Quick Start

This guide is intended to provide a quick way to get you into the game and allow you to work out its mechanics in practice.

Basics
Make sure you have a modern Windows PC preferably with at least 8GB of memory and at least 4 cores and a decent video card. The official hardware requirements stats that a 4 GB memory is the minimum requirement, however, this will only allow play on smaller galaxies and the play may be rather slow. A 64-bit operating system of Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1 or Windows 10 is mandatory; the game will not run otherwise.

Starting a new game

 * For your first game, playing as the Terran Alliance is recommended. This is Earth of the 23rd century.
 * Keeping the default sandbox options (map size, etc.) is also recommended.
 * You may want to increase the number of opponents but lower the difficulty level.

Starting moves

 * You start with Earth (assuming you chose the Terran Alliance). Your early objective is to get Earth’s economy going and use its shipyard to build colony ships to found new colonies.
 * You start with 5000 credits. It is highly advantageous to use this to execute your early strategy by rush-building either planetary improvements or by rush-building colony ships or constructors.
 * You can order your Scout to auto-explore and your Survey ship to Survey automatically.

Interstellar Economics

 * Your economy is split between wealth, manufacturing and research.
 * You can split your manufacturing between planetary improvements and starships.
 * The controls can be accessed by pressing the “Govern” button.

Helpful tips & tricks

 * The TAB key will always act to press the action button (Turn button if there are no other actions left). Left hand on the tab button and right hand on the mouse will allow basic controls.
 * Left-click to select a unit, right-click to set its destination
 * Double-click on an object to view its details or to execute an order.
 * You can drag the map around by holding the left-mouse button down and moving it.
 * You can move the camera around by holding the middle mouse button down and moving the mouse. Similarly, you can use the mousewheel to zoom in and out on the map (or pinch to zoom in and out on a tablet).