This guide will explain how to use the game mechanics to your advantage. While some elements of the game will not benefit you in any way (think avenger), other factions and elements have not so obvious benefits that can hurt the ai and help you in your quest.

Knowledge is one of the most helpful things in the game, yet at times it can be frustrating. There is so much to research and not enough knowledge to do so. (Alternatively, you could hack and risk getting overrun by zombie bot ships, or could capture enough planets and have the galaxy trampled by the sheer magnitude of the ai waves...if your game doesn’t crash first from the lag...or you could cheat) From an 80 planet map perspective, by the end, depending on the difficulty and your playing style, you should take anywhere from 20-40 planets. That said, I would considering hacking two planets maximum (this also depends on difficulty) to ensure your safety (preferably ars hacks), but no more than four times unless you are really suicidal. By the end of the game, you should have acquired a total of about 70-80k knowledge (not including the 10k from the start). Now the most important question: What to spend it on? What you spend your knowledge on will depend on your playstyle or what you want to specialize in (for multiplayer). NOTE: What you spend your knowledge on can and most likely will have a MAJOR hand in determining the outcome of your campaign (Did I say major?). Now I would like to talk about some of the roles that I have thought of.



Generally, offensive players will try to build up their fleet sizes by making use of mark upgrades and mercenary ships. Highly recommended to upgrade full metal and crystal harvesters, mark upgrades, and only own a few planets while making sure they have tons of m and c points. Alternatively, one of the other players with larger economy could gift mark 1 and 2 ships to the player (I would say as a rule of thumb every player should have mark 2 unlocked) or mercenary ships. This class will also help neuter planets.


Defensive player will obviously research lots of turrets, (i strongly recommend mini fortress) and have a decent sized fleet. This player should be on autopilot a lot more due to the nature of defense, so it is wise to dedicate one of these players to scouting and planning with less people, otherwise someone else should be dedicated to that. I would say that this class should have a medium size of the planets taken. If possible, they should start on a good defensive unit such as viral shredders or neinzuls to further boost defense. The research of a neinzul starship may be helpful as well.


These players are meant for doing deep raids in AI territory. They should be one of the best players and experienced in deep raids. I would recommend a very specialized type of knowledge spending for this class; transport ships, cloaker starships, (scout starships have a superbooster as well), and starting on a planet with a cloaked or teleporting ships. (NOTE: I would not make a spire jumpship unless it is attrition on mark 3 and up due it's small capacity and attrition rate) Neinzul starships may be helpful as well in making extra ships on the front lines with no engineers needed. Also, this position requires lots of money. All planets with distribution nodes should go to this player and research of m and c harvester mk3 is highly recommended. (NOTE: With distribution nodes, only open them if you have close to zero m and c so that if it is a trojan, you wont lose much and can open another one) Also research warp jammer and economic command stations (Economic for making money, warp jammer for defending a planet from a wave right after you've taken it), but the warp jammer station does cost money, so it should be swapped with another asap. (NOTE: This role requires lots of attention and may sometimes be a clickfest unless you pause. Experienced players only)


Although you won't see a lot of action with this role, it is still very important. Obviously research mk3 m and c harvesters, economic command stations, and the like. (NOTE!!! HARVESTER EXO SHIELD NOT RECOMMENDED-unless your planet gets attacked every five seconds, which it wont. Exo shields cut your output in half, and they only give the harvester a small force field. If a wave attacks your planet, and they manage to knock down your harvesters, they will only be down for five minutes maximum unless you lost it entirely. In a wave battle, an extra couple million health won't really matter that much, and would you rather have the production halved for eternity? Do the math people.) This player, along with the specialist, should occupy the predominate number of planets for maximized economic growth. (The specialist should have some so that they can churn out more ships if they need to to help establish a foothold at a distant planet


This is one of the less important classes but can still be a big help especially on the higher difficulties. This class is responsible for making sure there are no "overflow" AI ships roaming around. For example, if someone attacks a planet and the AI threat level spikes, then the hybrid needs to help the other player contain the threat and finish off the planet. Conversely, if the AI deploys several large carriers, then the hybrid will immediately rush to that location to contain the AI. Good ships to unlock for this class include