How to play

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  1. Piloting

    Flight and thrust

    No brake: turn and thrust

    The ship has no brake: it keeps moving until something stops it.

    The engine always pushes where the nose points.

    To slow down, turn the ship around and thrust: the push works against the motion.

    The joystick turns the ship toward your finger; pushing toward the edge lights the engine, stronger the further out you go.

    The engine starts only with the nose roughly aligned. Gravity always pulls, the sun burns, and the arena edge pushes the ship back.

    Keyboard: the arrow keys ← → turn, Space thrusts, Ctrl or the down arrow fires, A starts guided landing, + and − zoom.

    • Turn around and thrust: that is how you slow down.
    • Thrusting at random does not brake: the engine always pushes where the nose points.
    • Gravity pulls all the time: keep an eye on your trajectories.

  2. Landing

    Docking on planets

    Land with care

    Set down slowly and upright, with the nose pointing away from the planet.

    Before touching down, slow down: turn the ship and thrust against the direction you are moving.

    You crash if you arrive too fast, sideways, onto the sun, or onto a planet with an enemy Base.

    Landing on a free planet claims it at once. The guided landing button appears near a planet and brings the ship down by itself.

    After a crash you lose all bonuses and wait a moment before respawning: the wait grows as the match goes on.

    • Nose away from the planet and thrust against the motion: a clean landing.
    • Too fast, sideways or onto the sun: that is a crash.
    • The guided landing button only appears near a planet.

  3. Combat

    Weapons and damage

    Hit and endure

    Each tap of the fire button shoots one shot. The basic shot has a limited range.

    The stronger weapons come from bonuses and last while they have ammo; then you go back to the basic shot.

    There is no friendly fire: your shots never hit your own ships.

    Turrets, Space Docks, Freighters and drones fire on their own at enemies within range.

    Ramming an enemy Freighter destroys your ship: it is not a weapon. The sun and crashes destroy too.

    • Aim calmly: every shot has a limited range.
    • Ramming an enemy Freighter destroys you: it is not a weapon.
    • Turrets fire even when you are not aiming.

  4. Conquest

    Taking planets

    Control of the system

    Landing on a planet without a Base claims it at once, but the planet stays undefended.

    While the Base is intact nobody can land there: it must be destroyed.

    A shot that enters the planet's disc hits the module of the sector it comes from; if that sector is empty, it hits the Base. Open a gap in the modules.

    When a planet changes hands, the surviving structures pass to the conqueror.

    Moons have a single turret and no modules: they are worth less than a planet.

    • A gap in the modules opens the way to the Base.
    • A planet without a Base can be taken by anyone who lands on it.
    • Moons are worth less than planets and have a single turret.

  5. Building

    Bases and modules

    Building on a planet

    You claim the planet, and Freighters build on it: one structure at a time.

    Each Freighter builds a single structure and is then used up.

    The Base comes first, with its turrets. Then, in this order: Comm Center, High Port, Lab, Sensor Array, Space Dock.

    The Comm Center produces new Freighters and recharges those in orbit; the High Port, slower, repairs and rebuilds, but never the Base.

    The Lab prepares bonuses, the Sensor Array warns you when enemies enter the zone, and the Space Dock in orbit offers bonuses and repairs. Extra Freighters wait in orbit.

    • Let the Freighters work: the planet completes itself.
    • Without a Base the planet is defenseless: the Base always comes first.
    • An extra Freighter has no task: it waits in orbit.

  6. Freighter

    Capturing convoys

    Enemy convoys

    The Freighter is recognised by its yellow nose and by its hull colour.

    To capture it, hit the small flag on the nose with a basic shot, the machine gun, buckshot, a missile or the laser.

    A captured Freighter keeps its energy and heads to the nearest planet of its new owner; drone shots do not capture it.

    You can always destroy it instead: if you destroy the first Freighter heading to a freshly claimed planet, that planet is left without a Base.

    It fires forward and backward, at a slow rate, and moves slowly around the sun.

    • Hit the flag on the nose: it is a small point, so precision matters.
    • An enemy Freighter in flight can fire at you from front and back.
    • The yellow nose is the same on every Freighter, whatever its colour.

  7. Repair

    Repairing your ship

    Get back in shape at your Dock

    You can repair your ship only at a Space Dock that is yours.

    Dock at it, or land on the surface of the planet that hosts it.

    Without a Dock of your own, your ship cannot be repaired.

    Freighters and the High Port repair the planets' structures instead, not your ship.

    • Dock gently at your Dock: the ship is back in shape.
    • Without a Dock of your own there is no repair for your ship.
    • The High Port repairs the structures on its own planet.

  8. Bonus

    Power-ups

    Claiming bonuses

    The Lab of a planet you own offers one bonus at a time, but only while the Dock is free.

    You claim the bonus by landing on the Dock, not on the surface. Guided landing can also aim at the Dock.

    There are six bonuses: machine gun in fast bursts, buckshot, laser, homing missile, extra energy shield and an escort of two drones.

    One weapon at a time: the new one replaces the old. Shield and escort add up. Weapons have ammo, and when it runs out you go back to the basic shot.

    All bonuses are lost if the ship is destroyed or crashes. Destroying the Dock stops pickups, even if the Lab is intact.

    • Land on the Dock gently: that is the only way to claim a bonus.
    • A crash makes you lose all your bonuses.
    • The missile turns slowly: dodge it with inertia.

  9. Scoring

    How to win

    The match score

    Every planet you own gives points as time passes; moons are worth half.

    In the final stretch of the match, planets are worth double.

    You also score by destroying with your own ship or drones: Base, enemy ship, Freighter, Space Dock, modules, turrets and drones.

    Damage alone scores nothing. Turrets, Space Docks and Freighters do not earn points when they destroy something.

    The first to reach the target score wins, or the one with more points when time runs out. Losing your last colony eliminates you. In 2 vs 2 the team total counts.

    • Hold your planets: they score at every moment.
    • Damage is not enough: destroying is what counts.
    • In the last moments of the match, planets are worth double.