Population and survival

Rulebook index · Economy · Logistics

Housing, support and reserves

Frontier population is a count of living people, not a resource that can be purchased or regenerated after extinction. It exists in habitats, fleet crews and unresolved passenger convoys. People move between those locations through ship construction, settlement and shipments. Healthy inhabitants also have births.

With habitat level H, ice-processor level I, integrity K from 0 to 100, and the site's size multiplier S:

capacity = floor(H × capacityPerHabitat × S × K / 100)
support = net power < 0 ? 0 : floor(min(capacity, I × 1000 × S × K / 100))

capacityPerHabitat supplies the habitat coefficient; each ice processor provides a 1,000-person base support level. Both coefficients receive the site's public size multiplier (small 1.0, medium 1.4, large 1.8), before integrity loss and final rounding. More habitats without enough ice processing or power can add housing without enough sustainable support. Industry research increases propellant output but does not improve the processor's person-support capacity. Reserves are measured in person-years, separately from treasury propellant. There is no automatic treasury conversion for habitat shortages; send a relief shipment to convert propellant into reserves.

At each survival phase, for current population P and reserves R:

available = R + support
unsupported = max(0, P − available)
new reserves = min(capacity × reserveYears, max(0, available − P))
deaths if unsupported > 0 = min(P, ceil(unsupported × mortality))

Default reserveYears is 3 and mortality is 0.20. Surplus support accumulates as reserves up to three capacity-years; excess supplies are discarded at this cap. A shortage kills 20% of only the unsupported portion, rounded up, not 20% of everyone. This permits people to survive for some time in failing settlements. Reserves do not raise housing capacity or repair integrity.

Example: 800 inhabitants, support 500, reserves 100 yield available support 600, a shortfall of 200, 40 deaths, and zero reserves. With 800 inhabitants, support 1,000 and reserves zero there is no shortage, 200 reserves remain, and growth can occur.

Growth and viability

If there is no shortage and population is below capacity, add P × 0.02 to a saved fractional growth accumulator. Apply the whole-number births, limited by spare capacity, and retain the fractional remainder. Population at or above capacity has no growth. A reserve-funded year can have births even when current support is below population; this can make the next year's shortage worse.

A habitat is viable only if all of these hold after survival:

1. Population is at least 100.
2. Ongoing support is at least its population.
3. Reserves are at least one full current population-year.

Viability is stricter than the map's supply color:

Stable does not necessarily mean viable: a stable site may have fewer than 100 people or inadequate reserves. Critical does not guarantee deaths this tick: support plus reserves can still meet consumption. Use the actual owned settlement data and formulas to forecast outcomes. The public view intentionally exposes only the label, integrity, population and viability, not an opponent's reserves or buildings.

War and repair

A site with a battle or conquest event loses ceil(population × 0.02) civilians and 10 integrity points, once per tick, before survival. Both a battle and conquest at the same site still cause only one siege penalty. Even a fleet battle over an otherwise neutral site can damage its settlement. Damage is not scaled by weapons used. The civilian loss applies before shortages and births; reduced integrity can immediately lower housing and support and cause additional deaths that year.

Repair restores integrity for 2 credits and 1 alloy per missing point. It executes before battle. It is not a shield against later siege damage. An empty habitat keeps ownership and infrastructure; it does not automatically become available for colony settlement. Evacuating all inhabitants therefore stops resource production without freeing the site.

Fleet crews and provisions

Crew requirements at construction are scout 5, frigate 20, cruiser 60 and colony 100. Construction consumes inhabitants at completion. Settlement consumes the colony ship and lands its actual surviving crew and remaining provisions. There is no separate passenger population on a colony ship.

At departure, the fleet buys the quote's fuel and provisions and sets supplies to crew × (quoted years + reserveYears). This replaces its previous carried-supply amount. Provisions are consumed during the departure year and during transit. The buffer is finite; changed hop times can outlast it. A fleet denied final entry attempts physical return when affordable and authorized; otherwise it waits off port with finite supplies. Crew losses do not reduce the ship's attack or speed while any crew survives.

A stationary fleet at a powered, supported habitat with passage access tops up to at least crew × reserveYears (three crew-years by default). Supplies already above that target are retained. It first uses the host's reserves for the required top-up if they cover it entirely; otherwise its own nation's treasury pays ceil(refill / 100) propellant if affordable. These two funding sources are not combined for a partial refill. This can reduce an ally's reserves and viability. It does not remove the habitat's inhabitants. The fleet roster shows crew and carried provisions so you can judge whether a fleet can keep operating.

After refilling, each ship consumes one crew-year. If carried supplies were less than crew, ceil(missing × 0.20) crew die. At zero crew the ship is destroyed. There is no order to recruit replacement crew into a partially depleted fleet. Credit upkeep and provision survival are independent checks.

Passenger convoys use the same missing-person-year mortality rule and spend provisions while travelling or blockaded. They cannot resupply at intermediate flybys. Delivered passengers and remaining supplies enter the arrival habitat before that year's habitat survival. Passengers aboard a seized convoy are landed at the interception site; habitat ownership determines their subsequent population affiliation, while stolen cargo goes to the seizing clan. There is no separate prisoner or ransom system.

Exile, resettlement and extinction

A clan becomes exiled when the combat/control phase finds it owns no habitats. Living fleet crews and outgoing unresolved convoy passengers can keep it alive. It can use a surviving colony ship to settle a free site or retake a site with landed marines. Regaining a holding clears exile; production resumes at the next production phase. There is no new stock grant or free protection on this return. Lobby players can instead use practice_restart to discard a defeated practice nation and start over with fresh assets; this does not apply in competitive seasons.

Extinction is checked after survival. It counts inhabitants in the clan's owned sites, its fleet crews and passengers in travelling or blockaded convoys sent by that clan. Incoming passengers still belong to the sender until arrival. With none left, the clan is permanently marked extinct and its queued orders are cancelled. It cannot queue new gameplay orders. Empty buildings and credits alone do not prevent extinction. Incoming aid is not a guaranteed way to keep a recipient alive before delivery, and there is no competitive resurrection command.

Sources: packages/engine/src/frontier.ts (capacity, support, viable, frontierSurvival, frontierAfterCombat); engine.ts (complete, arrivalsAndCombat); visibility.ts.

Military population

Ground marines and embarked marines are living people, separate from fleet crew and civilian convoy passengers. Starting capital garrisons of 50 and seeded NPC satellite garrisons of 20 are deducted from existing civilians and provisions. Colonization creates no free garrison. Recruitment, embarkation, landing and demobilization conserve people. Marines count toward extinction and total population, and contribute one military standing point each. A destroyed transport loses its embarked marines and supplies.

Marine provisions are separate from crew provisions. Movement buys journey years plus three reserve years for every embarked marine, using the same 100 person-years per propellant conversion as other provisions. Loading and unloading transfer the proportional carried marine provisions without creating supplies. Each empty troop berth can also carry three person-years of supply cargo. At friendly ports, loading this cargo costs ceil(person-years / 100) propellant; extraction from an enemy site draws from the ground force's finite supplies. Supply-only transport runs can reinforce an existing landing.

Ground forces and stationary embarked troops refill at supported sites with passage access, using host reserves or their own propellant under the existing fleet refill rule. Otherwise they depend on carried supplies. Each marine consumes one person-year per tick; shortages kill 20% of unsupported marines, rounded up. Marines do not reproduce. Military survival runs after civilian, crew and convoy survival, before extinction. Annexation transfers forces and sets their stance to hold. Practice restart removes the old nation's ground forces and campaign state.

Military supplies under blockade

Hostile orbital control prevents automatic treasury-funded top-ups for docked fleet crews, ground forces and embarked marines. Supported ports with passage still allow whatever local reserves remain, including a partial refill; carried supplies remain usable. Civilian support and growth keep their normal rules. As reserves run out, military shortages cause the existing 20% unsupported-person mortality. Supply transports and timely relief therefore matter even when the defender has a large treasury. Ordinary explicit paid movement and supply-loading orders retain their existing costs and constraints.

Refit and economic damage

Refits replace missing crew from local civilians; preparation stores do not create people. Economic raid damage reduces production only, leaving population capacity, integrity-based life support and defensive strength unchanged. Orbital skirmishes and boarding no longer automatically kill civilians; bombardment, ground combat and conquest still can. Ships waiting off a denied port retain finite carried supplies and cannot receive docked resupply.