Production & Economy Formulas¶

Canonical reference for colony output, population, and economic calculations. These are the verified, authoritative production and economy formulas.

Note on turns: Most production runs as a batched cycle. turns represents the number of turns processed in a single cycle. floor() truncates to a whole number; ceil() rounds up. All output values are integers.

Variable Glossary¶

Variable	Meaning
`mining`	Mining buildings on the colony
`agriculture`	Agriculture buildings on the colony
`commercial`	Commercial buildings on the colony
`industry`	Industry buildings on the colony
`housing`	Housing buildings on the colony
`population`	Population on the colony
`loyalty`	Loyalty of the colony
`numplanets`	Planets in the colony
`turns`	Turns used in this production cycle
`housing_research`	Housing research level
`commercial_research`	Commercial research level
`industry_research`	Industry research level
`agriculture_research`	Agriculture research level
`mining_research`	Mining research level
`planet_mining_mod`	Planet-type mining modifier (%)
`planet_agriculture_mod`	Planet-type agriculture modifier (%)
`planet_pop_mod`	Planet-type population growth modifier (%)
`race_agriculture_mod`	Race agriculture modifier
`race_commercial_mod`	Race commercial modifier
`race_industry_mod`	Race industry modifier
`race_mineral_mod`	Race mineral modifier
`race_tax_mod`	Race tax modifier
`race_good_mod`	Race goods consumption modifier
`race_maintenance_mod`	Race maintenance cost modifier
`raw_materials`	Player's raw materials in storage

Colony-Level Production¶

Ore Mining¶

ore = floor(
    (mining × turns) × (1 + mining_research × 0.1) × (planet_mining_mod / 100)
)

Capped by ore deposit on the colony — production stops when the deposit runs out.

Effect of research: +10% ore per mining research level.

Minerals from Mining¶

minerals = ceiling(sqrt(
    mining × (numplanets × 0.3)
    × (1 + 0.4 × mining_research)
    × (planet_mining_mod / 100)
    × race_mineral_mod
)) × turns

The per-turn gain is the square root rounded up to a whole unit each turn (ceiling), then accumulated across turns.

Effect of research: +40% per mining research level (scalar inside the sqrt). Colony breadth matters: More planets in the colony increases mineral output. Diminishing returns: Square root means high mining values produce sharply diminishing returns vs. linear ore output. Ceiling: This is always rounded up.

Food from Agriculture¶

food = floor(
    agriculture × (1 + agriculture_research × 0.1)
    × (planet_agriculture_mod / 100)
    × race_agriculture_mod
) × turns

Effect of research: +10% food per agriculture research level.

Raw Materials from Agriculture¶

raw_materials = floor(
    agriculture × (1 + agriculture_research × 0.1)
    × (planet_agriculture_mod / 100)
    × race_agriculture_mod
) × turns

Note: Agriculture buildings produce both food and raw materials at the same rate. Same inputs, same output value.

Food Bonus (Commercial × Agriculture synergy)¶

Fires after Food from Agriculture, only when:

commercial_research ≥ 5  AND  commercial ≥ 5  AND  agriculture ≥ 1
    AND  race ≠ Marauder  AND  race ≠ Collective

Marauder and Collective are excluded from this synergy bonus even if they otherwise meet the conditions.

bonus_food = floor(
    base_food × (1 + ((commercial_research / 100) + (commercial / 10000)) / 5 + 0.001)
    - base_food
)

Where base_food is the food produced by the Food from Agriculture formula above.

Effect: Commercial buildings provide a percentage uplift on agricultural food output. Scales with commercial research and commercial building count.

Consumer Goods from Industry¶

Industry consumes raw materials to produce consumer goods. If raw materials run out mid-production, output is based on what was available.

Production (full):

goods_base = (industry × turns) + (industry × turns × industry_research × 0.1)
           = industry × turns × (1 + industry_research × 0.1)

consumer_goods         = round(goods_base × (planet_industry_mod / 100) × race_industry_mod)
raw_materials_consumed =       goods_base × (planet_industry_mod / 100) × race_industry_mod × 0.3

planet_industry_mod is the colony's planet/cluster Industry modifier — added in Patch 106 (see Planet Types → Industry Modifiers). Colony types with no listed modifier use 100 (×1.0). Note Industry rounds to nearest (round()), not floor() like most other outputs.

Effect of research: +10% consumer goods per industry research level.

Cost (changed in Patch 106): Industry consumes raw materials equal to exactly 30% of the consumer goods it produces — the same goods_base × planet_mod × race_mod value (before rounding) multiplied by 0.3 — replacing the old flat "1 raw material per industry building per turn." Example: 5,000,000 goods → 1,500,000 raw materials. The patch notes this works out to roughly 6% of net income with goods priced at 5, and ~10% with goods at 3. If raw materials run short mid-cycle, output is capped to what the available RM can support.

Consumer Goods from Commercial¶

Fires after Industry CG production. Conditional on:

commercial_research ≥ 5  AND  commercial ≥ 5  AND  raw_materials ≥ 2

If raw_materials ≥ commercial × 2 × turns (full production):

consumer_goods = floor(
    commercial × ((commercial_research × 0.08) + 1)
    × race_commercial_mod
) × turns
raw_materials_consumed = commercial × 2 × turns

If raw_materials < commercial × 2 × turns (resource-limited):

consumer_goods = floor(raw_materials / 2)
raw_materials_consumed = raw_materials  (all remaining)

Effect of research: +8% consumer goods per commercial research level. Cost: 2 raw materials per commercial building per turn at full production.

Tax Credit Income¶

credits = ((population / 2) + (population × loyalty / 5000)) × race_tax_mod × turns

Effect of population: Each population unit contributes a flat 0.5 credits per turn baseline. Effect of loyalty: Loyalty adds population × (loyalty / 5000) on top of the population / 2 base term. The loyalty term equals the base term at 2,500 loyalty (where tax income exactly doubles). At 5,000 loyalty the loyalty term equals population — twice the base — so total tax reaches 1.5 × population, triple the zero-loyalty income. As of Patch 106, 5,000 is the base personal cap, not an absolute ceiling: completing loyalty-reward missions raises your cap above 5,000, and the loyalty / 5000 term keeps scaling linearly past 1.5 × population. Guardians have a base cap of 2,500 (raised by their loyalty missions — all of Act 1 = +500 → 3,000). See Loyalty (raising) for how loyalty now accrues. Effect of race: Race tax modifier scales the entire result.

Population Goods Consumption (per colony)¶

Each colony consumes goods proportional to its population:

goods_consumed = floor(population / 10 × race_good_mod) × turns

This is subtracted from the colony's contribution to your goods total.

Goods → Credits Auto-Conversion (per colony)¶

The goods your population consumes convert to credits at 5.5 each. Surplus goods beyond population demand are retained in your stockpile, not sold:

If available_goods ≥ goods_consumed:

credits += ceil(goods_consumed × 5.5)
goods -= goods_consumed

If available_goods < goods_consumed:

credits += ceil(available_goods × 5.5)
goods = 0

This is the primary mechanism by which produced goods become income. Calculated per colony — empire-wide totals are the sum across all colonies.

Population Mechanics¶

Maximum Population¶

max_population = (10 + housing_research) × housing

Effect of research: Each housing research level adds 1 to the population multiplier per housing building.

Staffing — Pop Required to Fill Land¶

Every building on a colony consumes 1 population to operate — housing buildings included. Housing buildings provide (10 + housing_research) population each, so they're net-positive (one pop occupies the housing itself, the rest is free for staffing other buildings). Non-housing buildings consume 1 pop with no provision.

Concretely: if you have 2,000 total land (200 housing + 1,800 income buildings) at housing research 0, your max pop is 200 × 10 = 2,000, which exactly matches the 2,000-building total. Fully staffed.

This is enforced at build time, not as a runtime output penalty. The game tracks available labor per colony:

available_labor = population − housing − commercial − industry − agriculture − mining

A build is rejected if the new buildings would require more labor than you have (build_amount > available_labor → "not enough labor"). In other words, you can never be understaffed — you simply cannot construct a building unless you have a free population unit to operate it. There is no fractional output scaling; an understaffed colony state doesn't exist. The practical consequence is exactly the one above: to fill total_buildings worth of land you must first have the population to operate it, and population comes only from housing.

Solving for the minimum housing needed to fully staff a colony of total_buildings infrastructure at research level Hr:

housing_min = ceil(total_buildings / (10 + Hr))

This is the source of the "7 housing meta" you'll see referenced — the 7 is a housing research level, not a building count. At Hr = 7 each housing supports 17 pop, so housing only ever occupies 1 / (10 + Hr) of your land — about 6%. A 255-land colony needs 15 housing; a 2,000-land colony needs 118. Everything else goes to your income building of choice.

The reason to keep it low is the 255-level research cap: every level spent on housing is a level not spent on the income line that actually multiplies your output. Pushing housing research higher has sharply diminishing returns — going from Hr = 7 to Hr = 20 only frees up another ~3% of your land, which is a poor trade for 13 levels.

For Collective, pop_per_housing is doubled (Collective's racial 2× cap), so housing_min = ceil(total / ((10 + Hr) × 2)).

Population Growth (Normal Races)¶

Requires sufficient food to feed the colony. Each colony consumes:

food_required = floor(population / 10) × turns

If food ≥ food_required AND population < max_population:

new_population = population + floor(
    (floor(population × (2 × planet_pop_mod / 100) / 100) + 1) × turns
)

Capped at max_population.

Population Growth (Guardian Race)¶

Guardian colonies do not consume food and cannot starve.

Growth uses the same formula as normal races, but without the food check:

new_population = population + floor(
    (floor(population × (2 × planet_pop_mod / 100) / 100) + 1) × turns
)

Capped at max_population, the same ceiling as every other race.

Starvation (Normal Races Only)¶

Triggered when food < food_required. Guardian race is immune.

new_population = floor(population × 0.85)
new_loyalty = max(loyalty - 10, 0)

Effect: 15% population loss and 10 loyalty loss per starvation event. Loyalty cannot go below 0.

Empire-Wide Calculations¶

These run once per turn cycle, summed across all your colonies.

Empire Commercial Income¶

total_commercial = sum of commercial buildings across all your colonies

commercial_income = (total_commercial + (total_commercial × commercial_research × 0.1))
                    × 5
                    × race_commercial_mod
                    × turns

A flat empire-level credit income from your total commercial buildings. Separate from per-colony Consumer Goods production.

Effect of research: +10% per commercial research level.

Power Rating (PR)¶

Your empire's Power Rating — the number the combat damage-% thresholds, rankings, and NPC scaling are all measured against. Recalculated from your colonies and fleet:

PR = total_infrastructure × (5 + (total_land / 250000))
   + (total_planets × 1000)
   + total_fleet_power

Term	Meaning
`total_infrastructure`	Every building you own — `housing + commercial + mining + agriculture + industry` summed across all colonies. Since each building occupies one land, this is effectively the land you have actually built on
`total_land`	All the land you own, across every colony — built on or not
`total_planets`	Planets summed across all colonies
`total_fleet_power`	Power summed across every ship in your fleet

The two land-ish terms are easy to mix up: the multiplicand is your built land, while the figure inside the multiplier is your total land. A practical consequence is that empty land still raises PR — unbuilt land contributes nothing on its own, but it lifts the multiplier applied to everything you have built.

Small-empire variant: if the value above comes out below 5,000, a legacy formula is used instead: total_infrastructure + (total_planets × 1000) + (population / 5) + total_fleet_power.

Note that fleet power dominates PR for combat-focused empires (it's added 1:1), while land contributes through the total_land / 250000 term — every 250,000 land you own adds +1 to the multiplier on each point of infrastructure.

Maintenance & Upkeep¶

Total empire upkeep is deducted from credits each turn cycle.

Infrastructure Maintenance¶

total_infrastructure = sum of (housing + commercial + industry + agriculture + mining)
                       across all your colonies

maintenance_cost = total_infrastructure × race_maintenance_mod × turns

Ship Upkeep¶

ship_upkeep_cost = fleet_upkeep × turns

Where fleet_upkeep is the summed per-turn upkeep of every ship you own. Per-ship upkeep is computed from the ship's stats, not a fixed stored value. The core derivation:

base   = (ship_power × ship_build_turns) / 10
weapon = total_weapons × (1 + (weapon_types − 1) / 10) × range^1.5
armor  = (hull × 5) × (2 + total_shields)
upkeep = base × (weapon + armor) × race_upkeep_mod

Then adjusted by combat traits: ÷1.5 if the ship has no return-fire and no long-range, ×1.5 for long-range (and starbases get an extra ×1.2). The race upkeep modifier scales the whole thing (Guardian cheapest at 0.8/1,000,000, A.Miner priciest at 10.1/1,000,000; Terran 8, Viral 7, Collective 3.3, Marauder 1.9).

See Ships for the per-ship breakdown and how this drives "disband idle scouts" advice. (A handful of ships have no upkeep at all.)

Total Deduction¶

credits -= maintenance_cost + ship_upkeep_cost

Debt Interest¶

Triggers only when credits < 0 after all income and expenses are processed.

debt_interest = (|credits| × 0.015) × (1.015 ^ (turns - 1)) × turns
credits -= debt_interest

Effect: 1.5% per-turn compounding interest on negative credit balances. The 1.015 ^ (turns - 1) term means longer turn batches compound the debt interest, so going deep into debt during high-turn cycles is significantly more punishing than spreading the same turns across multiple short cycles.

Plunder Payout¶

One-time credit payout when destroying a colony. See Colonies → Plundering for the strategic role.

credits = fix(
    (
        (population × 2,500)
        + ((5,500 × total_infra²) / planet_land)
        + (750,000 × planets_in_colony)
    ) / 15
    × race_plunder_mod
)

The entire expression is float math, truncated toward zero (fix) exactly once — at the very end, after the race multiplier. None of the intermediate terms (including the total_infra² term) are rounded on their own.

Variable	Meaning
`population`	Population on the colony at the moment of plunder
`total_infra`	Sum of all buildings on the colony (housing + commercial + industry + agri + mining) — squared in the formula
`planet_land`	Land value of the colony
`planets_in_colony`	Planets in the colony (1 / 5 / 25 / 125 for C0–C3 standard clusters)
`race_plunder_mod`	Race plunder modifier (see Races → Modifiers)

Race plunder modifier values:

Race	Mod	Multiplier
Marauder	+1,900%	20×
Collective	+1,100%	12×
Terran	−50%	0.5×
A.Miner	−95%	0.05×
Guardian	−99%	0.01×
Viral	−99%	0.01×

Strategic notes:

Marauder + Collective are the only races that meaningfully plunder. A Marauder hitting a fully-built C3 (high pop + high infra + 125 planets) at +1,900% can pull a credits payout in the billions.
Infrastructure scales quadratically via total_infra². A fully-built colony plunders for vastly more than a sparsely-built one of the same land — the squared term dominates the payout for big builds.
Dividing by land means dense colonies (lots of infra packed onto small land) plunder for more per-infra than spread-out colonies — but small-land planets cap how much infra fits, so in practice land + infra grow together.
Plunder also removes the colony from your list and converts the planet to a Dead state.

Action Costs¶

Infrastructure Research Cost (turns per level)¶

Infrastructure research is bought with turns, 1 turn = 1 unit of progress toward the current level's requirement. Each completed level makes the next level cost more:

next_level_cost = max( floor(current_level_cost × 1.20), current_level_cost + 1 )

So each level costs ~20% more turns than the previous (with a +1 floor so it always rises). A brand-new research line starts at 2 turns for level 1. The cost is then clamped by level band:

Level band	Cap (turns per level)
≤ 100	750
101+	2,500

Starting at 2 and compounding 20%, a line hits the 750 cap at level 34 — level 33 is the last one below it, at 644 turns. Every level from 34 to 100 then costs a flat 750, and from 101 onward a flat 2,500. This is the grind referenced on the Turns page.

Your total infrastructure research is capped at 255 levels, summed across all five types. You choose how to spread those levels between Housing, Commercial, Industry, Agriculture, and Mining — which is why the income meta parks Housing at a low level and pours the rest into one income line.

Loyalty (raising)¶

Reworked in Patch 106. The old manual "reward loyalty" action — which cost both turns and credits (population × 2 × turns_spent^1.5) — has been removed entirely. Loyalty now rises passively:

As long as you are holding Consumer Goods, every colony's loyalty climbs on its own toward your personal cap. No action to take, nothing to spend.
There is no credit cost and no turn cost — keeping CGs in stock is the whole requirement.
If you run out of Consumer Goods, loyalty stops climbing.

Personal cap = race base + loyalty-reward mission bonuses:

Race	Base cap	With loyalty missions
Guardian	2,500	+500 for all of Act 1 → 3,000 (climbs further with later loyalty missions)
All other races	5,000	raised above 5,000 by completed loyalty-reward missions

Guardians can now raise loyalty (up to their 2,500 base, before missions) — this reverses the pre-106 hard block. See Tax Credit Income for what loyalty is worth.

Resource Caps¶

Hard ceilings on stored resources. Production beyond these caps is discarded.

Resource	Cap
Credits (positive)	50,000,000,000,000 (50 trillion)
Credits (debt floor)	-200,999,999,999
Raw Materials	100,000,000,000 (100 billion)
Food	100,000,000,000 (100 billion)
Goods	100,000,000,000 (100 billion)
Ore	10,000,000,000 (10 billion)
Each mineral type (1–6)	10,000,000,000 (10 billion)

Patch 106 (June 2026) raised these: Credits 5T → 50T; Food / Goods / Raw Materials 25B → 100B; Ore and each mineral 2B → 10B. Debt floor unchanged.

Production Summary¶

Building	Primary Output	Secondary Output	Research Bonus	Notes
Mining	Ore (linear)	Minerals (sqrt)	+10% ore, +40% minerals	Minerals scale with planet count, ore capped by deposit
Agriculture	Food	Raw Materials	+10% each	Both outputs equal
Commercial	Consumer Goods	Food bonus + Empire credits	+8% CG, +10% empire credits	Consumes 2 RM per building per turn
Industry	Consumer Goods	—	+10% CG	Consumes 30% of CG output as RM (Patch 106); planet Industry modifier applies; rounds with round() not floor()
Housing	Population cap	—	+1 cap per housing	Cap = (10 + research) × housing; Collective doubles cap
Population	Tax Credits	—	—	Loyalty 2500 doubles income; 5000 triples it (base cap, raised above 5000 by missions)

Calculation Order¶

For each turn cycle, the game processes calculations in this order:

Per colony:

Tax credit income
Minerals from mining
Industry CG (consumes raw materials)
Population goods demand calculated (capped at available goods)
Commercial CG (consumes raw materials, conditional) — produced into the goods pool
Goods → credits auto-conversion (consumed goods × 5.5; runs after Commercial CG)
Agriculture food + raw materials
Food bonus (conditional)
Ore mining
Population growth or starvation

Empire-wide:

Ship upkeep deducted
Empire commercial income added
Infrastructure maintenance deducted
Debt interest applied (if credits < 0)
Resource caps enforced