The flagship

You have no home planet – the flagship is your headquarters. It moves 15 minutes per hex, supplies the sectors around it and launches attacks up to 3 hexes away (relay stations extend that reach). An attack flies 2 minutes per hex.

The flagship can fly to any sector – your own, a commander's or a pirate one. Pirates never attack it there: it simply moves your attack range and the supply around it. While it flies, the note above the map shows when it arrives; Stop ends the flight at the last sector it reached.

Command points

Command points limit your whole fleet, not just one battle: ships in the shipyard and ships on a mission count too. You start with 12.

Modules

Module	Per level	Levels
Command bridge	+4 command points	up to 8 (40 points)
Shipyard	+1 build slot; level 2 unlocks cruisers and your special ship, level 3 capital ships	up to 3
Weapons lab	all your ships +5 % damage	up to 4
Armour plating	all your ships +5 % hull	up to 4
Academy module	pilots train 15 % faster	up to 3
Jump drive	flagship flies 20 % faster	up to 3
Sensor array	see 1 hex further, and garrisons further away	up to 3

You start with three ship types – fighters, bombers and frigates – and unlock the rest by upgrading the shipyard module. Weapons lab and armour plating work on every ship you own, including the ones you built before. Next step suggests the command bridge and shipyard first, then weapons and armour; the academy module, jump drive and sensor array are yours to choose.

The first upgrade takes 30 minutes; later ones take 2 to 12 hours.