Take the helm
Open Play demo to explore the frontier. The local sandbox puts you in charge of the Aurora Directorate, with three colonies, two science vessels, military fleets, and the New Dawn colony ship.
Open the connection menu in the game header and choose Use local sandbox if your client is configured to connect to a live server. The sandbox does not require an account and saves progress in your browser when local storage is available.
Survey your first system
- Open Fleets and select ISS Horizon.
- Select Vega on the galaxy map. You can also press
/to search for the system. - Issue a Survey order. Your science vessel travels along the hyperlanes and then studies the system.
- Let the sandbox ticks advance, or use the tick controls at the bottom of the screen. A completed survey reveals the system’s worlds and investigates its anomaly.
Press V to open the selected star’s system view. Press Esc to return to the galaxy.
Establish a new colony
- Select New Dawn in Fleets and move it to your surveyed destination.
- Wait until the ship arrives, then issue Colonize.
- Choose a system without an existing colony or another empire’s claim. A world needs at least 60% habitability, or 40% once you complete Adaptive biospheres.
- Keep 220 energy, 180 minerals, and 30 influence available for colonization.
Visit Colonies to review your new world and specialize its economy. Open Industry to queue buildings or ships.
Keep the empire moving
- Industry: Queue ships and infrastructure on your colonies. Construction consumes resources up front and progresses with each tick.
- Research: Choose a technology and add future technologies to the research queue.
- Diplomacy: The Vesper Assembly starts with friendly relations. A trade agreement costs influence and takes time to resolve.
- Fleets: Use military fleets to defend your systems. Foreign borders may restrict travel routes.
For a full keyboard reference, see Controls & shortcuts. To use a separate game backend, see Connect to a server.