Missions¶
The NPC mission system is a guided progression track that rewards players for hitting empire milestones. Each mission has a fixed goal (economy, planet count, power rating, infrastructure tech, or specific planet types) and a fixed reward (loyalty, credits, colonies, ships, tech levels, or research-cost reductions).
Only three races have a mission track. The remaining races can be played normally but receive no guided progression or mission rewards.
| Race | Has Missions | Track |
|---|---|---|
| Terran | Yes | Act 1 (9 missions) + Act 2 (9 missions) |
| Aspha Miner | Yes | Act 1 (9 missions) + Act 2 (9 missions) |
| Guardian | Yes | Act 1 (9 missions) + Act 2 (9 missions) |
| Marauder | No | — |
| Viral | No | — |
| Collective | No | — |
Recommended strategy¶
Claim loyalty missions as soon as you qualify — the reward is a permanent cap increase, not a one-time top-up.
5,000 is your base personal loyalty cap. Normal loyalty (the passive climb that runs while you hold Consumer Goods; see Income Types → Tax) climbs to that ceiling and stops. Loyalty-reward missions raise the ceiling itself: as of Patch 106 the personal cap is "5,000 base, with bonuses adding on for missions you've completed," so a +250-loyalty mission lifts your cap to 5,250 and leaves it there. The Act 2 tracks alone hand out +50, +100, +150, +250, and they stack.
This replaced the older behaviour, where completing a mission dumped a one-time lump of loyalty onto the colonies you happened to own at that moment. The practical consequences are the reverse of what that used to imply:
- You cannot waste a loyalty reward by claiming it early. Your current loyalty is irrelevant to the reward — the extra ceiling is banked permanently, and colonies climb into it afterwards on their own.
- Earlier is strictly better. The cap raise is permanent but the growth toward it is per-turn, so claiming sooner gives your colonies longer to fill the new headroom.
Practical playthrough order:
- Complete loyalty missions the moment you meet their goals. There is no reason to hold one back.
- Keep Consumer Goods in stock. A raised cap only pays off while that passive climb is actually running underneath it.
- Time the credit-burning "building" missions (see costs below) for when your reserves are well above the threshold — completing them with exactly the threshold leaves your treasury at zero.
Structure¶
Every race's track follows the same two-act format:
- Act 1 — Foundations. Mostly economic and exploration milestones (income/turn, planet count, infrastructure tech, first power-rating thresholds). Rewards are mostly loyalty-cap raises, small credit/ore grants, and free colonies.
- Act 2 — Empire. Larger goals (50–200 planets, 200K–800K PR, specific planet types). Rewards scale up with bigger loyalty-cap raises, multiple free colonies, and unique race-specific ship grants. Each track's final mission grants the same temporary perk: infrastructure research cost cut to 1/10, which stays worthwhile for roughly the next 13 research levels — that is how long 20%-per-level growth takes to climb back to where the cost started.
Reward types¶
| Reward | Effect |
|---|---|
| Loyalty | Permanent increase to your personal loyalty cap (+20 → +250 depending on mission tier), stacking on top of the 5,000 base — not a one-time top-up of current loyalty |
| Credits | One-shot credit grant |
| Ore | One-shot ore grant (Guardian Act 1 m_1 only) |
| Free colonies | Auto-triggers exploration successes — 1 to 3 new planets joining your empire |
| Infra tech levels | +2 or +5 levels to a specific infrastructure technology, equivalent to skipping that much research |
| Ship grants | Free units of a race-unique ship (Guardian's Kal-Zul Destroyer K-Class, Aspha's alien G.Livid). These gift ships cannot be built — what the missions award is all you ever get |
| Research-cost reduction | Final mission only — resstart and resreq divided by 10. Temporary buff: roughly the next 13 research levels are discounted before normal cost growth restores parity |
Costs¶
Some "building" missions in each track (Government Control Center, Asphalt Temple/Arch, Guardian Obelisk, Kal-Zul Ships) deduct credits on completion equal to the credit-reserve threshold required. If you complete the mission with exactly the threshold amount, you finish with zero credits. Hit the goal with margin.
Notable cost-burning missions:
| Race | Mission | Credit cost |
|---|---|---|
| Terran | Act 1 m_5 (Government Control Center) | 5,000,000 |
| Terran | Act 2 m_1 (Financial crisis) | 50,000,000 |
| Guardian | Act 1 m_8 (Kal-Zul Ships) | 25,000,000 |
| Guardian | Act 2 m_7 (Guardian Obelisk) | 200,000,000 |
| Aspha | Act 1 m_4 (Asphalt Temple) | 500,000 |
| Aspha | Act 1 m_6 (Asphalt Arch) | 8,000,000 |
| Aspha | Act 1 m_8 (Great Asphalt Arch) | 40,000,000 |
| Aspha | Act 2 m_1 (Construction cost) | 40,000,000 |
Race tracks¶
- Terran Missions — Commercial / Industry / Agriculture empire builder. No ship rewards; pure economy & colony progression.
- Aspha Miner Missions — Industry / Mining / Tax. Grants 27 alien G.Livid across the track.
- Guardian Missions — Housing-driven energy empire. Grants Kal-Zul Destroyer K-Class ships and includes a one-off Gas-planet credit windfall.