Races¶
There are 6 playable races in Galactic Conquest. Race choice determines your base income modifiers, shiplist, clustering mechanic, colony cap, and several unique mechanical rules. It is the most impactful decision a new player makes.
Terran¶
- Viable income: Agriculture, Commercial, Industry
- Cannot lose their homeworld — the only race besides Aspha Miner with this protection
- Standard clustering (C1/C2/C3)
- A well-rounded race with strong market-based income options
Aspha Miner¶
- Viable income: Tax, Mining, Industry
- Cannot lose their homeworld — same protection as Terran
- Standard clustering (C1/C2/C3)
- Tax income is capable of producing more credits than any other race/income combination if Food and CGs are available on the market
- Mining is the easiest low-effort income path — requires little active management
Guardian¶
- Viable income: Tax only
- Does not consume Food — population requires no food supply
- Cannot raise Loyalty — an intentional nerf. Loyalty directly multiplies Tax income, so Guardians are permanently capped below their theoretical maximum
- Can die if all planets are lost
- Standard clustering (C1/C2/C3)
- PR is determined by infrastructure and ships only, not population
Marauder¶
- Viable income: Agriculture, Commercial
- Cannot explore — all land must be acquired through combat against NPCs or other players
- Standard clustering (C1/C2/C3)
- Can die if all planets are lost
- D-class ships cannot be reverse engineered by Viral
Viral¶
- Viable income: Tax, Commercial, Agriculture
- Can die if all planets are lost
- Uses infection instead of standard clustering
- Cluster sizes use 4 planets per level instead of 5 (Tainted C1–C4)
- Can also infect clusters taken from other races, retaining their original planet count
- Cannot use U-class planets for income (infection required), but can dig on U.Spazial
- Reverse engineering: Viral selects 3 ships from the Marauder, Terran, and Aspha Miner shiplists to add to its own. This selection can be changed approximately weekly. P-class, D-class, and G-class ships are excluded from selection
- Viral's native shiplist is weak — flexibility via reverse engineering is their core identity and the tradeoff for their lower income ceiling
Collective¶
- Viable income: Agriculture, Tax
- Can die if all planets are lost
- Uses assimilation instead of standard clustering
- Cluster sizes use 4 planets per level (Similare C1–C5) — the only race with C5 (256 planets)
- Cannot explore — all land must be acquired through combat against NPCs or other players
- Can assimilate clusters taken from other races
- Cannot use U-class planets for income, but can dig on U.Spazial
- NPC farming is a viable and indefinite land source, making Collective's aggression requirement manageable even at low player counts