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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 in the source (race ≠ 2 AND race ≠ 4), 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.

If raw_materials ≥ industry × turns (full production):

consumer_goods = floor(
    ((industry × turns) + (industry × turns × industry_research × 0.1))
    × race_industry_mod
)
raw_materials_consumed = industry × turns

If raw_materials < industry × turns (resource-limited):

consumer_goods = floor(
    (raw_materials + (raw_materials × industry_research × 0.1))
    × race_industry_mod
)
raw_materials_consumed = raw_materials  (all remaining)

Effect of research: +10% consumer goods per industry research level. Cost: 1 raw material per industry building per turn at full production.

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 the 5,000 cap the loyalty term is population — twice the base — so total tax reaches 1.5 × population, triple the zero-loyalty income. Loyalty is hard-capped at 5,000; it cannot go higher. 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 — at full housing research investment (Hr ≈ 250+), each housing supports ~260 pop, so even a 2,000-land colony only needs ~8 housing for staffing. The other ~1,992 land slots go to your income building of choice.

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
)

Maximum population for Collective: max_population × 2 (double the normal cap).

Capped at max_population × 2.

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 Sum of housing + commercial + mining + agriculture + industry across all colonies
total_land Sum of colony land
total_planets Sum of planet across all colonies
total_fleet_power Sum of power across all ships in your fleet

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 land / 250000 term — every 250,000 land adds +1 to the per-infrastructure multiplier.

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 are hardcoded to 0 upkeep.)

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×
Marauder D-class (not playable) —
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 – 200 2,500
> 200 15,000

Starting at 2 and compounding 20%, a line reaches the 750 cap around level ~33; from level 101 onward every level is a flat 2,500 turns, and past 200 it's 15,000. This is the grind referenced on the Turns page.

Loyalty (raising)

Loyalty is bought per colony with turns, and also costs credits:

loyalty_gained = turns_spent × 5
credit_cost    = population × 2 × turns_spent^1.5

Loyalty is capped at 5,000 (see Tax Credit Income for what it's worth). Free accounts can spend at most 3 turns per action; Guardians cannot raise loyalty at all (hard-blocked in the source).

Resource Caps

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

Resource Cap
Credits (positive) 5,000,000,000,000 (5 trillion)
Credits (debt floor) -200,999,999,999
Raw Materials 25,000,000,000 (25 billion)
Food 25,000,000,000 (25 billion)
Goods 25,000,000,000 (25 billion)
Ore 2,000,000,000 (2 billion)
Each mineral type (1–6) 2,000,000,000 (2 billion)

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 1 RM per building per turn
Housing Population cap — +1 cap per housing Cap = (10 + research) × housing; Collective doubles cap
Population Tax Credits — — Loyalty 2500 doubles income; 5000 (cap) triples it

Calculation Order

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

Per colony:

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

Empire-wide:

  1. Ship upkeep deducted
  2. Empire commercial income added
  3. Infrastructure maintenance deducted
  4. Debt interest applied (if credits < 0)
  5. Resource caps enforced