Pre-alpha codex — written from the build in internal testing. Systems, numbers and features can change before launch. · Found Your Empire

Travel speed

Each hull has a base speed, and its drive tech (Combustion, Impulse or Hyperspace) makes it faster with every level. A fleet always travels at the pace of its slowest ship — a Battleship escort on a fleet of Light Fighters drags everything down to Battleship pace. Plan compositions accordingly.

Hyperlane routing

Fleets travel along the hyperlane network, hop by hop from star to star. The route is the one with the fewest hops, not the shortest distance — a nearby target behind a tangle of lanes can mean a long way round. When you plan a mission, the map shows the route and the arrival time before you confirm.

Fuel

Ships burn aetherium, paid up-front from the origin system's stockpile — the exact bill is shown before you dispatch, and a fleet that can't afford its fuel can't launch. Bigger ships and longer routes cost more; Hyperspace Tech lowers every fleet's fuel bill. Fuel pays for the way out only — the trip home burns nothing.

Recalling a fleet

• You can recall a moving fleet until the last few seconds before it arrives — by then the arrival is already under way.
• The fleet finishes the lane it is on, then retraces its path — same hops, same speed.
• A recall in flight refunds half the fuel of the stretch not flown — half of what the lanes after the current one cost at launch — to the origin system, up to its free aetherium storage. Anything over the cap is lost.
• A fleet on a timed stay at its target (an expedition out of contact, for one) can be recalled until the stay ends, but gets no fuel back: the way out was already flown.
• If an arrival or the end of a stay still has not resolved five minutes after it was due, recall opens again — a stuck fleet can always be brought home.