Resources & Energy

Everything in Galaxy runs on resources. Understanding what you need — and where to get it — is the key to growth.

Basic Resources

Four core resources drive your economy. They're produced by buildings, harvested from asteroid fields, looted from pirate camps, and traded at market hubs.

Ore

The most fundamental resource. Used in every building and ship. Produced by the Ore Mine.

Bonus: Rocky planets produce significantly more ore. The Industrialist commander further boosts ore output.

Silicates

Essential for technology and advanced construction. Produced by the Silicate Mine.

Bonus: Crystalline planets have vastly superior silicate yields. The Industrialist commander boosts silicate output empire-wide.

Hydrogen

Fuel for ships, ingredient for alloys, and used in advanced buildings. Produced by the Hydrogen Processor.

Bonus: Gas Giants produce enormous amounts of hydrogen. Cold worlds also provide a small production bonus.

Alloys

Advanced material synthesized from ore and silicates. Required for ships, military buildings, and mid-to-late game structures. Produced by the Alloy Foundry.

Bonus: The Industrialist commander boosts alloy production; the Scientist gets bonus energy that helps keep foundries running efficiently.

Sector Resource Effects

Security zones affect resource income differently depending on the source. Planetary colonies in safer space are stable, while operating beyond Sentinel improves the value of many resource opportunities. Asteroid fields use their own rules: dangerous zones tend to produce richer fields and unlock rarer field types, but the local star type still shapes what can appear in a specific system.

Rare Resources

Exotic materials that unlock powerful technologies and are required for advanced ships and buildings. They're much harder to obtain — produced in small quantities, found in dangerous space, or dropped as loot.

Resource	How to Obtain	Used For
Cryo-Ice	Rare Extractor on ice planets, ice asteroid fields, pirate loot	Advanced ships, stealth technology, ice drilling equipment
Quantum Dust	Quantum Synthesizer (Dead/Rift zones), quantum asteroid fields (Dead Space), wormhole loot, deep-space expeditions	Capital ships, advanced research, quantum computing
Plasma Core	Rare Extractor on volcanic planets, plasma asteroid fields	Battleships, assault craft, advanced weaponry
Bio-Extract	Bio Complex (doubled output on terra worlds — the primary source)	Colony ships, carriers, medical and population tech
Dark Matter	Dark matter asteroid fields (Dead Space), high-class wormholes, deep-space expeditions	Titans, Alcubierre drive, late-game technologies

Antimatter

Antimatter sits between "rare resource" and "fuel" — it's stored per-planet and consumed to power certain late-game operations. No building produces it directly; you harvest it from deep-space content (and certain artifacts can grant a passive trickle).

Sources: high-class wormhole encounters, expeditions, antimatter-producing artifacts.
Used by: late-game weaponry and the Alcubierre Drive, which spends antimatter in addition to the normal hydrogen fuel for fast, cloaked travel.

Tip: Rare resources become increasingly important in Eras 3-5. Plan ahead — identify planet types and asteroid fields that produce what you need before you run out.

Precursor Fragments

Mysterious crystalline shards left behind by an ancient civilization. These are not a traditional resource — they're a special currency used to accelerate research.

When starting a research project, you can spend Precursor Fragments to reduce the research time. The more fragments you invest, the faster the research completes.

Where to Find Fragments

Pirate Camps — higher-tier camps have a chance to drop fragments
Wormholes — encounter rewards, especially from Class 3 and Class 4
Dead Zone Expeditions — precursor vaults and ancient wreckage

Warning: Fragments are rare and valuable. Spend them wisely on research that matters most to your strategy.

Energy

Energy works differently from other resources — it's not stored. Instead, it's a balance between production and consumption that affects your entire colony.

How Energy Works

Every building consumes energy when active.
Energy buildings (solar, thermal, fusion, zero-point) generate energy.
Positive balance — all buildings operate at full efficiency.
Negative balance — resource production drops proportionally across your colony.

Energy Sources

Building	Tier	Notes
Solar Plant	Starter	Available immediately. Cheap, reliable, but output scales modestly.
Thermal Plant	Mid-game	Requires research. More expensive but higher output per level.
Fusion Reactor	Advanced	Requires research. Very high output but consumes hydrogen.
Zero-Point Generator	Endgame	Requires advanced research. Near-limitless energy with no fuel cost.

Tip: Volcanic planets have a natural energy production bonus, making them ideal locations for energy-hungry operations. The Scientist commander also gets a direct boost to energy production.

Storage

Resources can only accumulate up to your storage capacity. If production would exceed your cap, the excess is lost.

The Storage Complex increases capacity for all basic resources.
Storage capacity scales exponentially with level — higher levels provide dramatically more space.
Research like Expanded Warehousing further increases storage capacity.

Watch your caps! If you're producing resources faster than you can spend them, upgrade your Storage Complex. Overflowing resources are wasted resources.

Population

Population is a colony-level resource that grows over time up to the planet's capacity. More population means more efficient operations.

Residential Complex — primary population housing (adds capacity and a small growth bonus per level)
Bio Complex — accelerates population growth and produces bio-extract; does not add population capacity by itself
Medical Bay — adds modest population capacity and a strong growth bonus
Terra planets have the highest natural population bonus
The Scientist commander gets an empire-wide population growth bonus

Where to Get Resources

Method	Resources	Details
Colony Buildings	All basic + some rare	Steady passive income. See Buildings.
Asteroid Mining	Depends on field type	Send mining ships to extract resources. See Mining.
Pirate Camps	Basic + rare + fragments	Defeat pirates for loot. Higher tiers = better rewards. See Pirates.
Wormholes	Rare + fragments	Multi-encounter gauntlets with escalating rewards. See Wormholes.
Trade	All tradeable	Buy and sell on the galactic market. See Trade.
Outposts	Based on field type	Autonomous production facilities. See Outposts.
Combat Salvage	Basic resources	Debris from destroyed ships can be collected. See Combat.
Raids	Stolen from enemy	Attack or raid other players. See Raids.

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