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  Things to know!

There is a lot to this game, but on this page I will go over the basic pieces of the game that should leave you with a rudimentary knowledge to start playing. Links will be provided to show more detail and information.

If you already know how to play and just want to look up information, the Knowledge Map might prove faster to navigate through.

Also take a look at a Host order of events for Dummies

Bases Your colonists live and work inside ground bases. There are many different buildings you can build at a ground base that serve many different functions, from production of raw materials, to the construction of starships, to the defense of the base. When ever any of your colonists land on a new planet they will form a new base for you. Bases can be destroyed by attacks from enemy ships or ground attacks made by enemy ground bases. [more]
Colonists The most important things in the universe are the living things, without them your empire would not exist. Your colonists are what makes your empire a strong empire. [more]
Contraband The stuff is mostly useless and harmless luxury items that are just a waste of time and money. The stuff is labeled illegal contraband to drive the price up in order to make trading in it by the governments more profitable. The best thing to do with contraband is just to sell it. [more]
Fighters Fighters are mostly used in base defense or assisting larger ships in battles. They compromise of small ships unable to do much on their own, and are much cheaper than spaceships. [more]
Files The two most important ypes of files you need to know about are Result and Turn files. The result files(.rst) are made by Host and sent to the players. the turn files made after a player is done with his turn are .trn files. So when you're playing an online game, you'll get .rst's and send in .trn's. [more]
Food Your colonists need a small amount of food every turn to live. If a base runs out of food your colonists will begin starving to death. If your base is on a planet that is not too hot and not too cold you can build farms that will produce 1 unit of food each per cycle. There is a limit on how many farms a planet can have and how fast you can build new farms.
Fuel Fuel is Neutronium, it is also mined from the core of the planet by mineral mines just like a metal.
Headquarters Galtic bank funds are stored and spent here. This is where technology is bought. Also there are ministers that can issue commands to multiple objects at a time.[more]
Metals There are 3 different types of metals: duranium, tritanium, and molybdenum. They are mined from the core of the planet your base is on by your mineral mines.[more]
Minefields When your ships fly through an area of space with a minefield in it they risk hitting a mine and taking damage. The faster they are traveling the greater the odds of hitting a mine. Send in mine sweeping ships to clean up the mess. [more]
Money Your colonists and natives pay taxes to the local base. Money can be transferred to the galactic (central) bank. The local money can be used to build new buildings on their base, or to buy fighter craft and ground combat units. The galatic bank money can be used only for buying new tech levels, exotic tech, and financing spying. Money is sent from the local base to the central bank by a government center, but the money can never be sent back the other way. [more]
Natives Most natives are harmless and even helpful. You can collect tax money from most natives. All natives dislike high taxes. Chupanoid are bad, everything else is good, including Amorphous once they stop eating your colonists. [more]
Ore Useless metal ore and fuel ore. Smelters can turn it into metals that you can use.[more]
Ord Units This is your ship's general purpose ammo from torpedoes to mines you lay.
Planets

They are very important to an empire. This is where your bases are formed, minerals mined, food produced, ships built, etc.

Each planet has their own climate, horticultural, stress levels, mineral ore, and sometimes natives and contraband.[more]

Pods Anything can be loaded into a pod and boosted into space. Pods travel through space at a speed of at least 20 light years, some empires are faster. Many ships have pod bays that the pods can dock with, allowing a ship to move your pods for you at a much higher than normal boost speed. Pods are usually created at bases with Pod Pad. [more]
Repair Units These units are produced at ship parts shops at ground bases. Ships have a repair hold in which they store this special material. Repair units are used to fix damage to a ship's systems, weapons, engines and hull.
Ships

Ships are the cargo carriers, the explorers, and the defenders of your empire. Ships are second only to your colonists in importance to your empire.

To build a ship, you first need the parts. Ship parts include: Hull, Engines, Hyper Jump Drives, Super Weapons, Large Weapons, Small Weapons, Point Defense, Shield Generator, and Armor. [more]

Tips Keep colonist happy, get natives, scout around, have insane amounts of food on high population worlds, at the end of each turn leave some MC and supply unused, have 1 high guard on everything of importance, better economy = better war machine, and be aggressive. [more]