Alien planets

Alien planets arrive through wormholes and cut your production. With jammer probes, EMP bombs and good planning you chase them away – and collect the loot.

Aliens bring their planets into our galaxies through wormholes. On the galaxy map you recognize an affected system by its wormhole. The planet window shows "Alien" as the owner, followed by its level in stars. An alien planet stays for quite a while, and some level up by one or two stars during their stay, which makes them stay longer. Eventually the alien leaves through its wormhole again – unless someone chases it away first.

The interfering signal: As long as an alien planet is close to you, the game reports: "An interfering signal of … reduces your production by 20%!" Your affected planets then produce fewer resources. Only when the alien has been chased away or disappears on its own do they produce normally again. So an alien on your doorstep is not just loot, it is also a real problem.

Levels: Alien planets come in five levels. Which ones you may spy on and attack depends on your attack zone: the higher your zone, the higher the level of the aliens that match you (Points & Attack Zones). If you cannot launch a Jammer probe to an alien, its level usually does not match your zone. Aliens build up fleet and defenses over time – a freshly arrived alien is therefore often easier to crack than one that has been around for a while.

How to attack an alien planet

Spy: Normal spy probes bounce off the alien protective shield. You spy with the Jammer probe instead. The game asks you how many you want to send (Espionage).
Always bring a jammer probe: Every attack fleet needs at least one Jammer probe. Without it the attack is pointless: your combat ships cannot get through the shield and turn around the moment they arrive.
Break the particle shield: Once the alien ships are destroyed, the aliens raise a particle shield. You can wear it down with normal ships or target it with the EMP-Bomb: it explodes on impact, leaves no debris field and does not return. The Particle cannon has no effect on aliens.
Crack the defenses: Then you take apart the defenses. The defense unit XT protects the energy cell of the planet and can only be attacked once all other defenses are destroyed. When the last XT falls, the alien is chased away and disappears together with its interfering signal. If it vanishes while your fleet is still on its way, the fleet simply turns back.

Loot, debris fields and Xtra Power

A successful attack captures up to 50% of the resources on the alien planet – with the "Data-Disc-Loot" disc up to 100%, as far as your cargo space allows. You collect the debris fields with the Recycler (Recycling). Take a Scanner ship along to search them for disc fragments (Data discs). Aliens of the highest level also keep spreading debris fields around them – the more often they are attacked, the bigger the fields.

When you send your fleet, the fleet menu offers two extras: in the Data disc box you tick single-use discs that should take effect in this attack. Under Xtra Power you add a booster for Urplasma: Xtra attack power (+10% attack), Xtra shield strength (+10% shield), Data-fragment radar (+30% chance for fragments) or Commodity thief (+30% loot). The menu shows the prices.

Enrage attacks

As long as they are left in peace, aliens attack no one. But every action against an alien – above all battles in which something is destroyed – increases its rage. This rage is shared by all attackers: whoever makes it boil over gets hit by the enrage attack, even if it was their very first attack. The counterstrike does not come immediately, because the alien first calls for reinforcements through its wormhole. This can take hours. Afterwards its particle shield comes back twice as strong.