear pressure from the target.
- Warp Drive Disruptor effects can make new ship attacks take six revolutions instead of four.
- New commanders start in Protection Mode for up to 72 revolutions and can leave after 48. Protected accounts cannot attack or be attacked.
Attack checklist
- Scan the target with recon.
- Check your power reserve and available generals. Launching uses 250 power for every ship sent.
- Send enough strength to beat the likely defence after bonuses.
- Expect losses even when the attack succeeds.
- Read your messages afterwards to see losses, gains, and when the fleet returns.
How repeated attacks are softened
Anti-bash is meant to reduce repeated punishment, not make a target untouchable. In an active war, you can keep attacking without building anti-bash pressure. Outside war, repeated successful attacks by a much stronger commander eventually deal less damage, steal less, and capture fewer platforms until the target has recovered. A failed attack does not add pressure.
First qualifying hit
It counts toward the target's pressure window, but it is not blocked and normally gets the full combat result.
The hit that triggers recovery
The attack that reaches the threshold is affected immediately, and recovery begins from there.
Attacks during war
War attacks remain fully effective when the war bypass is on, and they do not build anti-bash pressure.
If the target hits back
A recent successful retaliation can bypass anti-bash for the retaliation window.
Inactive player
Someone outside the 72-hour inactivity window is treated as away. Anti-bash does not reduce the attack, and destroyer capture keeps the normal 30-platform minimum. A login resets the clock.
Failed attack
You still pay the normal costs and suffer attrition, but a failed attack does not increase pressure.
Ship balance
These are the base ship values before role, research, general, council, relic, war, and power-grid bonuses. Use them to work out what a fleet will cost and what strength it adds.
| Ship | Class | Cost | Attack | Defence | Crew | Net worth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aurora | Frigate | 100 money / 100 metal / 25 power | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Thunderbolt | Frigate | 150 money / 150 metal / 75 power | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Blackbird | Frigate | 150 money / 150 metal / 75 power | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| Valkyrie | Frigate | 650 money / 650 metal / 300 power | 15 | 15 | 3 | 9 |
| Leviathan | Frigate | 2,100 money / 2,100 metal / 750 power | 70 | 70 | 5 | 21 |
| Apocalypse | Frigate | 6,500 money / 6,500 metal / 2,500 power | 260 | 230 | 7 | 35 |
| Excalibur | Destroyer | 200 money / 200 metal / 50 power | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Scorpion | Destroyer | 300 money / 300 metal / 75 power | 3 | 1 | 5 | 10 |
| Gladiator | Destroyer | 300 money / 300 metal / 150 power | 1 | 3 | 5 | 10 |
| Nighthawk | Destroyer | 1,300 money / 1,300 metal / 600 power | 15 | 15 | 8 | 42 |
| Raven | Destroyer | 4,200 money / 4,200 metal / 1,500 power | 70 | 70 | 12 | 101 |
| Retribution | Destroyer | 12,500 money / 12,500 metal / 7,000 power | 260 | 230 | 21 | 147 |
| Reaper | Cloaked Raider | 100,000 money / 100,000 metal / 120,000 power | 1 | 1 | 18 | 210 |
| Executioner | Cloaked Raider | 115,000 money / 115,000 metal / 135,000 power | 1.50 | 1 | 23 | 300 |
Destroyer kills
Platform capture
A successful destroyer attack against a player or bot captures at least 30 platforms, up to the number the target still owns.
Kill threshold
If the target has fewer than 30 platforms, a successful destroyer attack kills the account instead of stealing platforms.
What happens to the account
A killed commander cannot be used again. The login remains valid, and the player returns to account creation to choose a new commander.
What the attacker takes
The attacker takes the target's money, metal, power, population, unused research units, and remaining platforms. Scores record the kill.
Shards
A player kill opens 3 Relica Shards, a rank 2-10 kill opens 4, and a rank 1 kill opens 5.
The machine empire
Talos threat level
Talos pays attention to commanders who are strong, aggressive, or politically visible. Keeping a low profile is safer. The more attention you draw, the more likely the machine empire is to take an interest in you.
This is not a permanent reputation bar, and not every useful action makes it rise. Threat is recalculated as the game changes. A quiet commander can become less interesting, while repeated attacks or a run of strong victories can make Talos look your way.
Level 1
You are keeping a low profile, and Talos has little reason to care.
Levels 2-5
Your actions are starting to stand out. Be ready for attention.
Levels 6-9
Talos is taking a serious interest. Silence does not necessarily mean safety.
Level 10
You are a major concern. Expect Talos to act with purpose.
What draws attention
A powerful role, a high rank, a large empire, important council positions, active relics, and a strong battle record can all make you more interesting to Talos.
What makes you look aggressive
Repeated ship or missile attacks are the clearest signal. A single attack may be business; a busy attack log starts to look like a pattern.
What cools things down
Going quiet for a while, taking a diplomatic role, supporting your system, and a recent player kill can all reduce Talos's interest. The exact hidden influences are not shown.
Not every action is hostile
Building, researching, trading, scouting, and defending do not automatically make Talos angry. They may still make you more visible if they turn you into a stronger or more valuable target.
Talos uses the strength of active players to size its platforms and fleets. Captured bot assets are still useful to you, but they do not make future Talos encounters grow unfairly strong.
Behind the machine empire
How Talos and the AI bots operate
Talos is not one fixed opponent. It has a changing population of machine commanders, with opponents suited to different levels of strength. As the player base changes, so does the opposition. A bot you defeat can be useful spoils without making every future opponent stronger.
Some of Talos's decisions can be guided by a real LLM. It helps choose what the machine empire might do next, while the game still checks the decision before anything happens.
Bot activity is fully automated and coordinated by a central AI. No individual bot is manually
piloted.
Talos cannot cheat
The LLM can suggest a move, but Talos still needs a valid target and a fair chance to carry it out. It cannot conjure ships, ignore protection, or break the rules.
Pressure can start quietly
Talos may watch you, send a message, or try to steal resources before sending a fleet. As you become a bigger concern, it may move from nuisance to military pressure: frigates, destroyers, cloaked raids, missiles, and eventually war.
Talos spreads its attention
It will not endlessly hammer the same commander. After making a move, Talos may turn to someone else or wait before trying again.
Talos can be calm or fierce
Sometimes Talos follows familiar patterns; sometimes a real LLM helps choose its next move. Either way, it remains part of the same game and must play by the rules.
Your threat is not Talos's mood
Your threat level tells you how much Talos notices you. Talos's aggression tells you how forcefully it is behaving. A calm Talos may notice you without acting; an angry Talos is more likely to escalate.
Talos does not follow a fixed attack timetable. A quiet period does not necessarily mean it has
forgotten you, so watch your threat level, recent attack history, and system notices.
The shape of the round
How game admins shape Talos
Game admins can tune the character of the machine empire while the game is running. One round can be quiet and watchful; another can give Talos more room to build pressure. The aim is to shape the experience for everyone, not to give the bots a way around the rules.
How active Talos is
Admins can adjust how often Talos looks for opportunities and how much activity it can sustain. More activity means more signs of life from the machine empire, not a guaranteed attack on every player.
How aggressive it feels
Admins can make Talos calm, cautious, balanced, aggressive, or extremely dangerous. This changes how readily it moves from watching and warning to raids, heavy attacks, and war.
Which threats are in play
Some rounds may keep the most destructive forms of pressure restricted, while others may allow Talos to use them. The available threats are part of the rules for that game.
How many bots you meet
Admins can keep the bot population suited to the number and strength of active players, so Talos remains a living part of the game rather than one opponent that never changes.
If Talos feels different from one round to the next, that may be deliberate. Check the game notices
for the current conditions and treat the threat level as your warning, not a promise of exactly what
will happen next.
Relica Wars is still in beta, so Talos's behaviour may be tweaked as we learn what makes the game fair, challenging, and fun.
Relica Wars is still in beta, so Talos's behaviour may be tweaked as we learn what makes the game fair, challenging, and fun.
Find something ancient
Relics and Relica Shards
Successful attacks against players or bots can uncover an Ancient Relica Shard. You also get one free shard each UTC day when it is available. Relics go into your collection, where you can see what you own and which effects are active. Destroyer kills also award guaranteed shards based on the target's rank, and some rewards wait for you to claim them.
Daily free shard
Each account can claim one free Ancient Relica Shard per UTC day. The relic is added to your collection when you claim it.
Unclaimed shards
Some shard rewards wait in your unclaimed rewards. Claim one to add the relic to your collection.
Destroyer kill shards
A player kill opens 3 shards, a rank 2-10 kill opens 4, and a rank 1 kill opens 5.
Storage
Duplicate relics stack in your collection. Activating one uses one copy.
Stacking
Different relic effects can be active together, but you can only activate one copy of a particular relic at a time.
Duration
Most relics are short tactical boosts. Income relics last from 8-24 revolutions, with some lasting 60 revolutions, one lasting 250, and Terra relics providing a single burst.
Rarity
The tiers are Common, Uncommon, Rare, Special, Legendary, Apex Relic, and Terra Tier. Terra Tier is the rarest.
Apex Relic effects
Apex cards include +35% defence for 12 revolutions, +25% attack for 8, +30% resource income for 10, and +8% resource income for 250.
Terra Tier effect
The Terra Genesis Halo is used once and instantly gives you 100 revolutions of income, including research units.
Relic drop odds
There are two chances involved. First, a successful attack has a 24% chance to open a shard. If it does, the relic is chosen from a weighted pool. The table shows both the chance after a shard opens and the approximate chance on each successful attack.
| Card | Tier | Once A Relic Drops | Per Successful Attack |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copper Drone Lattice | Common | 13.196% - about 1 in 8 | 3.167% - about 1 in 32 |
| Alloy Ration Cache | Common | 13.196% - about 1 in 8 | 3.167% - about 1 in 32 |
| Flux Battery Cell | Common | 13.196% - about 1 in 8 | 3.167% - about 1 in 32 |
| Neon Foundry Sigil | Uncommon | 8.211% - about 1 in 12 | 1.971% - about 1 in 51 |
| Warpath Gyrocore | Uncommon | 8.211% - about 1 in 12 | 1.971% - about 1 in 51 |
| Signal Wraith Lens | Uncommon | 8.211% - about 1 in 12 | 1.971% - about 1 in 51 |
| Chrono Survey Engine | Rare | 4.692% - about 1 in 21 | 1.126% - about 1 in 89 |
| Aegis Memory Shard | Rare | 4.692% - about 1 in 21 | 1.126% - about 1 in 89 |
| Treasury Prism | Rare | 4.692% - about 1 in 21 | 1.126% - about 1 in 89 |
| Tithe Echo Shard | Rare | 4.106% - about 1 in 24 | 0.985% - about 1 in 101 |
| Prosperity Relay | Rare | 3.226% - about 1 in 31 | 0.774% - about 1 in 129 |
| Rift Anchor Relay | Special | 2.346% - about 1 in 43 | 0.563% - about 1 in 178 |
| Obsidian Hack Matrix | Special | 2.346% - about 1 in 43 | 0.563% - about 1 in 178 |
| Ghost Armada Beacon | Special | 2.346% - about 1 in 43 | 0.563% - about 1 in 178 |
| Solar Tithe Core | Special | 1.466% - about 1 in 68 | 0.352% - about 1 in 284 |
| First Age Power Core | Legendary | 0.880% - about 1 in 114 | 0.211% - about 1 in 474 |
| Ancient Arc Shield | Legendary | 0.880% - about 1 in 114 | 0.211% - about 1 in 474 |
| Oscillating War Crystal | Legendary | 0.880% - about 1 in 114 | 0.211% - about 1 in 474 |
| Crown Yield Engine | Legendary | 0.587% - about 1 in 171 | 0.141% - about 1 in 710 |
| Aegis | Apex | 0.587% - about 1 in 171 | 0.141% - about 1 in 710 |
| War Crown | Apex | 0.587% - about 1 in 171 | 0.141% - about 1 in 710 |
| Dominion Core | Apex | 0.587% - about 1 in 171 | 0.141% - about 1 in 710 |
| Eternity Engine | Apex | 0.587% - about 1 in 171 | 0.141% - about 1 in 710 |
| Terra Genesis Halo | Terra | 0.293% - about 1 in 341 | 0.070% - about 1 in 1,421 |
Information is power
Recon, drones, and hacking
Recon is how you stop guessing. Drones can show you a system's resources, ships, research, and buildings. They can also steal money, metal, power, or research, strike at population, and defend you from other commanders' hacks.
System scan
Shows the target's overview, resources, net worth, and total ships.
Military scan
Shows available ships, assigned ships, and the generals' statuses.
Research scan
Shows completed research by branch and the research units the target has invested.
Infrastructure scan
Shows built platforms, building counts, and their main and secondary output.
Resource hacks
Can steal money, metal, power, or research units if your drones are strong enough and the hack succeeds.
Population strike
Steals at least 50 population when it succeeds, up to the target's remaining population.
Population collapse kill
If it leaves the target at 0 population, the account is killed and you receive the same spoils as a destroyer kill.
Hack-run recovery
Used hack runs return over several revolutions, so repeated hacking needs a little planning.
Role and council output
Drone research, your role, and council bonuses all affect production. Your facilities still limit how many drones you can store.
Protection Mode
Protected commanders cannot use recon or hacks, and other players or bots cannot use them against a protected commander.
Steal percentage depends on net worth
Both players' net worth affects whether a steal is small, normal, or high-value. Richer targets may be worth more, but they are not necessarily easy targets.
Special weapons
Missiles
Missiles are expensive and hard to ignore, so use them for a reason. You need Special Weapons research, the resources to build them, enough silo space, and an online Missile Silo circuit. Photon Intercept Lasers defend against incoming missiles. Offensive missiles are launched one at a time, and a launch pauses while the silo grid is offline or recovering.
Photon Intercept Laser
A one-use defence. One laser stops one standard missile; a Neutron Bomb takes three.
Ship Breaker Missile
Targets enemy ships and can destroy part of the defending fleet.
EMP Missile
Hits stored power and can leave a grid struggling before the next attack.
Virus Missile
Kills population and scientists, weakening both income and research.
Warp Drive Disruptor
Builds a distortion field over repeated hits. While active, the target's new ship attacks take six revolutions.
Neutron Bomb
A heavy strike that can damage buildings, reserves, population, scientists, ships, and defence units.
Trade with other commanders
The market
The market is useful when you are short of something, but it should not replace your own economy. Listed goods leave your stock immediately, spend time in transit, and then remain available until they sell, expire, or you cancel the listing.
- You can have up to 10 of your own listings in transit or on sale at once.
- A listing can stay on sale for up to 120 revolutions.
- Buyers get the cheapest available stock first. If prices tie, the smaller lot goes first.
- Small accounts are protected from the full fee structure. Larger accounts pay more based on the asset and how long it is listed.
- People, scientists, drones, ships, and missiles all need room when they arrive. If your workforce, drone storage, bays, or silos are full, you cannot receive more until you make space.
- If a listing expires while you no longer have room for the goods, the return waits until you free that space.
Life on your planet
Your system, council, and messages
Region Grid
See the planets, sectors, and active commanders around you. It is a good place to learn who shares your space before you make enemies.
Planet Status
Shows your planet's alert level, active or pending wars, and the Supreme Commander's message. Check it before a major attack, treasury request, or war decision.
Server notices
These are notices for the whole game. Planet Status is for what is happening on your planet; server notices are for everyone.
Council
People on the same planet vote for a Supreme Commander. Council positions can improve production, combat, research, and drones, and the Supreme Commander can send a message to the whole planet.
Treasury
Active players can donate resources and military assets. Council members with the right access can send support when the recipient has enough workforce, bay, or silo space. Reserve locks keep important stock held back for war or defence.
Requests and reports
Ask the treasury for support and see what has been donated or sent. The history helps everyone understand where the shared resources went.
Messages
Use messages to plan with other commanders. Battle, missile, recon, and hack reports arrive here too.
News
System and Galactic News cover public events. Game News contains announcements and patch notes. Private damage details and hidden bonuses stay private.
When diplomacy fails
Planet wars and alert levels
A planet war is a decision for the whole planet, not a private duel. Council leadership manages wars, and the alert level changes both readiness and income. Do not start one just because a target looks weak. Start one when your planet has the treasury, power, defences, targets, and patience for it.
Green
Normal life. Best when the planet is recovering, growing, or avoiding unnecessary risk.
Amber
Ready for trouble, with tradeoffs. Use it when there is a real threat, not just because people are nervous.
Red
War declarations are available, but the cost is highest. Have a target and a plan before you choose it.
- Alert changes take time and cannot be cancelled or replaced while they are counting down.
- Planet wars last 72 revolutions. The normal redeclaration cooldown is 168 revolutions.
- Defenders can counter-declare after the first war. Some defender advantages are not shown in the numbers.
- You can fight the bot planet, but bots do not counter-declare and do not receive the same defender advantages.
- Scores show public war outcomes, destroyers, and platforms gained. Resource gains and hidden bonuses are not shown.
Good habits
Two useful checklists
When you log in
- Check Planet Status, server notices, and Overview for alerts, warnings, and what the next revolution will change.
- Open Industrial Systems if power is unstable or something new is draining the grid.
- Review queues in Construction and Ship Bays.
- Spend research only when the next unlock helps your plan.
- Read your messages for battle, missile, recon, and system updates.
- Check News and Scores before choosing a target.
Before you commit
- Know what problem you are solving: income, metal, power, research, defence, or pressure.
- Make sure the next revolution will not leave you short of power.
- Scout targets instead of relying on Scores alone.
- Talk to the council before asking the treasury for help or starting a war.
- Keep a reserve for retaliation, missile defence, failed attacks, or a late market delivery.