# Economy and research

[Rulebook index](index.md) · [All cost and duration tables](reference.md)

## Resources and starting assets

The four national resources are **credits, alloys, propellant and data**. There is no automatic exchange rate, market clearing or interest. A trade exchanges precisely the offered resource vectors. Spendable stocks are national; physical convoys temporarily remove cargo from both treasuries. Ordinary habitats do not hold treasury stock. A rich mine has a local output warehouse, and private merchant cargo and ship-preparation stores are separate from national stock. None transfers to a new habitat owner as treasury assets.

A new human clan starts with **500 credits, 300 alloys, 200 propellant and 100 data**, research level zero in all branches, two power plants, and one each of habitat, mine, ice processor, laboratory, shipyard and trade exchange. It also starts with one scout, frigate and colony ship. The initial 1,000 people are split into **825 inhabitants, 125 crew and 50 garrison marines**. Starting ships have full HP and three crew-years of provisions. There is no general new-player protection period.

The default building, ship and research costs are in the generated reference. Costs are paid **when the order executes**, never when it is queued. There are no partial payments. Multiple queued commitments can exceed your current balance and later fail. Cancellation is available only before execution; started construction, research, travel and cargo have no general cancel/refund command.

## Power and production

Power plants represent buried fission installations supplying settlement heat and electricity through closed coolant loops and steam machinery. The existing power value abstracts this service; reactor fuel and thermal flows have no separate inventory or simulation. Their surface housings, pressure vessels and finned radiators are illustrative equipment, described in [Map and visibility](map-and-visibility.md).

Local net power is `sum(−building.power × building level)`. A power plant contributes 12; a habitat uses 1; a mine or ice processor uses 2; a laboratory or shipyard uses 3; a trade exchange or defense uses 2. There is no power sharing between habitats.

Construction requires current free power at least equal to the new building's demand. Only one ordinary building project may be underway per site, so a queued generator must **finish**, not merely start, before its capacity can support another building. An unfinished project neither produces nor uses power. Captured or configured sites can be in deficit; negative net power shuts off all of that site's production and life support.

The Economy view shows building production's population multiplier (`min(1, population / 100)`) and current free power. Project cards identify the actual building, ship or research branch, and show unmet prerequisites and shortages in national resources. These checks explain whether a project can start now; they do not prevent scheduling it for a later tick when the prerequisite or resources may be available.

Every non-exiled, independent clan gets 5 passive credits per tick. Every inhabited, powered frontier site then produces from its completed buildings. Multiply each building's resource output by `min(1, site population / 100)` before resource rounding and alliance calculations. A site with 100 or more inhabitants produces its full output; 50 produces half, one produces one percent, and zero produces nothing while retaining its buildings and ownership. Integrity changes life support, not this output multiplier. Contested status alone does not suspend production; subsequent casualties or power deficit can.

For each resource-producing building type at each site:

`output = base output × building level × geology multiplier × (1 + 0.10 × industry level) × population multiplier`.

Sites have immutable, public size and composition. All eight core building types remain available at every asteroid, and deposits do not deplete. Medium mixed sites are the fair founding locations. Small, medium and large sizes multiply both habitat population capacity and ice-processor life support by **1.0, 1.4 and 1.8**. Composition changes only mine alloy and ice-processor propellant output: metallic **1.5 / 0.8**, icy **0.8 / 1.5**, and mixed **1.2 / 1.2**. With one building, industry level zero and at least 100 residents, the per-site rounded alloy/propellant yields are mixed **10/9**, icy **7/12**, and metallic **13/6**. Other production retains multiplier 1.0.

Credit and data output are summed nationally as fractional values, then alliance modifiers are applied once and the result is rounded down. Alloys and propellant are rounded down for each building-type/site contribution before national addition. The frontier population multiplier applies before those steps. Passive credits join gross credits before the alliance penalty, but receive neither industry nor population multipliers. There is no random production roll.

Each mine and processor contribution is rounded down separately after geology, population and research multipliers. The numerical reference and selected world show exact starting assets and rates.

## Alliance economics

Let N be the largest alliance size experienced in the current and previous eleven ticks, including every intermediate roster during a tick. Solo size is one; exiled members still count. Let `X = max(0, N − 4)`.

| Quantity | Multiplier |
| --- | --- |
| National gross credits including passive income | `1 / (1 + 0.04 × X)` |
| National gross data | `1 / (1 + 0.03 × X)` |
| Total fleet upkeep | `1 + 0.05 × X` |
| Alloys, propellant, power and combat strength | No alliance multiplier |

Income rounds down after the penalty. Total upkeep rounds up once; integer percentage arithmetic avoids accidental floating-point surcharges. A ten-member peak gives credit multiplier 1/1.24, data 1/1.18 and upkeep 1.30. Leaving does not erase the peak. Inspect the public `allianceCosts` values rather than counting only today's roster.

## Maintenance and repairs

Scouts cost 1 credit/year, frigates 2, torpedo boats 3, cruisers 5, transports 3 and colony ships 2, whether holding or travelling. Upkeep is taken after income. If the full credit, material and defense-maintenance bill cannot be paid, each resource is deducted against its own stock, floored at zero, and **each fleet and defense loses 1 HP**; wear is not prorated to the unpaid amount. Hull HP can fall to zero and destroy the fleet and crew before construction or movement.

Frontier fleets continue owing upkeep during exile, while passive income is suspended. Losing the last habitat does not make a surviving fleet free. Provision consumption is separate from credit maintenance; satisfying one does not satisfy the other. Ships have no automatic HP regeneration. A paid one-tick `refit` at an uncontested supported home yard restores ship HP.

`repair` restores an owned habitat's integrity to 100 immediately in the non-diplomacy order phase. Cost is `ceil(2 × missing integrity)` credits and `ceil(missing integrity)` alloys. It restores support capacity, not lost people, fleet HP or fractional defense levels. Economic damage is included when pricing repair; both integrity and economic damage are restored. Defense construction adds one new defense level; it can augment damaged fractional defenses.

## Construction and crew

Each site supports one ordinary **building** project and one **ship** project at the same time. Refits share that ship slot. Multiple shipyards do not add ship construction slots or speed. Different sites can build in parallel. Ships require an owned local shipyard; cruisers require warfare level 2 and torpedo boats require warfare level 1. There is no separate free-power gate for starting ship construction.

When the ship's finish tick arrives, its crew is drawn from that habitat: scout 5, frigate 20, torpedo boat 20, cruiser 60, colony 100, transport 20. If there are too few inhabitants, completion moves to the next tick repeatedly. Resources are not refunded and no people are invented. A newly completed ship receives three crew-years of supplies and pays no upkeep until the next production phase, but consumes provisions this year's survival phase.

Ship project cards show shipyard and research prerequisites, and list the crew required. The selected habitat's available residents are shown in the section guidance. A ship waiting for crew remains unfinished until enough inhabitants are available at its shipyard.

Ordinary site projects remain associated with their original nation after conquest. At the scheduled completion check, they are lost if the site is not owned by that nation. Recapture before that check permits completion. NPC annexation explicitly transfers the NPC's remaining projects, including unfinished research; completed research levels are not inherited. Victory assets use separate capture rules in [Projects and endings](projects-and-endings.md).

## Research

There are three branches, each capped at level 10. To advance from current level L to L+1, pay **40 × (L+1) credits and 80 × (L+1) data**, and wait **4 + L ticks**. An owned laboratory is required when starting; its continued ownership, power and population are not rechecked for an already-running research project. Research has no local sector and survives losing the original laboratory.

One project per branch may run nationally; all three branches can run concurrently. Extra laboratories produce more data but do not accelerate research. Completion happens before new non-diplomacy orders, so a level finishing this tick can unlock a cruiser, project or better fleet speed for an order later in the same tick.

| Branch | Mechanical effect |
| --- | --- |
| Industry | Adds 10% of base building resource output per level; level 5 unlocks megaproject construction |
| Propulsion | Adds 0.2 to fleet role speed before the current fleet-speed multiplier; cargo is unaffected |
| Warfare | Adds 15% of base fleet attack per level; level 1 unlocks torpedo boats and level 2 unlocks cruisers; defense attack is unaffected |

Scientific mission construction needs level 5 in **all three** branches. Bonuses add relative to base, not compound each level. At level 10, industry output is 2× base and fleet attack is 2.5× base. There is no research HP, growth or defensive-building bonus.

Sources: `packages/engine/src/rules.ts`, `engine.ts` (`production`, `execute`, `complete`, `power`); `politics.ts` (`allianceCosts`); `frontier.ts` (`repair`, `annex`).

## Commerce networks

A successful delivery from another clan with at least **100 beneficial resource units** activates the receiving habitat's powered trade exchange for the **next eight production ticks**. Qualifying resource units reuse the existing delivery-benefit calculation, including net-benefit accounting for bilateral trades. Self-shipments, passengers, seized cargo, intermediate flybys and undelivered convoys do not count. The port must have at least one completed trade-exchange level and nonnegative local power when the delivery succeeds. An exchange without continuing deliveries still produces its ordinary base credits.

Commerce adds **10% to local credit and data production**, with no stacking. Later qualifying deliveries reset expiry to eight production ticks after their arrival. A delivery after production in year T benefits production in T+1 through T+8, inclusive. Ownership changes clear commerce. Loss of power or exchange capacity prevents the bonus but does not pause its timer. Blockade suppresses commerce while the timer continues; relief can restore the remaining benefit.

For credits and data, multiply local output by 1.10 while commerce is active, or by 0.75 while blockaded. Blockade takes precedence. Apply this before national alliance penalties and final rounding. Passive national income, alloys, propellant, civilian life support, upkeep and research costs are unaffected by these local modifiers. The Economy view and owner inspectors show remaining ticks and resupply/recruitment constraints. Rival port commerce, reserves, cargo quantities and live fleet HP remain private.

## Local markets and hull construction

Starting capitals supply two power plants and a trade exchange; established NPC satellite ports also have exchanges. Current ship costs, build times, statistics and upkeep are in the numerical reference.

Private warehouse cargo and preparation stores are separate from government stock. Read [merchants, raids and patrols](raids-and-patrols.md) for their production, fees, capacity and recovery. Economic damage applies `1 − damage/100` to all building-resource output before existing rounding and coalition penalties, as well as civilian market output. It does not reduce housing, life support, defenses or passive national income. Successful independent cross-clan merchant deliveries refresh receiving-port commerce, without diplomatic achievement credit.

## Chosen capitals

An owned, inhabited, powered, secured designated capital multiplies local government resource output and civilian cargo production by 1.2 before normal rounding. Installed defenses receive 1.25 times HP and attack while eligible; no units or buildings are created. Blockade suppresses the economic bonus while eligible defense bonuses remain. Existing damage does not heal when designation changes.

After loss, **Choose a new capital** remains a private persistent notification. Economy and map inspectors list eligible habitats. Queue `capital` with a habitat ID: establishment costs no resources and finishes two ticks after execution, after that tick’s production; its economic bonus starts with the next production phase. Eligibility and economy delegation are checked again on completion. Failure leaves the clan without a capital. Selection is available only while no capital or pending selection exists. Recaptured former capitals are eligible again once secured. Human clans receive no automatic replacement; NPCs submit the same order, preferring a viable shipyard, then population, with stable ties. Pending choices and exact economic modifiers are private.

## Rich deposits and physical mining

Rich alloy and propellant deposits provide lasting reasons to contest the belt. The opening has twelve deposits per 420 sites, split equally between the two resources, selected using actual military routes so each is accessible to multiple neighboring clans. Ordinary growth remains available without owning one.

A rich unclaimed site requires a mining expedition; an ordinary colony order cannot bypass it. Establishment requires Industry 1, a colony ship with 100 real workers, 600 credits, 400 alloys and 200 propellant, plus quoted outbound travel, provisions and a reserved return. Committing an eligible expedition ends any starting protection across the clan; the interface requires acknowledgement while protection is active. A failed order does not remove protection or spend resources. The colony ship travels physically and becomes the outpost only on valid arrival. Construction requires six clear, supplied ticks with all workers present; contention or shortages interrupt progress.

A temporary mine has no ordinary construction, defenses, recruitment, shipbuilding, refit, capital eligibility or fleet support. Its workers and nearby guards consume real provisions. Once producing, it yields 60 units of its deposit resource per tick before Industry and eligible capital modifiers, held in a local warehouse capped at 1200 units. This output enters the national treasury only on successful freight delivery. Ordinary building production retains its normal treasury behavior. A settled rich site continues using physical mining freight.

The owner chooses an eligible permanent receiving port and an automatic freight allowance. Defaults are 50 credits and 100 propellant per four ticks. The charter pays transport, return escrow and provision purchases from that allowance. Supplies target travel lead time plus six ticks of reserve. Output manifests contain at most 600 resource units, departures occur at most every four ticks, and each direction permits at most five unresolved shipments. Blockades, insufficient allowance, lost ports or revoked authority pause automation with a visible reason. A charter never authorizes unrelated spending. Cargo already dispatched follows its paid itinerary; future automated redirection rechecks authority. Capturing a mine never transfers the former owner's spending permission or already departed output.

Permanent development costs 1200 credits, 800 alloys, 400 propellant and 200 data, plus physical freight for the materials. After delivery, twelve clear, supplied work ticks create basic housing, power and ice processing for the surviving workers. Development can be interrupted or captured; equipment, remaining materials, inventory and work stay at the site. The new owner must authorize its own freight charter. A permanent settlement then permits ordinary buildings and ground invasion, subject to their normal requirements.

## Fleet support and maintenance

Each owned, inhabited, powered, secured permanent shipyard site supports eight fleet points, up to 24 per clan. Scouts use one point, cruisers four, and other ships two. Construction projects reserve their points immediately. Lost capacity blocks new construction starts; it neither deletes existing ships nor cancels paid projects. Temporary mines supply no support capacity.

Credit upkeep remains, with an additional per-tick material bill: scout 0 alloys/1 propellant; colony 1/1; frigate 2/2; torpedo 2/3; transport 1/2; cruiser 4/4. Each installed defense level costs 1 credit, 2 alloys and 1 propellant. An unaffordable maintenance bill applies the saved hull/defense wear penalty once per tick; capacity loss alone causes no damage. NPC planning retains six ticks of maintenance before discretionary spending.

Ordinary mine, ice and defense levels are capped by asteroid size: small 1, medium 2, large 3. These caps and fleet support constrain expansion.