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Missions

Missions

Fleet missions are how you move ships, start battles, move resources, expand, and interact with deep space. The safest way to learn them is to understand three layers:

  • what the mission is for
  • whether the fleet comes back automatically
  • whether the mission uses normal travel or a deep-space hold phase

Mission Types

Mission ID Returns Main Use
Attack 1 Yes Fight fleets and defenses
ACS Attack 2 Yes Fight as a coordinated group
Transport 3 Yes Move resources
Deployment 4 No Station a fleet permanently
ACS Defend 5 Yes, after hold Station a fleet on an ally
Espionage 6 Yes Generate a spy report
Colonisation 7 Colony Ship consumed; escorts return Create a new planet
Harvest 8 Yes Collect debris
Moon Destruction 9 Yes Fight and then try to destroy a moon or Space Dock outpost
Missile Attack 11 No Launch IPMs
Patrol 12 Yes Deep-space combat control
Trade 13 Yes Deep-space resource conversion
Recon 14 Yes Deep-space repeated spying
Exploration 15 Yes Deep-space finds and risks

The hold-only mission IDs 112 to 115 are internal follow-up phases the game creates automatically after a deep-space mission arrives.

Standard Missions

Attack

  • fights the target's fleet and defenses
  • can loot resources if the attacker wins
  • can create debris from destroyed ships

See Battle Mechanics before sending large attacks.

ACS Attack

  • multiple friendly fleets join one attack
  • all fleets share one arrival time
  • a slower joining fleet can delay the group, but only within the ACS timing rules

Transport

  • sends resources to a target
  • the fleet comes home after unloading
  • can use the Fuel Cell speed boost

Deployment

  • permanently stations the fleet at the destination
  • does not auto-return
  • can use the Fuel Cell speed boost

ACS Defend

  • stations a fleet on an ally
  • returns after its hold window if it is not recalled or destroyed
  • can use the Fuel Cell speed boost

Espionage

  • sends probes directly to a target
  • returns with a spy report if successful
  • always triggers activity detection on the target in the current live implementation

Colonisation

  • requires a Colony Ship
  • consumes the Colony Ship on success
  • creates a new planet if the slot is valid

Harvest

  • collects debris fields
  • requires Recyclers
  • can target debris-only coordinates even when no planet is present in the slot
  • can launch partial harvest trips with any number of available Recyclers
  • returns the recovered resources
  • can use the Fuel Cell speed boost

Moon Destruction

  • requires at least one Deathstar
  • normal combat happens first
  • if you win and Deathstars survive, the game rolls for moon or Space Dock outpost destruction
  • Graviton Technology unlocks the Deathstar and reduces Deathstar self-destruction chance by 5 percentage points per level

Missile Attack

  • launches Interplanetary Missiles
  • targets planets only
  • ABMs intercept one IPM each
  • does not use a fleet slot

Deep-Space Missions

Patrol, Trade, Recon, and Exploration all work the same way at a high level:

  • they target deep space at position 16
  • they require hold time to do anything useful
  • after arrival, they enter an internal hold phase
  • they process outcomes on repeated ticks
  • they return home after the hold ends if the fleet survives

Patrol

  • combat-focused deep-space control mission
  • rolls for hostile encounters
  • can also intercept enemy Trade, Recon, and Exploration holds
  • can also rarely intercept Exchange convoys whose in-flight route crosses the patrol system

Read: Patrol

Trade

  • repeatedly converts one carried resource into a different one
  • each successful tick sells 25% of the remaining sell cargo
  • uses live Exchange ratios plus a random bonus

Read: Trade

Recon

  • repeatedly looks for hostile planets and moons in the chosen system
  • can generate full espionage-style reports
  • Fuel Cells raise the separate active-mission manifest reveal chance

Read: Recon

Exploration

  • high-variance deep-space mission
  • can find resources, find ships, lose the fleet, or trigger a hostile combat encounter
  • Wayfinders are required

Read: Exploration

Fuel Cell Mission Boosts

Missions use one of two Fuel Cell systems.

Speed Boost Missions

These missions can spend Fuel Cells to double selected speed and replace deuterium launch fuel with 0:

  • Transport
  • Deployment
  • Harvest
  • ACS Defend

These speed-boost spends do not count against the shared 500 Fuel Cells per calendar day cap.

Reward Boost Missions

These missions use the reward-style Fuel Cell system, but the exact effect depends on the mission:

  • Patrol
  • Trade
  • Recon
  • Exploration

Reward missions share the same 500 Fuel Cells total per calendar day cap with Sensor Phalanx scans and Jump Gate activations, but each mission has its own useful launch spend:

  • Patrol: caps at 2x debris and does not increase hostile encounter size
  • Trade: spends up to 100 Fuel Cells for up to 6x on the random trade bonus, not the full conversion
  • Recon: spends up to 500 Fuel Cells to improve positive Recon reward amounts and raise active mission manifest reveal chance from 5% to 25%
  • Exploration: spends up to 500 Fuel Cells for the full reward ladder on resource and ship finds, while hostile encounter debris caps the Fuel Cell portion at 2x and encounter size stays unchanged

Read: Fleet Mechanics and Fuel Cell

Fleet Slots

Your fleet slot cap is:

5
+ 2 per even Computer Technology level

Missile attacks do not consume fleet slots.

Patrol, Trade, Recon, and Exploration also have separate mission-family slot caps. Each starts at 1 active mission, then gains:

1 Patrol slot per Space Dock level
+1 Trade slot per Moon Base level
+1 Recon slot per Recon Technology level
+1 Exploration slot per Wayfinder research level

If you are running out of active fleets, read Fleet Mechanics for the exact formula.

Where To Read Next

  • Fleet Mechanics - Travel time, fuel, cargo, and Fuel Cell boost formulas
  • Standard Missions - Attack, transport, deployment, espionage, colonisation, harvest, moon destruction, and missiles
  • Battle Mechanics - Combat rules
  • Patrol - Deep-space combat control
  • Trade - Deep-space conversion mission
  • Recon - Deep-space intelligence mission
  • Exploration - Deep-space risk and reward