Skip to content

Planet

A world in orbit around the system centre. Planets are major economic bodies in any system. Their type determines what kind of colony world they are or whether they are a specialised orbital-only planet.

Purpose

Provide the foundation for conventional economic development. Planets have the highest sector slot counts of any stellar object type, making them the default location for building up extraction, processing, and logistics capacity.

Player Value

A planet gives a player room to build, extract, or specialise. The type of planet determines whether it can host a conventional colony, what kind of development is possible there, and what kind of resource profile it tends to carry. Most planets in the game world receive their own occurrence profile when they are created. Spawned homeworld planets are the exception and all use the same fixed profile.

Planet Types

Current planet types fall into two gameplay groups.

Conventional Colony Planets

Conventional colony planets support colonies and are valid spawned homeworlds.

The current conventional colony planet types are Rock, Desert, Ocean, Continental, Arctic, and Volcanic.

  • Rock planets are solid rocky colony worlds and are commonly associated with Structural Materials extraction.
  • Desert planets are arid colony worlds with minimal moisture and harsh temperature swings.
  • Ocean planets are water-dominated colony worlds with deep global seas.
  • Continental planets are temperate colony worlds with mixed land and sea biomes.
  • Arctic planets are frozen colony worlds defined by ice, snow, and extreme cold.
  • Volcanic planets are hazardous colony worlds shaped by lava, ash, and active geology.

Gas Giants

Gas giants exist for strategic and economic specialisation rather than standard homeworld settlement.

Gas Giant

A gas giant is a massive gas-dominated world with no conventional surface. It is strategically valuable, but it is not a conventional colony world.

  • Not surface-accessible. Surface sectors cannot be placed on a gas giant.
  • Weighted toward Volatiles in its occurrence profile.
  • Cannot host a colony.
  • Cannot be used as a spawned homeworld.
  • Standard extraction cannot be performed on a gas giant in the current game.

Resource Profile

Conventional colony planets do not all share a single fixed resource role. Their occurrence profiles are assigned when the planet is created, and different planet types can support different economic identities.

Some planet types are more specialised than others.

  • Rock planets tend toward Structural Materials.
  • Gas giants tend toward Volatiles.

Most planets receive their own occurrence profile when the planet is created. Spawned homeworld planets all use the same fixed occurrence profile.

Rules

  • Planets orbit the system centre.
  • The current conventional colony planet types are Rock, Desert, Ocean, Continental, Arctic, and Volcanic.
  • Gas is the current orbital-only planet type.
  • Only conventional colony planet types are valid spawned homeworlds.
  • Each planet receives a resource occurrence profile when it is created. Spawned homeworld planets use one shared fixed profile. A planet's assigned profile does not change through gameplay.
  • Gas giants cannot host colonies.
  • Planets can have moons in orbit around them.

Player Actions

  • View a planet's position within the system map.
  • View a planet's type, settlement role, and resource occurrence profile.
  • Claim a planet where its type allows a claim (subject to ownership rules).
  • Colonise a conventional colony planet (subject to colonisation rules).
  • Place sectors on a surface-accessible planet (subject to infrastructure rules).

Constraints

  • Planets cannot be moved or destroyed by players.
  • Gas giants cannot be colonised.
  • Gas giants cannot be used as spawned homeworlds.
  • No sectors can be placed on a gas giant in the current game.
  • Orbital extraction mechanics for gas giants are not available in the current game.
  • Sector placement is governed by the planet's slot count. Slot count rules are defined in the infrastructure feature documentation.
  • Ownership and colonisation rules are defined in their respective features.
  • Extraction rules are defined in the extraction feature documentation.